Buttshaw Bits 'N Pieces

Expo Washable Markers House Party

2011-06-10T13:10:00.007-06:00

Have you heard of House Party? I hadn't either until someone told me about it. :) I can't seem to think of the best way to describe it-but basically it seems to be parties for companies with new products that they want to spread the word about. Anyway, I went to their website and applied to have a House Party sponsored by Expo Washable Markers and I was chosen to be a host! I have to admit when the huge box of free supplies came to the door, I was thrilled!

They sent me wipe boards, erasers, fine point markers and broad markers for everyone! But my excitement soon turned to worry when I wasn't getting very many RSVP's. Through this process I've learned that the website is a little hard to navigate and somewhat difficult to RSVP and, I think people thought I was selling something. Well, now I know that if I were to be chosen again, I would be more clear-no selling, only free fun stuff! The kids were over the moon excited about their party! We didn't have a whole lot of people, but we had a good time.
The kids played Jr. Pictionary with the markers, it was pretty fun to see the little ones trying to draw. And the bigger kids were so good with being patient with them.

We had some yummy food and then everyone got to take home their bag of treasures. I look forward to more opportunities to host again!

Brownie Covered Oreos

2011-01-12T16:19:00.004-07:00

Yup, that's right. Brownie. Oreo. yum-o
I found this recipe here and her pictures are waay better than mine, so go take a peek!
Start with a brownie mix-homemade or boxed. Mix it up then dunk the Oreos. I would suggest tapping a bit of the excess off, but making sure there's still some on the bottom. (I found that the ones I tapped too much off of were a little bit crunchy) I followed her advice and they came out perfectly. I think the key is to run around the edges with a knife right out of the oven. They come out looking like this, but after you do the knife thing they look more like a cookie.

Lion House Rolls

2010-11-11T12:37:00.005-07:00

♫Oh the weather outside is frightful...♫ Actually it really isn't all that frightful, but bad enough for be to make some soup and yummy rolls! Lion House Rolls is my favorite yeast recipe to make-they turn out so pretty and tasty every time. I recently watched this video to try and perfect their method of making them so lovely. I'm a ways off perfect, but closer than I once was.
I love this dough!

Before 2nd rise:

After rise, ready for the oven:

Yummmy! Don't forget to brush with butter when they're hot!

Playing with my Cricut and some vinyl

2010-11-11T10:22:00.003-07:00

Christiann and I are teaching a class this week on how to use the Cricut. Well, turns out upon researching that I didn't know half of what that machine can do! hahaha. Needless to say for the last couple of days I've been having a good ole time cutting stuff out! Here are a couple of things for our display table:
Santa plate-this one I'm not sure I'm loving. I may have to redo it later

Be tile

Coaster tiles? Not sure what I would use these for, but I had some tiles laying around just asking to have some vinyl slapped on them

I've also been making tags by the dozen (thanks to the "fill page" feature that I didn't know about and now do...I will post pictures soon.

Christmas "Muffin Tin" Advent

2010-11-04T16:18:00.004-06:00

My friend Jeni made the cutest advent using a mini muffin tin! I love it! Here's my attempt at one.

I used little magnets to keep the paper circles on, but I think I may add some double stick tape once I put the treats inside. Speaking of the treats, I plan on putting a little piece of candy and a slip of paper with an activity we can do that day- Gavin and Lily love doing little projects and going places so hopefully I can come up with 24 ideas! So far I'm thinking of things like making cookies and watching a holiday movie. If you have some ideas, I'd love 'em!
*Now looking at the pictures I'm thinking that as we get closer to Christmas, the tin is going to look pretty plain-I might punch out some more circles for the bottom of the cups.

Lily's 3rd Birthday Pictures

2010-11-02T11:47:00.002-06:00

It's a miracle and a 1st! We actually got some really cute shots of her today. Every other time we have gone to get some taken, it's been a nightmare at best. So, today I went with low expectations and came out very pleasantly surprised!

Taste of Colorado

2010-09-20T16:07:00.008-06:00

Yeah, so I'm just going to jump back in like I haven't been MIA for months on my blog. :) We had a wonderfully busy summer! So busy in fact that I didn't take many pictures, which makes me a little sad. Anyway, one thing we love to do each year at the end of summer is go to the Taste of Colorado.

The corn was Lily's favorite!

Gotta have a turkey leg...
Our self-portrait, the only way I can get in a picture.

Donuts!

Disney 2010

2010-04-29T09:42:00.007-06:00

We went to Disney this year with mom, dad, Steven, Jenn, Dylan, Hazel and Seth. So fun!! We did Disney's Give a Day Get a Day and traded them in for special fast passes to each of the parks. What a way to go! I think Steven said, the longest line we waited for was the bus. It was so nice to go to the front of the line on a lot of the rides. Only downfall I'm seeing now is that none of us took very many pictures. And not once did all of us pose together. :( Dad and I agree we need to go back and fix that! The kids had a great time and got along so well, although we knew they would-they play so good together. The grown ups had fun too-dad, Jenn, Steven and I went out a few nights without the kids and had a blast. This was our shortest trip, 6days, and we did more this trip than we have ever done before! We had so much fun! I don't have dad's pictures yet, but I'm sure there are some great ones that I will post later. For now here are a few of mine, I put some on Facebook too.
Epcot:
We went to the princess breakfast our first morning there-so magical! The girls (and boys) loved it! Grammy made them special dresses to wear and they were so cute! The hard part about these character meals, is that there isn't much room to move around and get good pictures. But, the kids have so much fun and get to spend time with their favorites!
Aurora:

Ariel:

Cinderella:

Snow White:

Belle:

Kissing Nemo:

Magic Kingdom:
We had breakfast at Crystal Palace with Pooh and friends:

Animal Kingdom:
Pluto
I bought the leash for Lily, but only made her wear it this one day. The park was so crowded and I wanted her to be able to get out of the stroller when she wanted to.

