the happenings...

since i have been mia, loads has happened... i will start from today and work my way back....

today, wednesday, was a status quo day... nothing major going on...

yesterday, we picked up roy's car for him from the shop and dropped it off at his house.. hung out a bit with yaya and then rushed to beat the bus home... to get kenzie from school...

monday, not a lot to report.

sunday, anyone close to the family knows what happened there... so i am not putting it in here. too tragic right now.... and we spent the day at the park with yaya, riley, shelby, and the gator... yes, we saw a gator in the water!!! the girls thought it was pretty cool.

saturday, maddie wasn't feeling well, so i kept her home with me and kenzie went to the new childrens museum in tampa with yaya and riley and shelby. they had a blast. pics to come for that post...

friday nothing really new went on there...

thursday i went and volunteered and on my way home found a horse on the side of the road. i called the sheriff and reported that i was putting the horse back in a pen it was outside of and if they needed to talk to me call me... it was pretty funny actually!

and there you have it... hope to be better in the coming days about blogging

been a busy woman

hi all. it's been a busy few days. and today will continue. i'll try and post a full detailed update after things start to calm down. just wanted to pop in and say hello!!!

Friends Forever by Debbie Smith

Verse for the Day

Colossians 1:9
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Passage for the day: Colossians 1: 3-14

TIME has a way of defining true friends. I have discovered that passing years and growing distance are ineffective obstacles to the mutual love between my friends and me. Perhaps it is because of our common walk with the Lord that we can just pick up where we left off whenever we are together. And these are the dear ones I will spend eternity loving.

Of course, prayer is an important part of continuing that bond. Colossians 1:3-14 is and eloquent description of a Christian's prayer for her friends. Even though Paul had not even visited the Christians at Colosse, his love for them through Christ was strong and arent.

One Sunday afternoon soon after our wedding, Michael and I were getting ready for the weekly Bible study that would meet in our living room that night. It would be the final study led by Bill Jackson before he moved away. On a sudden whim, we decided to write a song for Bill. Michael went to take a shower; I sat down with the Bible and a pen. In less than an hour Michael had found a melody on the piano for the lyrics to "friends." We were happy to have something special for Bill, though it never occurred to us that anyone else would find this simple song meaningful.

God had different plans! He has used "Friends" for graduations, funerals, weddings and gatherings of all kinds. Michael and I continue to be blessed by letters from people who identify with this song and find comfort in its message. Both the Colossians passage and the song are a call to prayer for those we love-- and a reminder that God's love unites people as friends forever!

Additional Scripture Readings:
Ephesians 3:14-19; Philemon 4-7

ramblings from my mind

ok, so i normally don't do this, but i feel a tug and need to ramble for a few minutes. firstly, this passage keeps coming to me:

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

So you are wondering why this passage keeps coming up aren't you. Well, look all around you and what do you see? I will tell you here what I see, I see the end times! I see lovers of money and contriband. I see people who are afraid to admit they love the Lord and act on the power that is given to us as CO-HEIRS WITH CHRIST. I see all of the things listed in so many places in this world around me. Most of all the one that really sticks out is the lover of money. Look at the economy. When it took a plunge what did we do? We all depended on the government to give us more money instead of depending on God to provide for us what we need. Now we have people who are depending on drugs because the money isn't working for them anymore. They are so lost, without the guidance of us believers, they don't realize that the answer to their problems is as easy and one word: JESUS! I pray that all of you reading this post are not in this category, but if you, please by all means, find someone to talk to about Jesus. If you aren't sure who to talk to, you can easily call my church.

My next rambling is this.... We all have friends here on earth. And there is a girl scout song that comes to mind when I think of the word "friends" it is:

Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold.

Why does this come up? Well as I was going through my bible looking for the passage above that I posted for you a few seconds ago, I passed over a bible study titled "Friends Forever" by Debbie Smith. That whole study will be in the next post, but I feel the need to let everyone know that yes, we do have friends, some are new friends, some are old. Most are silver, and for me only one is gold. His Name is JESUS. He is here for me when I need him. He holds me when I cry. He is standing by me in good times and in bad. He loves me for me and not for what i have done. Nor for what I will become. Jesus is all you need in a friend. When we have earthly friendships, that is great, when we have sipiritual ones with him, that is the best!!! I have an earthly friend who is my sister in Christ. Angelena is the best bestie I have had (aside from Jesus). She is here for me and I for her. We can sit and talk on the phone for hours and just let God talk through us to the other and it never bores us. We were recently on the phone and talking about the above passage and we were discussing how people want more and more and more money and I said, "wait a minute, if so many people want more money, wouldn't it be awesome if we would say forget the money, I want MORE OF YOU JESUS." It was an eye opener what happened last night (I will not put that here as it is private, but God knows) and it is even more of an eye opener when people you thought were your friends stood down the street watching and wouldn't help, but a bestie walking a friend out to his car stood out and waited the right amount of time (God's timing is perfect isn't it) and then approached. Said bestie was up with her bestie unti 3 am, got her husband off to work an hour late (he was actually 10 minutes late for work) then woke up at 9 am to make breakfast for her bestie and all of the children, then took the time out of her day to watch the children so that bestie could finish taking care of things and getting some sleep. I just love you so much Angelena and I am so happy that what I could give to you was in your words "What you do for me means so much more than any amount of money would." and as you said that, I cried tears of happiness because not 6 months ago, I thought I had lost my bestie!!! Love you lots lady!!! We will get through all of our issues and find ourselves again all of us! We will lean on each other as the dc talk song Lean on Me says. We will hold each other as we cry and we will rejoice together one day in Heaven with our Savior!!!

Well, that's enough rambling for now, more is sure to come as I work on finding myself. Loads of love to all of my fans!!! And lastly, here is a lyric that I just can't leave you without!!!


PEOPLE SAY I'M STRANGE, DOES THAT MAKE ME A STRANGER MY BEST FRIEND WAS BORN IN A MANGER!!! (DC Talk-Jesus Freak)

Ocean Wide-- The Afters

A couple of years ago, I had a cd by The Afters this song has stuck with me since that cd. It has since been scratched and I don't know if I can find it anywhere anymore, but I felt like I needed to share the lyrics with you all. A situation occured last night and this is what I feel God is telling me to share with those involved in the situation that happened.

Look outside
It's already light and the stars ran away with the night
Things were said, words that we'll try to forget
it's so hard to admit I know we've made mistakes
I see through all the tears but that's what got us here

If love is an ocean wide
We'll swim in the tears we cry
They'll see us through to the other side
We're gonna make it
When love is a raging sea
You can hold on to me
We'll find a way tonight
Love is an ocean wide

I'll stay right here
It's where I'll always belong
Tied with your arms
Days like this I wish the sun wouldn't set
I don't want to forget
What made us feel this way
You see through all my fears
and that's what got us here

If love is an ocean wide
We'll swim in the tears we cry
They'll see us through to the other side
We're gonna make it
When love is a raging sea
You can hold on to me
We'll find a way tonight
Love is an ocean wide.

Love is an ocean wide enough to forget
Even when we think we can't.

This song speaks volumes to me!

A Word

God has been giving me words more lately. I love it when He speaks! Today, he gave me Psalm 139.

Here is what the New Intenational Version sounds like:

PSALM 139 (NIV)
>1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

² You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

⁵ You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, ^a]">[a] you are there.

⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

¹¹ If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

¹⁷ How precious to ^b]">[b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

¹⁸ Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

¹⁹ If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.

²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?

²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

He also gave me a song to go with this. Today the song is Rebecca St. James Psalm 139. You can scroll to the bottom of the page if you wish and then select it off of my playlist, but here are the words:

You search me
You know me
You see my every move
There's nothing I could ever do
To hide myself from you
You know my thoughts
My fears and hurts
My weaknesses and pride
You know what I am going through
And how I feel inside
But even though you know
You will always love me
Even though you know
You'll never let me go
I don't deserve your love
But you give it freely
You will always love me
Even though you know

(Repeat)

This speaks volumes to me as I am going through some stuff I would prefer not put here for the world to know, but just know that I am putting God first in my life and that is the way it will be from now on!!!

This is all I am posting today as my first day not centering on me and my family and focusing on God and what he is doing in my life.

