My Happily Ever After . . .

I can't believe my baby is TWO!!!

2010-06-29T22:49:00.001-06:00

How amazing is it that these pictures turned out so cute when especially my youngest was so crazy in between camera shots??! haha I'm actually pretty easy going most of the time, but this "photo shoot" was one of the more trying, and I went by myself with my three kids. I just felt like crying when I got back into our car afterwards. LOL But I guess it's worth it cause they really are cute! :)

Also I wanted to let those that are LDS know that I participated in the LDS Blog Train again for June, and you only have one more day to download most of the contributing scrapbooking kits! For complete list, go to my scrapbooking blog here: http://shellymariescraps.blogspot.com/2010/06/lds-blog-train.html

For this theme, we did vintage, heritage, family history or genealogy type of kits. I absolutely LOVE family history. If I am not designing a new kit or scrapbooking, I am searching and researching one of our family lines. Wait till you see all the beautiful kits all the designers have created for this! Here's a slide show of all the contributions to OF NOBLE BIRTHRIGHT.

They have a blog train of FREEBIES or free downloads every other month that are all focused around an LDS theme. The first month I participated in was Missionaries, and it was cool! I can't wait to see what they have for their theme in August!

Summer is finally here!!!

2010-06-15T11:32:00.001-06:00

Yay! I'll be back with summer photos, I hope;) But I do have this layout I did with my kit, Lil Mermaids, of my 3 kids on a visit to the zoo!

Mother's Day & Father's Day Layouts!

2010-06-15T11:28:00.000-06:00

I did these layouts for my parents for Mother's Day & Father's Day. The one with my mom holding me as a Baby and then me holding my first born, beautiful Jessica. Made from a beautiful kit by Dancing Princess Designs called Butterfly Heaven.

This layout is made with a new kit called Happy Anniversary by all the designers at DID (including me), and it is really my favorite picture cause I love hugging my dad, and I remember that feeling of hugging him after not seeing him for so long while I served my mission in far far away, Thailand Bangkok!

Update...

2010-03-20T22:17:00.005-06:00

Almost a year later... here's the most recent pics and layout of my three kids made with one of my scrapbooking kits, I Like Green. on sale now at both of my stores! DID and the Studio
Here's a better one of "the Boy" made with fabulous Designer, Mitsybelle's kit, Cee Zee.

Oh, and just had to add this layout, too. It's one of my favorites of my sweet little ballerinas on the night of their first dance concert last December. Made with my kit, A Happy Day, on sale now at theStudio.

So Tired should alway be my title. LOL

2009-06-16T23:54:00.004-06:00

If anyone is interested in why I haven't posted for over 2 months, please see my other blog and see what I've been up to. I am now going to be a digital scrapbooking designer, and will start to sell my stuff at one store, and hopefully a second one soon after! I have been so busy though that I keep forgetting to update this one. I will be back with more personal family details as is the nature of this blog, but please check out http://shellymariescraps.blogspot.com/ in the mean time;)

Okay fine, here's a recent pic. And my baby just turned ONE!

Have a great day!

The new 30!

2009-04-03T06:25:00.005-06:00

So I turned 40 this week. I guess it's the new 30? haha Doesn't really seem to be affecting me much. I think I'm too busy to worry about age. haha But it does make me want to lose weight sooner and get in better shape. I told my husband I wanted to be the sexiest 41 year old ever. He wants to know why I can't just be the sexiest 40 year old. haha But I know I'll need a year to get there. So I've got too much work to do to worry about age. And my young kids make me feel younger. My mom called me on my birthday and told me I was one of the biggest blessings in her life. So I guess that's something:)

We're supposed to go visit her and my dad today. And I guess we still will, but my youngest is sick. He has been sleeping through the night, but now has the croup so I've been up with him since 5 am. It's hard listening to your child breathe when it's so rough sounding! As I type this, I am still sharing my "office" with him so he's in his crib watching his humidifier. My first two never had anything like this. So this is a first for me. Well, first child to have croup, but 2nd time he's had it in his young life. The first time was right after Christmas. He was not quite 7 months old then. Now he's almost 10 months old, crawling, and fast becoming a character just like his sisters!

Too Much Going On...

2009-03-09T19:21:00.015-06:00

Okay, so I missed February. But I was still recuperating from surgery, working on too many mortgage loans, starting to teach piano lessons again, and getting more into my favorite hobby... Digiscrapping! Some know this about me, some do not, but I now digital scrapbook instead of the tradition paper method. And I've been getting ready to do another blog just to document this fun hobby of mine:) A lovely lady in Australia, Cazzie has asked me to be on her Creative Team, and I am a CT (Creative Team) Member for Silly Beans Scraps, and just love the world of digital scrapbooking I have found.

Here's a page I did recently for a speed scrap at http://www.getdigiwithit.com/.

I used the March Collaborative grab bag kit available at GDWI. Fun stuff!

Peace & quiet is not always what you think it will be.

