Ahhh, Monday!

Not much going on today. The kids are back to school after their Spring Break. I have a bunch of errands to run...dry cleaners, post office, DMV. Whoo Hoo!

Wanted to share a layout I completed when Erika and Nicole came over Saturday night to crop. I really wanted to use the calender page from my Studio Calico kit. I love the way it turned out.


Don't forget the Survivor Challenge at AMR starts today! Go check it out! Happy Monday!

Ready for something fun?

Then you need to pop on over to All Moments Remembered and check out the Survivor Challenge hosted by DT member Debbie Sherman.

The first Challenge begins on March 31st and is due on April 7th by noon EST. Every Monday the Survivors will be listed on the Survivor Challenge thread and will move on to the next week. All entries will be voted on by the participants and members. The entries with the most votes will move to the next round. The week begins on Monday and ends on the following Monday at noon. All entered will need to check the Survivor thread every Monday afternoon to see what the next weeks challenge is and to see if their name is on the Survivors list. There will be an awesome prize provided by All Moments Remembered. You need to register with AMR to participate so hop on over and join us!

Also, don't forget AMR's online crop April 5th from 2pm-midnight est. The Design Team is hosting challenges all day with RAKS provided by Stacey, the awesome owner of AMR!

Wanted to give a special shot out to my friend Erika. It was her birthday on Monday. We met 5 years ago when we moved into our house and we quickly became friends. In fact, I am responsible for her starting to scrapbook. She is super fun, crazy and would do anything for you! Happy Birthday my friend! Hope your day was super fun and special.

And because a post is boring without pics I am sharing two layouts I did recently of each of my boys. Enjoy your Thursday!

Happy Easter!

Wanted to take this time to wish all of our family and friends a very Happy Easter! Hope the Easter bunny was good to everyone this year! We are spending a very relaxing day at home, just the four of us. No plans...just do whatever we want. It is kind of a nice change of pace. These are some pics of the boys coloring Easter eggs last night. They did a really good job and even tasted an egg this year. They both hated it. More for Eddie. I don't touch the things.
The Easter Bunny brought lots of candy this morning along with a new webkinz for Connor. A German Shepard he named Travis. Zachary got a basketball he had been wanting and Magic Rocks. You add water and they become crystalized towers of colored rocks. He loves stuff like that. I think the EB did a bang up job, considering it is so hard to find things for boys at Easter.
Now for something super sweet. My friend Aleida tagged me with this award. How sweet is that?

Now it's my turn to reciprocate and here are the rules:
the rules for the *you make my day award* are to re-present it to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blog land. let them know through email or by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. beware you may get the award several times yourself, and if you do, consider yourself really, really loved.

I nominate:
Stacey
Heather
Tracy
Linda
Debbie
Joscie
Deborah
Elizabeth
Nicole
Rachel

Last night, Nicole and Erika came over to scrapbook. As soon as they got to my house we decided we needed to take a trip to Archiver's. We scored big time! They were just putting out the new Making Memories Baby line. Now, I don't need baby themed papers.The backside of some of them were not babyish at all and were too delicious to pass up. On the way home, I couldn't find my turnpike card. I looked everywhere and was afraid I had lost it. Nicole pulled over to the shoulder so we could turn the light on and look for it. Just as we were about to call it lost and pull away, a Highway Patrolman pulls up behind us with his lights flashing. We couldn't stop laughing but pulled it together when he came along side her car with his very bright flashlight. He looked like he was 12! We told him our story and he said he was just checking to make sure we were okay. Whew! And that was our excitement for the evening.

Looks to be a busy week. The boys are on spring break! Enjoy your day!

CKU...Where do I start?

I guess I will start with this gal, Ali Edwards. I just can't say how lucky I am to call her a friend. CKU is the one time a year Nik and I get to catch up with her and help her out in the process. I am constantly amazed at her talent and creativity and this year's album, Evolution was no exception. My most favorite part of the weekend is to go around to each table and chitty chat with the students, look at their pictures and see their interpretation of the album. We saw so many great pics, especially older, vintage ones. And as always, a tear or two is shed. Love that!

This is Paolo, Ali's friend from high school. Even though I felt like I knew him from Ali's blog, it was my first time meeting him in real life. I felt like he was a long lost friend. You know, the one you don't see often but every time you do you pick right back up from where you left off? He was supposed to be one of Ali's TA's but ended up being the official photographer for the weekend. He did such a great job with the commencement slide show. His pics were hilarious and I loved his perspective. And let me tell you, he has mad navigation skills. They came in handy at 12:30am on Wednesday night! Thanks Paolo.

This pic is for Stacey at All Moments Remembered. She loves Tim Holtz and didn't get the chance to meet him at CHA-W. Enjoy Stacey!

We also got the chance to meet some Studio Calico friends. This is Emily and Barb. They are crazy funny and made me laugh a lot.

This is Tonya who is just a total sweetheart. Wished she lived closer so we could get together more often. Wanna move to Ohio Tonya? For some reason, blogger won't let me post another pic I have of Stephanie, another SC friend. She and her mom were in Ali's track on Friday and they are dolls. Also in the track were Ann, Erin, Helen, Malika and Elizabeth all SC gals. I so enjoyed getting to meet everyone and hope I haven't left anyone out.