Hollywood Studios:

This was my favorite picture that I took, they both love these movies so much:

Some of our favorites this time:
Anthony: usually he golfs a round or two, but this time he didn't. he loved rockin' rollercoaster (again) and loved riding it with Gavin this time. he got a trading pin with the word "boobies" on it and would tell anyone who would listen about it. we got to meet up with one of his high school buddies and his family and that was so fun.
Becky: love, love, love Toy Story Mania! Thanks to our fastpasses and our baby swap prowess, we rode this ride 4 times! such a great ride! i also enjoyed space mountain this time since they seemed to have made it more smooth. rockin rollercoaster was great too. my all time favorite though is still Mt.Everest. wow. love it.
Gavin: rode just about everything this time. (missed tower of terror because we were done that day and didn't have time) his favorites were rockin rollercoaster, star tours, splash mountain and dinosaur. he loved trading pins for others-he was constantly on the look out for what others were collecting. so thoughtful that sweet Gavin. he did so good walking almost all the time, which is quite a change from last time. he loved being on vacation with his cousins.
lily: what a difference a year makes! last trip she was pretty unhappy. she didn't want to be in the stroller and she didn't want to be held on rides. this time she was great at both! she was great on every ride she went on. she loved buzz lightyear and toy story mania. again she loved the characters, any and all. her favorite thing each night after dinner was to pin trade. we would head down to the gift shop and she would find salespeople to trade with. she didn't have any favorite pins, but had fun picking whatever she wanted in the moment.

Fun Gift Wrap Idea

2010-03-19T21:21:00.004-06:00

I love love love wrapping presents. Sometimes they turn out cute, sometimes not so much. I went to a shower the other day and when I was shopping for the gift at Babies R Us, they had these reusable bags for sale for $1.50. Can't beat that for a gift bag! Anyway, I made the tag to go with it and I was really pleased with the end result.

Candy Cake

2010-03-19T21:18:00.002-06:00

OK-so this cake was super easy! I totally copied the idea from the internet (I just googled candy cake and a few like this one came up). I just made a yellow cake, frosted it with chocolate frosting and put on the Kit-Kats and M & M's. I made it for the YW auction-I hope someone bids on it! :)

Crazy Thankful

2010-02-23T18:05:00.005-07:00

I am so thankful for my childern. Not just today, but everyday. They are the first thing I am thankful for when I say a prayer. Having had 3 miscarriages, each one being harder than the last, I know what a miracle my kids are to me. But, after having come across this blog yesterday, I can't stop being extra super crazy thankful for my children. I can't get this family off my mind and pray not only for them, but for me and my kids. Check it out and say a prayer for them, then hug your kids. :)

Cards

2010-02-03T09:11:00.005-07:00

Sorry the lighting is soo bad in these pictures:
For Christmas Reagan got me the Hello Kitty Cricut Cartridge and I love it! This is a Valentine card for swap last month. I used the cartridge to do the whole thing.

This is one of the cards I'm doing for a workshop this week. I saw this card and loved the idea of using this stamp set for something other than Valentine's.
All products are Stampin Up!
Paper: Whisper White, Certainly Celery,
Pretty in Pink, Tea Party DSP
Stamps: Sweetheart
Punches: Full Heart, Small Heart, Scallop Edge
Ribbon: Certainly Celery
Ink: Pretty in Pink

Another card for the workshop using the same stamp set.
All Products Stampin Up!
Paper: Real Red, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink
Stamps: Sweetheart
Punches: Full Heart, Pinking Hearts Border
Ink: Real Red
Heart Treat Cups

This one I did just for fun-I saw this card and loved it! All products are Stampin Up! again.
Paper: Kraft, Bashful Blue, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Stamps: Trendy Trees
Ribbon: Chocolate Chip
Ink: More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue
Silver brads
Scallop edge punch

And, one more Valentine card courtesy of Hello Kitty :)

Some Christmas Pictures

2010-01-04T14:43:00.006-07:00

We had such a fun Christmas! Gavin woke up around 6:30 and we made him wait until 7 to wake up Lily who wasn't too thrilled to have to get moving. The kids played with what Santa brought for awhile then we went over to the Cook's for a yummy breakfast. (man I love having them so close) We came home for a few hours, then headed to Grammy's where we all got spoiled!

Gavin and Lily checking out what Santa brought them:

Lily right after she opened her Little Mermaid set. She immediately put on the necklace that sings and I swear she didn't take it off the rest of the day! Anytime we wondered where she was it seemed she would push that button and answer our question. (We are now a week and a half after Christmas and she still wears that thing most days)

Gavin with his guitar from Lily. This present caused him the most stress before the holiday-he wanted to open it so bad!

My Little Mermaid:

Gavin and Daddy put together Lego's most of the day:

Lily dressed and ready to go to Grammy's-still sporting the Ariel necklace:

Gavin got this from Dylan-he was soo excited! I overheard him later telling Dylan that what he got him was awesome!

Lily got this super cute doggie from Tinsley (in the background) and she loves it! It barks and sings and is so soft.

End of the evening-I can't remember why she was crying, but if I had to guess I'm thinking she was just plain old tired. Missing a hairbow, but still wearing the lovely singing necklace.

Hair Bows and Hair Bow Holders

2009-12-29T15:18:00.004-07:00

I've been working for awhile on some hair bows for Lily and her cousins for Christmas. Now that they have them, here's some pictures of how they look. I also made a board to hang them on. I love how they turned out! I hope they all like them too. :)

Takin' Lily for a ride...

2009-12-26T18:56:00.004-07:00

Lily got a big wheel for Christmas, but can't quite reach the pedals so she somehow got Gavin to be her driver. I don't think he minds too much. ;)

Teacher Gift

2009-12-11T08:59:00.005-07:00

Gavin's teacher sometimes rewards her class with treats when they've been good. I was looking for a teacher gift online and saw this idea. I have to say, I love how it turned out. I hope she likes it. I slipped a piece of paper in the jar so you could see the lettering better. It says Reach for the Stars and then I filled it with Starburst. I also put her name on the back of the jar.

A little Lily love

2009-12-11T08:47:00.003-07:00

A couple of shots of my favorite little girl :) I put curlers in her hair the other day for the first time-I think she looked cuter in the curlers than she did after, but hopefully after some practice I will be better at putting them in so that the curls come out right.

Gavin & Lily at BassPro

2009-12-11T08:43:00.003-07:00

We tried to go see Santa at BassPro, but since I didn't check the times, we missed him by a couple of hours. :( The kids still had fun playing in Santa's workshop-especially since it was empty! This was the only picture I took, but I love that Lily is actually starting to look at the camera instead of away from it.

