special delivery!

Look what came in the mail!
WOW! So many goodies from Fancy Pants drawing for participating in their contest a couple weeks back. I never expected an entire line of product!
I got the entire Halloween release. I better take lots of Halloween photos from here on out to use it all up!!
12 sheets double sided paper (including title strips paper and cards)
2 transparencies
3 yards of 3 different ribbons
the rubons to go with the line
the stickers to go with the line

What I've been working on...

here are the unfinished frames, finished. I think they turned out A-OK, except the varnish I put over the tops of them is shinier than I expected. Oh well!! I started making a 4th frame, too. It's lime green.
The frames: (without the pictures--still waiting on the prints)
I can't wait to hang them up!

getting ready...

for many things.

For fall. Mike finally emptied and took the pool apart. Until next year...

Kids have school pictures tomorrow. I curled Kaycey's wig for church this morning, and so it would be extra cute for her picture tomorrow.

Cal's 10th birthday on Thursday. My Dad and Stepmom are coming over that night. The rest of my family is coming over Friday night.

I've been painting the unfinished frames and strip of towel hooks I bought for the kids' bath. Hoping to have everything hung on the wall by the end of the week. Sadly, I have bath pictures of Kaycey and Cal a-plenty, but almost zero of Maddie. The few I do have are blurry or she has her eyes half closed. Looking through pictures for a bath picture of Maddie, I was brought back to when she was teeny tiny brand spankin' new, and how I think an entire month went by and I didn't take a single picture of her (or anyone else for that matter) because that was the last thing on my mind with Kaycey in the hospital. Several things over this weekend brought back how different life was when Kaycey was sick. All the time I spent without my new baby, all the time Maddie had to spend at everyone else's house but mine; how few pictures I have of Maddie's first 9 months or so compared to the other two kids; how the first time I took Maddie to get her picture taken in a studio she was almost 2 years old (the other kids I religiously took at 3mo, 6mo, etc...) How long it seems since we've had a baby around. sigh.

And while it may be a bit premature of me, I went through and took out all the baby girl and neutral clothes size 0-6 months. All that pink...there's alot of it! But while there is alot of clothes (my mom was astounded how much we have), my 3 girls will all have been born in different seasons. Which makes it really hard to use some of the stuff I do have. Alot of it I am not even putting in baby 4's drawers because it is impossible for her to fit into it at the right time (0-3 month summer dresses and outfits that were Kaycey's). So after sorting all those tiny baby clothes, I washed them all, in amazement that in less than two months someone that tiny will be living in our home.

I emptied the "changing table" today (which housed way too much scrap stuff!!) And we rearranged our bedroom tonight to make room for the changing table (which was Maddie's, we bought a really nice unfinished dresser/mini armoire attached, finished it, and put a changing pad on top of the dresser part) and a crib (when we decide what to get!) I figure, we will be spending much more time downstairs for a good 6 months, so might as well put the changing table on the first floor. And the crib, well, there's no way either of us want to go up and down the steps all night long. So once she sleeps through the night pretty well, we'll move her upstairs. ANyhow, our room looks really nice and empty for now (haven't brought the changing table down yet...) but the cradle looks so cute in there. Mike thinks it looks great--but for the wrong reasons :) he thinks it looks great because it is on my side of the bed. I told him the diapers are going on his side.

So besides all the getting ready stuff way ahead of time, I have been starting to freak out a little bit, too. Freaking out about having a baby period, since it's been five years. Freaking about having a c-section. Freaking about my iron being low (okay, so my Dr. is the one who freaked me out a little about that...) The iron I am taking is giving me a big belly ache. Freaking at every little cramp I have. The baby is actually horizontally positioned right now, which I suppose doesn't matter too much having a c-section. But it makes it really uncomfortable to do much of anything, esp. sleep. My only option is to sleep on my side, but on one side is a head, and the other is knees and feet. Because she is lying horizontally, my clothes seem to fit weird. One pair of maternity jeans I have are too tight already and I don't want to buy more! Ah, the joys of pregnancy...