2009-01-31T12:35:00.000-07:00

Well, now two of us have had hernia repair surgery within a year. Two bad it wasn't in the same year to save on deductibles! haha It hasn't been too bad, but it's been hard not being able to pick up my two year old. Not to mention all the many many things that need to get done including a lot of bending to pick up toys! But luckily, we're over the worse part. The surgery is done, and it's been almost 2 wks now. Mom came for the first week, and took my two oldest back to Idaho with her. And at first that was nice to get extra sleep. But then it was weird, because the baby cried every time I left the room. And the Daddy moped around not knowing what to do without a 4 yr old and a 2 yr old demanding something from him every few minutes. So I actually had to work at keeping the two males busy and distracted from missing the girls. haha

It's just weird how much imbalance you feel in your home and family when one or more is missing. I'm just glad we have them back now. I am tired. They are busy busy little girls, the baby boy, too. But they're also delightful, precious, and MINE: ) Okay, OURS! haha

But I am grateful for our sweet little ones and missed the chaos when it was soooooooo quiet without the girls. We are blessed with our precious and precocious little family:)

Still a Zombie

2009-01-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

Me, I'm the zombie, not this sweet boy in the picture;) haha Anyway, my kids have all slept through the night at 3 or 4 weeks old. But ever since our baby boy had surgery, he has NOT slept longer than 3 hours. I'm wondering if the anesthesia messed up his system cause he was such an excellent little sleeper. It is killing me. We've thought about the cry it out method, but at first he was recovering from his surgery, then we were at families' homes for holidays, and then he got the croup till this week. And so here we are, 2 months of multi-interrupted sleep. I guess if I can get him over his current cough, I can let him cry. But I didn't have to do it with the first two & am not sure how to do it without him waking up the girls, too. Plus he's just so dang cute! He gives us this sweet little smile at all hours of the night. I'm at a loss what to do but know I've got to get sleep.

Busy but blessed.

2009-01-02T13:54:00.000-07:00

I know. I know. I'm very bad at keeping up this blog! But I'm so busy keeping up so many other things. Rates are at a low so everyone wants to get a refinance so I've been doing loans like crazy. And Christmas projects just about pushed me over the edge. But things are starting to calm down now just in time for me to have surgery on a hernia. haha Life is fun. Full of fun. I will put some updated pictures in though and try to keep up a little better as it is one of my many New Year resolutions. Hope everyone had a great Christmas. We were and continue to be blessed.

Precious Angels

2008-10-02T12:30:00.001-06:00

I've been trying to organize pictures to start scrapbooking again. I found pictures of my three little ones when they were each at about the same age. What precious sweet angels I am blessed with. When you see their sweet faces in sleep and kiss their soft cheeks, it makes it so easy to forget how very tired you are. And they grow so fast that I'm trying to enjoy every moment while I can. Sooner than we realize, they will be grown and not wanting kisses from their Mommy or sweet cuddles in the middle of the night. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to hold these precious angels in my life.

You can't eat Vegetables when they're Talking...

2008-09-29T12:33:00.000-06:00

I keep saying I'm going to start writing the funny things down that the kids say, and I keep forgetting to do it. My oldest is almost 4. It's been a crazy month for her. She fell off the bed while jumping with her younger sister (breaking a big rule while Daddy stepped out of the room for a minute) and broke her poor little arm. But although it is her right arm, she has been a trooper. But I suppose most kids adapt well at that age. She drew a bed with her left hand and asked Mommy to write, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed." She then asked for tape and taped it on the front window of the house for all to see. She said she wanted to help everyone know so they wouldn't break their arms or legs, too.

The next morning, I had just fallen back asleep after getting up with the baby, but was woke up by my little girl yelling and knocking on the front window from inside saying, "Kids! Kids!" and pointing to the sign and her broken arm in a cute pink cast. (Elementary kids were walking along on their way to catch their bus for school).

What a kid! Showing leadership at such a young age? haha

And yesterday, she was watching a animated show she hadn't seen before with talking vegetables and came up with "You can't eat vegetables while they're talking." Didn't have a problem with eating talking vegetables I guess, just while they were talking to you.

Instant Family

2008-08-01T17:53:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure what I should use a blog for so I'll try to figure it out as I go. I have so little time these days with our little instant family of 5. I say instant because it happened so fast. We got married in our thirties, had a honeymoon baby (unplanned), had a second baby so our first wouldn't be an only child, then thought we would be done because we were getting too tired & close to age forty. But we got pregnant (unplanned) while on birth control & got our boy after two girls so we are happy for the surprise. But we are also busy as we became a family of 5 in just over 4 years. Very busy with a 3 1/2 year old & 22 month old as well as a new baby, but I do have time to get on the computer while nursing the boy who is now 7 weeks old. I've just become very good at typing with one hand after doing it with three babies one after another. But although we are so tired all the time and overwhelmed some of the time, I am so grateful for my three little cuties. They are all so beautiful & healthy and we are blessed to have each one. And I know someday we will sleep again. I am just not sure when that will be.