And here I thought he was doing so well....

Okay, so the potty training just got to the frustrating point. It was frustrating in the beginning because he was learning what he was supposed to do. Now it is frustrating because he knows and is not feeling well and acting out. Punk. Back to cleaning up messes and bribing to go potty. ::sigh:: I knew it was too easy! But I am persevering!!! He WILL be trained! Mama needs a weekend off! No one wants to take a potty training kid on over the weekend....I can say that this afternoon has gone much better. Not nearly as many accidents as he has been having. He has voluntarily gone in the potty a few times. He even earned some ice cream! Home made strawberry...mmmm....

On a good note, while Noah watched Sesame Street this morning, I was able to crank out this excellent sketch from Card Makin Mamas. The actual sketch is by...I believe Patter Cross. I could be mistaken. Its hard to read the name. Anyway, I was mucho inspired! This is some of my favorite paper, and I LOVE anything Bella, so this card was meant to be! This particular bella I received in a splitcoaststampers swap. She is called "Ohsoprettybella". I used my Studio G $1 glitter glue as well as some prima flowers. Hope youe like it as much as I do!

Lastly, Noah, besides having potty troubles, has just been grumpy all the way around the last two days. So, when he wanted to "hep" earlier while I cleaned the litter box, so I figured he could fill the cat food dish. It was a pretty harmless task. He had all kinds of fun, and it really kept him busy! YAY He also loves dishes and laundry! I am so blessed with my little "hepper"! Speaking of chores....see ya later!

Just a "few" things.

Hey! Well? It was quite the busy weekend. Yesterday, it showed! Poor Noah! He has such a hard time sitting still anyway. We went with Kelly and Ethan to a story hour at our local Barnes and Noble....YIKES! Noah was a monstor. Not in that tantrum kind of way, just in that....super hyper...not getting enough sleep or attention kind of way. Poor guy. Ethan was an angel, as usual...I got some...less than friendly looks from the other ladies over Noah's antics. (just for the record, not from Kelly. She knows and loves us!) I know I am doing something wrong for him to act that way...I just have not quite figured it out yet. He sits still for the most part in Sabbath School...but at the book store? Its heaven...he loves books, and ALL of the characters on them....so, its kinda worse than a kid in a candy store! Better luck in a few months...or years, I suppose, LOL
(Noah reading the second book while the lady was reading the first book to the audience)
It has been about 3 weeks here without rain, give or take a few days. So yesterday when I got up and saw it raining, my first thought was....YAY! Rainboot photoshoot! The problem was...Noah never napped and was grumpy...and by the time we got outside...the puddles were gone, lol SOO we comprimised. Noah loves my umbrella. Its kinda sad that its purple, but eh, its all good, lol! Hes just a kid! I like this picture. Not what I envisioned, but still a great capture of childhood. (and some snazzy boots) Today, he was all about going out and playing in the rain and the wet grass again. He is so cute!


This morning, Noah went down for a later nap than usual, but once he got down, he was DOWN! So, completley uninspired, I sat down to crank out a few cards. The results were better than I had hoped! This first card is made with a Veggiebella (I believe, I need to double check that) that I got in a swap over on Cafe Mom. I love it! What a neat image! I got the flower bling yesteray at Joanns for a dollar. I got a couple extra packs to share, so one or two lucky ladies will be suprised in a week or so! The paper is K and Company that I got with my 40% off coupon at Joanns yesterday. This is my FAVORITE brand of embellishments, and just moved up to my fave paper in front of Makin Memories, which held first for quite sometime!

This little card I was not so sure about until I found this awesome polkadot paper. It made the image just leap off the page in my opinion! I got the flourishes in a swap, also on Cafe Mom AGES ago and when I layed them on the paper, I knew I had found the perfect addition! The flowers are, you guessed it, K and Company! I got them on clearance at Target last week. The image is from the House Mouse Halloween Accrylic set. Heather sent them to me last week. The glitter is glitter glue that I got for 1 dollar at Joanns. I consider them fake stickles. They are not as precise as I was hoping, but with a paint brush and some phenagling, it worked great!
OH! Okay, I have to share a Noah funny with you. Noah is always "hepping?" (helping). I left him to play in his room while I made his lunch, came back, he ate then played....then we decided to go outside. With the rain, it has cooled off nicely so I went to his dresser to get out his pants, and low and behold...his drawer was EMPTY! Everything was GONE and there was NOTHING on the floor....so, I checked and sure enough, everything from the drawer was in the hamper. I just looked and him and said, Noah, were you "helping" again? He just smiled and said, "outside?" Silly little man.