I just had an eye opening experience...

So, I have been doing the yo yo thing when it comes to dieting... I'll do the healthy food thing for a while and then not. Well, a friend of mine suggested that I do this website that is a food journal thing. Well, it suggests that to be at the weight I want to get to, I need to loose a pound a week. That's entirely healthy. So, I started journaling my food today, and even with making a bowl of homemade veggie soup (with ramen noodles in it) I still have to find a way to get up to 1870 calories per day. This is going to be a challenge for me as I don't eat breakfast on a regular basis. I know that my body is in starvation mode, and I have to coach it out of there. I will do this!!! I will be doing a weigh in on Wednesdays at 10 am. This way I can kind of keep track of my weight better and see where I need to improve. In addition to a food journal, this site also does an exercise journal, I am going to be taking advantage of that too. In fact, I am finishing up my bestie's laundry for her, getting dressed in shorts and a t shirt, and then heading to the park with her for some walking time. I need to get in 1/2-1 hour a day 5 days a week. Hope that within a month I can up it to jogging/running. Any tips you may have that might be helpful are welcome!

Now for the rest of the family: maddie was feelign ill yesterday, but is on top of her game today. kenzie went to school. who knows what she will be doing today. ryan is doing good. and that's about it for now... see you all later!

A day with Dee Dee and Dave; Gillian and Chase too

Yesterday, we had a great day!!! We got to see Dee Dee, Dave, Gilly, and Chase. It was the first time we have seen them since Grandma's Surprise 80th Birthday Party! Here is a recap of the day.

7:00 a.m. Dawn wakes up and Kenzie gets up too.

8:00 a.m. Time to wake Ryan and Maddie up.

9:00 a.m. Take Shaun, Seth, and Deborah to Calusa on our way to Roy and Carols.

11:00 a.m. Leave in 2 cars to go to Clearwater Beach. While on the way, Ryan drops a pill... Then Ryan and Dee Dee switch cars incase there was seperation. On the trip, we took a wrong turn, but we all got there at the same time so we are good right! Time for swimming, sunbathing, building sand castles, and burying the kids. It was a good time! Kenzie even got to see dolphins for the first time. (See, the beach we usually go to, you don't get too many dolphins surfasing, but at Clearwater you do.).

2:50 p.m. Load up the cars and see who can get back to Trinity first LOL! We all made it at the same time!

Carol and I then started working on getting dinner done while Roy, Dave, Ryan, and Dee Dee sat on the patio and played catch up! The kids all got along very well. For dinner we had pulled barbecue and cheesy potatoes with a salad. Gilly had made buckeye bars the night before, so those were dessert! We stayed long enough to watch "The Rock" starring Nick Cage and we brought Maddie home. Kenzie will be getting home within an hour and a half.

NEWSFLASH: my adapter to the camera is broke, so I can't upload the pics til I get a new one, but they are coming!!!

wow has it been a week already

since i last posted... well here goes: last thursday, i posted the challenge lo that i did. I have since then done 2 more challenges. they are on another forum and they can't be posted here yet. not because the rules say that but because i don't want them put here just yet. so here's the update:

friday: ryan worked and kenzie went home with yaya from school. maddie and i got cc from the bus. we all three then cooked chicken broccoli spaghetti alfredo and garlic toast. it was soooooo good!!!

saturday: we watched isabel for angelena and took her to yaya's house so i could print the bible verse that i needed for bookmarks i made for my church am womens group. i'll be uploading the pics and doing another post about that. kenzie, kaylie, and maddie got in the hot tub and isabel swung on the hammock. i am not sure, but i think she was scared of the jets in the hot tub.

sunday: we went to first/second services at church. i have to say the special was wonderful! then we had an early labor day because ryan and kevin had to work on monday, so we had a cook out on sunday. yummmy!

monday: kenzie didn't have school and we just hung out. it wasn't a good day. we were at each other's throats, but we are trying different strategies now to see if we can't fix that.

tuesday: kenzie went to school, when she got home, we went for a ride with angelena, cc, and isabel. maddie stayed home with daddy. at the end of our ride because the girls were good, angelena took them to 7-11 and bought them a slushie. kenzie being the big sister shared hers with maddie. we then went to big lots and walmart to just "window" shop. kenzie was really good about not buying anything and just adding things to her christmas list instead! it was quite cool of her! then we came home, i was cooking and kenzie was doing her homework with daddy and i when i let the mashed potatoes over boil LOL but that is fixable right...

wednesday: that would be today. kenzie's at school, ryan is at work. maddie is talking my head off, and i have gotten some projects done... lets see what else i can get done today!!!

Workout #27

So, here's the challenge. And above, you can see my entry. Kenzie had done crosswords or circle a words (I can't remember) with Gigi and I snapped a pic of her doing it. I absolutely love the design of the sketch we were supposed to use for this lo. It allows for a simple, yet stunning layout. It allows room for journaling as you can see that I added as well as plenty of negative space! And the breakdown goes like this, picture was taken from my collection, background paper was from k and company the best of k and company pad, the circles were literally just picked out of my scrap box. I didn't even look at the papers, i just did a random pick. the lettering was taken from an old sheet of alphas i had and I think they worked out great!!! Simple yet Stunning! Thank you Scrap Fit for the challenge.

Great Give Away!!!

So, how are you this morning? Do you want me to make your day? Well, here goes my attempt...

Star Rork is having a give away!!! Go check it out! Its a beautiful scrapbooking kit! I know I fell in love with it. The instructions are this:

Follow the above link to Star's Blog. Read the post about the give away. Follow her blog. Comment that you followed it. Then post about the give away on your blog. See how easy that is. And the drawing is Sunday!!! Get in while you have a chance to! Good luck. Happy Blogging. Awesome Scrapping!

Have a great day! I'm off to Church!!!

Thank you Scrap That Baby!!!!

Last week, I entered a blog hop. You go around leaving comments and becomming followers of blogs for the entry. Well, there were tons of prizes. I was able to win one! It's a Making Memories Calander! So thank you for making this happen for me! It was really nice to win something and not just enter and never hear anything back. I had tons of fun with it!

Now for the regular stuff:

The girls have been really good letting ryan sleep this weekend given he has been working night shift to help his employer out. I got up andtook them to church today and they loved it! It was a fabulous service. If you would like to see some of our video's, go to CCWC and click on the video links, otherwise, you can tune in live on Thursdays and Sundays. Kenzie wants to go to the lock in on friday... we shall see how she feels at the end of the week....

Scrap Fit-- Workout #26

Ok, so I crashed! yeppers! I decided to join a challenge blog! Twice a month, I will be posting scrapbook pages that I have done for a challenge. This time it was this challenge. It was quite fun. I had wanted to do another Halloween page for some time and had enough left over pictures to do this with. As you can see, the orange paper is all glitter paper!!! We had to use black, therefore the trim and the black cat along with some black stickles. I also have more sparkle in the way of green stickles on the shutters that are falling off of the house. As well as the purple stars have been stickled with purple stickles. This house has a rope coming from the window because Cecilia being a witch decided to sneak out to go Trick or Treat! I loved doing this because it was a challenge, but all in all, it was really fun and I will be doing this more often!

Port Richey Jr. Police Officer for the day

Yesterday, we went to Wally World for some "window shopping" for about an hour. I needed to get out of the house and needed to price a few things anyway, so as soon as we get there what does Maddie see? A Port Richey PD car sitting right out front. "MOMMY, A COP IS AT WALMART!!!!" she scrams so the whole world can hear her. So, I acknowledge that there indeed is a police officer in the Walmart and continue on putting her in a cart and going about my business. As we are heading through the store, the two officers come around the corner and Maddie points to them getting really shy. I said, "Yes, Honey those are the officers who's car is out front." and they stop to talk to her. One of them gave her a badge and told her she was his "special police officer for the day" It was so cute! Of course, I did not take my camera! We were only going to walmart afterall! I didn't expect being able to get a pic of her being the officer for the day! She got so shy it was adorable!

Today: Kenzie is off to school, Maddie will be heading to Yaya's for the night around lunch time, and I will have a few hours of quiet time! Much needed. Then when Kenzie gets home, I will let her have some special time with Mommy! She loves that! And that about sums up what our day is going to be.