Halloween

2009-11-21T13:28:00.006-07:00

I found my camera!! Here's a couple of pictures of Optimus Prime and Dorothy

Vinyl Glass Block

2009-11-21T13:23:00.002-07:00

I'm still trying to build up my vinyl supply, (I wish I had more colors) but here's something I made for Thanksgiving.

Hobby Lobby had these glass blocks which are about 1/2 the size of the ones you'd get at Home Depot. They have a hole in the bottom so you can put a light inside.

Christmas Tags

2009-11-21T13:07:00.003-07:00

Silly Lily

2009-11-14T18:48:00.002-07:00

2009-10-16T01:08:00.001-06:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Nuggets Game

2009-10-07T09:13:00.004-06:00

It's almost basketball season! Wahoo! Anthony took Gavin to a Nuggets game last week and after the game they got to go down on the court and shoot some hoops. They had a great time!

Lily's 2 Year Pictures

2009-09-29T16:09:00.007-06:00

Yay! We were somewhat successful in getting Lily's picture taken today! She hasn't had a photo taken in a year, and the last one I have of her and Gavin, she was 3 months old I think. She is a big stinker when it comes to a camera and a stranger. Put them both together and we've got a disaster. This is something new for me-I used to take Gavin every 3 months until he was 2 and he loved it! I always had a hard time picking what pictures to buy because he hammed it up for all of them. Not Lily, she is not a fan at all. There isn't one really of her smiling her big smile, but the photographer definitely captured her personality! Gavin did good as usual. :)

If she can't see you, you must not be able to see her...

Gavin's 1st Grade Picture

2009-09-10T10:26:00.002-06:00

Halloween Sweet Centers Card

2009-09-10T10:00:00.003-06:00

Here are my cards for card swap tonight. The theme was whatever you want, and I've been wanting to try these super cute little cups that Stampin' Up has right now. They are these little plastic cups that you can fill with whatever you want and add them to your card. They of course even have a stamp set to go with them, which is the stamp I used. I usually don't use Halloween cards, but I think this is a neat idea. Hopefully the girls like them. It's been so long since I've been to a card swap, I'm excited to get back to it!

I saw a cute idea here to make the cup into a flap so you don't have to ruin the card to get the candy out:

Finally, some new projects!

2009-09-07T15:39:00.005-06:00

Man-it's been forever since I've made anything! It felt so good to get creative again! (even when I used other's creativity) :)
Pumpkin Bucket:
This one is so cute in person! I totally copied Lynn's version-why mess with a good thing? Check out her blog for the instructions.

This one I've seen several times and thought it was a great idea! Here is one of my favorite versions. I made mine into a tag for my card swap group.

Now for a couple of projects I actually didn't copy. :)
Another birthday tag for card group. I punched out 4 stars to make the 3-D star.

I saw the template for this card in a magazine, I love how it turned out!

Zoo

2009-09-07T15:19:00.006-06:00

Last week the kids and I decided to hit the zoo after school. What a perfect time to go! It had cooled down beautifully and best part-no one was there! No school bus loads of kids, nobody. And since it had cooled off, the animals were out and about. We got a front row view of everything! We will have to do this again before it gets too cold, it was so fun!

See? Empty...

Gavin's Birthday!

2009-09-07T14:37:00.012-06:00

Gavin's birthday was last month and he had a great day! His teacher let him bring a special toy in for show and tell and we took in cupcakes for the class.

He got to sit at the front and field questions from his classmates about his toy-he loooved it!

Here's his class:

At one point he came up to me and said, make sure you get a picture of my teacher...here ya go Gav:

Later that evening, he had a little party at Amazing Jake's (kinda like a Chuck E Cheese). I hadn't been feeling well, so we needed to keep it easy. He had a blast!

Gavin and Lily waiting for the party to start:

Presents were lots of fun!

Daddy and Lily on the teacups:

Guitar Hero-anyone surprised?

Mini Golf:

After the party, we came home and he opened his presents from us.

What a fun, busy day!!

First Day of First Grade!

2009-09-07T14:22:00.006-06:00

*OK, I know I'm about a month behind, but better late than never I suppose.

Gavin started 1st grade this year. He is loving it! We went to meet his teacher the day before and afterwards, we get in the car and he says "I never knew my teacher would be so pretty". He is still pretty smitten with her a month into the year. He really enjoys all the things that come with going to school all day-specials everyday, recess, lunch (sometimes hot lunch, sometimes a packed lunch) and being with his friends. Lily misses him when he's gone and tells me several times a day "car, Gavin, now!". I can't believe he's already in 1st grade-where does the time go?

Gavin with a couple of his friends from last year that he was so excited to see!

This is a chart they have in the classroom and the goal is for them to stay on the green section or move up to the purple. It's a behavior chart and they move up or down depending on how they are in class. Gavin is very social and was having some trouble with talking and spent a bit of time on the yellow, so we came up with a reward chart at home. I think it's helped, he's been doing much better.

Sad sad week

2009-08-27T07:43:00.002-06:00

On Monday night we found out that our baby no longer had a heartbeat. We are so sad, but the hardest part was having to tell Gavin. We were so careful with this pregnancy not to tell people until I was pretty far along, and waited until I was almost 13 weeks before we told Gavin. He was pretty upset when we told him, but I think most of that was because we were so visibly upset too. He's a strong boy though and is doing just fine. I'm on my way to recovery finally. I was 18 weeks and we had a couple of hard choices to make, but now that they've been made, I feel like we can start healing. I have debated what to do with my last post with the US picture and Lily's announcement, but I've decided to leave them up, this baby will always be a part of our family and be missed terribly.

Lily has an Announcement!

2009-07-16T16:34:00.005-06:00

Here's our little surprise at 12 weeks. Due date is Jan. 27th.

What do you think?

2009-05-08T14:51:00.004-06:00

Janet is getting married this summer and I'm working on invitations to the shower. I've made these samples, and each person that I've shown them to has liked a different one. :) Christiann had the good idea to put them on the blog and have people vote for their favorite! So, here they are-which do you like?
1
2
3
4
5

PS-need something to work on in your spare time? Her colors are black, red & white w/polka dots. Show me what you come up with-I'd love some more ideas!