All in all, a good week, so far! I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of another BFF, this time from Texas. She is flying in on Friday to see me! She will be here until Monday afternoon. So short a time, but I am blessed to see her regardless of how short of a time! So there you have it! Hope you enjoyed this really long blog! LOL!

What a nice day

Ahhh, rest and relaxation. My day did not start off very well. Not terrible, just one of those days where you just can't seem to get organized? I have a reall problem with being scatter-brained and not knowing where things are and not being able to get my life under control.

So, I got up with Noah and started to get ready for church. I thought I had it all planned out, but could not find my slip, or my bra, and the outfit I had chosen just didn't look right today. Noah was cranky and ALL over the place. DH was a big help, but I had just had enough when it was time to go and I still had no makeup on, couldn't get my hair to cooperate, and Noah was still in his PJs and messy from breakfast, and I still had not eaten or gotten his bag ready....you get the point.

SO, we stayed home from church today, something I kind of regret only because I want Noah to go as often as possible, and he loves it so much! I feel like a bad mother when we don't go.

So, at home Noah spent a lot of time hanging out with Daddy today, something he does not get to do very often. Daddy works so hard that he does not get to see him very long each day during the week. Daddy read to him, gave piggy back rides, and played blocks with him. Noah ate up the attention!

Yesterday Kelly, Ethan, Noah and I went to a consignment sale and I hit the jackpot on this ADORABLE dragon costume! Noah loves to dress up, and he loves this outfit! I am so glad! Last year he was so NOT into the Lion costume I found him, plus it was too small. This year, MUCH better luck! Isn't he adorable?

When Noah went down for his nap, I drug out the craft supplies and made this humble Bella card. I believe that this is called scissor bella, but don't quote me on it. I received this image in a Bella swap over on Splitcoaststampers. It is for my BFF who did such a wonderful job on my hair!

Later on, we all packed up and went to the park. Noah LOVES the park! Its soo nice to have 3 nice parks in the area! It was hot and sticky, but we made the best of it and had a blast. Noah and Daddy fed the duckies, and then we played on the playground, which, thankfully, is just about right for him! Some of the others have a few too many over his age range things, but this one is great!

So overall, everything worked out for the best today. I still wish I had taken Noah to church, but I know in my heart that one week is not going to make or break it. Well? I might be back later with another card or two. Noah is bushed and its only 7:15 which means I might get to play. YAY!

FINALLY! YAY!

Finally! A place for us moms to take our tots and NOT say NO when they climb on everything! I am SO EXCITED! My friend Kelly discovered a mom group in the area that goes to a place called My Gym once in awhile, so we checked it out. AWESOME! EXACTLY what my lil man needed! (Not to mention, mom!) For 8 bucks, you go in and let your kids go nuts for an entire hour with no NO! Or, DON'T CLIMB ON THAT! Or, YOU'RE GOING TO GET HURT! Other than a few issues with manners, it ROCKED for us! Noah had a blast and was the happiest boy in the world. Not only was his best friend Ethan there, he was free to run around and be a kid! WOOHOO!!!!! I am in LOVE with this concept and plan to go back. I might even enroll him in classes for next year! Who knows! The only hesitation is the pricing. It is a little high for those of us on a budget, but it might make a great birthday or christmas gift. =0)

Tuesdays and Sketches!

Ahh! Creative spark, how I have missed thee! I have been in THE most creative funk the last week or so...just barely scraping by. I am not officially back, but I am pretty darn close!

Noah reFUSED to take a nap this morning, so after running some Birthday errands for DH, I decided to attack a sketch that I found over on 2 sketches 4 you (which I found through Heather). I discovered them yesterday and am in LOVE with their work! So, I decided to try my hand. I didn't do her card justice, but I am happy with what I came up with. Very out of the box for me. Whatcha think? I started trying to do her design because I LOVE black and white. VERY classy! But I noticed that one of the papers on her background looked like notebook paper, something that Heather had done recently as well. So I decided to go with that....doodle, school book, grungy look.

