Remember the Moments

Happy Friday everyone....just a quick post at the end of my "work" day...this photo is so spring-like...even though we have SNOW here! ugh. Just a reminder to "remember the moments"....when we are stressed, or life is flying by!

credits: paper: Amy Teets Whitie Tighties, Shabby Miss Jenn Egg Huntin' Time kit,
Designer Digitals' Anna Aspnes word art

Great Friends!

Why am I still up at 12:41 a.m. on Thursday!?! My poor hubby just called with a flat tire in his work parking lot...he's tired after a long night, and now this...another reason for him to severely dislike my van (he had to drive it today because it was his carpool day for pre-school). Luckily, he has good friends from the TV crew that are staying to help him, and then he decided to call Triple A.

While Rob's night ended light that...I actually had a fantastic time (sorry honey!) catching up with friends...my dear friend Kim Smith was home visiting from NC and a group of us girls went out to dinner to chat and have fun. Thanks Kim, Jenn, Chris, Kel and Tina! Thanks Mom for watching Catie and Anna while I went to dinner last night!

credits: Heather Ann Designs Sugar Kisses kit and CK Becky font

I completed a challenge at Jessica Sprague.com tonight...here is my layout...the challenge was to scrap "a moment to remember" with a photo you just took. I learned this new technique called "extraction" where I cut Catie right out of the photo...my first try--I thought it turned out pretty good!

have a good Thursday!

Easter Fun!

Back to work today, after a wonderful Easter holiday weekend! Here is a collage of Easter moments....from the Easter Egg Hunt in our town on Saturday where Catie and Anna saw their good friends-complete with snow, and then Easter Sunday at Gramma & Grandpa Long's house, and another Easter Egg Hunt with wonderful cousins!

Credits: thanks to Shabby Miss Jenn's Sarah Vrolyk freebie calendar page,
this is cropped from that desktop calendar layout.

Good Friday was a baking day for Catie and I...getting ready for our trip to spend Easter with Rob's family. Besides making a family favorite Jello Pretzel Salad (courtesy of Paula Deen), my cutout cookies have become a tradition of sorts, especially with our nieces and nephews! I was also making birthday brownies for my sis-in-law Stacey! We surprised her with dessert on Friday night, and then continued her b-day celebration with breakfast on Saturday, her birthday! We had fun, and then she and I had a shopping trip to Christmas Tree Shoppe (love that place!) and a country primitive gift shop. Stacey is SO talented in decorating...it was a blast to go hunting for good finds with her.

Since the Easter bunny was in town on Saturday for the egg hunt, we asked if he could visit our house early, due to our early morning departure on Sunday. He didn't disappoint! He had a scavenger hunt with clues in each plastic egg, that led to the girls Easter baskets. Catie got the "Enchanted" DVD (mommy thanks the E.B., too!) We even got Rob to watch it, and he got the fun, catchy tunes caught in his head, I found him whistling one of the songs during lunch! :) The E.B. also delivered a chocolate tiara, and a fav Junie B. Jones book! Anna got "101 Dalmations" and a couple books--they loved their hunt!

It was then onto the town Egg hunt...snow-filled grass at the school athletic fields--but plenty of eggs for all! Anna and Catie were in different age groups, but they each had a great time. This was Anna's very first egg hunt, and she did so well! She ran in her little purple boots from egg to egg, so excited to drop them in her bucket. They saw their friends the Dambras, and Rob captured some sweet pics of the girls.

Sunday, it was a bright and early trip to Gramma and Grandpa Long's house--about 2 hours away! We got there in time for 10:30 a.m. church with the whole clan...and then back to Rob's parent's home for a wonderful day of visiting. The girls just LOVE seeing their cousins...Another egg hunt in their backyard, and then the kids gathered at the kitchen table to examine the candy loot from their eggs! A big meal in the afternoon...wow--thanks Mom and Dad Long for the wonderful meal and great company. (food and desserts galore!)

Then, Monday--Rob and I actually had a little lunch date--we went to buy a new printer and wireless router for our computer and went to Olive Garden for soup, salad and breadsticks lunch! yum...and just so nice to have some time for us.

Now, I've got to start working on my Easter layouts! And work on staying away from all this Easter candy!

And, one week away from my new Jessica Sprague class: Digi in Deep! Can't wait!