Bubble Time!!!

So, yesterday I did a really cute lo and I couldn't wait to share it here with all of you! Here it is and the story can be found under it!
Bubble Time got its name because Maddie had been out playing it was time for a bath and I said, lets go get you a bath. I go to her room to get her Jammies and head to the bathroom and this is what I found! So I ran for the camera and snuck back in the bathroom to shoot the pics. She had put the plug in and started her bath water. She just forgot to take her clothes off! So adorable! I used all scraps for the strips of paper and the mats. I used Gold stickles for the designs around the photos and for the "all smiles" I then used some bling that I got in a kit that was on clearance from walmart some time back. The letters were punch outs that came in another kit. These kits were a collaboration of several different designers, and I do not recall who the designers were.

As for yesterday, we had a sleepover with Kenzie, Maddie, Isabel, and Cecilia. They are playing school now and I am about to start making the blueberry pancakes. Fun Stuff! Then I will be working on doing a few lo's for a challenge! So I hope that I can post them here, but I really don't know for sure. I will have to wait and see what the rules are with the posting of them.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Scrapbooking Rocks

So, my friend from high school Maria Tibbs gave me a little idea a while back when she blogged about Brian and Brooklyn laying under the tree looking up at the pretty lights. Maddie did it last year and I scrapped it!!! Thank you Maria!

A quiet week so far

So, Kenzie started school Monday. No, I didn't take first day pictures. I know, bad mom! But really, do you want to see traffic running by her on a major road for her first day pics? I am choosing to wait until the weekend, take her to a park or beach and do some cuter pics of her there for her second grade pictures. Maddie has been so happy to not fight with Kenzie this week. She does miss her sister, but it is so quiet and we are enjoying that. I did get to do a couple of scrap layouts this week. I am waiting it out on uploading them here though. I think I want to start uploading a month worth of lo's at a time or something like that. More to come on that later.

The funny story for today. I mop the kitchen. Sweeping the hallway so I can mop that as well and somehow maddie falls into the mopbucket. Pinesol and Water went everwhere. so while ryan cleaned that up, I gave maddie a bath to get the chemicals off of her! She was upset because she thought she was in trouble and Ryan and I were just laughing because it was so funny!

And now, I am gonna go do something constructive....

Getting Ready for School

So, it has been a busy week! I have managed to get a lot done though. On Monday, we just kind of took a lazy day. Tuesday, we started a few projects. Wednesday, we went and had our orientation and learned where Kenzie's new class is. This orientation was quite interesting. It was totally disorganized compared to last year. It was like the new principal had no clue how to run an orientation. I sure hope and pray that this is not an indication of how the school year will go. First, they announce that if you already know who your teacher is you can by pass the 20 or so teacher's who were bouncing off of the walls to tell you who your teacher is. We bypassed because we knew who kenzie's teacher was, but they didn't tell anyone where to bypass to, so everyone ended up going straight into the unregistered children line. After quite a long wait we were then told, if we were registered to go on to the bus/car rider lines and get our bus passes or car tags. after this we were left to find our room with no instruction. I knew based on the iep that we were in the new building out near the butterfly garden. This wasn't too bad to find and it is an aswesome room. Kenzie managed to break the thong off of her light up flip flops while checking out her new classroom. We then went over to see the art teacher! She had gotten stepped on last week and broke her foot! Yep, her horse stepped right on her! So, Ryan and I moved furniture around for her since apparently the school couldn't help her out with this task! After we left, I found out that once again I am approved for volunteering. I am going to Volunteer at 2 schools this year. I am going to do some time at Kenzie's school and some time at the school we are zoned for. Next year Maddie will have to go to Calusa and Kenzie at Cypress unless they mainstream her by then. We shall see about that. I do hear that the new principle is great at Calusa. I only pray that the principal has changed since moving from Calusa to Cypress. I wasn't impressed by her 2 years ago and so far, my feelings haven't changed. Thursday, I babysat Isabel for my bestie. She is going through some stuff, but that's ok. Friday, I babysat Cecilia and Isabel for her again because she needed to take Grandma Andrews to the hospital. It turns out that had she not made it to the er when she did, she may be dead now. Her blood sugar was way low. As was her bp and they found bacteria in her blood. Shew! So, between me and Grandma Andrews, we have talked her into moving with her girls back in with Grandma. I love that testy old woman as if she were my own grandma, and I can't believe she was so sick! I called every now and then to check on her and she started to not know who I was. It really made me sad for her. Anyway, we had company friday night and saturday. And now it's sunday and we are gearing up for school to start. I did get 4 new scrapbook layouts done. That was fun. and my scrap desk is sort of set up. well that's all the time i have for now... time to find lunch for the girls and ryan.

"You look pletty"

So I came downstairs after showering and getting dressed to leave yesterday and Kenzie gasped, "You look pletty!" Ryan and I burst out laughing! She is so funny most of the time. I just had to share with you! We went and spent some time with Pappy yesterday. Nothing major. And I decided on what I am doing for some of our family for Christmas. You will have to wait to find out though. Because I can't drop a line here and have them find out. LOL. And that's the update for the am.

A Summer Of Pictures

This is my current favorite picture of Maddie! We did do our fair share of goofing off this summer and I happened to catch Maddie on camera! She had these glasses left over from a birthday party loot bag. Simply popped out the lenses and she became the cutest little Nerd I have ever seen!

After a long day in the sun, the girls were tuckerd out! If you don't believe me just look at Mackenzie. LOL! She fell asleep before her head hit the pillow I do believe!

Go ahead, call me a mean mom. Yes, I held them both under the bucket until it dumped! It was so much fun! But I do have a partner in crime. My friend Debbie was the one behind my camera here! Mommy, this is so much fun, I can't stand still!

I am speechless. Perhaps she was taken by surprise by the water spraying from all directions!
Just Beautiful! That's all I can say to sum up my daughters!

Taking time for a walk and a picture by the sea oats.

Maddie had so much fun at the beach that day. She kept trying to mock what Kevin was doing and was so cute doing it. See, I told you my daughter's were beautiful!

Mom, I don't have time for a picture, can't you see I am on the phone!!! I had to call deb because she hasn't gotten here yet to get us! I wanna go so bad!

And lastly, the camping trip that is a few posts down, well, it was quite the experience. This is one of the only pics I got before my camera died. It was a momma and 3 of her babies. One is hiding behind her.

A Summer Recap

I just wanted to take a few minutes to recap our summer. I will post the pics that I have chosen for the summer recap in "A Summer of Pictures" after this post. We as you know spent the summer without a vehicle, none the less, it was a fun summer. School starts in a week and a half, so here goes:

We spent many days this summer at various beaches. We went to Fred Howard Park Beach, Sunset Beach, and Green Key Beach for the most part. You are wondering how we managed this aren't you? Well in between Roy and Carol allowing us to use their car, we were invited to ride along on many of the occasions with our friends. The girls loved it! And Kenzie has managed to almost perfectly figure out how to doggy paddle in the water! She is doing so good for not having any swimming lessons.

We spend most of our hot summer nights in front of the wii. We have come to love this system. We have many games we love, but Mario Kart Wii is Kenzie's favorite right now. She only started getting interested in it this past week while her friend Kevin was over. He took his time and helped her learn that she doesn't need to turn the wheel very far to control the car that her character is in.

We did make our fair share of trips to the park as well. The most recent is described below:
Last weekend I got a call from my friend Deb. She was asking if Monday we had any plans. I said "Not as of yet, what do you have in mind?" Only to find out that Monday I would be picked up with both girls and the carseat to ride about 45 minutes to Deb's house and we would gather the things for a picnic. Kevin, Deb, her son, me and my girls all piled in to 2 SUV's and headed from San Antonio, Fl to Zephyrhills to a playground for lunch. We got there and found that there was a free spray park, so we all got soaked in the hot summer sun and had a blast doing it. Kevin left from the park and came home, the rest of us rode with Deb as she and her son were spending a couple nights with us since school is coming up so soon.

There were weeks this summer where Kenzie stayed at Yaya's house and I hardly knew what to do with the house being so quiet.

