Random ramblings..

I planned on doing a blog post yesterday but our area lost internet connection!

It was already a week ago today that Natalie had her second set of tubes put in and tonsils taken out. The first few days were rough! I think the recovery for this has been far worse than when she broke her arm! She was quite grumpy while taking the Tylenol with codeine. This is the 3rd day of having a semi-happy Natalie back! I brought her to the park yesterday and we're heading out for frozen yogurt this afternoon. Her request for today is chocolate cupcakes WITHOUT frosting! Cupcakes are in the oven as I type and she's licking the bowl of batter.

I wanted to share a couple pictures from when we went to Olive Garden with my Mom and Grandma. The second we sat down in the booth, Natalie immediately saw the dessert menu and this dessert was all she could think about. It was VERY delicious!!



At the beginning of summer Natalie told me she wanted to go camping. I have never been out camping in a tent besides the backyard. I've been in a motor home or travel trailer...but never a tent. So, I thought about looking for a tent when I came across this one at a garage sale for $5! It's 10x14 and 6 feet high. Natalie has LOVED "camping" in the backyard!


The other day we bopped in at Family Dollar to get TP and bleach. While checking out we saw these ginormous lollipops! Natalie wanted one while we were in Shipshewana but I refused to pay $4 for it...so this one was only a dollar!


And finally, I was awarded this blog award from Pinky(Cristal). I am going to try being better about posting these blog awards..I always mean to and get sidetracked and forget.


This award is called the "Eye Like Your Style" from Janis at Pause, Dream, Enjoy. This beautiful award was created by her daughter.

The rules are easy....
1) by accepting this award you recognize that the giver "likes your style."
2)you agree to proudly display this award on your blog and post a link back to the giver.
3)you will share this award with those whose styles you like...because there are so many wonderful blogs out there!

I chose
1. Deanna M
2. Jennifer Y
3. Michelle
4. Helen (Love her tutorials!!)
5. Shannan

That's all for now..

Weekend update...

I meant to update this earlier but we have been busy with having fun up until Natalie's surgery Thursday morning. So, here's a recap of what we've done in the past week.

Saturday we went to Woofstock in Kalamazoo. We met up with my cousin for a little while. It was another cute dog festival and we saw lots of cute dogs. Would you believe I did not take one photo!? We didn't want to hang out too long because we wanted to meet my Dad in Paw Paw for the car show. Here are some photos from that
this was my favorite....orange and a Camaro

Natalie by her favorite car model

My Dad had a car exactly like this one when my parents got married. Same color and everything. It was a total blast from the past for him.

Had to take a picture of The Back to the Future car...88mph!!

Natalie has told me that she wants a Corvette. It has to be one that has an open roof, so convertible or glass top...and she wants yellow, white or red. She has her Daddy's taste when it comes to cars!!

My wonderful friend Ashley came up to visit this past week. She moved to Florida last summer for a teaching job. We ate lunch at Olive Garden, shopped at Target and then watched the Twilight DVD at my house. It was so nice to just hang out. Here we are at Olive Garden

On Tuesday I took Natalie to the Van Buren County Fair. She fed the animals

Check out the hairdo on this llama

I bought her one of the bracelets so she could have unlimited use of the rides in the Midway. She rode each one about 5 times! She LOVED it!! She kept telling me she was having so much fun!


I love the look on her face in this one...so Natalie...cautious!



She even worked her way up to the rollercoaster! As you can see, Tuesday was not a busy day for the fair. Wednesday was kids day so I am guessing a lot of people went that day. We went on Tuesday since the weather forecast for Wed was possible rain...which of course it did not do.

Her prize from a game

She rode the pony all alone

This guy was making balloon animals and was so talented! He was hilarious, too!

And here she is with her balloon kitty

We had a long day at the fair but it was SO much fun!

Mon Ame Memories July kit

I received my Mon Ame Memories July kit the other day and was thrilled to use it an my monthly crop last night. The kit has a cute travel theme to it, but as you'll see from my layouts they don't have to be travel themed. I also created a sketch for today's Make a wish challenge at Mon Ame Memories.
This is the sketch I created. You can join us at MAM here in the forum for this challenge.

I used the July kit to make this layout


I'll be back wiht more layouts from the kit....I just need to add a couple finishing touches.

