Yeah! My First Card!

Well, actually it's the second card that I've done on my own. And truly I'm proud of it. I made sixty of these things! Yup, you read right! Sixty!!! They're for my sisters baby shower next month. It took forever and a day, but ya know what? I found that I love doing this stuff. I used mostly Papertrey Ink Product.
First I cut out a piece of Spring Moss Cardstock that I embossed with the Swiss Dots folder through my Cuttlebug. Then, I cut out the four pieces of patterned paper called Everyday Blessings-Papertrey Ink, then I inked the edges with Tim Holtz's Distress Ink-Antique Linen. I didn't want it really dark but just a little older looking. I glued all four pieces on my cardstock (gluing toward the middle of card) and then used a zigzag stitch on the outside of all four pieces. Then I tied some Aqua Mist Swiss Dot ribbon (by Papertrey, of course) onto the spring moss cardstock and Matted it onto the card. For the circle in the middle I cut out the scalloped circle using my nestibilities, and then cut out and embossed the inside circle using my nestibilities also. I inked with the Antique Linen pad just inside the circle by keeping the die on the circle and inking on top of that. I stamped the stroller from Bitty Baby Blessings in the circle and also on some patterned paper. I cut out the patterned paper and pop dotted it onto the stroller image. I also used Simple Alphabet stamp set to spell out Aaron's name within the circle. (Papertrey again) And the part I love the most is the little tiny pearl that is on the hinge of the stroller hood. The sentiment "It's about Time" is also from Papertrey in the Favor It Baby Stamp set. Darn, I forgot about the little baby! It's a little baby head that came from the Bitty Baby Blessings stamp set also. I masked it to peek out from the stroller. Isn't that adorable? I love that part! Can you tell how much I heart Papertrey Ink!? Someday I would like to be on their design team. You know...when I grow up...

I love my life!

You know, I love my life! I love my children and my husband so much that when I think about it too much it actually hurts! But it's a good hurt, know what I mean? The feelings that well up inside of me are so tender and loving. (Then someone breaks in with some contention and I lose it all! Dang it!)
Was that random? Well that's o.k. because I think very randomly. Sometimes I don't think at all before I say something. (You can ask my Mom. She'll tell you that I used to say things that she considered tacky. I thought I was just being honest.)
I've been thinking a lot about a lot of things lately. Sometimes you don't realize all the great things you have until it might be taken away. So with this scare of the big "C", I've been thinking a lot about my family. You know, most of the time I feel like a failure in this venture. (I'm a blue in the color family, if anyone knows about this, then you also know that I feel really guilty about anything that I do wrong. Luckily, there's some yellow to give some relief. That's the fun color! )
Sometimes I think to myself, "Why would all these children agree to come down to me?" Is it because I'm good for them, or maybe it's the other way around and they are the one's who are teaching me all the lessons. Hmmm...I think that we both get something from it. But I really hope that they REALLY wanted to come to me and that they didn't see it as a hardship that they were willing to go through. I love them so much. Even when they drive me nuts! Am I the only one who feels like their kids drive them nuts sometimes. I want to be a great loving mother. I don't want to be irritated or upset or angry. I want to only have feelings of love. I don't want to raise my voice in anger. I don't want my kids to think that I don't love them. I want them to KNOW I love them...(I must be really tired cuz this post is very random, but it is what I'm thinking about)
Kelvin's surgery was supposed to be today, but the doctors office called on Sat. and let us know that one of the doctor's were going to be out of town and the other one didn't want to do the surgery without that doctor. I really hate waiting for things that I'm dreading. I really want this whole thing to be over so we can get back to being o.k. So I won't have to worry about if everything WILL be o.k.
I'm also going to be giving my sister a baby shower. On the 15th of Nov. Might not have volunteered for that one if I'd know what was happening. My four year old twins birthday is on Nov. 7th. Just 3 days after the big surgery. I don't want to take away their birthday fun. Kelvin will be coming home on that day. I don't know what to do. (Does anyone have any ideas?)
On a happier note, Tanner, my 14 year old is in football and we've been going to his games every week and I really love being there. I love that he's motivated by playing. He's getting really good grades for the first time since the 4th grade. He barely passed the 8th grade. I'm so pleased with him. I know that he really likes football. I wish that I could get him to join another sport right away, because I don't want him to fall behind. I'm afraid that he'll get complacent and won't keep his grades up!
Joseph and Emma are in pre-school now and they absolutely love it. I love their teacher too. It's so funny how they talk about some things. Joseph says that the preschool teachers daughter "is the prettiest girl ever, in the whole world" I think that it's a crush. Too bad she's already engaged to be married. And Emma had a dream about the giggly girl in her preschool class. (one of the girls giggles when anyone says her name in class.) Don't you love hearing about the dreams they have? I love it. They remember very clearly for being so young.
Here's a funny story. Chase (when he was 4) asked his Dad this question, "Dad, when you die can I have your house? Dad: "What about your brothers and sisters? Chase: "They'll be married and have their own houses." Dad: "Don't you want to be married and have your own family?" Chase: "No...I don't want the responsibiwity." He did this with complete solemnity. He really cracks me up sometimes.
Here's another one. I was on bed rest with the twins when he was 5 years old. I was watching Jurassic Park and Chase was watching next to my bed. There was a part in the beginning where the raptors grabbed a man and dragged him in and ate him up. After that part, Chase, with big brown eyes, turns to me and says in a totally serious voice, "Mom, I don't EVER want to go on that field trip." Oh my gosh! It was hilarious. I felt so bad for letting him watch that. I love that movie and I just didn't think how it would be for a little 5 year old. I am a horrible mother. But I still laugh at it.
Well... I'm really tired and so I'll let you go for now. Ciao baby!

