Wanna win a FREE PaPeR BaG SCRAPBOOK ALBUM?

In recent months I have been working on a bunch of custom layouts for sweet girl I met on etsy. Because we have worked together so much, she asked me to donate a premade paper bag album from my shop for a giveaway on her blog. Here's YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A FREE PAPER BAG ALBUM CRAFTED BY MY HANDS. If you win, you get to select any paper bag album I currently have listed in my etsy shop.

Go here to enter:

http://andbabymakesfourperrine.blogspot.com/2009/03/paper-bag-scrapbook-giveaway.html







So, go enter. Now. You only have a week.


Happy Friday!

Aaaaarrrrrrrrhhhhh!

Aye, mateys! We celebrated Jeremy's 33rd birthday on Monday with a pirate party - Laura insisted. She LOVES to plan parties and must have all the proper trimmings. She begged me to buy hats and balloons. Then streamers. Then decorations. She planned games including pirate tic-tac-toe. Instead of X's & O's, she made scary pirate faces and cross bones.

Here we aaarrrhhh~

I know you may think Martha Stewart made this absolutely gorgeous cake, but it is me that will awe you with my prowess in the kitchen...

This picture is hideous but he insisted we needed one of us with our festive treasure party hats.

Happy Birthday babe! We love you!

I took on a HUGE custom order this week - 70 premade pages. Yikes! It will take me 2-3 months to finish and I'm feeling overwhelmed! One of the pages that was ordered was a cucumber themed layout. I paper pieced cucumbers to put on it - kinda fun. Thought I'd share...

Finally a bonus: ways to entertain yourself. With balloons. After a super exciting pirate party...

Yes, we realize we are incredibly dorky and need to get out more. Thanks for your concern.

Cheer Madness

Last week Laura went to cheerleading camp in the evening at the High School. She had a great time! On the last night they performed for parents what they had been learning all week. I couldn't believe how many girls there were - I guess cheerleading is really popular around here. The kids were grouped by grades and went from K-8.

It's pretty unbelievable how competitive kids sports are these days. It seems that if they want to be able to do a sport in HS, they have to start now (if they haven't already) and be practicing constantly and doing the sport all the time. Otherwise, they won't be good enough & experienced enough to be able to do it. (For example, they told us that if the girls want to be cheerleaders, they need to be in tumbling classes right now to be learning everything they need to know.) I'm not sure I could or would want to really push one sport or activity that much. Laura really enjoys doing a variety of activities and sports and I don't think she would want to pick just one to focus all her attention on. I guess she most likely won't get the opportunity to be a star athlete/cheerleader/whatever. I'm certainly okay with that. I would rather her focus on the more important things (in my opinion) in life anyway...

Here's a few photos of the performance.

Tons of girls - all around the blue mat.

Laura's group

Not the best photo because we had to sit SO FAR away but Laura is the one to the left of the girl in the pink shorts.

Artsy-Fartsy

Laura was selected to have her art work displayed at the High School as part of a district wide K-8 art show. Today they had a reception and all of the art work on display. We really enjoyed seeing her "self portrait" as part of a study they did at school.

I am so proud of my little artist! I love this girl!

Lindsay was really fascinated by these "Day of the Dead" paper mache statues that some fourth grade students had made. She kept wandering back over to them to check them out??

It was another BLUSTERY day here in the buckeye state!

I still do promise photos of Laura's baptism very soon. Hugs to everyone!

We R Bugs

I beg your pardon (once again) for my lack of posting.

Last week the girls battled strep throat/scarlatina all week. It was a L-O-N-G week with fevers, sore throats, crying, pediatrician visits, rashes, antibiotics, more crying, and more. I'll spare the really gory details. Laura missed the whole week of school but (thank you Jesus), was able to go back today.

I had dreams all night about my blog so I decided I better blog today. The guilt was getting to me.

I wanted to take photos of Laura with the scarlatina rash ALL OVER her body including her face but she absolutely refused. Instead I'll share this. The girls have this "game" they play "We R Bugs". They dress up like bugs (Lindsay is always the butterfly and Laura the bee) and play music. They keep this sign and hang it up on the wall each time it's time to play We R Bugs. I don't know why I think this is so funny, I just love it that their imaginations are so vivid. I love it that I have a couple of little artists. I love it that they love to play together. They decided to play yesterday and since I find it so hilarious I thought I'd take some photos and share.

Some of the orders I've been working on recently...

"Udder-ly Adorable" 12x12 layout

8x8 Baby Boy jungle themed album

Happy Birthday (to my little sister) Beth! We love you. When I told Lindsay it was your birthday, she determined that Karilyn and her Daddy should wrap presents for you. (Heidi would eat the wrapping paper.) So, hope they got to it. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I wanted to take some cute photos of my Valentine sweeties. It was an ordeal. Seriously, is it too much to ask for just a few minutes of cooperation? I guess these ones aren't too bad.



And one of Laura with her Valentines for her classmates.


Our Valentine's day was not romantic but it was productive, which in my book, is really attractive in a husband. : ) I love a man who can paint. (And he bought me some thoughtful gifts including a really cute "family" frame with quotes and LOTS of openings for photos.)

Jeremy painted our living room today so our re-arranging project has taken a giant leap forward. Hopefully we will be done soon. Here's hoping...

Let's pretend...

that it hasn't been over TWO WEEKS since I last posted. I've been a bad blogger. Oops.

I wish I could say I haven't posted because I have been busy finishing up my room re-arranging project. Or that I've been cooking gourmet, delicious meals for my family. Or that I've been selling like crazy. Or that I've been doing tons of fun crafts and educational activities with my kids. Or that I've been training to run a marathon. Or that my computer was broken (well it is, but I'm still using the laptop.) Or that I read my entire Bible cover to cover. But alas, I've been being lazy. Not cooking. Not finishing my room re-arranging/organization project. Not selling. Not keeping my laundry current. Not doing anything great or worthy. I've just been being lazy. And watching The Biggest Loser, The Bachelor, and The Office.

I do want to share some photos of one of the projects I actually have completed lately. At least I did do a little something, right?

I got these princess papers & embellishments with a gift card that my very thoughtful husband bought me for Christmas. Normally I am anti-princess, BUT, I simply could not pass up these adorable papers & embellishments. Ahh, glittery goodness. I tried to think of something a little more unique than the traditional "my daughter is so wonderful, she's a princess" theme. It's a letter to our daughters by Jeremy & I. The photos I used are various princess ones I found from the past several years - photos I have of the kids in crowns/tiaras.

These products are from the "Fairest of Them All" collection by Imaginisce just in case you need to run out and buy yourself some.

This is a 5x5 chipboard album and I made one for both girls but am just showing photos of Laura's album here.

Upcoming posts will include photos of Laura's baptism if I can get my husband to get some still photos off the video camera since my camera battery was dead. Also, photos of my room re-arranging project. I am loving my new & bigger studio.

Love to you all!