As not only this post winds down, but so does summer, I wanted to share something special:

WE GOT OUR VAN BACK THIS PAST TUESDAY!!!! Yeah, this was the highlight of the summer. I am so happy that I have the option of just jumping in the car and going when I want to again. It was hard not having the van, but we made it. It is just another test for us and we came through. You know, no one ever said life was going to be easy, but I can promise you one thing: every trial is a test to see if you can manage to glorify Jesus through it. Keep your eye on the prize and you will prevail!

still a little blah

it is amazing how quickly you can get sick but how long it takes to recoup! and that's all i have to say about that!

i don't know if i said this yesterday or not, but kenzie and maddie are getting soooo excited about modeling. kenzie even asked if she would get to keep her dress! and i have decided that we are going to do a red dress, white monogram of their initials with santa hats! i think it would be perfect.

So exciting

Let me start out by saying that in the last 48 hours, I have been updating on facebook via my cell phone because I have been couch bound! I've been feeling so bad that barney has been the babysitter. I am however, feeling much better today. With that said, the rest of my post:

I am having dresses made for the girls for Christmas by my friend Stephanie's sister Tina. She runs a business making coture for babies and lil girls and boys. I got the idea because we haven't had formal christmas clothing ever and i wanted them to have the chance. I got a message from Tina this morning in my fb. She asked if I would be interested in Modeling the girls with the dresses! Of course I agreed to do it. I never got the chance to do anything like this when I was a lil girl, so I am very excited for the girls to have this chance. I just have to find a place to do it that doesn't look to summery! Too bad I don't live in Santa Claus, Indiana! It's Christmas all the time there! LOL

Maxx comes in on Tuesday! We can't wait to see "Uncle Maxx" as Maddie puts it. He and Ryan are going golfing and maybe to a Ray's game. I'll be sure to send the camera so when I have time I can upload tons of pics here!

My mom comes in at the end of the month. The girls are getting more excited about seeing 'Nannnna'. They miss Papa a lot, so I am hoping that they can find a way for him to accompany her, but who knows.

And I guess that does it because I am starting to forget whatelse I had to say. LOL

yep i was right

i am getting sick. if you didn't see it on my facebook, i am feeling worse this am. i was up about every 1/2 hour last night. i have dry nasal passages, etc etc etc. i am boosting my hydration and vitamin c to try and combat it.

now for the other part of my post:

the definition of frugal:
1. likely to try to save money; careful with spending
2. small in amount or cost; meager

this is my new goal. to be more frugal. i am researching ways i can do this. i will probably start making most of our food from scratch like the ladies did back in the olden days.

and that's that. to assist, there are tons of make your own recipies on www.budget101.com that i think will help me out a lot!

trying to get back to blogging regularly

So, here I go. Blog number 2 so far this week. I am trying to get back to blogging as when I was blogging, I felt like I was a happier person. I haven't been blogging due to a number of reasons, but I am hoping that nothing will stop me now. As you might imagine, yes, I plan on putting pics on here soon, but I need to get them on a cd to do that. I also imagine that you wonder what all we have been up to.

Well, our van had broken down. Ryan got a ticket for not clicking it, but that has now been paid and the van is fixed awaiting us to pick it up from the shop. When it broke down, we were unsure of what was wrong with it, so we didn't pay for renewing the registration. We now need to get down there and do that so we can have our car back. I miss the "Ole Blue Goose" as Pop calls it. Speaking of my van, what does everyone have against mini vans? Mine is awesome and we even got a queen size sleeper sofa in it with the hatch closed the last time we moved. Minus the seats of course, but hey, isn't that what a van is for? No, I am not a soccer mom, but I would love to be. If only I could talk Kenzie into taking up the sport. She more enjoys plain old exercising that "Mr. Poll" has taught her.

Speaking of Kenzie and her pe teacher, she did awesome this past school year. She got the "Super Star Athlete" award like 3 times. Whoot! And because her teacher encouraged her to drink mostly water, guess who doesn't want juice, kool aid, soda, or anything other than water? Yep, you guessed it. She converted over to water! Way to go kiddo! She is also triming down. She is getting so tall! I'll have to measure her for you all because I know it has been a long time since all of our bloggy friends have seen her. Almost 2 years to be exact.

Maddie too has grown. She's 4 now and she is such a sweetie! She is my tom boy unlike her sister. She is the child who goes out to play with the neighbor's grandsons' and she comes in blacker than the boys! LOL! She loves playing in the dirt, but she loves playing with her barbies too. She gets dirty with the boys, then showers with Barbie!!! She is doing oh so well with potty training. She did have a little accident today (loose stoole style), but when she did, she tried to make it, and when she couldn't, we cleaned up what was on her legs so she wouldn't get more all over the house on the way up the stairs to the shower. Undressed her, and she showered herself for the first time! She is such a big girl! I never imagined she would ask for a shower instead of a bath. And then to actually get in and do it all her self, not to mention that she totally got really cleaned up really good! My baby is growing up so fast.

Ryan and I are doing well. Ryan works a lot of doubles right now, so that isn't fun, but we have to do what we have to do to make ends meet. His working doubles he makes more than if I were to work my shift and him work a single. Not to mention as you saw on facebook last week, he told me he wants me to be a stay at home mom for the girls. We are looking at finances before we decide on that.

We found a church here in New Port Richey about a year ago and have been going on a regular basis (up until the car broke down). We love our church. If you would like to see a video stream, it is live on Thursdays at 7pm and on Sundays. The website is http://www.ccwc.org Pastor Dave and the band are awesome! Pastor Strayor does a great job with the message. After starting to attend this church, we have all come closer to the Lord. We pray that this never changes and pursue a closer walk with Him every day. We have started teaching the girls to pray before bed and before meals, so when we are rushed, they remind us about praying and we love this in our girls. They love going to Promised land for Maddie, and UpStreet Kids for Kenzie. It is awesome that we found a church with an awesome program for the children. We pray that no matter what the Lord has in store for us on our path through life, that we are able to feel the same way about whatever church we are at whether on vacation and visiting or whatever the case may be.

Here in Tampa today, two police officers were killed in the line of duty. Please keep their families in your prayers. One left behind a 9 month pregnant wife who is having contractions tonight probably due to the stress of loosing her husband. She is pregnant with their first, and now only, child. His co worker leaves behind a wife with 4 young boys. This is a tragedy. TPD was able to locate the driver of the car that they pulled over during a routine traffic stop, but they are still searching for the suspect that did the shooting. Please pray for protection over the officers searching for this man as I fear he is armed and we all know he is dangerous. Also keep another family in prayer. The mom, whom I do not know, went into premature labor today. She was only 30 weeks along. She delivered and the baby was in the NICU. The baby girl did pass on and I know that she is on the right hand side of the throne, but this family needs prayer. I couldn't help but think of when Maddie was born early and we almost lost her. It was so scary for me, but to know that this mom did loose her baby, it tears my heart in two.

And lastly, I apologize for this being such a long post, but I just needed to get some things off of my chest! Please feel free to leave me comments. I love them!

Camping At Starkey Park

We decided we would take the girls camping this weekend with our friends Kevin, Deb, and Little Kevin. It was so much fun.

Friday:
Ryan worked 3-11 with Kevin, so he caught a ride out to the campground with him. At about 2 pm, I met Deb, Kenzie, and Little Kevin at the Campground with Maddie. We rented a cabin for the weekend. It was big enough to sleep 8 and so we were totally comfortable in there. Except for a storm rolled in and cut what little power we had off and let me tell you 6 hours with no fan in 100 degree weather and 3 cranky kids doesn't make for a good night.

Saturday:
We woke up to low water pressure in the Shower House. It didn't get restored until 9 pm. Gah!!! So we all showered, the kids went to bed and I did too....

Sunday:
We got up and left. We had had enough. We did get some cute pics of some wildlife. I'll have to upload them when I get a chance.

exciting

we get our car back this week. i wanna do some back handsprings. (although, physically, i don't think i could handle that) i am just super excited about it. maddie is maddie. talking more and more every day. kenzie is having her last week of school.... and avon is picking up. so that's the update!

So, it's been a busy week!