Gavin's 1st Trophy

2009-05-08T14:48:00.002-06:00

Gavin just finished his first shot at t-ball. He had a great time, but once he learned that he was going to get a trophy, that was his main focus each week. :)

Flower Pots and Other Cards

2009-04-30T09:27:00.008-06:00

I love love love how these flower pot cards turned out (I wish I could say the same for these pictures-seriously, my camera is crap)! I made 12 of them for card swap this month-the theme is girlfriends. I got the directions for the pot itself here, then I used my Cricut to cut out the flowers and little tags. They are so cute!

Next up, just a few cards I've made either for a swap or a workshop. Nothing too hard or unusual here...(I got some of these ideas from Splitcoaststampers-so many ideas over there!)

Easter

2009-04-13T10:32:00.005-06:00

Here's a few pictures from Easter morning.

The ones of Gavin with his basket didn't turn out too well, but I got some cute ones of him in his suit. He looked so handsome. Lily was very pretty in her dress too, but she was having none of me taking her picture and she wouldn't put that bottle down for anything. We have church at 11:00 which is so hard for her-it's right at her nap time, so she's probably wondering why I'm dressing her and not putting her to bed. Poor girl.

So cool

2009-04-13T10:24:00.005-06:00

Lily got some cool shades this weekend, she then did 2 things she normally wouldn't particiapte in: she actually kept them on, and smiled for the camera. Funny girl.

Of course, we needed some cool shots of Gavin too!

Easter Treats

2009-04-06T16:37:00.003-06:00

It seems like I've done these peppermint patties with the scallop punch a million different ways, but here is yet another idea. I used Stampin' Up's Pick a Petal stamp set for the ears.

Easter Bunny Visit

2009-04-06T16:21:00.002-06:00

I took the kids to the mall last week to meet the big EB. I was a little worried about how Lily would react, but she did just fine. She actually spotted him across the way and started yelling for the "bunny". The pictures are not the best, but oh well, at least I did it-something that might not have happened if I waited until this week.

Cards...

2009-03-17T15:15:00.007-06:00

I swear those folks over at Geek Squad have it out for me. I finally get my camera back and not only is it scratched (Anthony said it looks like someone played hockey with it on the concrete) but the color is waay off now. Hmmm. Anyway, here's a couple of cards I've done recently.

Chrisitann and I are having a shower for our friend Jen and we knocked these babies out in one evening (42 of them!). At the time we thought we needed to get them in the mail the next day, but she ended up having her baby that day, so the shower will be next month. These were super easy and I love how they turned out. Of course, I copied (hey we were on a deadline and I wasn't feeling creative). Actually at the time we thought we liked it better without the little circle, but since we know his name I might go ahead and add that little part.

Supplies:
Stampin Up paper-Whisper White, Bashful Blue
Stamps-Wild About You (Stampin Up)
Stampin Up Ink-Bashful Blue
Fiskars punch-Treading water

Next is my card for card swap this month. The theme was blank or redo your favorite. I went for blank. Here's my inspiration for this card although I changed it quite a bit.

Supplies: (Stampin Up)
Paper-vellum, Whisper White, Pacific Point
Ink-Pacific Point
Ribbon-Pacfic Point
Stampin Up embossing plates (for the dots on the vellum)
scallop punch
Stamps-Polka Dot Punches
rhinestone, not SU

This card is one I'm doing at my workshops this month. It uses paper, ribbon and stamps from Sale-a-bration. Again, some help on this one.

Supplies: (all Stampin Up)
Paper-Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Whisper White, DSP Delicate Dots
Ink-So Saffron, Bashful Blue
Stamps-Polka Dot Punches
Heart punch
corner rounder
ribbon-So Saffron

Happy St. Patrick's Day!?

2009-03-17T10:39:00.003-06:00

I need to get better at this holiday stuff. The only green Lily has is her Christmas dress. So, of course she is wearing it today!

Denver Aquarium & Hammonds Candies

2009-03-07T08:28:00.008-07:00

I finally got my camera back! Yay! So, when I took the kids to the Aquarium yesterday, I went a little overboard with the pictures. :)

Gavin was very excited to bring his friend with us!

Petting a starfish:

Lily loved the overhead tanks!

They saw each other safely through the "flash flood". So cute.

After the Aquarium, we decided to head to Hammonds Candies for a tour. Gavin and I have done this a couple of times, but every time, they've made something different while we were there. Yesterday they were making candy canes, ribbon candy and marshmallow eggs.

Watching the video:

This guy was making the candy canes

Some Disney pictures...

2009-03-06T15:50:00.030-07:00

So I'll start my defense by saying that I didn't have my own camera this trip AND Anthony was gone for half of the trip. The result being that I only took 118 pictures and about 1/4 of those turned out. Also, I normally take full advantage of Disney's Photo Pass and end up buying the disc with at least 100 pictures on it-this time however, I barely got 20 pictures taken, maybe 2 of them worth anything. Now that I am home and have looked at the pictures (or lack thereof) I am so disappointed. We had such a good time and did so many fun things, and I have barely any pictures. :( Case in point, Lily got her very first haircut-in the Magic Kingdom no less, and I spent the whole time fighting her so I couldn't get a picture. Although, my parents did come with us and I haven't seen their pictures yet, so fingers crossed that they got one of that momentous and nerve racking event! (She was so mad that she threw a lollipop across the room so hard that it shattered) Anyway, here are a few of my salvaged photos...

Lily doing what Lily does-run away...

Handy Manny

We captured Zurg!

Donald Duck

Lily's favorite:

We HAD to go to the Lego store, of course

Nice look

Piglet

Gavin's favorites! He couldn't get enough of them! He decided this trip to collect Stitch pins and was very successful-he filled his whole lanyard! Funny thing though-he went on Stitch's Great Escape for the first time and hated it! Apparently he doesn't like being spit on. Go figure.

June

Goliath

JoJo

I swear she lived off grapes, milk and pizza all week. Oh, and fries. Picky little eater.

Terk

Another time I wish I had more pictures of-she went running up to him and gave him the biggest hug, and this is the only picture I have. I could cry.

Gavin has to ride this train every time we go...