Our St. Patrick's Day Dinner

credits: Little Dreamer Designs Michelle Coleman's "Kiss Me I'm Irish" kit, and CK Becky font

I made this page of our St. Patrick's Day night dinner last night while Rob and I watched the tube...poor Rob--he said "I wish I had a laptop!" I felt bad that I was clicking away--and he loves to play with photoshop too!

We had yummy Shamrock Shakes, too! I only had time to make one layout..not a two page spread, so here are a couple of those cute pics of us enjoying the yummy McD's treats, courtesy of Gramma G.

The Luck of the Irish

The official day to celebrate all things Irish...and I love it! This morning, we dressed Catie and Anna in their little "Tis Weeself" t-shirts that Aunt Carrie and Uncle Tim gave them last year--thank goodness they still fit! Gotta get some pics when I get home from work. Catie was all decked out with shamrock necklace, pins, bracelet and a little shamrock tatoo on her cheek for her St. Patrick's Day pre-K party!

My division at work just had a nice Irish luncheon complete with Irish tunes and corned beef subs...very fun.

I will hopefully be able to post a little Irish layout sometime soon--but until then...a layout of my girls playing in the snow last week. I was happy with how the photos turned out...I used a technique that Jessica taught in her new "Computer Tricks for Scrapbooking-Volume II" to lighten some of them.

Credits: Shabby Miss Jenn "Shabbyful" collection, template: Jen Caputo, font: Impact

I had a wonderful Saturday night dinner with my friends Kelly and Trisha...we joked of our early dinner time of 4:30 p.m. at Applebees, but the restaurants in our area get SO crowded..that we wanted time to go shop and talk afterwards! Thanks to Trisha's hubby Scott for paying for our meal--what a great guy, huh?!

Rob and I watched another good movie last night...Steve Carrell's "Dan in Real Life"--when it was in theatres, I saw all the ads, but didn't really understand what it was about. Rob and I both enjoyed it...very good cast, and funny, and dramatic all at the same time. Another good Netflix choice!

Sweet Bunny

Credits: alpha, elements and paper, Shabby Princess "Promise" collectiton; font, Pristina & CK Becky

TGIF! I just took time on my lunchbreak to do this layout of Anna! Her picture makes me smile....we're only one week away from Easter! I can't believe it...and St. Patty's Day on Monday.

The Long family will have our Irish corned beef and cabbage...Rob already bought the ingredients...I'm so glad he is off from work! Catie will have a party at pre-k, and I even have a luncheon at work. Enjoy everyone!

Looking forward to the weekend with my family and a girl's night out with my BFFs Kelly and Trisha! A little dinner and shopping is good for a girl's soul.

"Horton Hears A Who" is coming out..I know that Catie is really anxious to see it--we'll see what Sunday brings! maybe a little movie time. I'll be so excited when Anna can sit still in a movie theatre...I don't like to leave her out. I know she'd be more excited about walking up and down the stadium seating stairs--which wouldn't be very fun for the rest of the moviegoers! All I need is the "Hi-5" TV show on the big screen! :)

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Sunshine on All this Snow

As I'm snacking on leftover pizza from last night's dinner, I'm typing a quick blog post during Monday's lunchbreak...

The sun is shining today...we made it through the worst snowstorm of this winter season here this weekend...wow--my poor hubby got stuck in the driveway two times when he finally got home from work on Saturday..I was waiting up for him, and then I didn't even know he was out there digging out his tires. He said he just had to gun it and fly down the driveway on a wing and a prayer...our plow guy arrived Sunday morning, but we still had to do a lot of shoveling.

Here is a layout a did on Saturday night as I stayed out of the elements, these were some funny pics Rob and I took of ourselves last month when we took the camera outside to get photos of the girls playing in the snow. The photos just make me smile.Credits: template is from Dani Mogstad's "Girl Talk blog",
all papers and elements from Jessica Sprague's "Home Away from Home Kit",
the red polka alpha is from Heather Ann Design's Sugar Kisses kit,
and the font is CK Ali's handwriting.

Rob and I watched a hilarious movie last night. "Death at a Funeral" is a British dramedy that came out this past summer. Wow, we were both dying of laughter (oops-no pun intended) and I stayed awake--which you know it is good if I don't fall asleep on the couch! Here is the trailer...really a good Netflix rental.

My Aunt Carrie and I are officially signed up for CKC Buffalo for May 30-31st! I'm in such a digi scrapping obsession right now--it will be fun to go play with paper. It was last year at CKC that I met Jessica Sprague, and asked her just how to get into digi...the start of my turn towards the "dark side" as we call it. :) Sorry you can't go Stacey--we'll miss ya sis-in-law!