On sunday we did our thing. Ryan was working another double. (Hey, he makes more on that double than we would for both of us to work single shifts.), so the girls and I just had a mommy daughter day.

Monday I had a teleconference with Ms. Zapp. She and the ESE counselor and I discussed Maddie's IEP. She will get speech 2 days a week starting in August. I also checked in on a pre k for Maddie. It is all coming together.

Tuesday we paid the deposit to get the van finished. We are picking it up on the 8th. Yay! Can't come soon enough for us. Maddie had a sleep over with Yaya!

Wednesday was a routine day. Nothing major going on there. When Yaya dropped Maddie off, she took Kenzie and I to Sonic for dinner and we got Ice Cream Cones from McDonalds.

Thursday nothing to note.

Friday Ryan worked another double.

Saturday I worked at the Flea Market in my friend Ginny's Avon Boutique. She needed me to handle it for her since she worked night shift and needed some sleep, so I did. I made several sales for Ginny and got an order also. I went scrapping at Jessica's house last night. I can't believe it's been 3 months since I scrapped, but when I went it wasn't the same. I really need to just set all of my stuff up at my house and scrap every day.

Wish you all a very happy memorial week! Be back here soon!

its been a busy week

thursday, kenzie went to school and had a great day. she came home with another super star athlete award! go kenzie! ginny picked us up and we went to church. pastor dave and cynda were back. we welcomed them warmly. praise and worship rocked like normal, only it wasn't normal because the spirit was flowing like you wouldn't believe. i love my church because we are on fire for the lord!

friday, ryan was off of work and i had some avon stuff to do yesterday afternoon. eventually i put the kids to bed and at 530 this am i got him up. he works doubles most weekends because he makes boo koo's on those shifts. it's nice! we get our van back around the 8th of June.

i am putting in orders on my website now, and the kids are doing their thing.

monday i have a volunteer thing at school (i won't make it) and a party with my district manager to go to (mel is picking me up for that one), then tuesday evening i have a recruit meeting to go to with Virginia. i probably won't update until wednesday here, so check in at facebook if you want to know how those go!

in the mean time have a wonderful week!

Awaken the Leader In You

Hello all! Last night I had an Avon Meeting. It was the first one I had gone to. It was called Awaken the Leader In You. Let me tell you, I had a great time meeting some of my fellow reps as well as my District Sales Manager. Jevonne is AWESOME!!! I came home with some of the best information ever! Some incentives for getting my business off the ground. I also learned about some of the ladies stories. I am not the only one who needed avon just for added income, but when Barb did it, she did for added income and 2 years later, she is making 72k a year! Awesome! I came away from the meeting on fire with a belief in the company I work for (which by the way has been in business for 124 years) that I didn't think would happen. I also learned that prospecting isn't as hard as we all thought it was. I met one of the senior exectutive leaders who used to teach special needs kids. This touched my heart because Kenzie is a special needs kid. I learned that if I need something, I have tons of resources. It's looking up! And I looked on my website this morning. I am almost 1/10th of the way to President's Club!!!! I can't wait!



So, if you or someone you know has fallen on hard times, or whatever the case may be and need an extra income, send them my business e mail

dcox9045@yahoo.com or to my website: www.youravon.com/dawnellacox



In the mean time: HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!!

Happy Birthday Madison Rose

It's hard to believe that Madison (aka Maddie RoRo) is 4 already. Where has the time gone?

Since we have Riley and Shelby today, we thought we would make Maddie's cake from Riley, Shelby, and Kenzie. Maddie was totally excited! So, I baked a dark fudge chocolate 2 layer cake with peanut m and m's in it. Then Riley iced it Blue and piped an M on it. She said the M was for Maddie and because Maddie's favorite candy is M and M's!!! Blue because Maddie's eyes are blue! (Not to mention Riley's eyes are blue and it's one of her favorite colors). Then after Riley, it was Shelby's turn. She placed 1/2 pack of peanut m and m's on the outside of the cake. Followed by Kenzie placing the other 1/2 pack of peanut m and m's on the cake. It's really cute! Maddie is so excited to cut the cake tomorrow with Yaya and Pappy because the girls made it for her.

I just love how children get excited more over the homemade gifts than they do the store bought ones. It's like they know that the home made ones were made from the heart! Riley had lots of fun icing the cake and I think she thought I was crazy handing her the piping bag and allowing her to put the M on the cake, but she did really good. I got a few pics of her as she was doing the icing and piping... I'll upload when I upload my camera to the comp the next time.

And the big present for Maddie's birthday: will have to wait for her to enjoy...

When we get the van back, we are buying passes for Busch Gardens and taking Maddie and Kenzie to Busch Gardens for Maddie's birthday! She loved it in December when we went right before Christmas, so we figured, what better birthday than a day in the park that she loved.

Well, Shelby has gotten Maddie asleep, Riley, Shelby, and Kenzie are watching a movie as I blog and Ryan naps. (those night shifts and doubles that he's pulling are killing him). But then again, he does make more doing those than I would working a regular shift, so we are coming out on top I think... better hit the calculator to be sure though...

Among the Thirsty is performing at church tomorrow, so I am hoping to be able to go. If not, I'll tune in on www.ccwc.org!!!

Until the next time, blog happy!

God Bless,
Ryan, Dawn, Kenzie, Maddie, Riley, Shelby, and Maggie Cox!!!! (hey, they're here aren't they?)

P.S. While the girls were playing Maggie got out... I was freaked out because this is Derrick and Amanda's dog... She went to the front yard and came right when we called her, but hey, I was scared I had lost her! She's all good laying in the living room with everyone else now though....

since my last post...

it has been 2 weeks since i posted last. hmmm doesn't seem possible... but here goes:

carol went to ohio and we came and spent the weekend with roy for mother's day weekend.

Mackenzie gave me the best mothersday present. She made a pen at school with a flower flopping out of the top of it with a card she made and then she wrapped it all up making her own bow and all! so adorable.

Maddie... well what can I say, you continue to grow. Please slow down a bit!

I am doing fairly good with my avon sales.

We towed the van to the shop and they are working on it. Should be up and running soon.

Grandma was put in the hospital for respritory illness, but she is home (as of today) and resting...

Carol has come back from Ohio now and we gave her her mother's day present. A really pretty beaded bracelet.

Derrick and Amanda have gone on a cruise, so we are watching Riley and Shelby tonight so that Roy and Carol could go to a wedding... I baked a cake... see the next post for more on that....

and now to do the next post... hee hee!

A lot happening...

there has been a lot going on since i last posted. i will post here the most important features of what is going on in our lives.

our only car broke down. we blew a head gasket the day after we had the car looked at and found that our motor mounts were wearing out and needed replacing...

i started selling avon. although the economy has been rough, i am really getting a good start with this business. my website is www.youravon.com/dawnellacox feel free to shop it even if you are out of state. you can have it delivered to you and i still get my commissions.

kenzie has had a great school year so far... she mastered one of her goals on her iep!

maddie is 2 weeks from being 4 years old, but I really can't believe that my baby isn't a baby anymore!

let me see... oh yeah, my in law's intrepid decided to die on them, so in the mix they were down to one car at the same time. they bought an 06 chevy malibu and let me tell you, i love it!

really, that is all i can think of at this time... more to come as i can think.

been a month....

without a car. yep. my van bit the dust. it needs a head gasket job and motor mounts as well. that will be completed by the end of this month. along with a tune up and few other minor jobs. not my idea of a good time, but it has given us time to think about how fortunate we are to have a car at all.

i borrowed a car this weekend so that we could take the kids to the easter egg hunt.

and that really is all that is going on here.... more to come when i get my blogging mojo back.

Mackenzie's Birthday Party

Was on 2/21. I will be getting a cd with the pics on it. My friend Scott took pics for me. I brought my camera, but somehow forgot to put the memory card in it. It's funny because I think the same thing happened last year! LOL anyway, I can't wait to be able to share a few of my favorites here. She loved her 4 in 1 combo jumper. And we are getting one for Maddie's birthday as well. She got a cupcake smashed in her face! I just couldn't resist. I asked her if I could have the top cupcake since it was pink and that is her favorite color. I then had scott get in place and slammed her good! It was so funny!