Hmmmm.....

Wow. Sometimes I feel like all I write on this blog is bad news. I've been missing for a while...(Again...)Well, on to the bad news...
Last week (Saturday, not conference Saturday) my husband wasn't feeling good and called me from work to pick him up and take him to Urgent Care (trust me, if he asks me to come pick him up, there's something really wrong) Kelvin told me that he thought he had a kidney stone and needed some serious pain medicine. I took him to Urgent Care and for once they got him in right away. They gave him some medicine in an I.V. right away due to the blood in the urine. And then the doctor told him he was going to do a CT scan to check out his kidneys. I didn't think too much about it since he has diabetes and I figured that was why they were checking. Well, the reason they did it was because he is overweight and the scan they normally do, the doctor didn't think he would be able to see the stone. Well, they found the stone...AND a really big tumor stuck right on his kidney. They decided to do what's called a Contrast CT right then too. That involves some nasty dye. Well, the guy that reads the CT said that it was highly suspicious of Renal Cell Carcinoma. So.... after that good news he finally sends us home completely dazed and in shock.
The next day Kelvin made an appointment to see the Urologist. Thursday was the appointment. Yes, he does have Cancer and they are going to remove the tumor and kidney on October 28th. There is a 4 to 8 week recovery. That means 4 to 8 weeks of no work. Which he has 5 weeks of time saved. (I'm telling him to recover fast)
Now...on to the good news. I KNOW without a shadow of doubt that my Father in Heaven gave Kelvin that kidney stone so that we could find out about that tumor. I know, that he guided that Urgent Care doctor into doing the CT that he normally doesn't do. And we are so blessed that my husband has had a blessing in the past that has told him that as long as he was righteous then he would be able to provide for his family. And the last of the good news, once the kidney and tumor is out he should be fine and shouldn't have to have chemo.
Wow...when you put it into perspective, it's more of good news than bad...right?

McKenna's new haircut!

