All That Glitters

Is Glendale!

On Saturday we went to watch Jayla perform at Glendale Glitters! What a big girl she was performing in front of hundreds of people! I tried to capture some pictures for mommy and daddy to remember the night and was squished between Jearel (daddy) and Phyllis (grandma) who were so proud of their girl and were there to capture the moment as well. Cutest thing I heard her daddy say was, "I am so nervous I can't even snap a picture"! Melted my heart a little bit! He didn't need to be nervous at all, Jayla did great!

The second she was done performing we dashed to grab a bite to eat! The kids could have cared less about eating though as soon as grandpa bought them their glowing things! Kept them entertained for sure (and came in handy later)!

We were talking about taking a carriage ride earlier that evening, so after dinner we headed to the spot, only to see the very long line that we thought might take us two hours to wait in. We tried walking away, but this little one turned out to be quite convincing to her grandpa and well...she won! She is very good! I think it is because she talks with her hands so much!

So we stood in line for about 45 minutes and waited to get on our carriage. I thought that there was no way that the kids would behave for that long, but they were very entertained by grandpa and the line was right next to a stage so the kids were dancing in the street and didn't even realize that it took as long as it did! It was while waiting in line that my mom realized just how many pictures I take when we are just hanging out. Chad told her this was normal and that he was used to it. I just smiled, hopefully one day my kids will be grateful that I documented our life and don't just have posed pictures of them. I am not saying posed pictures are bad, I love them (wish we did them more than just once a year), but glad that I have hundreds of pictures of them being THEM!

Dancing Queen! She was gettin' down!

All I needed was one picture of the two of them all bundled up...instead I got these! They make me giggle.

Me and the hubs! Tried to make him get in on the fun of waiting in line too!

And finally, we got a ride in our carriage! Lola made sure that she rode by grandma and grandpa and even told me that I had to get my own horse-y! Ha! When she realized that we could all fit and that she could sit between them, she was a happy camper and all was well! Kyan was excited to get to sit by mom and dad so it all worked out in the end! The ride was worth every penny (especially when dad is paying)! It lasted about 15 minutes and the kids had so much fun! At one point, Lola looked up at her grandparents and said, "You know guys, I love you!" It was so sweet!

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Our Turkey Day

We spent a wonderful afternoon with the Habermacher Family (Chad's Aunt and Uncle and cousins) for Thanksgiving! We don't get to see them as often as we would like, but jumped at the chance when they invited us to spend Turkey Day with them (Uncle Daniel is a phenomenal chef, who usually has to work, but not this year)!

I tried to get as many Black Friday tips from Aunt Lori and Danielle, as they go every year and are pros, but Black Friday is a whole other story that I don't even want to discuss right now! Let's just say I am sticking with Cyber Monday from now on or forming a Black Friday team to tackle that madness (This was my first year going, and I went by myself?! NEVER. EVER. AGAIN)!
Thank you so much for the yummy food and wonderful company! We even found a little time to squeeze in a few family photos!
Thank you again Habermacher's! We love you!

I NEED THIS!

Ok, so I have been seeing this bad boy all over bloggy blog land and I decided that I NEED ONE!

Just so happens that some of my favorite blogs (and a few new ones too) are giving one away! I am so excited that Silhouette is Mac friendly and I am crossing everything, just as this machine does everything, (I would start with vinyl lettering by the way...) that I might win one!

You wanna try and win one too?! Head/Click on over to any of the blogs below to enter!
Be Different Act Normal
Centsational Girl
Dollar Store Crafts
Eighteen25
Homemade by Jill
House of Hepworths
Infarrantly Creative
Kevin and Amanda
Love Stitched
Shanty 2 Chic
Tatertots and Jello
The Idea Room
Ucreate

Each Other.

Kyan + Lola = Best Friends
I am thankful that I have been blessed with the two of them.
Lola looks up to her brother so and wants to do everything that he does! Her attempts often times land her with a giant goose egg on her noggin or an ouchie on her knee, but she wouldn't have it any other way!
Yes, Kyan has to put up with a lot from his little sister. That being said, he is so good to her and deals with each and every one of her moods quite well! He is a true big brother and I believe he will watch out for her forever.
Love you Kyan and Lola.

Second Place!

In between photo shoots today, I was able to make it to Kyan's TKD tournament! They changed the time at the last second so I was able to sneak over and I am so excited that I got the chance!
Kyan in action!

Lola was so proud of her big brother! So were we!!! Congratulations Kyan on your second place medal!

It's That Time!

It is that time of the year to start thinking about sending out Holiday cards to all of our family and friends and I think I have just the picture that I want to be on our card this year! I am hoping to get family photos done, but I have been so busy over at Rosie J. (as it seems it is the season, I have four photo shoots this weekend alone) that I don't know if I will have time to schedule our own family pictures (unless it is last minute, which it usually is)! Hoping Lola's big goose egg or should I say unicorn horn will go down in the next week or two (she thinks she is as big as her brother lately) so that we can sneak them in! But if not, I do have a back up plan!!!

