Let's get this POTTY started!

We are officially potty training! And it's going surprisingly well. Nolan tells us each time he has to go and we reward him with (his favorite treat!) M & Ms. I think we're just about there. In fact, Monday I will send him to the babysitter in a pair of THESE:



What's better than Lightning McQueen, Mater or Elmo??? When your two, it doesn't get any better! My only worry now is how many cavities he will get from all the candy!

Winnie the Pooh...

and Tigger too! Growing up I love-love-loved Winnie the Pooh. More than words can describe :) I even have a Winnie the Pooh tattoo (gasp!). He's always held a special meaning and place in my heart. So, when my grandma & grandpa gave Nolan THIS book for his birthday...
I was very excited. It's a wonderful book! It's like a toddler version of the "I SPY" books which are SOOO cool. Each page has shapes, numbers or items that are hidden in the picture and they have to find them. After a few times, Nolan has is mastered but absolutely LOVES to read it over and over and OVER! Books are one of his favorite things but he is fond of this one in particular.

Thanks Grandma & Grandpa Johnson! It's awesome and getting LOTS of use :)

{I. AM. #1!}

To quote Nelly ( this song is also on the "pump you up" mix on the iPod for Lauren to listen to before meets!).....although today it should be I am AND we are NUMBER ONE! Not only did Lauren take 1st place All Around at the Park City meet, but Olympus took FIRST PLACE with the highest overall score! We are SOOOOO proud of you Lauren for working incredibly hard and going all out.

Lauren's scores were the best (so far) of the season, with a 9.275 on vault, 9.35 on bars, 9.05 on beam (1st place) and 9.25 on floor! That gives her an all around score of 36.925 and the first place honor.

WAY TO GO, GIRLS! They all put out a stellar effort today and it paid off, BIG TIME! We have two more meets before the State Meet and the entire team is really stepping up to the plate! To celebrate we took the girls to lunch afterward - a well deserved treat. :) Those smiles say it all, don't they!

Question of the {DAY}

Can you get salmonella poisoning from refrigerated cookie dough?!? Normally I make my own cookies but the fam brought home some of that "cookie dough in a roll" type stuff and I must say it's pretty tasty. The cookies aren't as good as homemade once they're baked. Although, I will admit, by the time the cookies come out of the oven....I'm already suffering from a stomach ache from eating the batter :) Once in a while I may eat ONE cookie, if it's HOT & right out of the oven but otherwise I just stick with the good stuff...the dough. Probably not too smart, especially with the uncertainty of where our food comes from these days or how good the quality is. You'd think the recent peanut butter incident would frighten me enough to be more prudent about it - apparently NOT.

March Sneak Peek

Now taking requests for the March Scrap Kit of the month! Here are the papers I've chosen and some extra goodies. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

These are the latest releases from Imaginisce! This line is called "Twitterpated" which is perfect for SPRING! Included in the paper pack are one sheet of each double-sided paper in this line (6 total) PLUS 4 sheets of coordinating Bazzill cardstock. All this for the same price as last month's paper pack - $5.50! You can customize your KIT by choosing the embellishments you want.

The February embellishments sold out last month (paper packs still available) so be sure to get your March kits soon. I will also take pre-orders by request. Leave a comment here on the blog w/your email address if you'd like to pre-order yours now.

{We're Back}

It's been another grueling travel weekend. This time to Phoenix, Az. I took Lauren and her friend Becca down to their gymnastics meet. It's one of the bigger events of the year and it was held at the Unversity of Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals stadium.

Normally the meets host 350-500 gymnasts. This particular meet hosts 1500 girls, hence the LARGE stadium. There are THREE complete event areas set up so, in essence, it's as if there are 3 meets going on at once. That's the only way to get that many girls through in only 2.5 days!

It was a quick trip down & back but the girls were troopers! Even Mira :) She helped me scout out the best places to video from and made sure we kept track of everyone's scores. The competition season in winding down, as we have less than 8 weeks left until the State Meet. The BIGGEE for me is that the travel is DONE, at least outside the state of Utah - YAY!!!

{YES!}

(Photo goes here)

If Nolan hadn't taken off with my camera and left it in some unknown place, above you would see a picture of Lauren at the gymnastics meet last Saturday. And would it be a DANDY! I'm surprised she didn't pull a hammy getting up onto that FIRST PLACE podium so many times! :)

She really stepped up to the plate this meet and scored 9.0 on Vault, 9.15 on Beam, 9.15 on Bars and 9.2 on Floor. This earned her FIRST in all events except Vault. She was also the all around winner in her age group! Yay Lauren! We're SO proud of you :)

In the meantime, I will try to figure out how to upload video and post it back here. Otherwise I (hopefully) will take lots of make up photos at her meet next weekend - yes, we're "on the road again!"

February Scrap Kit

After much debating, I have decided to offer a monthly kit. The way it works is this...there will be a paper pack or "starter kit" which includes 8-12 sheets of awesome, top quality scrapbook paper. Featured below are some of the contents for February's kit. There are 10 sheets this month: 5 pattered sheets (2 are double sided) and five sheets of coordinating (textured) Bazzill cardstock. This months kit includes cream puff, diablo and painted pink!



The paper pack is $5.50 - that's $.55 per sheet! A bargain indeed :) Then you can mix & match which coordinating embellishments you'd like, all of which are offered at very affordable prices - below MSRP!
Red foil alpha stickers - $2.99
6 yards of coordinating ribbon - $5.19 and a 24 pack of brads - $2.99!
A pack of 84 die cuts - $2.99 and the cutest ribbon slides EVER - $3.99!

These are all available in my Etsy shop (link to the RIGHT) or contact me if you want the WHOLE KIT & KABOODLE for a special price of $20!

Keep your eyes open for more kits at GREAT prices. Also, let me know if you'd like to organize a scrap night.

Update!

Well, there's hope yet. The law that I posted about has been delayed ONE MORE YEAR! YAY! So, we can keep on doing what we love to do for 12 more months. Hopefully by then they will have special conditions for handmade products made by moms like me in the good ol' US of A.

There's more hope - Nolan is potty training and doing unbelievably well! This is pretty early, since he's just turned two, but the signs of readiness are there & we're goin' for it.

There's more hope - President Barack Obama has imposed $500,000 caps on senior executive pay for the most distressed financial institutions receiving federal bailout money, saying Americans are upset with "executives being rewarded for failure." Ya think? Especially when those "rewards" are subsidized by US tax payers!

So, just when those winter blues were kicking in, there's a bright silver lining! My posts have been pretty sparse lately but I will be posting LOTS of new things soon. Not only scrap projects but there's new products coming soon too - stay tuned :)