I have to say, this stroller was the best!!

She saw what she wanted and went for it...

Our last charater meal of the trip and I could not get any good shots! It was so dark in there and crowded, so the characters didn't spend much time with us. :(

Check out Gavin's stylin' poncho! We had the best weather, until the last full day. It was cold and rainy. But, that made the crowds manageable. Anyway, he normally would not have wanted to see a Princess, but we got caught in a sudden downpour and ducked under cover and there they were with noone else! I think I took 10 pictures here alone because I actually had the time. Sad.

Anyway, we had a great time and can't wait to go again!!

Air Force One take 2

2009-02-17T15:00:00.006-07:00

About a year ago I was able to walk out on to my porch and see President Bush arrive in Denver on Air Force One. Unfortunately, I didn't grab my camera in time to get a picture. Well, this morning, the kids and I went over to a parking lot near AFB (about 1 mile from here) and we were able to get a great view of Air Force One and the V.P.'s plane. Is it Air Force Two? Anyway, very cool. Now as far a pictures go, my camera is in the shop, so I had to use my iPhone...not great pics, but pictures anyway. Enjoy!
Gavin hanging out of the sunroof waiting...

Air Force 2?

Air Force One!!

Trying to Catch up!

2009-02-12T14:09:00.010-07:00

Here's a few pictures from the last couple weeks. Funny thing-I've been very careful with my camera the last month or so, terrified that it would break before our trip. Well, Lily was being funny today so I took a chance and got the camera out and took some pictures. Wouldn't you know-I left it on the table and Lily got ahold of it, betcha can't guess what happened next. Needless to say we ran to Best Buy to drop it off and I now have my fingers crossed that it will be fixed in time. Luckily I bought the no-questions-asked warranty when I bought the camera and I've gotten my money's worth for sure! (this is the 3rd time they will be fixing it-the 1st time bring when we were on vacation, hence the reason I've been so careful. Vacation without a camera is a bummer.)

Gavin at the Stock Show. He loved feeding the animals!
(for some reason, the rest of the pictures I took didn't turn out so well, bad lighting I guess)

Lily staring at herself in the mirror, true girl!
umm, eew gross.

Card Swap (February)

2009-02-12T13:58:00.004-07:00

For group #1, the theme was a Valentine Treat. This was super easy! Stampin Up started carrying some die cuts awhile back and this was one of them. I filled it with some candy, slapped at stamped tag on it and I was done. Something that can easily be duplicated and mass produced for the kiddos for Valentine's.

Group #2 the theme is Birthday, which is a good thing because I'm about out of cute birthday cards and can't wait to get some tonight! (Melanie if you should happen to read this, Happy Birthday and your card will be on it's way soon) This is a card I actually made a few years ago for group #1. Luckily I had kept one, so I pulled it apart and re-created it. The first time I made it, I had found a template online that I can no longer find for some reason. Hopefully this card isn't too dated. ;)

I'm realizing too that this is not a very good picture, sorry about that.

Disney Autograph Books

2009-02-12T13:45:00.006-07:00

Last weekend, Christiann and I had a full day of scrapbooking! We moved into Archivers for 13 hours and had a blast! We each did 20 scrapbook pages and some other random projects. One of mine was these books for our trip (10 days yay!) Now, I know Lily won't use hers for what it was intended, but she loves Pooh and I figured if Gavin has one, so should she. This way too, she'll leave his alone. Anyway, they were super easy to make using my Bind it All.

Kristina's Color Challenge #41

2009-02-12T10:58:00.007-07:00

Oh my goodness, it's been a long time since I've been able to do one of Kristina's Color Challenges! Little Lily doesn't like me doing crafts. Or anything but pay attention to her for that matter. This little girl is pretty high maintenance, just as a little girl should be I suppose. Anyway, I love the colors this week and I think if I have time I want to make another card for Valentine's using them.

Here's what I used:
Paper-Stampin Up: Basic Grey, Basic Black, Whisper White and Riding Hood Red
Cuttlebug Embossing and Die Cuts-With Gratitude

Thanks for looking!

A few random pictures

2009-01-13T08:21:00.012-07:00

Wow-it's been awhile since I've blogged! I can't believe how busy we've been.
I was trying to put these pictures in some kind of order, but it was taking way too long (I uploaded them in reverse order...)so I gave up!

Gavin working on his gingerbread house:

His finshed house:

My finished house:

Lily on Christmas:

Family picture:

Taho:

This picture makes me laugh-it was Christmas morning and Gavin ran down those stairs soo fast!

Lily and her dolls:

Gavin:

Christmas Eve in their new jammies:

After we were all dressed in our jammies, Gavin noticed that the girls were in pink and the boys in blue. I didn't even realize that as I was getting them together:

Lily on Christmas Eve with her new pretties that came out of the pinata:

Gavin with Santa:

Lily's new game lately is to put her blanket over her head and walk around. One of these days she's going to crash into a wall...

Lily in her doll's pack-n-play, nice hair by the way:

Cookie Swap 2008 Pictures

2008-12-29T13:23:00.006-07:00

Toys for Children's Hospital

2008-12-29T10:47:00.003-07:00

This year we decided to use our $100 from Mom and Dad to buy toys to give to Children's. I let Gavin do most of the picking of the toys-we wanted him to select things he liked to hopefully understand the sacrifice a little more. Then we went over to the hospital as a family and delivered them. The kids had a good time and the Hospital of course was very thankful. They also had the coolest display of gingerbread houses-I didn't get pictures unfortunately, but Gavin loved them!

Happy Sunday!

2008-12-07T14:58:00.004-07:00

Lily didn't want anything to do with having her picture taken (per usual), but she has 5 Christmas dresses and I'm thinking she'll probably wear each one once, so I had to get some kind of picture with her in it! ;) Maybe next week she'll cooperate more. Gavin of course loved having his picture taken!

Chocolate Box

2008-12-02T13:39:00.003-07:00

I love SplitcoastStampers! I find so many great ideas over at that website. Here is yet another. I made my own design this time, but if you check out this post you will see instructions for tons of different sizes of these little chocolate boxes! (the chocolates are those Hershey's Nuggets)

Christmas Kisses Advent

2008-12-02T13:25:00.004-07:00

Liz from one of my card groups gave me this idea and I think they turned out pretty cute!