Last night McKenna wouldn't let me go to sleep until I cut her hair. And of course she wanted it a certain way. She no longer lets me just do what I want to her hair. I'm thinking she admires her older sister Beth and wants to be just like her! She wanted a stack in the back (Hello!...Haven't done that before!) I think it turned out pretty good. I wanted to have more of an A Line in the front but her hair from the crown wasn't long enough. She thinks that I should've been able to but she has next to nothing hair! And it definately wasn't long enough in the front. Hey! She was lucky I could get the stack in the back. I think it looks really cute. I do wish I could've gotten the A-line longer though. Maybe when it grows out a little. Hasta!

Can we say soaked?!

Right before we were supposed to pick up Kaidan from school, a rain storm rolled in. I don't think that I have seen a storm like this in years. The rain was bouncing off the pavement about 6 inches! Kelvin dropped me off so I could go find Kaidan. Luckily I found him right inside the school doors. We went outside and he says, "Oh man! I just got these shoes and now they're gonna be ruined!" So...the great Mom I am, I said,"Take off your shoes! Quick!" He took them off and away we ran! (I used to love to run in the rain and splash in the puddles when I was a kid and my Dad told me that he didn't mind if I did that as long as I took my shoes off first so I wouldn't ruin them! Cool! Is my thought!) So, his shoes didn't get ruined, but can you tell in the pictures that we were soaked?! It was sooooo much fun! I love to be in the rain!
And there's Tanner at the bottom of the pictures. He didn't get too wet because the main storm was over after about 15 min. Too bad for him! He missed out!

First day of school!

I was so tired this morning that I slept in and didn't get to get pictures of my other two that go to high school. (I had to get up with Bryn and give her antibiotics and she decided that staying up for another 2 hours would be good) I'll get pictures and load them up later. The kids were so excited to go back to school! (I'll give that about 2 days to wear off!) They got up way before they needed to. Kaidan lost his brand new shoes last night and it took forever to find them. ( He's notorious for losing shoes that he doesn't like to wear so part of me thought that he didn't like his new shoes and was hiding them!) Laura had to do a summer project and didn't get that done until about 1:00 am. (What teacher gives summer projects? Isn't that kind of like blasphemy?! hmph...) Tanner was complaining because I didn't get the right kind of shorts for him to wear. (And is there a huge selection when you're buying uniforms? WHATEVER!) Oh! And he was complaining cuz I bought his Vans at JCPenny and not at the store he wanted me too! Hmmmm....Can we say Walmart from now on! Oh! And Payless shoes, you know, the plastic ones that he'd be embarrassed to wear! (They've got some great sandals and such that my girls love, but athletic shoes? Nah!) The picture at the top is Laura. (She just got home. She didn't want to take the picture cuz she feels like throwing up for some reason, but we made her take it anyway! Cuz we love her!)

My Baby was mauled! (Oh, and the first day of school!)

My poor Brynleigh! All she did was love too much! Is that a crime? I think not! Bryn got up Saturday morning and walked into the boys' room where Samson (my sisters' dog, who we've been dogsitting for) was getting some shut-eye. She didn't want to disturb him, but she couldn't help it. She just had to give him some lovin'! (Kind of like that cartoon where the little girl says,"I wanna hug him and squeeze him and love him like this!" And the poor animal is squeezed nigh unto death!) Well, Samson was o.k. for a brief second (Let me reiterate the word BRIEF) and then he went Nutso on her face! I called Kelvin to come home and he took her to the doctors' while I waited at home (Tanner needed a ride home from a Football scrimmage and I didn't know when he was gonna call) The doctor said that he couldn't put any stitches in because if he closed the wound up with them then she would most likely get a really bad infection. Unfortunately it could affect the nerve endings that are right where she was bitten, and she could be paralyzed in that area. I've been terrified that she would get an infection since then. But it looks like the antibiotics are doing their job. Yesterday, her face looked like it was a little more swollen and red, so I drew around the area with a pen and in the middle of the night I checked to see it had gotten worse. (I know. Smart, huh? I can't really take credit for it. I saw someone else do it in the hospital for a snake bite on TV) It wasn't worse when we checked later, so we're really grateful.