Time to get ready for bed. Hoping I can sleep for more than 2 hours at a crack!! This heartburn is terrible.

more creativity brewing here...

I'm really eager to get going on all sorts of projects in my 8 weeks before the baby comes (yes, really only 8!!!) I have some raw frames I want to paint and hang in the kids' bathroom, filled with b&w pictures of them as babies in the tub. I framed a colorful piece of artwork Cal made last year in school that goes perfectly with their bathroom as well. Months back I had purchased lots of canvases (4x4, 6x6, and 8x8) in hopes of doing something crafty with them. I have lots of stuff, lots of ideas, I'm just uncertain where I want to put what. I have tons of pictures I want to frame and hang or put on wall shelves, I just don't know where to start. Do I keep them in color, or go b&w?? Do I enlarge some? Maybe do a collage of just cool vacation spots Mike & I have been? Oh, the decisions...

Also I've been eager to move furniture around. I will be putting Mike to work soon (tonight, perhaps??) to rearrange our bedroom to fit a crib and the changing table/dresser (which currently is housing some scrap stuff!!). Just want everything in order with plenty of time before November. Also the name game has restarted...maybe I'm just feeling extra indecisive or something. But I am currently clueless on what names I even love. It changes daily. By the way, Kaycey and Madilyn were not predetermined names and they were named at the hospital, though they were on list of several names we liked. So I am guessing that may just happen again!!

Latest page: Kaycey and I from Thanksgiving 2002 (her first!). Made with older Basic Grey paper (scraps I had!), the new Bo Bunny bling (which I love! I even used the background of the packaging on my layout to place the bling on top of!) The journaling lines were inspired by Bella Blvd :) I'm not loving my handwritten title, which is silly, because day-to-day, I do love my handwriting. I just don't love it on scrapbook pages. Maybe I'll die cut the title using QK's Maddie Anne, my favorite QK font.

just some stuff...

Funny things Maddie said/is saying:
The other night I told her not to go on the carpet since her feet were really dirty. I asked her to come into the laundry room so I could wash her feet in the sink. She started to take the long way, which would've meant running through the carpeted great room. I said, "No, go the other way!" Through the kitchen and dining room. She turns around and says, "Oh sorry Mom. My bad." What?!?!?!? I don't think I have ever in my life said this. Mike does, though. It was so funny.

"attend" (pretend)
"tendin" (pretend that) example: "Tendin they're in love itchudder." (Pretend that they are in love with each other)

"Are we getting a new car when the new baby comes? Where will the baby sit? I don't want my seat anymore, I want to sit on this seat" (points to regular seat that adults sit on). After explaining even Kaycey still sits in a seat, and Maddie will need to as well, she replied with, " but when I'm a big girl I want to sit in that seat!! In O-Tember (November) I will be a big girl!"

Other miscellaneous...
Cal wants to have a limo and a driver. He wants to be a baseball player or sports announcer. Also told me when he makes his first $10 million, he'll give me $2million. Can I have that in writing??

About school:
Went to the first PTO meeting last night (I've never attended one at any school). Excited for all the events and fun stuff planned for this school. Can't get too involved in the next few months, but looking forward to Spring and next year helping out with things. I'm so happy and thankful that we are part of this new school. I've met so many people in the past couple weeks, and everyone is wonderful. My only regret is we weren't able to send them 2 years ago when we started the building process out here. Kaycey told me yesterday she has a secret handshake with Amara and Nathan sits with her on the bus. Asking Cal after school how his day was, he responded with, "Oh it was so great!! I mean, it was okay..." The kids even came home from school and played school, instead of going swimming in the pool, which will come down very soon! So school is going very well. Maddie is the favorite gal of the week. Cheese flavored rice cakes were a huge hit. Who would've thought. I only sent the bag of them because of course I had forgotten to go to the grocery store Sunday night to get a snack for the class for Monday. Rummaging through the pantry that was the only unopened bag of snacks I had. How do I top that for tomorrow and Friday's snack?? :)