7 Years Old.

My baby is 7 now.

You are so very independent.

You are in 1st Grade.

You love school more and more every year I am finding.

You are very caring.

You love going to church and it saddens you if one of us is sick and can't take you.

You love playing with your wii. Which is a good thing!!!

You enjoy reading to all of us.

We can't wait to see what the rest of this year brings!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

busy times

i've been busy. church keeps me busy with teaching. the kids keep me running as well... hope is in the air for slower times.

South Beach Diet

Find South Beach Diet Recipes and more at SouthBeachDiet.com

scrappin' diva

so i am getting ready to head out for a scrap with angelena, dawn ryan, brenda and melissa. i am loving this little group of ladies. i am sad that jessica can't be there with us, but i am sure that fun will be had by all of us. it will be an early evening for me though because ryan is keeping cici and izzy for angelena so she can go with us and angelena has to get chris from work at 11 not to mention that ryan is working a double tomorrow, so i am sure he will want me home at a decent hour. i could do the all nighter and be fine tomorrow, but he on the other hand couldn't.

so, i talked to brenda (a different one) about me going on into 1st grade for my thursday nights and she has agreed to start weaning me out of 4's. I love my kids in that class, but i have always felt led to be in the first grade room, so in march i will have 1 of my 3 weeks serving in 1st grade, 2 of them in april and then from may on i will be in the first grade class. i know that god will be doing great things through me in that class and can't wait to see what he has in store.

here are the lyrics to a song i absolutely love:




Lyrics Miley Cyrus lyrics - The Climb lyrics


i got that song in a text and was able to save it as a ring tone. i love it. it is so true that there will always be another mountain to climb. and what i like best is knowing that all we need is Jesus to help us climb our mountains.

...

So, it's been a busy time since my last post. Maddie had her evaluation which has led to a referral for district to take her in the sound room to check her hearing. She wouldn't cooperate the last time, so we will be traveling to Wesley Chapel for the sound room. Then after we get the results from that, Mrs. Lavin will be sending in a referral for the Pre K team to do a full evaluation of her. From there, we will keep you posted. I am taking her in to get her eyes checked so that we can have that under our belts as well.

Kenzie made Citizen of the Month for last month, so we had a nice celebration for her 2 weeks ago at the school. We also made Super Star Athlete in the last few months.

I volunteered on Spring Pics day, so that was lots of fun getting to meet Mr. Poll was quite the treat! He's a great guy!

I am teaching 3 thursdays a month, so I am a busy girl (at church).

Kenzie is now in Missionettes at church while Ryan and I are in Mens and Womens. Maddie is in her little class with Miss Jessica! She loves it.

I have been getting one night a week to go scrapbooking with my friends! I cherish my time with the girls! Everyone needs it! It is such a stress releasing time! I can't believe I survived motherhood without one! LOL

Kenzie is having her birthday party in about 2 weeks! We can't wait. It's gonna be tons of fun!

I will be taking a before pic and an after one. I am on a mission to loose 100 pounds! I will be starting the South Beach Diet come tuesday with Jessica and who knows, by October, I hope to be a skinny minni! I have a Women of Faith Conference and a wedding to attend that month, so I am hoping that I will have enough time to look my best ever by then.

I got my hair cut and copper highlights put in and I love it.

and I guess that about does it for me....

Hope to be here more often!

been busy

with life. will try to post here soon... have to be at kenzie's school at 3, so maybe after church tonight i will post about that... and maddie's appointment.

a sickly lil 6 year old

kenzie wasn't feeling well on sunday and today she missed school. she now has a fever blister on her lip. poor babe! she will pull through this. i know she will... let me put it this way, she fought with maddie, so i know she can't feel that bad. she is also watching cartoons smiling right now.... i am sure she will come through just fine!

fun times at jessica's

i went over to my friend jessica's about 3 months ago for a scrap meet. it was the first time i ever scrapped... so this was the reason i got into it so heavily. i had so much fun that i started into it big time. well i recently went back to pick up some stickers she had for me. we had a nice long chat and planned for a "crop" tomorrow. i am also going to go to her house next friday since ryan is off and then we will be heading over to moon lake to do some scrapping with a friend of hers who has every machine imaginable, so i hope i will be able to get some cool lo's done and maybe be able to cut more images than i currently can. i am loving this hobby so much.

an update on the other things going on right now:

*kenzie starts back to school monday (she can't wait)!
*maddie has an evaluation for speech on 1/27 (i can't wait to see what the outcome is)
*maddie continues to go potty on her own (she poo'd in the potty without me asking her to this morning)
*ryan is getting better with mario kart
*kenzie managed to bowl very close to a 200 this week on the wii
*i made some birthday cards and a get well card. i just need to get a good template for making the envelopes out of 12 by 12 coordinating papers!
*my friend ben was in the hospital (he had a seisure (which led to a stroke) he had to give up his driver's license at age 29 due to his ms and the activity, but he is out of the hospital now. will keep you updated)
*our friend johnny is in the hospital (i will have an update a little later on today on him and will edit when i do)
*we are planning kenzie's birthday party. it will be at the same playground we had it at last year. i called the man and he said if we wanted to we could get a bouncer for the party! i am stoked because we are debating that one.

i guess that about sums up what we have been up to.
i am trying to get better about blogging... hope i am doing what i am attempting...

loads of love!
dawnie

happy day

so, kenzie has had her days where she doesn't want to have a happy mommy and daddy. well. i just looked over at her (sitting on the couch watching hannah montanna smiling like you wouldn't believe) and she said, "mommy, i had a happy day"

that just makes my day!

Mario Kart Wii:
Yes, this was bought for ryan for christmas, but i'm telling you, i play it more than he does. we both have licenses (basically accounts) on there, I have won us (on my acct) all 32 tracks in the 50cc grand prix. I will start working on winning the last cup that I just unlocked in the coming days since it is the Special Cup and the tracks are very hard. Then on to winning the 150 cc ones and the 100 cc ones... Lastly, I have to win all of the time trials against ghosts in order to unlock the remainder of the items and drivers on the game, then, game on during parties! it's a really fun game to play with friends!

maddie continues to grow like a weed! she told me last night "I'm not wearing a pull up anymore! I'm a big GIRL!" I was entirely pleased with that especially when she pood in the potty right after it! Good girl!

kenzie got a hair straightener for christmas. No, she doesn't have curly hair, but it is wavy underneath, so it looks like it isn't brushed most of the time. she has decided that she loves her hair straight and lets me do it about every other night before bed for the next day. i think it makes her look so much more grown up.

well, they are starting to argue, so i better go.

I am going to work on the first page of a challenge due by the end of the month tonight. when i get my camera charged, i will post pics.

Loads of Love to my bloggy friends!

9 favorite scrapbook lo's

Going into the 2k3 album for Kenzie is this lo. It is of her and shelby when they were just 7 and 14 weeks old. They were just adorable at that age. They have become so much closer as the years have gone on. They love spending time with each other and I love it when they can be together.

These were my favorite pics of the girls from when maddie was a baby. She was maybe 5 months old here if that and Carol had gotten her and kenzie the matching outfits. I used the wording "I smile because you're my sister" because it was cute. I wanted it to say "I smile because you're my sister. I laugh because there's nothing you can do about it." but didn't have room for it all... I had gotten this paper pad made by Martha Stewart and didn't know if i would be using the button paper, but it really worked out well to accentuate the outfits the girls had on. The embellie I chose was a pic of my girls cut in the shape of a heart and used glitter to outline it as a frame.

This is page one of our wedding layout. I used the quote "I love you today, tomorrow, and forever" for the wording on it. I really took my time and cut the bottom of the paper off of the lace you see at the top and then used that paper to cut the lettering and hearts from my cricut using the don juan cart. I really like how it all blends nicely with the background color.

This is page two of our wedding lo. I am liking that I was able to pull this off. It is the first 2 page lo I have ever done, and like the way it looks in the book side by side. It really highlights the different parts of our wedding nicely.

This was one of my favorite dresses that we had bought for Kenzie when she was younger. She wore it for the first time when she was just 2. I took the colors from her cake and dress and pulled them out to the layout. I then used the cricut to make the lettering. the flowers came from a kit I got for christmas. I loved that the printed paper I found in a scrap pack from Big Lots was just perfect for this lo. It will go in Kenzie's 2k5 album.