Alright, alright! I have gotten 2 blog awards recently by two WONDERFUL ladies and I suppose that it is time to take care of some business! Both are the same award, so I am going to only choose 7 ladies. I received this award from Heather and Lisa. (Lisa, I love your blog too, but only could choose 7~) THANKS LADIES!!!

RULES:
I have to pick 7 of my favorite blogs and…
1. The winner can put the logo on their blog
2. Link the person you received your award from
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you’ve nominated.

Here they are in random order!

Krista!

MamaLizzie

Heather (Starfish)

Shemaine

Heather

Elli

Jen

Lastly, but certainly not least, my waterlovin, crazy, runnin, grinnin lil man! I swear, all day for 2 solid days all he has done is talk about "sim? Sim?" Bless his heart. His swim lessons didn't go well, but he SURE LOVES the wading pool! My blessing, the love of my life, my lil Noah! Hope you had a WONDERFUL day!

Monday, Monday...

MAN, was I lazy today! LOL! That about sums it up! And it was the perfect day for that. I HATE going anywhere on Monday due to the after weekend traffic places like the post office, so I use Tuesday for my shopping and errands.

So, this morning, Noah woke up in the best mood EVER and went down into a GREAT nap! So I was able to work on a card I started Saturday afternoon. Yikes! Was it really 2 days later that I finally got a moment to myself again? Its called a "popup accordian card" and I found the tutorial over on splitcoaststampers. Hope you like it! I used a cupcake set that I got from Kristapista as a RAK a long time ago! It was perfect for this card! Thanks, Kristapista!!!

I am pretty unhappy with the inside. I liked the concept, but I made the circles 1/2 inch too small, I think. I didn't understand the instructions, and then I messed up the background on the top and bottom each in one place. Otherwise, I think its a card I could see myself doing again! The first and last images are the same cupcakes as are on the front, and the middle image says, "Sweet Stuff".

When Noah got up, the first thing he wanted to do was put on this hat. He is so silly! I love the way toddlers insist on making certain decisions. I am kicking myself. The other night, he fell asleep in his snow boots. He INSISTED on wearing them! So there he was, pjs, and Piphard (clifford) snow boots, sound asleep on his back, and I didn't take a picture. ::sigh:: I love this phase of toddlerhood, though...other than the tantrums, but they come and go, so its easy to deal with.

This evening, Daddy got home early and we all went back outside. I count it as a blessing that my husband and my son like the outdoors. So many families now days are glued to the telivision (not that we don't have our moments) or the play station, or whatever game console you might have....I am blessed that my family likes fresh air and sunshine, and I can't wait to get back to walking, and eventually hiking again! Anyway, off subject slightly, Daddy was watering what is left of our plants, and Noah decided he wanted to help. It was sooo sweet! Hope you all had a wonderful Monday!

Just a weekend!

Hey ladies! Not too much to report here, but just thought I would update you anyway!

Potty training is going SOOO WELL! I can't begin to tell you how blessed I am! My son is SO SMART! I only hope and pray that I can direct that intelligance where it really counts and not be a slacker mom! Noah is so silly when it comes to going #2 in the potty. He yells BYE BYE! and practically pushes me out of the bathroom and pulls the door shut and makes sure it actually latches! LOL! He SO needs his privacy! But he has never once gone in his pants since the second or third day! YAY!

Noah had a blast at Sabbath School this week! All of the lessons finally clicked! Its so sweet to watch him pretend to "open his Bible carefully" as the song says, or wait patiently for his turn to "ride on a boat today" (shown to the left).

He is such a sweet boy and I am so proud of everything that he has learned! He likes to talk to Jesus. Last week we were in the middle of Ross and he said, "Jesus?" And folded his hands. I told him he could talk to Jesus too, so he started jabbering away talking about Daddy and Mommy and Aunt Sarah....I almost cried. I have always struggled with my personal spiritual life and to see my son so interested in learning about him may just change me yet! I really think that we have children to teach us how we should be. Christ did say to come to him as a child...

I will leave you with this final picture of Noah being pulled (by me) in his wagon. I love this shot. It just seems like...I dunno. Not to be cliche, but just like a moment frozen in time. Noah is growing and learning SO RAPIDLY but in the middle of all of that, he is still a fragile, innocent lil man that needs his mama. Who has not been exposed to the bad things the world can offer.

Anyway. Have a great week! I will have cards this week! Promise!