Christmas Kisses:
Each evening when good nights are said,
have a kiss and hop into bed.
When all the kisses are gone away,
Christmas will come the very next day!

I wrapped up 24 kisses in green plastic wrap and tied red ribbon around each one. I attached a little tag with the poem, then we delivered them to our friends.

Merry Christmas

2008-11-25T08:31:00.001-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Crafts, crafts & more crafts....

2008-11-20T09:05:00.010-07:00

Here's what I've been working on lately:
Gift Bag: Bag of Tags:

Gift Tag: Gift Tag:
Love Notes Box:

Christmas Treats:

Look at her go!!

2008-11-16T19:18:00.003-07:00

She's almost there! (Lily walking)

2008-11-13T12:06:00.003-07:00

In the last few days, Lily has started walking! Very few steps at a time, and not very steady, but she is getting there! Janet took this video last week of her-she has since gotten pretty brave about walking by herself. She will stand up, take a few steps, then get so excited that she almost tries to run, and then falls and laughs! It's so cute to see this tiny 17 pound little girl walking around :)

Halloween Pictures

2008-11-04T15:10:00.001-07:00

Caramel Apples!

2008-11-01T12:23:00.004-06:00

For some reason this year we didn't get around to carving pumpkins-actually there is a reason, a good one really-the flu. Oh yeah, last week was fun. Anyway, so I didn't feel like a bad mom, we did caramel apples instead. I love these little caramel bits! They melted quick, went on the apples beautifully and tasted soo good!
Gavin's creation:

2008-10-25T19:56:00.002-06:00

Picture Tag

2008-10-25T16:30:00.005-06:00

My friend Tammy tagged me on her blog with the instructions to open my 3rd picture folder and post the 3rd picture in it. Well, here it is:

I believe this was the first time Lily had one of those biter bicuit things, which obviously she loved!

I now tag Jenn, Cate, Janet & Lisa.

Presents!

2008-10-09T11:57:00.011-06:00

The day after her party, while Gavin was at school, Lily and I opened all her new toys! She had a ball playing with everything! I tried to get a picture of all of them for her scrapbook, but here are a few of my favorites of her in action!
Her blocks from Gavin:
One of her new Dollies from Daddy:

She cracks me up in this chair-yesterday she climbed up it onto the couch! Little monkey. Anyway, it plays music too and she loves to stand on it and dance!
Christiann had a great idea to put everything in a circle with her in the middle and let her go to town. She totally did! She moved from toy to toy. :)

I didn't get a good picture, but she plays with the little pink house & camper almost like she knows what she's doing even though she has no clue. She's also tried to climb into the baby stroller, and gives her babies big squeezes. She loves all her new toys and clothes-everything is perfect. It's so fun to watch her!

Color Challenge

2008-10-09T11:44:00.006-06:00

It's time again for another one of Kristina's Color Challenges! When I saw these colors, for some reason I thought of a baby card.

Details:
Paper-SU! Ballet Blue, So Saffron, Whisper White, Ruby Red
Ink-SU! Certainly Celery, Ruby Red, So Saffron, Ballet Blue, Versamark
Stamps-Nursery Necessities
Clear embossing powder
Ribbon-Certainly Celery, Hemp Twine

I used the Versamark to stamp the stars, then used clear embossing powder on them. I stamped the boat in different colors, then cut out the different pieces. I really like this card and might use it for card swap sometime.

Lily's 1st Birthday!

2008-10-08T08:40:00.011-06:00

Lily's birthday was so fun! She had a pink party-everything was pink and sweet!
Here's Lily making her grand entrance...she and her Dad were the last ones to arrive :) I'm sad I didn't take a better picture of her in that cute dress.

Look at this sweet girl Hazel (wearing her cute party hat)! :)

First, we had dinner-I made homemade mac & cheese for Lily and the kids, Shirley Temples, pink jell-o, chicken nuggets, sandwiches...all kinds of yummy stuff. Then we opened presents! Lily loved that! She did waay better than I thought she would. She is not a very patient little girl, but she sat right down and tore the paper off and had a great time!

Lily and her fans!

Anthony's mom made the cakes (yup cakes, not just cake)
This one was just for Lily-chocolate!

Aren't they cute? She made them to match the invitations I made for the party.

Here we go:

She loved it!

Oh, pretty dress! (actually, it all came out just fine in the wash)

We had a Pink Sweets table (thanks for the great idea Lori) and the kids got to fill up bags with whatever they wanted...

I also made these for them to take home-it's an ice cream cone dipped in white chocolate and filled with pink yummies.

One of the girls in my ward made these super cute blocks for a baby shower and didn't want them afterwards, so I changed the letters and colors to match her party! Thanks Ashley-everyone loved them!

We had such a good time! Thanks so much for coming everybody!!

Wahoo!

2008-10-02T20:54:00.003-06:00

I weighed in at Weight Watchers today and it's official- I have lost all of the weight I gained during Lily's pregnancy! (exactly 4 days before her birthday!) Now, I still have 10 to go to my goal, but I'm so excited that I made this goal in less than a year ;)

Kristina's Color Challenge

2008-10-02T08:29:00.008-06:00

Yea! I haven't done one in a couple of weeks, but after she made this card, I couldn't wait to try it too!

Details:
Paper-SU Very Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie, Kiwi Kiss
Ink- Kiwi Kiss
Ribbon- Chocolate Chip
Transparency sheet
Stamps-SU Lots of Thoughts
SU punches-scallop square, 1 1/4 square
Pop dots
CM cutting system for the circles

I used the transparency sheet instead of the vellum that Kristina used.
On the inside I used the green paper to make a flap so you could write a note underneath and it wouldn't show through.

Sympathy card?

2008-09-23T12:25:00.005-06:00

The theme this month for one of my card groups is "sympathy". Well, it turns out I don't have many sympathy stamps-who knew. Hopefully this qualifies! I used this card for my inspiration. I had intentions of pretty much keeping it the same, but I was having a hard time with the colors. So, I made a few changes and voila!