Heartbreaker... What more can be said? This was taken in 2k7 when Maddie was just under a year old. I loved those glasses and decided that I would scrap this. I wasn't sure what to do with it at first and put the pic back away. Then after christmas, kenzie had gotten the heart paper in her kit and I got the punches. I used the cricut to cut the lettering and let me tell you, this is one of the best lo's I have done so far. Love it and it will go in Maddie's 2k7 book.


This lo is a fav of mine that will be going into the 2k8 album. This pic was taken of us outside of my brother's house in 2k8 a few days before we moved from Indiana the last time. Kenzie had just gotten her cast put on her arm and we were worried about her hurting herself more... I love the way that I was able to have the b/w photo pop on this lo. I think b/w may be one of my new fav's to scrap with.

This layout, kenzie helped design. We wanted to do a sister page for both of their books, and since kenzie got a sb kit for christmas, we used lots of her things to make this lo. I got the sister sticker and the "the girls" sticker. I took and helped her frame things, she told me how and where to put things. I did make the executive decision to put the title strip behind the sister's sticker so that it would stand out more. All in all I love this lo because it allows me to remember how much love and fun i had when i was making this with kenzie. This lo will go in her 2009 album as I make it since the pics were taken in 2k9 and she made it that year too!

This layout, I loved making because it allowed me to remember how much fun we had when we were taking the pics of Maddie and Kenzie in the front yard in Jeffersonville. I love that the colors all look so nicely together and the flowers that were given to us for christmas went very well with the flowers in their dresses. I just love this. And if you look, the sticker in the bottom left corner says "perfect day" there was no other way to describe the way we felt that day!

These are my 9 fav lo's from 2k9. I was challenged to do this and it was quite easy for me as I just started so I didn't have a lot to go through to find my lo's, but I am sure many of you did have a lot more to go through to find yours, and I want to say that I love looking at your lo's and can't wait to see the ones from 2k10!

hope everyone had a happy new year.

i hope you all had a happy new year. we sure did. we went to church so i could teach in the four year old class. this was supposed to be my last week teaching in 4's but i agreed to stay in fours until the end of febuary, then in march, i will be doing 2 nights in fours and one night in 1st grade for a few months, so hopefully by june, i will be in 1st grade 3 thursdays a month. the reason i am in fours is because i am hoping to help until they can get better coverage as many of the parents think that the church pays the teachers to man the classes so they can go to service, but this simply isn't the case. we did have a few parents say they would be interested and took information so they can get their ministry placement apps in so they can start helping out which is great. i am just believing that god will bring helpers in each week. this week we learned the first part of the lesson on noah and the ark. this is one of my all time favorite bible stories because of all of the animals and the lesson that if you trust god, he will protect you. our craft was to decorate a butterfly, but i wanted to take it to the next level, so i cut the centers of all of the butterflies out and made them into what looked like a frame. we then told the parents that they could pick up magnet tape and then put a pic of their child in the center of the butterfly and have it for a refrigerator magnet. they all loved the idea!

we then after church went to scott and juanitas. we played wii, did the firework thing. kenzie met a dog and loved him from afar. and watched the ball drop. at this point, i followed through on my word to my friend and had a glass of wine with her. (for those of you who don't know, i don't normally drink, so a glass of wine was nice). it was arbor mist white zinfadel(sp?) and i liked it... we then played more wii. maddie fell asleep in juanita's arms. ryan carried her to the spare bedroom. kenzie followed not long after to watch cartoons. about a half hour later, kenzie was sound asleep. we adults played wii for a while longer. for some reason, scott and i appeared to be the only ones playing for a while, then kevin joined us. i beat scott for a few games of bowling (bringing my record to 255) and then he beat me at mario kart. we then got out the wii fit plus. this was when the fun really began. to see him trying to beat my high score on the hula hoop was hillarious. at one point i had orange hi c coming out of my nose i was laughing so hard! and then to mess with kevin and scott while they were trying was the funnest part of the night. we all crashed about 3 am. i was up by 7 with the girls... kenzie wanted to go out and see the pigs, so we did and she loved them. she fed their pet bird too. she loves the bird because she took a cheerio out of her fingers through the cage and kenzie thought it was awesome.

i have taken on a new craft. scrapbooking... see my facebook profile for pics of that! it is becomming my passion.

and that is the update for now.

hope all is well!

also, please try and help me remember to blog as i have forgotten to here recently!

mommy's sick again

So, I had a cold a few weeks ago and saturday morning i work up sick again. I am hoping that I will be feeling good enought to go to Busch Gardens tomorrow. See, I was given tickets to Busch for a christmas present, but they have to be used before christmas day, so I took tomorrow off of work so that I could go (well switched days prior to me getting sick). I have been feeling so bad that I took an additional 2 sick days. So now I just hope to be feeling better soon. I will be uploading pics here since I got a 32 in 1 adapter and can now use my memory card to upload to the comp. Let's see here... christmas excitement is going on and that's about it. pics later tonight... gotta get ready to go get kenzie from the bus now.

mommy'

haven't felt like writing

i know i have become a bad blogger, but honestly, i haven't felt like blogging... lately you can see more via my facebook status than you can here... hopefully i will feel like blogging again soon

a busy day

last night, i had scrapbooking.. It wasn't until 2 am that I looked over at the clock and figured out I should be going to bed... LOL. we got up went to the flea market for a couple of things, then met up with carol for pictures with santa and more shopping. we then flew to her house.. put up the fall decor and got christmas suff down and headed home. i am ready to fall asleep now! kenzie and i did make a special thank you card for a very special person!

Scrappin' from the heart!!!!

I had another scrappin' meet at my apartment with Angelena on Friday night. We had so much fun. I am finding that I love doing this because I get to spend time with my bestie and dive into the memories of whatever pages/pictures we are creating that night. I started working on a "Fun in the Sun" page for Kenzie's book and another page for Maddie's book. I will charge my camera, find the adapter and put pics on here as soon as I get the pages finished. Can't wait to meet again on Friday night! More to come.

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,
I know you are very busy and you are getting lots of letters, but I hope you find this one in the mix of all of the others. My mommy and Daddy have to work Christmas Day, so could you please delay coming for me and my sissy until the day after christmas. Oh, and one more thing, come to Yaya and Pappy's house for us since that is where we want to have our christmas. Now for the best part, Santa here are our lists.

Kenzie wants a wii and some wii games.
Maddie wants a train track and some engines to chug around it.

Thank you and we love you,
Kenzie and Maddie

christmas is comming

so, i keep trying to find new ideas for everyone in my family. carol has given me a list, so has derrick and amanda... i know what i am getting riley. shelby is done... kenzie is almost done... maddie i haven't even begun on. ryan hasn't informed me of what he is desiring to recieve. and the same rings true for roy... grandma, well, i am just trying to decide on her... my mom i have part of hers done.... do the holidays ever end? i would guess not for me... i start early (i started in july this year, but somehow got behind on my gift buying... ) what am i gonna do to get caught up? who knows... LOL although, i can't wait for christmas because i am getting excited about what the kids are getting... LOL... i have also asked ryan to get me something really big, so we will see if he follows through with what i have asked him to do or not... since i gave him many ideas, who knows what i will get and that is what i like about the whole thing... kenzie has asked for only one thing... and maddie doesn't fully understand just yet what the whole big deal about christmas is yet, but she will very soon. since i have to work on christmas day, i think kenzie and i will bake a cake for jesus' birthday to take to roy and carol's house that weekend and have a good ole time!

Scrappin" with da girls!!!