Have a great Sunday!

Blueberry Pickin'

Well, today was a first for Natalie and ME. We went and picked blueberries! I found this cute new place and decided to go there. It was only $1 a pound to pick the berries and we got 2.5 pounds. We had a really good time. Natalie LOVES blueberries so she was already digging into them on the way home. This place is opening a bakery some time next week so it would be nice to go back and check out their baked goods and get some more blueberries. Here are some pics I took while we were out there.

She just couldn't resist!




I had an urge to do some scrapping this evening...well, I saw a challenge on Label Tulip for their birthday party which immediately made me think of 2 photos from Natalie's bday.....which would work perfectly for the sketch challenge this week at The Shaker Box (sketch is provided by Got Sketch #78) I love it when things start turning in my head like that! SOOOOO......here it is...I have rediscovered my love for stitching on a layout.

The Shaker Box July kit is available

The July kit from the Shaker Box is available! I loved workigng with this kit. I kicked out 5 layouts and 2 cards within such a short amount of time. It's full of My Little Shoebox and Crate Paper. There is also the cutest little owl mini album included.
Check it out


Here are two layouts I created with the kit
"Your Happy Gilmore swing"

Fun filled weekend...sorta

Hope everyone had a great fourth! We went to the parade in Schoolcraft. It is one of the biggest in the area but I think this may be our last year. We may venture out to other parades in the future. We did not have the best experience. It was filled with lots of business advertising of people in a truck and people following with business cards. Kinda got boring, quick. The worst part was how adults were so crazy over penny candy. We were seated next to a lady who appeared very patriotic...she was spraying the girls' hair red and blue. They all had American flags to wave during the parade, too. Well, the Mom then told us that it was her daughter's 9th birthday. We wished the (unenthusiastic) girl a Happy Birthday! Well, whether or not it was her birthday, the Mom used that to their advantage. We started to wonder part way though the parade. She got out a huge sign that said, "Today is my 9th birthday!" I heard her tell a friend that last time they used the sign the people in the parade kept giving them extra candy. Sure enough, the parade begins and every time someone with candy came along they were standing and waving the sign. They all rotated who held the sign...Mom was out in the street, too. The littlest girl got mad because the brother wasn't "holding" the sign, he had it leaned against the wagon. That is when Mom got up and started waving the sign. These kids were running up and down the street grabbing as much candy as possible. You should have seen the Dad when he was a float passing out lunch bags with popcorn. You would have thought they were handing out $100 bills they was he was encouraging the kids. I was a bit disgusted. Last year we sat by people who were all making sure all the kids were getting candy. We were passing candy back to kids who weren't along the parade route. It was very friendly last year. There was a sense of community and SHARING!! These people were all about getting as much as possible. Very much an ALL ABOUT ME attitude. Of course, my Dad had a few comments to yell out at Natalie which hopefully made these people think. Ironically, at the last second some people my Dad knew sat by us with their 5 year old son. He was such a sweet boy and was trying to give candy to Natalie when the parade was all done. I saw a lot of people shaking their heads at the all about candy family. I have to wonder if these people and the kids even know what the parade is all about, or do they just think it's a way to get free penny candy? On top of it, there were adults lining the streets grabbing candy, too. Someone threw candy and a tootsie roll landed in the cup holder of my Dad's chair, an old man came up and grabbed it out! My Dad was speechless. I have to wonder if people show up to celebrate America and our brave military people, or to get free penny candy.
I did get a couple pictures of Natalie. This one is of her waiting for the parade

I love this one! She is watching the parade in this one....notice the green gum? LOL

Natalie has informed me that she wants a Corvette. She doesn't care what color, although she mentioned white, yellow and orange, BUT it must be a convertible. I am sure a glass top would be fine, too. LOL. I had to get a picture of her watching the Corvettes along the parade route.


We didn't got to any fireworks, but we watched the neighbors in my parents' neighborhood light them off. They have a bunch of neighbors who light off the good ones so we enjoyed them. We got home and had neighbors lighting them off here, too. Natalie enjoyed her sparklers, too.

Happy Birthday America!

Mon Ame Memories Make a Wish Crop

Mon Ame Memories is turning one and we're having a month long crop!