The details:
Paper-SU Basic Gray, Whisper White, Soft Sky (retired)
Stamps-SU Friendship Blooms, Small Sayings
Ink-SU Basic Gray
Ribbon-SU Soft Sky Double Stitched
Stamp a ma jig (to line up the saying just right)
Scor Pal (to make the embossed lines at the bottom)

Another Birthday Project

2008-09-22T12:54:00.006-06:00

I saw a cute idea online for decorating the highchair for a baby's 1st birthday and again thought "I can do that". So I did. :)
Normally I do not feel like I have the time for this, but with a sick kid we are stuck at home with nothing but time!

1st Birthday Party Hats

2008-09-21T20:28:00.006-06:00

Poor little Gavin was so sick today, which meant we were home all day and I had some time to do some crafts! :) Lily's birthday is in a couple of weeks, so I made these little party hats for the girls. I saw something similar in the party store, but they were pretty pricey and I figured I could make them. I actually love how they turned out and they were easy! I took apart another party hat and made a template. I just used white cardstock for the hat itself, pom poms around the bottom (which came already on a string talk about handy), feather boas for the top and I cut out the #1 on the Cricut, ran it through my Xyron and dumped glitter on them. I bought some of the elastic just like on the ones in the store and used an eyelet to make sure they didn't tear. I put long strands of curly ribbon going down the back. I hope the girls like them! I haven't finished Lily's yet-hers will be just a bit different.

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-21T18:50:00.002-06:00

I can't believe these pictures, they have left me speechless. Check them out if you have a minute, they are unbelievable.

I love fall TV!

2008-09-18T19:33:00.001-06:00

It's about all I like about the summer being over. :) These are the shows I'm most excited for, although I highly doubt I'll watch them all. What are you looking forward to seeing?

Gavin's 5 Year old Photos

2008-09-11T16:21:00.006-06:00

Gavin turned 5 last month and I finally got around to getting his picture taken! I can't believe he's 5 already!!

So, I'm wondering: when is he too old to have a picture with the number block? I actually felt a little silly this time. Any opinions?
By the way, what is it with 5 year olds not being able to smile for a picture? We had quite a few outtakes!

Lily & the Ice Cream Cone

2008-09-11T16:04:00.005-06:00

We went to Sweet Tomatoes last night (my kids love that place) and I decided to give Lily one of the tiny little ice cream cones just to see what she'd do with it (I love torturing myself with unnecessary messes, don't you know). Surprisingly she figured it out pretty quick! She loved it! Of course I didn't have my camera with me, thank goodness for the iPhone!

Yummy good times!

Another attempt at Kristina's Color Challenge

2008-09-10T16:11:00.006-06:00

Boy, I again had a tough time with this one (I guess that's why she calls it a challenge). I also had difficulty taking a good picture. Here's a couple of different ones.

This is a diaper fold pouch. Super easy! I used Sky Blue Designer Paper, Regal Rose ribbon and cardstock, Bravo Burgundy ribbon, White flower and Rose Red Accents & Elements. No stamping this time. :) Thanks again Kristina-until next time...

Placemat bag

2008-09-08T20:44:00.002-06:00

We made these for our activity a couple of weeks ago-they turned out so cute! They were apparently very easy (someone else made mine for me). It's just a placemat (from Target) and some ribbon. They are the perfect size for your scriptures for church, although mine will more than likely end up with Cheerios and diapers in it. :)

Very funny Lily

2008-09-07T14:40:00.007-06:00

Turn my back for a second and she's emptied one of my craft drawers. This crazy little girl is so curious. :)

Very proud of herself...

Kristina's Color Challenge

2008-09-03T22:06:00.006-06:00

O.K.-this one was hard for me! I'm finally pleased with this card, after many attempts! Here's a link to Kristina's blog-check it out!

Details:
Paper-Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White
Ink-Rose Red
Ribbon-Regal Rose
Stamps-Heard From the Heart, Friendship Blooms
Punch-Fiskars Threading Water
Glitter pen and some bling!

Happy Labor Day!

2008-09-01T21:53:00.002-06:00

Craft Day Treats

2008-09-01T16:09:00.004-06:00

Next weekend the girls are getting together for 12 hours of crafting! Our neighborhood has a great space to rent for pretty cheap, so we got a group together and we're going to spend the day doing what we love. I am so excited. Anyway, I made a couple of things for the people who are coming.

First, just simple place cards. Most everyone will know each other, but for those who don't I thought this would be an easy way to tell who's who. (Really, I just had paper left over and thought they were cute-definitely not a necessity)

Next, I made these little popcorn box things. I used the Cricut cartridge Tags, Bags, Boxes & More for the boxes, then the George one for the flowers (same for the name cards). I filled them with trail mix and some candy. These were so easy! I hope everyone likes them. I can't wait until Saturday!!

Birthday Tags

2008-08-28T22:09:00.004-06:00

Card swap time again-well, I'm actually a little early this time ;)
The theme is Birthday Tags for Kids. I found this super cute card and, once again, totally copied! (well, not totally, but pretty dang close) I had a hard time figuring out how to make it a tag, but I think this will work. I must say, I like how they turned out.

Details:
Paper: all Stampin' Up, Bold Brights and Cool Caribbean (love that color, sad it's retired, glad I stock piled it!)
Cuttlebug: Spots & Dots embossing folder
Cricut: George cartridge for the circles, Walk in my Garden cart. for the antenna
Marvy scalloped cirle punch
Making Memories: colored brads
Ribbon
Gogglie eyes
*I don't have the stamp she used for the 'worm wishes', so I just printed it off my computer*

"Let Me Out!!"

2008-08-28T22:04:00.004-06:00

Color Challenge-Genie Bag

2008-08-27T16:28:00.014-06:00

This is my first attempt at one of Kristina's color challenges! Aren't these colors so yummy!?

I love how this bag turned out!

Here's what I used:
Paper (all Stampin Up): Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Very Vanilla & Certainly Celery
Ink: Certainly Celery and Regal Rose
Embellishments: Big flower & pearl from Pretties Kit, Pink Pirouette Ribbon, 3/4" circle punch & Filigree brads.
So fun! Thanks Kristina for the challenge!

A couple of workshop projects

2008-08-27T08:21:00.009-06:00

I don't do very many Stampin' Up workshops, so whenever the opportunity comes up, I find myself at a loss for what to do. I am having one next week with a group of girls that I've never done one with before and I can't decide what to make!! Here's my first 2 attempts-what do you think?