March is A Roarin'!

Wow--we are having quite the March storm outside! It started yesterday--and the ride home from work wasn't great--but now, it's snowed all day! We are expecting to get 2 feet by morning...just when Easter is around the corner, and we are "Springing Forward" to Daylight Savings Time.

So, I thought it was time for a bloggie "spring" update--at least we can dream of pretty flowers and warm(er) weather, right!? I bought this blog package from Shabby Miss Jenn Designs--lovin' it! Now, I just have to figure out how to add all the other beautiful elements it came with. hmmm...my computer skills only go so far.

I spent the day inside...playing with the girls, and poor Rob--having to drive in this stuff to go to work. Catie and I watched "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" while Anna took her nap. Cocoa and popcorn were the snack du jour--and it was nice to relax.

Yes, our press conference was a success yesterday! We got all the media there, and had a huge front page story in today's paper...very cool to see the hard work pay off.

Last night I made this layout of Catie's "Locks of Love" moment with a freebie "apprentice kit from Little Dreamer Designs.

credits: Little Dreamer Designs, apprentice freebie kit: "French Linens" by Denise Zutagno and template from Scrapbookgraphics.com theme album challenge

High School Musical In the House

Ok, you'd expect my 5 year old daughter to be embracing the craze that is Disney's High School Musical, but my 21 month old daughter, too!?

Anna loves to Dance to the HSM2 soundtrack with Catie, and she knows the words to the songs! It just cracks me up! I was dancing with them the other night, and when it got to Sharpay's "Fabulous" song, Anna knew the "I want more..." line (which I thought was hilarious because Anna doesn't understand what she is singing.. but poor Rob said "I don't like that song." I know he doesn't like the values it represents--which is very true.)

Then, last night, as we were coming home from our babysitter Kathy's...two teenage boys passed in front of our van at a crosswalk, one wearing a royal blue jacket with yellow lettering on the back. Anna shouts out from her carseat "High School Musical!" It clicked with me that she thought that was Troy!

When she was sitting in her highchair she then said "where are you Troy!?"

Where did she get that from!? I asked Catie if that was a line in the movie--and it isn't...so my little 1 year old has got the HSM fever!

What am I in for!!?

Getting to Friday

Hi everyone--sorry I haven't posted in a while--this is another week of craziness at work! Only TWO days until our Friday morning press conference at the college to unveil plans for our big arts center renovation--we should get all the local media here--its a pretty big deal.

A shout out to Alicia...my fellow media maven--we're almost there...we owe ourselves a pedicure and foot massage at the salon after this one! :)

Meeting Baby Maggie

My mom and I took the girls to meet their baby cousin Maggie this past weekend--and ooh...she is just beautiful and perfect! I took a ton of pics for new parents Erin and Joe, and I made a birth announcement for them with a free Shabby Miss Jenn card template--it turned out great, I think! Now, I just have to order them for Erin! Here's a look:


Funnies

My Digi scrapbook idol Jessica Sprague often posts "funnies" that her kids have said or done...so I thought it was the perfect way to remember some of the little moments. Here is a favorite of mine from the last week or so:

Catie and I were standing in front of my bedroom closet as I was searching for an outfit and she said:

"Mommy, it is cool that daddy has a red sweater that matches your clothes."
me: "yes, he looks handsome in red, doesn't he?"
Catie: "yes, he is the most handsome man I've ever known!"
me: "yes, I think so too...I'm pretty lucky."
Catie: "it must have been pretty romantic for you when you and daddy were first dating, on your wedding and your honeymoon!"

Isn't that just sweet!!!! Catie is my sentimental girl--after my own heart! She and I are just waiting for our movie "Enchanted" to come out on DVD in two weeks!
Icy March welcome
Last night our area got hit with a major amount of rain that turned to ice as soon as it hit the ground and cars...poor Rob was out scrapping the ice off his car when he got home from work--because I had to drive his car to work today so he could transport Catie and her Pre-school buddy...thank goodness it turned over to snow now...it was not fun.

Catie "In the News"
Catie was in our local little Pennysaver for her "Locks of Love" donation...here is a link
You've got to click your mouse on the bottom corner of the page to turn it, and go in two flips of the page. (she's on the bottom left side a couple pages in!)