rainy days

it has been rainy all week here. we even had a tornado watch if you can believe that!! just trying to keep the boys busy indoors (put them in front of the TV--- j/k i make them do homework) while trying to get some projects done. oh, and i get to go to CHA this saturday. my 1st time and i am meeting a blogger friend from WA! hope to bump into other familiar faces there too. LMK if you'll be there!she is the cutest, isn't she? my blogger friend, tiffany, was kind enough to stamp some of these for me to try out! i must get this stamp soon!

this card is going to my baby sitter. her birthday is coming up in a few days. i don't know what i would do without her....she is a life (and sanity) saver!

just playing around with this double scoop ice cream stamp. makes me smile just seeing ice cream scoops with faces!just sharing some pictures from last weekend's vegas getaway.

went to the M&M store there and also the Coca Cola store. the polar bear has some freaky red eyes....do polar bears have red eyes? i think bryan got freaked out cause he skipped on taking a pic with the bear. they are standing in front of a green screen becuase they digitally put an icy scene in the background and sell the pic to you for about $30. ummm, no thank you.

we tasted 16 sodas from around the world that Coke makes. some were good, some were not. actually, a lot of them were not so good.here's my sis and the boys. bryan sticks to her like white on rice!

went to a restaurant our last night there and these were the desserts. that mango sorbet was dee-licious!!

thanks to my sis & BIL for getting us out for the weekend. we had fun! let's do it again soon....next time, somewhere where brandon & bryan aren't so inclined to want to go play "games". they were so intrigued with the sights and sounds of the slot machines!

a quickie

this year, bryan's invites are simple. we are having it at yogurtland again [his 2nd birthday was there also]. we can never predict weather in january. too cold for the park or it may even rain so better to be safe and have it indoors.
i asked the manager if i could have some spoons and he gave me a bunch and i incorporated them into his invite. i decided to keep it very simple this year by just serving snacks at the party instead of food food. less hassel and less cleanup.
again, these tags came in handy and were perfect for this fast & easy invite. another valentine/friendship card. i did some sewing on it. only my 2nd time sewing on cards and i am getting the hang of it.

this one took me 5 minutes to do. using scraps i already had lying around. again, i sewed on the card

we're off to vegas friday for a quick getaway. meeting my sis & BIL there! the boys will be so happy!! they don't know yet that we are going on a trip and that they'll be there!!

better late than never

here are some pictures from LAST year! better late than never! these are from brandon's holiday cookie decorating party in school.

each kid got 2 sugar cookies to decorate.

even bryan got to get in the action.

brandon really just slathered a bunch of frosting on his cookie, threw some candies and got right to the eating part.

bryan on the otherhand was more into picking just the right candies to put on his cookies.

cooperated with me for a picture!now here are pics from christmas day dinner at disneyland.

i tried to get the red eye out but was too lazy to use photoshop.

gramps and brandonboys opening gifts. see, someone KNEW to buy 2 of the same thing so they won't fight!

grandma w/ the boys










love seeing their reaction opening gifts.....so honest!

i liked brandon's reaction here! so excited for his lil' bro

so proud of having big boy legosbrandon got the mother-load of all bakugan gifts!! (bakugan is a source of many of my migraines)

with daddy

it was another great christmas! we are all so lucky to have family, friends our health and the boys are soooooooooooo active & happy.

hello cupcake

hello! i am back with some more cupcake cards! so craving some chocolate marshmallow ones from sprinkles!!

the tops are cut opened just for a little variety. change it up a lil', KWIM??!! inside says 'hello cupcake'. can be used for valentines or just a friendly friend card.

this is a new hero arts cupcake stamp. i love the size of it! thanks to my friend, leesa, for sending it to me all the way from GA!when my mom was here over the christmas holiday, i asked her to rethread my sewing machine. it was sewing fine on top but the bottom stitching was ugly---obviously, it was threaded wrong by me not knowing how to follow the diagram directions. i would also be the same person who does not know how to read a map. anyways, my mom threaded it correctly for me and here is my 1st card using it. my mom asked me what i was going to sew and i told her cards and she just laughed.

can any paper-sewers give me tips on how to finish off the thread?? i DID mean for the stitching to be crooked but not for them to be sticking out.
BTW, potty training with bryan is going extremely well. we will definitely make the he-WILL-be-potty trained-by-his-3rd birthday deadline! [and yes, bryan is holding a motorola phone. my kiddos gets to play w/ all our old cell phones]

sweet hearts

here are the sweethearts in my life.........
we got a chance to play in the snow this past saturday. the boys' 1st time! they look a little cold don't they?!

i think brandon was ready to throw some snow at bryan's back

doing a snow angel

bryan fell on his butt and was trying to get his very-bundled-body up

brrrrrrrrrr

it wasn't snowing but brandon wanted to make it snow

bryan at his attempt at making a snow angelgame over....eddie decided to sprinkle some snow on bryan and as he ducked, it got all over his neckline and inside his clothes. he cried and said "go home". it was getting dark anyways!working on some valentine's cards. decided to get a head start this year! sorry for the bad pics. the lighting was bad and i had to take pics throughout the day. we are potty training bryan and i needed to keep an eye on the situation. don't want any accidents. so in between being a servant to the 2 boys (i'm hungry, he took my toy, i want a snack, he took my toy, i need to go pee, he took my toy, i want something to drink, he took my toy, can i watch this dvd, he took my toy, can i open this toy, he took my toy, i want to go draw, he took my toy, i want to write, he took my toy), i was trying to have some craft time. it's going well after a rough 1st week. bryan is so stubborn. but we WILL be outta diapers before his 3rd birthday----jan 29th!!!

there is always hope....

short post.

some of you may have remembered me posting this last year. such a sad story but there is always hope............and they have found joy once again. i've been checking in on their blog now and then. so happy when i saw this post. does not replace the dear sweet girl they lost but i am happy they will love again. congrats to the Macs. please take a minute to read cora's story (click the button that says cora's story on their blog that's on the left hand side). really puts a lot of things in perspective and makes me want to hug my boys ALL the time---even when they act like monsters!