The first one is a little 3x3 note card and I feel like it's missing something...any suggestions?

This one is just like the one I did for Valentine's Day-they are little York Peppermint Patties. I think it's O.K., but again maybe missing something?

Well, back to work I go to try and figure out some more ideas!

2008-08-26T09:18:00.004-06:00

The theme for this month's swap is a wedding card with a gift card pocket. I'm not sure how much I like the front, but I love how the pocket part turned out. Here's where I got the directions for it. It was so easy!

Gavin's 1st day of Kindergarten!

2008-08-21T17:08:00.006-06:00

Well, I'm a little behind on my blogging-he actually started school back on the 12th. Can you believe that?! The 12th of August! What happened to summer? Anyway, he did great. He was so excited! Luckily he has 2 friends he already knew which made it easier for the 3 of them. After almost 2 weeks, he seems to be adjusting to the early morning routine. I worry about him being only 4 and the youngest in his class, but his teacher so far has said he'll do fine. (fingers crossed)

Funny story-when he was in preschool, he only went on M,W,F-one of the first things he said to me when he got out that first day was "so, is tomorrow my day off?" He was not too pleased to hear that he would now be going every day! I still can't believe we have a kindergartner!!

Lily 10 months!

2008-08-06T10:47:00.005-06:00

Poor little Lily. She started not feeling well on Friday night (perfect timing as Anthony was on his way out of town-boo) and by Saturday evening she was pulling on her ears. I took her in and she has her first ear infection and sinus infection. Poor baby. Colds suck especially in the summer. Anyway, I tried to get some smiling shots of her today and she was having none of it. Luckily she's on some medication and will be good as new soon!

Here's a picture Janet took:

Superman Card

2008-08-06T10:39:00.004-06:00

Last week Michaels had the Cricut cartridges on sale, so I had to take advantage of course. This time I got the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge. I wasn't sure I'd like it, but last night I went to town and made a couple of things. Some are just for fun, but this card is for Dylan's birthday. He loves him some Superman!

Tags, Tags, Tags!

2008-07-24T19:52:00.008-06:00

I am in 2 different card swap groups and the theme for both of them this month is tags. One is for Christmas tags, the other for baby tags.
For the Christmas ones I used the Cricut for the snowflakes, and then the new SU set Deer Friends and the scallop punch for the others.

For the baby tags I used the Cricut cartridge New Arrival for the rattle and giraffe. I also used the Cuttlebug to emboss the yellow part of the giraffes.

Sesame Street Cards

2008-07-22T15:31:00.004-06:00

I copied these right out of the Paper Crafting with Kids magazine, page 33. With so many birthdays in our family coming up, I thought these would be perfect!

Lily 9 months!

2008-07-08T10:50:00.005-06:00

Wow! 9 Months already-where does the time go? She is getting so big. Still no teeth yet, still hates baby food and not crawling yet. But, she is pretty happy (for the most part), she loves going on walks, swimming in the pool & pancakes, she is getting better at cruising around in her walker and is absolutely crazy about Gavin! We go to the doctor on Thursday to see how much she weighs etc...

4th of July

2008-07-05T11:05:00.007-06:00

We had a super fun day yesterday! We went to a BBQ at our neighbor's then went to our favorite spot to watch the fireworks - Aurora Hills Golf Course 14th (I think) hole. I love going there- no crowds, lots of space for the kids to run and best of all, the fireworks are right above you. It is Aurora's best kept 4th of July secret. Here's a few of pictures from the day:

Lily, Gavin & Dillon-Lily had her first cupcake, yummy!

Lily usually goes to bed at 7:00, but last night she stayed up and played & had a good old time until about 5 minutes after the fireworks started, then she fell asleep-during the fireworks-silly girl.

Thank-you card

2008-07-03T15:55:00.006-06:00

I feel so bad. I'm 2 months behind on my card swaps. I haven't been able to go the last 2 months, so it's been too easy to put off making them. Well, today I decided to start catching up! Here's my thank-you card for the month of May.

Sunday Pictures...

2008-07-03T14:58:00.003-06:00

I tried to take some pictures of Gavin & Lily on Sunday since their outfits looked good together. Not the best shots, but oh well. :) They (the kids) are still pretty dang cute!

Baby Shower Favor

2008-06-19T16:03:00.005-06:00

We had a shower for Lila the other day and I made these favors. I saw this one and in true Becky fashion- I had to copy! I love how they turned out! I used the Cricut cartridge New Arrival. These were so easy. I made 30 of them in a couple of hours. Oh yeah, it's wrapped around a bag of popcorn.

Lily's first encounter with the lawn...

2008-06-19T15:44:00.006-06:00

I was going to say grass, but that just didn't sound too good. ;)
Anyway, she was just like Gavin and didn't seem to care or even notice for that matter.

:

Lily and Sally

Kisses!

Banana Streusel Muffins

2008-06-12T19:46:00.007-06:00

Yum, overripe bananas-gross.
I needed to do something with them soon, so I tried this recipe for our family recipe swap this month. I think they turned out pretty good, if anything, they could actually have a little more banana flavor. Here is where I got the recipe-you can check out other people's reviews here too if you want.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
STREUSEL:
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter or margarine

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. In a small bowl, beat eggs, sour cream, butter and bananas; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full.
For streusel, combine sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl; cut in butter. Sprinkle over muffins. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes.

Disney Princess

2008-06-11T21:47:00.004-06:00

I was checking out Tammy's blog tonight and saw this cute quiz-you know me and anything Disney! Of course I had to take it to see.

You Are Aurora! (A.K.A. Sleeping Beauty.)

Thoughtful and loving. Authority figures probably have been sheltering you all of your life. Thankfully you're a very tranquil person who is content with what life has given you, but secretly you want to know how the outside world works.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Gavin's night out

2008-06-11T13:43:00.006-06:00

Last night we went with some friends to White Fence Farms. We had never been there before, but heard there was quite a bit to do so we decided to just take Gavin and leave Lily with Grammy. He had so much fun! I think he also enjoyed some uninterrupted mommy and daddy time. We had some yummy dinner, then went to play!
They have a fun playground:

Petting zoo:

Baby ducks: