{nothing new}

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Ours was pretty relaxing (if one can consider anything relaxing at 8 months pregnant). Saturday Gerard took Gerard to that train store they've been wanting to go to and they both had a blast. (You can read about their first attempt in this post).

The time change always screws us up a bit. Sunday Gerard went to bed at 9:30 (instead of his usual 8:00) and didn't wake up until 9:30 this morning. I can't complain about the sleeping in, but I hope we can get him to bed at a normal hour even though it's so light out! Gerard is upstairs reading to him now.

This week is going to be a little busier than usual (a welcome change!) Monday and Friday we'll go to the gym, Friday we're going to McDonald's Playland with our friends Joy and Kacie from the gym just to let the kids run around, Tuesday and Thursday Gerard has school, and on Wednesday Gerard and I are going to Grand Rapids with our friends Darci and Luke (his friend from preschool) to see a cool butterfly exhibit:

I hear the butterflies just come up and land on you. Gerard is very excited about that. I hope I get some good pictures!

And here's one more layout (I've been scrapping up a storm since there's no good TV on!)...

all papers by Nancie Rowe Janitz
folder tabs by Gina Miller
file label by Katie Pertiet
paper clip by Shabby Princess
flower swirl by Mickelle Coleman
fonts are Times New Roman and Pea Amy*Rica Script

{angel or devil?}

Yesterday was pretty exhausting. Gerard didn't have his best day yesterday, and he had to sit in time out a few too many times. Not listening, running at school, not listening, refusing to put his coat on after school, not listening, making a mess during dinner (on purpose), not listening. Did I mention not listening?

Today was much better, although I was doubtful when he woke up just before 7am. I figured I was in for another "fun" day. Not so! He was very good today, as he is most days, and I'm hoping yesterday was just a fluke. Nonetheless, I was inspired to make a scrapbook page about his not-so-angelic behavior. Big Gerard didn't love the idea of the little devil horns, but I thought it was cute and in good taste. Afterall, what 3 1/2 year old boy isn't a little devilish?
background paper by Rhonna Farrer from the Designing With Digital book
pin (recolored) by Michelle Coleman
heart by Michelle Coleman
devil horns by me
fonts are Nasty and Pea Amy

And another layout, on a less-serious note:
all background papers (recolored), frame, and staples by Michelle Coleman
torn paper action by Atomic Cupcake
stamped alpha by Michelle Coleman
painted swirls by Michelle Coleman
tag (recolored) by Gina Cabrera
font is Pea Jenny Script

That about wraps it up here. I hope everyone has a nice weekend and Ma and Dad I hope you have a safe flight home tomorrow.

The Gifts Just Keep On Coming!

Today was a pretty good day. This morning, I just wasn't sure I had enough energy to go to the gym, but Gerard INSISTED that we go. He loves it there. Thank goodness for that, otherwise I might never make it there!

* * * * * *

My birthday WEEK continues.... Lynn sent me my present today, and I love it! She made me a quilted wall hanging for Halloween. She knows how much I love Halloween, and I just LOVE homemade gifts. Here's a picture of it (the whole quilt is on the left, and the right side shows the close-ups). It's hard to tell from the picture, but there are little 3-dimensional elements on it -- the bats, the RIP tombstone and the spider. It's awesome!!! I can't wait until October! (Click on the picture for a larger view:)

Plus, Gerard brought home a little something for me too! I've been looking for a tart burner but haven't been able to find one that I liked. Well, he found me two! They're so cute (I'll take pictures tomorrow) and we already used one. Now the house smells like blueberry muffins. Mmmmm.

AND, our friends next door (Shauna and crew) got me a gift certificate to a beautiful spa in town. I can't wait to use it. Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to get -- manicure? pedicure? pre-natal massage? facial? Ah, such dilemmas!

* * * * * *

Tonight, Gerard did his usual bedtime dance routine. He likes to choose the various beats on his piano from Aunt Sada and yell "Everybody dance!" at which time everybody MUST dance. No exceptions. Tonight, however, I was able to video tape him a little instead of joining him on the dance floor. Enjoy this little montage...

Have a good night y'all!

Spring is in the Air!

You'll never guess what I heard this morning. Birds chirping! Yup. Spring must be on it's way! It's hard to imagine as it's only supposed to get up to 20 degrees today, but at least I know there IS hope.

Nothing too new to report here, but I thought I'd share some pictures of Gerard from yesterday...

Well, Gerard has preschool today and I have my 34 week OB appointment. Hope everyone has a nice day!

