Good morning to all you Thanksgiving travelers (I'm talking to you Emily:) Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend and are now back in the swing of things! I had a great time with my parents, but sadly only got to be with them for about 24 hours, but they'll be back again before Christmas so that's good. I'm sure that gained a bunch of weight from all of the yummy things (some are still calling out of me from the fridge as I sit). I didn't get to do any early morning shopping this year which was fine, but I kind of missed it. The kids and I hung out most of the weekend while Corey worked and worked.

Speaking of Corey's work. He interviewed last week in California for a new job that we're really really hoping that he gets. We won't have to move and it's so much better than where he's at now. He really needs a change of scenery and this is perfect for him. We're hoping that we'll hear today so keep your fingers crossed!

Now too much on the agenda today. Grace gets to go back to school so that's exciting for both of us and Abby has dancing this morning which she LOVES! I'm also helping my super sweet next door neighbor with his personal history. He gives me all of his pictures to scan, crop, etc, and put on disks. Then I go to his house and help him input the pictures onto the computer in the places where they'll fit along with what he's written. I need to sit down and get working on the pics today. He is a super sweet guy/grandpa and today he's having his last chemo treatment to I hope that goes well. Not fun:(

Okay well hope you all have a wonderful day and I'll leave you with a few new layouts!


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xoxo until next time!

I thought that I'd post now since my family will be arriving today and I don't know if I'll be able to get back on the computer for a few days. I have all my grocery shopping done and now I've just got to start preparing stuff, yeah! I made my first, from scratch, pie last thursday and it's been in the freezer waiting to make it's debut. It's a carmel apple pie, so we'll see if it's good, lol. Speaking of making things my friend sent me these recipes last night and I'm so excited to try them.

Hot Cider Syrup:
3/4 c. apple cider or juice
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. corn syrup
2 T. butter or margarine
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Pumpkin Pancakes:
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 T. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 eggs, separated
1 c. milk
1/2 c. canned pumpkin
2 T. vegetable oil

In a saucepan, combine the syrup ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes or until slightly thickened. Let stand for 30 minutes, before serving.
For pancakes, combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks, milk, pumpkin and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form; fold into batter.
Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto a hot greased griddle. Turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes. Cook until second side is golden brown. Serve with the syrup.
Yield: 15 pancakes (1 cup syrup).

I guess that's about all that's going around in this neck of the woods. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and if you've already celebrated or don't celebrate Thanksgiving, just have a great day tomorrow!

I made this banner last year during Thanksgiving season and if you missed it and want it please pick it up here :)



xoxo until next time!

There are a few new digi things out today and I wanted to point them out to you!

Found Here!!! You can also order 20 custom words if you'd like more:)

Since Thoughts of Thanksgiving are in the air here are a few fun things to check out:

Found Here!!!

Kate Hadfield and Jacque Larsen are such a great collab team! These fun pics will definitely find there way to my table next Thursday (placecards and whatever else I can think of) :)

Found Here!!!

And here's a little Thankful layout I did this morning:)

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Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo until next time:)

Where to begin? Well since I know you've been on the edge of your seats wondering about Abby and potty training I'll start there, lol. Abby has been wearing panties since last Friday!!! She's still not 100% there, but she's catching on more and more. I usually have to remind her to go to the potty, but sometimes she surprises me and goes in there by herself. She hasn't even worn Pull-ups at night and we haven't had any problems. We still have a ways to go with her, but I can't even tell you how excited I am about using the money I was buying Pull-ups with to buy little baby Kate diapers instead!! Yeah!!

This week was my turn to do preschool with six little three year-old girls. It's was Tuesday for two hours and then today for two hours. I don't know why, but Tuesday those little girls (my own being the WORST) must have been on something when they came, lol. It was NUTS! They all have such different personalities so it's interesting on a calm day. By the time the kids left my cedar chest had been totally broken and a few of our toys snapped in half! I never would have thought that a three year-old could harm my wooden chest. Now I have to find a new home for my blankets and just remember that it really wasn't THAT important to me :) Needless to say today went a whole lot better and now I DON'T HAVE TO DO AGAIN FOR SIX WEEKS!!!!! YEAH!!! What a great feeling, lol.

My great friend Emily Merritt is officially a Little Dreamer Designs designer as of yesterday!!! Along with Emily getting to move there I got to tag along and now I'M ON THE LDD CREATIVE TEAM!!! I still can't believe it myself! I have some great friends over there so I'm sure it will be a blast. Here's my first 'official" ct layout:





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Now I have to clean up after those sweet little three year-olds, put away my one load of laundry from today and get ready for my doctors' appointment.