Tonight I had the best time scrapbooking with some friends from church. Jessica is the teacher in the class the girls are in on Tuesday nights while I am in women's, and Angelena is my bestie whom is a member at the church I go to. I took plenty of supplies for me and her to hang out and work with. I took this machine called Sizzix Sidekick. I have to say I had fun learning how to use it. I wasn't really sure and since Jessica has done this for a while, she taught us some really cool things. She taught me how to take a template and emboss the whole top of my page so that I could make it really cool. I made the first page of Maddie's scrapbook. Next time, I will try to make the first page for Kenzie's book. I want to work on making the two books at the same time. I will likely have to go out and buy 2 scrapbooks so that I can work on the two at the same time. I also was able to spend time with two wonderful women tonight. We mommies don't realize how much we need the time together away from hubbies and children to just have fun! I think this will be a tradition that I will continue for a while. After I got home the neighbor, Denise asked if she could come over once a month to have a little scrapbook fun at my place! I can't wait. This has renewed a little spark in my spirit!

Kenzie and Maddie are spending the night at roy and carol's house, so I have a quiet house for a little longer until Ryan gets home from work.

Tomorrow we have a birthday party to go to in San Antonio, Fl with Deb and Kevin, so we won't be around much, but we are going to try and blog the day toward the end of the day...

I can't believe it is almost Thanksgiving... I so need to get pics put on the computer off of my camera so that I can upload some here for you all to see.... Such procrastination!


I am off here for tonight.... Loads of Lovin to all y'all

Long awaited

Well, since we have moved, I hadn't gotten the internet and cable turned on. I broke down this month and got my services re established today. I am trying to decide what pics to upload since we have taken soooooo many since the last upload! The girls are in dance class. I go to womens at church every tuesday. We go every Thursday to evening services and I teach in 4'
s 3 weeks a month. Not to mention the normal stuff we try to do... So we are a busy family, but all in all we are doing good. Ryan has been where we work now for a year and my anniverssary is in January. It is hard to believe that Christmas is next month, good thing I am done with Kenzie and only have a few more things to get for Maddie... Can't wait for it to be over!!!! I am so excited for the girls. Kenzie is doing really good in school (oh yeah, i volunteer in her math class every thursday) and Maddie is blossoming like you wouldn't believe. Well I better go for now. More to come!

Halloween!!!

We had tons of fun! Kenzie decided she would be a bride and Maddie was a princess. My bestie, Angelena, and her two kids, Cecilia and Isabella, came over to Roy and Carols house. Kevin and Ryan passed out candy and The girls and I with Angelena went trick or treating. The kids had a blast. When we were tired and the boys were out of candy, the two mommas came home and the boys took over. Kenzie and Maddie went through their first Haunted House! And LOVED it! Can't wait to have the extra money to go to disney and take them through the Haunted House! That should be really fun!!! And so I am awake and blogging before I forget to do it!

My computer is being worked on and when it gets back we are planning on hooking up our cable and Internet so I can get back to blogging on a regular basis as well as putting some fresh pics on here including the halloween ones.

That about does it for now...

7 years

I can't believe that it has been seven years since we got married! To celebrate, Carol and Roy watched the girls last night and we had a date night. We went to Souix City Steakhouse here in NPR. I had some awesome cheesy, bacony, mushroomy, chicken with a honey mustard sauce! Yummy! and then we were off to the Cheapo Theatre.... We saw Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince (only cost us a whopping six dollars total). I had read the book and wanted to see the movie and as always I was disappointed because of all the details I thought should have been put in the movie that they cut out. Ryan was a little disturbed. When the hand came out of the water, he jumped LOL! And that is all I am saying in case someone wants to see it and hasn't yet. We then went to Starkey Park and hung out with Kev and Deb for a little while. That was fun. We made it home just before midnight. Fun times, but as we age, our bodies can't handle that as much.

Today: Ryan and Roy playing golf, the girls are all headed to a harvest festival.

Halloween costumes: Kenzie: BRIDE (beautiful!)
Maddie: one of the many dress up costumes we already have... a princess, rockstar, fairy, butterfly, etc. She still has to pick it out.
Isaboo: the same as maddie... a dress up costume... and she has to pick it..
CiCi: don't know yet, but I have a beautiful blue princess costume we bought for Kenzie that would be wonderful for her to wear.

Ryan is handing out candy here at roy and carols house while kenzie, maddie, cecilia, isaboo, angelena and i all go trick or treating. will be a fun night for all the besties! maddie and izzy love each other... kenzie and cecilia are friends too... and angelena is the bestest bestie there is!

gotta go to the fest... hope to have pics to post soon! my computer will be getting fixed soon can't wait! roy found someone to fix it for me!

another week has passed...

so, yet another week passes and this is what has occured...

thursday-- i volunteered in kenzie's class... had a blast with the kindergarten kids... we did lots of coloring and following directions. lots of fun... then i headed home to check in with ryan and maddie who had just been hanging out like monkeys hang from trees.... i spoke with my mom. pop had some blood work done a few weeks ago... and the white cell counts were high so they did a bone marrow biopsy to rule out cancer... RESULTS ARE IN: NEGATIVE!!! Praise the Lord!!!

Friday: i worked. nothing really new there...
same saturday and sunday.... monday was more of work only i got pulled to a unit i never work on and it was not fun...

tuesday, my bestie met me at church for womens. i have been praying that she would come to womens because she needs the support right now and i was surprised she came.... today we are doing dance...

mid week update

i thought that since i brought the computer to church tonight while the girls were having dance class i would play on the internet. thank you jesus for free wifi! so i sit here realizing how much i need to make sure i get the dc jack on this puter worked on and how much i really do love my computer, but all in all, not a bad thing to do... kenzie is loving her dance class more and more. maddie could care less, so if she doesn't show an interest by the end of the month, then we will drop her and only carry kenzie and then if maddie shows an interest when she gets a little older, she can always pick it up again... ryan had a bout of not feeling well last night... his pulse started racing and i believe he was having an anxiety attack on top of having a hep b shot... and that is about that... i have lots of cake pics to put on here, but don't have the camera with me or i would upload them real quick... tata for now.

Just a little update

things have been a little busy around here. my friend tina lost her daughter unexpectedly last month. she is still waiting for autopsy results. this past week her father fell ill and as of yesterday they were having a bed side vigil at the hospice house waiting for him to pass. keep her in prayers please.

my pop is waiting for results from a bone marrow biopsy, so continue to pray for him as well.

kenzie is becoming quite the little ballerina. i will try to get some pics soon for you all.

maddie is growing like a weed. she got sick about 2 weeks ago and we missed a full week of our normal activities, but now we are back to normal and she is feeling great. she had viral syndrome, so we thank God that it wasn't anything other than that.

i am loving volunteering in kenzie's class. it is so rewarding and i can't wait from week to week to go back.

ryan is back into the football groove!

and that is that. more to come when i can.

Tiny Dancer.... Pre Ballet... Super Athlete

Lots has transpired since coming home from Orlando.

Monday- Labor Day, Mom and Dad worked. Kenzie and Maddie hung out.
Tuesday- Mom and Dad worked. Kenzie, Maddie, and Mommy went to church. Mommy agreed to do a wedding cake! I can't believe I did it. I am praying that God will control my hands as I do this cake since I always said I would never get into wedding cakes due to the stress! I do love Stacy though!
Wednesday- Mommy worked. Daddy organized in the house. Maddie went to Tiny Dancers. She was really shy and didn't get very into it, but it is all new to her, so hopefully in the coming weeks, she will do better with it. Kenzie went to Pre Ballet and Tap. Miss Ashley and Mrs. Amy were beaming with Joy telling us how well she did in the class and she asked as soon as we left the church if she could go back next week! I think we might have found something she enjoys!

KENZIE GOT HER FIRST AWARD OF THE SCHOOL YEAR ON WEDNESDAY!

She recieved a "Super Athlete" award for participation, showing leadership, and great listening skills! I was so proud of her because she isn't the athlete type I didn't think! Mr. Poll (her p.e. teacher) was proud and she loves him!

And that is all for now! Tune in for more updates!

We had fun!

Our trip to orlando is almost over. We have had fun. We hung out with Amanda and Shelby on Friday. Swam with the girls, and went to a Wedding. We will be vegging today for a little while before heading back to New Port Richey. And then it is back to work with ourselves!

Fun Times

So, we got to Orlando at about 1pm. today. We stopped at Ikea on the way, and had fun. Get to Amanda's house and hung out for the day. Fajita's for dinner and then swimming with the kiddos! Lots of fun was had by all. Now I am playing the restaurant city on facebook! See you there.