There is only one place that I will go to get my Holiday cards!

I am drooling at all of the Holiday cards that Shutterfly has to offer and have several in my projects section of my account! For some reason, this one stands out and seems to be very fitting for the two of my kiddos!

Any guesses as to who is the naughty and nice one at our house?!

Really, I drool over just about everything they offer and order all of my prints/photobooks for clients and myself via Shutterfly! Their quality is exceptional and their timing is incredible!

Wanna know something even cooler about Shutterfly? If you are a blogger, you could get 50 free Holiday cards! How cool are they?! Cool, right? I know!

Follow this link and you will be on your way to your own!

Just Because

Tonight, when Kyan and I got home from TKD, Lola came barreling out of the house to welcome us home (something she normally does). Only this time she was hollering "Happy Birthday mommy! We made you a cake! Happy Birthday, come inside!" She said this over and over! I was very confused, it is not my birthday, but she was very convincing, so Kyan and I rushed inside to see what the fuss was all about! Sure enough, Lola and Chad had made a cake (red velvet with cream cheese frosting) just because! She associated the cake with a birthday and went with it I guess! I thanked her again and again, she was too excited to break the news that it really wasn't my birthday! Instead, I enjoyed her and daddy's delicious cake!

I love things when they are "just because"! Made me feel special for sure!

Family Turkey Project

This week, Kyan brought home a Family Turkey Project and today we finally had time to create him! We had to help our turkey make it safely past Thanksgiving this year by disguising him as part of our family. Suggestions were offered for those that needed help, but Kyan knew right away that he wanted to make a Cardinals turkey! Thought it was pretty fitting, since we are BIG football fans in the Roseland house! He specifically wanted his turkey to sport a Fitz jersey, but there wasn't enough room, so he settled for the red!

Now, being the crafty mama that I like to think I am, when it said that we could use any medium to decorate, I talked Kyan out of decorating with just colored pencils or crayons and went for the mess! Rice, beads, feathers, jersey, googly eyes, feathers, and sparkly stickers (we had everything but the stickers! Bonus!!!) were right up my alley, and his too! The rice was his favorite part! He said that he loved the way it felt on his hands!

Meet, Larry! Our family turkey!

Isn't he cute! Hoping we save him from Thanksgiving dinner this year!

Made by mommy and Kyan, newest member of the white belt w/ black stripe TKD family!

That's My Boy!

Went to Tae Kwan Do tonight (haven't been since last Tuesday's class and the results weren't up yet for testing) and saw Kyan's name with OUTSTANDING next to his name! Woot! Woot! That is my boy! Of course I didn't have a camera, but the blackberry did the job! Proud mama moment!

SO PROUD OF YOU KYAN!!!

That being said, Kyan is hanging up his sparring gear after this month for a bit of a break (of course, right after he gets outstanding on his test and is doing so well) to play flag football. So it is really not a break, but he has become obsessed with carrying around the ball and playing catch with anyone that will play with him!

Loose Tooth!

Kyan showed us his loose tooth tonight, blood and all! He is so excited and I am so emotional! Hubs asked if I was seriously taking a picture of his loose tooth?! Ummm, yes! It is a BIG moment! I can't imagine the excitement he is going to feel when it finally comes out (he is wiggling away, super excited for the tooth fairy and the idea of getting big teeth) and how I will probably sob like a big baby! He is getting so big so fast!

A Diamond in the Rough

Just a sneak peek for now (keep reading and you can see the whole thing)...

Donna (Chad's mama) was over at the house last weekend and was telling me about how she is helping her mom out next weekend at their community estate sale and how she thought my mom would be in heaven with the sale. Her mom, Grandma Shipe, is part of a committee in Sun Lakes that goes into people's homes once they pass and removes their items that they have donated to the community. She, along with others, help price the items every Monday and then send them away to be stored for the annual sale. All of the money that they make goes toward making their community better - new furniture for the recreational center, carpet for the churches, etc. I about fell over when Donna was telling me about the sale and knew that I had to go!

