Another "new" house?

Here are some pics of the house we won the bid on. I think the landscaping looks good and the circular driveway will be very nice to have.

As you can see the yard has a lot of room for a pool, playground, rocks, dog run... Of course it will be quite a while before any of that happens, but at least the space is there when we need it. That is the extra garage that Jer is so excited about. Apparently none of my "junk" will be allowed in it, but that way I won't have to haul it across the yard!I'm taking reservations for a moving/painting party if anyone wants to join in.

Just a reminder - Christmas Eve is Wednesday. See you then!!!

All Our Love...

We never heard your first tiny cry,

never wiped the teardrops from your eyes.

And though our hearts grieve and we are bereft,

we carry your teardrops, they are all we have left.

We carry them with us tucked next to our heart,

your memory with us always,

we are never apart.

Black Friday

In the Now..

After my own "A HA" moment this week I am trying to remind myself to live in the now. I am so very grateful for these four beautiful children of mine. I am very far from being a perfect mom, but I hope they never doubt how much I love them. Even though my youngest tells me quite often that I am mean :)
(I also love my 1/2 child Luke who gives me a little something extra to smile about every day.)

Finally....

after a month of reading, I finished BREAKING DAWN! I loved the book itself, but the ending was a tad anti-climatic!

When are we going to the movie?????

A Night of Love, Laughter, & LIGHTS

As always, it's wonderful to be with family!

It's Beginning to Look...

a lot like Christmas!! I am never a person who gets started before Thanksgiving, but there is a different feeling for me this year. My house is just about ready! Can't wait to spend the day with ya'all on Friday!

How Lucky Am I....

to have this adorable little guy. I love him! Just want you all to know how grateful I am to be a mom. Love to all!

Another One

I just finished another one.

DRESS UPS

I spent a couple of hours at Pine Needles on Monday and picked out the fabric for the rest of my Paperdoll Quilt and today I completed two more dress blocks. They each use the sweetest Japanese fabrics and how can you not love ric-rac. I hope you like them. I cannot wait to get the rest done and see the finished project!

A Challenge For You

I am passing along an easy challenge I hope you will participate in: make and send a bunch of cards to an organization in need. I know most, if not all, of us have cards lying around that we never get around to sending. Why not collect and donate them to people who could really use them? If you have the time and talent, you could always make a bunch of new cards instead of rounding up old ones. The cards can be for any occasion - birthday, Christmas, thank you, thinking of you...I sent some holiday cards to the VFW for them to pass along to our veterans. I just used some dollar cards from Michaels and added a little embellishment. While they aren't fancy, I think they are more personal than the generic notecard (I wrote a thank you message in each.) I made a bunch more Christmas cards today using a kit I bought a couple years ago. They were cute, quick and easy to make, and now I just have to find someone who needs them. Click on the highlighted phrase above for more details and ideas. Please "Pass It On"!!!

I made these fabulous pink and brown cards for a few friends this week. I love the ribbon effect and I plan on making more cards using it. Maybe you will be lucky enough to receive one someday!

What happened???

Okay, so it isn't a surprise to anyone that I am STILL having a very difficult time with Arthur. I am truly at my wits end. I need your HONEST advice. I know that I have not spent the time needed to train him correctly, but if I haven't done it thus far, I'm afraid I won't do it. Wendy let me borrow the "Dog Whisperer" books and DVDs. Once before, and again today, Arthur has chewed up the books. How ironic is that. It is not like I left these books on the floor, they have been sitting on our desk. He has now taken to climbing on chairs, etc. to get to what he wants. He won't stay in his kennel. Mind you, I took one from Sherie and it has been broken since we took it. The latch won't work so I rig it so he can't open it. Well, he now is smart and strong enough that he works on it until he gets it open! I can't tell you how many times I have to get up at night to put him back to sleep. Once in the kennel, he whines and barks until I'm completely freaking out and then, and only then, will he FINALLY stop. Last night it went on for about 30 minutes!! Today I didn't want to leave him outside in the cold and so I put him in the kennel. Well, like I said before, he got out. Chewed another dog training book, 3 other paperbacks, a DVD, a basket, and got a diaper out of the garbage. Have I made my point clear, yet????? I give up, but I feel like a complete heartless wench for wanting to give up. Do I just call it quits now, do I invest in the training that Sandy did, what do I do???? Kenzie can no longer take him so I don't have a loving home for him to go to. Please help me!!

I'm still in SHOCK!!

I still can't believe that there are TWO lines on this thing! I've never seen such a thing before! :) I just want to thank you all again for your thoughts, fasting, and prayers on our behalf. I know, without a doubt, that this is a result from faith and love my family has! When Kathy told Chap the news today, his response was, "I've prayed for her everyday." I can't even type this without tearing up. I am so blessed to have such a loving and supportive family. I love you all!

Priceless...

I LOVE THIS PICTURE! How can you not laugh hysterically just looking at it!?!

It's Over!!!

I saw this picture on another blog and just loved it. I think this is the way we many of us feel about this holiday and frankly I am so glad that Halloween over. I must confess, I am ready to break out the Christmas decor. I did not put up one decoration for Halloween and I am determined to not be such a scrooge about Christmas. I figure the only way to battle this is to start now.