Gotta give a special hello to Annette, Whitney and Laura! Annette and Whitney were in Ali's class last year and remembered Nicole and I. Laura is a new friend who is an honorary employee at Windy City Scrapbooking. We all went out to dinner Saturday night and let me tell you, we had a blast. I never laughed so hard! I don't think Uncle Julio's Restaurant will ever be the same.

The only sad thing is that the weekend goes by so fast. It's back to reality for me this Monday morning!

Spring can't come soon enough!

As most of you know by now, NE Ohio got dumped on this weekend by a major winter storm. It started Friday morning and didn't stop until 8:30 Saturday night. My in laws came to visit from North Carolina and let's just say they were amazed! They haven't seen snow like this in years. Eddie's mom was like a little kid playing in the snow and helping Zachary build a snow fort. My brother-in-law, Kit doesn't like the cold one bit but had a ball playing in the white stuff.

This is going to be a short but busy week for me. Nicole and I leave for CKU in Chicago on Wednesday. To say I am looking forward to this is an understatement. Always have such a blast with Nicole! Erika would have been coming too if she didn't just give birth a week ago! We are going to meet Barb and Emily and hopefully some other gals from Studio Calico. If there are any AMR gals going to CKU, please let me know I would love to meet you guys too! Nik and I are so excited to be two of Ali Edwards teaching assistants for the second year in a row! So if anyone out there in blogger land is in her album track I would love to meet ya!

Nicole tagged me to name seven random things about me. Here goes:

• I am just under 5 feet tall.
• I am afraid to fly
• I have never seen an single episode of the Sopranos. This one blows Erika & Nik away.
• I can pretty much remember all the words to "Rappers Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang.
• I feel guilty saying "no". This one gets me in trouble and stresses me out.
• I don't know how to play video games. Much to my sons disappointment.
• I will sit and watch vampire and zombie movies with my hubby, even though I hate them!

I challenge anyone reading this who wants to play along!

Whoo Hoo!

I have some exciting news to share! I have been added to the All Moments Remembered Design Team! I am thrilled to be asked to join this team which includes Heather, Linda, Tracey, and Debbie! Stacey, the owner of AMR is such a sweetheart and she has big, big plans for her site and store which by the way is growing by leaps and bounds. Anne Marie is our awesome message board hostess and does a great job keeping us all up to date! I couldn't be happier to join this wonderful team. AMR's March kit has been revealed today. The main kit is sold out but I think there are still a few add-ons.

Stacey also announced that Karla Dudley will be AMR's guest designer in April! How great it that! I can't wait to see what she creates.

Don't forget the online crop today! It starts at 2pm est and goes until 12am est. There are some great challenges planned throughout the day and winners will be sent RAKS from Stacey. Make sure you check out the store too. CHA-W product is starting to arrive!

Something else that totally made me happy yesterday was an email from Scrapbook Trends requesting a layout for their new Vacation Idea Book! Way excited to see this book!

Whew! Can you tell I am excited? We are under a blizzard warning all day today so all this good news couldn't have come at a better time.

Enough with the snow already!

Just saw the news and we are under a winter storm warning through Sunday! Up to a foot of snow! What? I am so done with snow. I want spring.

Eddie's family is coming today to visit. Hopefully they will arrive before the weather truly gets nasty. They couldn't be happier about the snow and want to go sledding. You see, they live in North Carolina where it hardly ever snows so this is a big deal. Connor has his first basketball of the season tomorrow and he is excited that they will be able to see him play.

Remember, tomorrow is All Moments Remembered online crop. It is from 2pm-12am est, with lots of challenges and of course RAKS for the winners! The March kit will be revealed as well as a new design team member and another surprise that Stacey has up her sleeve. Hope to see you there!

Introducing....

This little bundle of joy is Cali Rose born this morning. She is the newest member of one of my best friend Erika's family. Isn't she the sweetest? These are the proud parents, Erika and JR. Cali also has two older brothers, Dylan and Carter who I am sure will be the biggest helpers to their mom, dad and little sis. Nicole and I went to the hospital to visit Erika and see little Cali. I am happy to report that mom and baby are doing great. Cali was 7lbs 5ozs, and I think a little over 19 inches long. Erika's labor was long but happily not that painful. Thank God for epidurals!

Aunt Nicole took this shot of me and Cali. Boy, do hospital rooms have terrible lighting. Congrats Smith family! Your little girlie is adorable. Thanks for letting us come see her!
In other news, All Moments Remembered is having an online crop this Saturday, March 8. March's kit will be revealed along with a new Design Team member. Stacey also has another surprise up her sleeve that no one knows about which will be announced on Saturday too. The crop is from 2pm-12am est. There will be lots of challenges and RAKS to the winners! Come check it out!

Another wild weather week here in NE Ohio. Yesterday was 61 degrees and today, it is raining/sleeting/snowing. What's up with that?