Have a great day!

xoxo

Weekends (at least Saturday's) have never meant too much to me because Corey is always working on them, but now that Grace is in school it's starting to get it's draw back. It means a morning without having to get kiddos ready and watching some Care bears and Strawberry Shortcake. It's pretty kick back at our house this weekend. Speaking of our house :) here's a little piece that I made to hang in it using lots of Emily Merritt fun stuff and you have to pick up Rachel's pin pokes if you don't have them already!



Speaking of Emily, she has some BIG news to share and she's having a great sale at her store this weekend and also a fun guess what it is type contest on her blog. Definitely stop by and play along. I already know the great news, but I'm still going to play, lol.

In potty training news I'm not sure how it's going. Abby wore her panties all day yesterday and I just kept taking her to the potty. Sometimes she even told me she needed to go (which I was excited about), but she never actually "went," when we'd go into the bathroom. Then she'd fight with me to get a sticker for her chart, lol. I really don't want her to feel major pressure, but it's definitely TIME! Last night after all day no problem she had a little accident. I was pretty surprised and didn't get mad, but she could tell I was frustrated (which I totally regret now). She lost it and cried forever. I really felt bad. Then she said she wanted to go to bed (which is unheard of). Anyway I'm sure she was just really tired, but I can already tell that today she's totally not excited about any "potty" anything. Please sent all your potty training tips my way!

Thanks for your creative vibes! I do have a few designs in the works now that I'm actually liking so that's exciting, but now I've become a major DUD at making previews, lol. It's okay, I'll get over it, but thanks again for endoring my not so positive thinking the other day.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo for now.

I think I'm having mood swings or something lately, lol. I'm just trying to think positive today and not get frustrated about things that don't matter. Last night I felt like such a bad Mom. The girls weren't even being bad I was just so tired and their nonstop talking, singing, fighting, and whatnot were driving me nuts. I just wanted a little bit of silence, but that's way too much to ask a 3 and 5 year-old, lol. Needless to say I was just a little grouchy with them and felt really bad later. I told myself that today would be totally different. Then I woke up and thought that I'd lost my cell phone. The phone has been located and now I'm feeling somewhat better, but still emotional or something. Oy, can I blame this on pregnancy? Please!!! I'm also trying to potty train Abby today so we'll see how long that lasts. Cross your fingers :)

So I did a run to the craft store yesterday and picked up a few things for designing. I've had these fun ideas in my head, but I realized one I'd started that they were way cooler in my head, lol. I have quite a few design projects coming up (which I'm super excited about) so I hope I can get some great inspiration soon. Send me your creative vibes my way if you have any to spare.

My house is still looking pretty clean thanks to flylady and I'm very proud to say that my sink has been shining since the day I started. I'm still struggling with the getting dressed down to my shoes when I wake up in the morning. I guess I enjoy pjs a little too much. I do need to do some 15 minute decluttering daily though. I have quite a few cluttered spaces.

I think that Grace has officially become our game creature when Monday comes. I start thinking of what to do for Family Home Evening (I first think of what the treat will be, lol) and Grace grabs some paper and goes to work. Last week she created a whole game board (I'll have to scan that in) and this week she created her own bingo cards. They were just too cute not to show.



Here are also a few newer layouts just for fun:


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Hope you all have a wonderful day!

xoxo until next time!

First the BIG thing :) This little person that you see here can now be identified at BABY KATE!!! We are definitely having another girl!!!! We couldn't be more excited. Grace and I are both itching to do some baby shopping now and that might get me in trouble, lol. This is an ultrasound pic from when I was 14 weeks along. Little Kate is one "silly little baby" (that's what Grace said). She would not show us her face at all. She just had her little arms up over her face and kept moving nonstop. We could tell that she had all of her limbs and everything seemed to be in place, but no great pics to share.

In other news if you haven't heard about Emily Merritt's super cute tutus you've got to go check them out! Emily was sweet enough to make both Grace and Abby some and they're so cute! I've yet to get a good pic of Grace in hers, but Abby did some dancing for the camera the other day (btw she's in a no clothes phase).



Before I forget, the sweet, hilarious, and fabulous Rachel Young asked me to be on her creative team!!!! Thanks again Rachel!!

Halloween turned out to be a lot of fun! Going to Grace's class was a lot of fun. It makes me appreciate her teacher even more because just being in charge of the kids for one hour was enough for me. We did the trunk-or-treat in the evening and then hung out at grandma's house and had a family party. We ended up with WAY more candy than we needed, lol. Abby decided that she was going to be a bumble bee and she didn't want to take the costume off the whole day! I'll have to see if I can bribe her into getting into her Ming Ming costume just for pics :) Here are some cute Halloween pics!











This was Corey's Halloween costume!!!! Love it!



Have a wonderful day!

xoxo for now!