I hope we all have a date!!

My Two Potential Babies!

These are not two lop-sided boobs :), but a picture of the two embryos that we transferred. The way they grade "good quality" embryos is B1, B2, B3 and so forth. The doctor said they rarely have B1 embryos and both of these are B2!! The two that we were going to use in January were not even to the "B" stage, which is not good. The dark spots in the middle are the actual cells that will "hatch" from the surrounding shell and attach to the uterine lining.

This black and white picture is what a quality embryo looks like. Though my picture is taken further away, they have similar quality!! :)

I changed the quote on the front page to somewhat go along with how I'm feeling about the process. I am VERY hopeful that things will work out this time. I do have to be prepared for disappointment, but I must say that I am really full of hope. I know that I shouldn't think or rely on "Divine Intervention", but I truly feel that the faith and prayers of my family have made it possible for me to make it this far. I love all of you more than you'll ever know!!

October 23rd already???

Has this month been totally crazy for everyone? I swear, I haven't had a day to relax in weeks! Hopefully things will calm down now that we've decided to rent our house. At least I can stop decluttering for awhile. Anywho...

Here's a look at what I did for card group last night. I only had the ladies make the Be Grateful card. I made a bunch of these 3x3 cards to give to people in November just to say thanks for whatever. Perhaps some of you will actually get one!!

One of the ladies turned 30 yesterday so I made this sucker tin for her. I know it's not real cutesy, but I wanted it to feel like it's in mourning. I filled the bottom with chocolates to hold the sticks in place. I'll try this again when I have more time to work on it. (Maybe for Kathy's big five-0!!)

My Birthday Boy!

I told Karie I would show the b-day decor.
I was pretty proud of my pirate cake!
Luke loved the pinata & boy can he swing! :)
What is a special day without Poppy?
Blowing out the candle...a few times!

When we ask Luke how old he is, he crosses his two fingers and says
"two-a"...so cute!

Thank you to everyone for making this a fabulous evening! We love you!!

My Everything

I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately with the weight of the difficulties we have been facing over the past year. It is easy to forget all the good times that we experience day to day. I was inspired this morning to go through some of my photos and look for pictures that showed us together as a family and it was such a lift to my spirits. Here is what I came across. How can I not feel blessed.

NEED YOUR PRAYERS

I usually only like to post fun things but this time I, or rather Randy, could really use your prayers. I like to pretend that everything is great and somehow my mind tells me that if I pretend long enough it will be just that. You can imagine how annoying that must be at times to the people I live with. Randy tries to support me in my view on life by telling me what I want to hear. Well here I go. Everything is not great. Randy is still experiencing unending pain. We had really hoped that the surgery would be the answer. The Doctor from Colorado told us when we called him last that the pain could go on for weeks or months. In the meantime his doctor here doesn't want to hear any more about it and is only concerned with weaning him off the medications. So tomorrow we start the battle all over again. The doctor at the previous pain clinic has moved and so we have to start over again with a new clinic.

It has been so hard on Randy, I wish I could understand completely how he feels. I love him so much and it is difficult to see him so miserable with no way to help him. The only thing I know to do now is to pray for him and he could use your prayers as well. As I listened to Kaylee's prayers tonight I just know that our Heavenly Father must hear her. After all, before asking to bless her Dad she thanked him for "every speck of dust on the face of the earth".

Enough for now. Thank you for always being there for us. I love you all!

Pumpkin Pie

I have a list of projects I am trying to get done this week and though I have worked on quite a few, my new Pumpkin Pie pin cushion is the first I have actually completed. I happened to have an orange yo yo in my stash and I thought it was the perfect addition to the top.

Halloween Goodies

Just thought I'd share the items I made for card group last week. You can't tell from the picture, but the "Happy Halloween" sentiment on the card was embossed so it's raised and shine-y. The little bat is a shrinky dink. The "eek" is attached to a York peppermint patty because I couldn't find any flat suckers to use. The purple bats on the treat bag were cut and embossed using my Cuttlebug. What fun stuff have you ladies been creating?

The Race Is On...

Yeah!!! Fall TV is finally here! Around here we watch Amazing Race, Survivor and The Office without fail. How about you? We all need to watch at least one of the same shows so we have something to discuss!!

I was browsing through some old photos and thought I'd share some just for fun.

It's 5am, do you know where your Sister is?

Hi girls! Just thought I'd say hi and share a tidbit from my interview with mom.

Question: Who do you think was the disciplinarian in Mom's household when she was growing up, Grandma or Grandpa Allington?

Well here is the answer:

My Dad never disciplined. Mother was the one that made us get our own switch, our own twig to spank us with and then we'd cry like mad so she'd think she killed us. I wouldn't say they were strict. We just knew what we could do and what we couldn't do. If we wanted to do something, Dad would be out in the field and so we'd ask Mom and she'd say "Go ask your dad" so we'd go out there and say "Mom says we can if it's OK with you" so we didn't have to go back and forth.

The front yard is done too! :)

My Backyard Haven

Well, we are officially done with the yard. Maybe just a little tweak here or there, but all major work is complete. Last night we turned on the fountain and sat by our fire eating peach pie. It was lovely! I'll be having a gathering to show it off!!