Fast forward to today!
This morning Susie and I rolled outta the driveway around 6:30am and headed east!
There have been several items that I have been on the hunt for for awhile, frequenting garage sales, goodwill, and savers on a weekly basis to try and find them:

Large Oval/Circle Picture Frame
Large Picture Frames without the glass
Bed for Lola (either wrought iron or shabby chic)
Vintage chair/love seat/couch for photoshoots

I found a few of my big items today and oh-so many more! We spent about two and a half hours shopping and had every inch of the truck packed by the time we were done! Would you believe that there is a possibility we could be headed back tomorrow to get more?
So...what was in there?
Headboard
Box Spring/Matress/Bed Frame
End tables
Large box of Mixed Fabrics
Large Picture Frames x5
2 Large boxes of Kitchen/Misc Items

My Diamond!
Ebay/craiglist have had some of the big items on my list, but they come with a pretty price tag. I didn't want to have to pay an arm and a leg for some thing that I was going to redo to my liking (I originally had visions of spray painting a wrought iron bed turquoise for Lola's room, then thought about something fabric-y or shabby chic). I wanted to find a steal of a deal and today, all of my dreams came true! It pays to be patient I guess. I found (ok, Susie saw it first and pointed out to me how beautiful it was) the perfect bed for Lola! It was the diamond in the rough that I had been searching for and it was only $25!!! I couldn't pay for it fast enough and squealed with delight when I knew it was mine - errrr, Lola's!

Finding the bed was the first step into transforming her room from that of a toddlers (she was sleeping in the crib converted to a day bed) with all of her pottery barn bedding that I adore (don't know why I am so attached to it? I even tried to something work with the new bed, but it was not even close), into that of a little princess! She loves her bed and was so excited for daddy to put it together, which he did right away for her!

I have more work to do in there, but wanted to show you what it is looking like so far!

P.S. Susie and I are hooked on this sale and plan on making the annual trip out there! Anyone else who wants in next year, please let me know!

Meanwhile, back at home...

Last night, Chad and I met up with several friends and went to see A Perfect Circle! It is really Chad's kind of music (he went to Thursday's show as well), I was more of the "along for the ride" kinda girl, and as much as I was pretty indifferent to going, I must say that I had a blast!!! Because it was a concert and cameras are forbidden, the only picture from the night that was snapped was of Susie, Candis, and I (thanks Candis' soon to be sis-in-law) after the show.

With a night out on the town, we hired the perfect babysitters!
The two of these goofballs, errrrrr, I mean beautfiul ladies are the best (don't know how I ever found them - - just kidding, they are former students)! They keep the kids entertained for hours! Kyan and Lola always look forward to the two of the coming over to watch them (plus my kids know that Papa Johns is usually in there future too)! They come as a package and only once has Laken flown solo! Now, if they were only old enough to drive (hint, hint...GET ON IT BACON)!!! They love my kids so much they missed their last high school home football game to watch them last night!

During this adventure in babysitting, they discovered Photo Booth (ok, so I am sure that they knew about it for a long time, but this is the first time my kids were exposed and they were begging to do it today)! Not sure who had more fun, my kids or the girls! As soon as I saw these pictures, I laughed out loud and knew that they would have to be posted! I am sure this is going to be a staple in their tool belts of babysitting from now on!

And this was my favorite of the four of them! It will be framed and put somewhere for my kids to love and giggle at!

Thank you Laken and Celeste for always taking such good care of my babies! Without you girls, date nights wouldn't be possible!

What A Day!

This morning started out as business as usual...

Today at Kyan's school they had planned a "Grand Breakfast" and invited grandparents to come in and eat breakfast with their elementary school student and then head to the book fair to look/purchase books (smart they are). Grandma Donna was able to take Kyan to school this morning and share a pancake breakfast with him before they went to look at books! He was so excited to have her at school with him and she was very sweet and said she was representing for Grandpa Michael, Grandpa Jerry, and Grandma Julie who were able to be there!
Thank you Grandma Donna for making Kyan's morning so special!

Ok, now here is where business got a little crazy and Kyan almost missed "Grand" breakfast day altogether...
Monday evening he had an accident on the treadmill where the #5 speed was pushed without him knowing by someone other than himself and he flew off the back, getting a pretty bad tread burn. We took care of the burn (cleaned and dressed it, then wrapped it up in an ace bandage so it wouldn't ooze out - it took off several layers of skin) and sent him to school the next day (Tuesday). He even felt good enough to do Tae Kwan Do, so he went to that too. I didn't check to see if his leg had started swelling, we were in such a hurry and running late. We came home and did homework and were reading books when I looked at his leg and about died, it was swollen to twice its size! We took off the bandage only to see the incredible bruising and swelling. Any time you touched around his shin area, Kyan winced in pain. He woke up this morning with the swelling down a little and he was able to walk, so I sent him to school with grandma so he could still have breakfast with her and called his pediatrician the second that they opened to get him in ASAP! We started our visit there at 10:45 and she said that he had a horrible skin infection and sent him off to X-Ray to see if his leg was broke/fractured or if the infection had spread to his bones. Before we left, she gave us a prescription and then drew lines around the infection and said that if the redness moves out of that line he is to go to ER pronto!

We got a call from the doc about two hours ago saying that there is no break/fracture and that the infection did not go into the bone. A sighed a big huge sigh of relief as soon as she told me that last part (means no ER visit and IV to target infection)! Now we just have to watch it and make sure the antibiotics work and follow upon Friday with the pediatrician.

Kyan has been a trooper and is hanging in there quite well!