My Birthday Weekend

Saturday was my 29th birthday. OK, maybe not exactly 29, but close! We celebrated Friday night because Maddie's birthday party was Saturday. Trust me -- Gerard had MUCH more fun celebrating her birthday than mine! Afterall, she had cool presents and nice friends and lots of Thomas trains. Much more exciting than dinner out with Mommy and Daddy!

I had a nice time at the party, too, but I also enjoyed dinner out on Friday. We went out and then Gerard got me a delicious cake that I can only describe as death by chocolate. It was chocolate on top of chocolate on top of chocolate. Here it is:

Then I got to open presents from my boys -- a cool laser cordless mouse to make my scrapbooking easier and Trivial Pursuit 80's edition, which I've been wanting for a while. Let's just hope I can find the time to play it!

Friday and Saturday were very nice and Sunday was very relaxing. I even finished a couple of layouts:

one for the 2007 album:
green background paper and striped paper by Nancie Rowe Janitz
stitching by Nancie Rowe Janitz
file folder tab by Gina Miller
pin by Michelle Coleman
fonts are Nasty and Century Gothic

and one for my AAM album:
yellow background paper by Michelle Coleman
stars (recolored) by Shawna Clingerman
fonts are Marcelle and Arial

Thanks to everyone who called to wish me a happy birthday. It was nice talking to you all! Have a great week!

Waiting for Locusts and Boils

Gerard did, as I had expected, wake up at the crack of dawn today. Now he's tired and a bit cranky. And we're supposed to go out to dinner tonight. Argh.

Last night the weird weather continued -- hail, fog, sleet, snow. (Still no tornadoes, though.) And then, at around 9:30 last night, we smelled skunk. Not just a little either. Enough to make our noses and eyes burn. Enough to make our clothes and hair smell. Enough to keep ME awake much of the night. Gerard looked around outside but didn't see anything, and there were no tracks in the snow leading to our house, but the smell was so bad I would've sworn the skunk was IN the house. This morning, OUTSIDE smelled fine, but INSIDE still reaked of skunk. I started getting used to it and hardly noticed it anymore, until we came back from the gym and opened the door. BAM. It hit me. Gross. So I lit some scented Yankee candles. Now the house smells like cinnamon skunk. Sounds yummy, huh? Don't you just wish you were here? So now I'm just waiting for the locusts and boils....

Let's see. What else. We still watch Survivor, although it's getting a little old. I think it has "jumped the whale" as my Dad would say (I know it's "jumped the shark"). Grey's Anatomy was a repeat last night so I got to finish another scrapbook page. Here it is:
red background paper created using an overlay by Nancie Rowe Janitz
flower trim (recolored) by Nancie Rowe Janitz
staples by Michelle Coleman
torn paper action by Atomic Cupcake
fonts are Cooper Black and Pea Katie

Oh! Oh! Oh! I almost forgot to mention what Debbie got me for my birthday!!! Only the coolest present ever! She bought me my OWN FONT! Isn't that cool! You can see what I mean here:

I can't wait to be able to use my own handwriting on my layouts!

Well, that about wraps it up around here. Hope you all have a nice weekend!

A Glimpse Into the Future

I got a taste of what the future might look like around here... Gerard had preschool in the morning instead of the afternoon today (due to a 1/2 day at regular school) and I actually had to WAKE him up. He woke up on his own at around 7:45, asked me to fix his blankets, and then fell back to sleep. I woke him up at 8:30, and he said "One more minute, Mommy. I'm still tired." So I left for a minute or two, went back, and he was FAST ASLEEP AGAIN! I woke him again (we had to be at school at 9:15) and he said, "No, Mommy. I told you I'm still tired!" Ugh. The ONE day I needed him to wake up early and he doesn't want to. Eventually he got up, got dressed, ate breakfast, and we made it to school on time. I can just picture him trying to wake up for high school...

Now I can almost guarantee that he'll wake up at the crack of dawn tomorrow....

His class went on a little field trip to the library today, too. Tomorrow is Dr. Seuss' birthday, so the children's librarian read them some books and played her ukulele. Gerard thought that was pretty cool.

Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful day here. Oh, except for the weather. Let's see... we had rain, freezing rain, hail, snow, more and more rain. Luckily, no tornadoes.

Have a good night, and enjoy a few more layouts I did:
blue paper (and tan paper, recolored) by Holly McCaig
alpha and tags by Robin Carlton
hearts, recolored by Michelle Coleman
stitching by Nancie Rowe Janitz
paint brush strokes by Michelle Coleman
torn edge by Atomic Cupcake
font is Pea Katie

all papers by Nancie Rowe Janitz
fonts are Times New Roman and Scriptina

grey paper by Jen Wilson
swirl by Michelle Coleman
polaroid frame by Katie Pertiet
hearts by Michelle Coleman
fonts are Times New Roman and Cheryl