A quiet, scrappy weekend...

For the first time in many weeks, we had a nice quiet stay-at-home weekend! Originally, my intention was to do some spring cleaning...but if you know me, I was very easily swayed to skip that plan!

.

Instead, I spent a little quality time in my scrap room. I had two LO's I started at a little friend crop last weekend that I was finally able to pull together. Here are the results:

.

This is my LN (littlest niece) last summer. My kids & I looked after her for a week and we ended up with 400+ pictures! We were on a walk and she needed to stop and smell every flower. I hope this never changes!

.

.

..

This is the son of a dear friend of mine. On the Easter weekend, we took him to the park and he went on the swings for the first time. There's just something about baby toes - especially pudgy baby toes - that makes you just want to tickle them and nibble them and blow raspberrries on them! I took many more pictures - so there are many more LO possibilities!

.

So now we are at 4:00 on Sunday afternoon. The weekend is almost over and, although it saddens me, I am feeling very well rested and creatively satisfied! Bring on Monday!

.

Okay, maybe I wouldn't mind one more day to my weekend... ;)

Start Spreading the News...

I'm leaving today; I want to be a part of it, New York, New York!

The booking is done! The weekend of July 30 - August 2 my fabulous hubby and I will be enjoying the sights and sounds of the Big Apple C! I have wanted to go to New York for as long as I can remember. So, this year for my birthday, J surprised me *so much so I cried in front of our guests* with a trip to New York!

This morning, he booked our flights through Jet Blue out of Portland *we Y flying through them*.

Our hotel, the Portland at Times Square, on West 47th Street *just a few minutes from Cetral Park, Times Square and so much more* :

And our theater tickets for... Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theater!

I can't describe how much going to this performance means to me. And, the best part is that although I haven't mentioned it for several years, J knew this was on ef my dreams. Yep, I have a good one. And I sure lYve him!!

Although I was excited when the gift was presented to me, now that everything is booked, it is real and I am beyond excited! We will also be checking out a few other "tourist" sites, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art *From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler* , the Museum of Natural History *Night at the Museum* and, of course, the famous lady herself, the Statue of Liberty! Also, if there is time, we may even take in a real live baseball game *although I'm not a fan of tv ball* I really would like to see a game IRL *that sure made J's eyes light up*

So, for those of you who think birthdays and aging are a negative thing - I say think again! One more birthday means one more year to live. And what a way to kick off this year of living!

40

Today is the day. It is official. I am 40.

I have had several people ask me how I feel about this milestone birthday and I have told them that, to me, age is just a number. Some days I feel young, some days I feel old.

When I was a kid, I thought 40 was ancient. When I was growing up, country music prevailed in our home. There was a really popular song in the 70's by Waylon Jennings called "Amanda". One line in the song went like this "Well I finally made 40, still wearing jeans". I couldn't imagine being that old, let alone wearing jeans at that age! Maybe it was because my parents were both young I was 20 before my Mom turned 40.

And now, here I sit. 40. Hmmm. How do I feel about it? Well...

I'm still in YloveY with my amazing hubby.
I'm YcrazyY about my fantastic kids.
I'm more comfortable with who I am than I have ever been in my life.
I'm happy with my career choice and I enjoy my work.
I'm financially stable and can enjoy trips and some "little extras" with my family.
I'm blessed with an incredible group of girlfriends that make me feel special and lYved every day.
I'm one of the lucky ones who doesn't look my age.

So yes, 40 is a milestone. Yes, it is a "big" one. And yes, I will miss my thirties.

But today, I stand at the beginning of a fresh new decade with a full heart and full life.

And THAT I would not change for the world.

There is a reason...

...you should never leave your house unattended on a birthday weekend! This is what I came home to this evening after having spent the last 24 hours out of town:

My YcrazyY SIL's that I love so much invaded my home and did some "decorating" for me! They also called in a couple of dear friends to help them redo my bathroom! Yep, they repainted and accessorized for me!

Although I am thinking the balloons will not stay...heehee!

Gotta love my girls! xo

Gingerbread is for.... Easter?

Yep, it is - in our house this year anyway! In our house, it is a tradition to decorate a gingerbread house for Christmas and, two years ago, we started including our LN littlest niece in the fun she was finally big enough then!. The kids all enjoy it and it makes for some VERY cute pictures!

So, the week before Easter, my SIL, BIL, and LN came over for the evening and brought a gingerbread house for the kids to decorate. And decorate they did! They were very serious about the whole thing. They each took a side to decorate and the Mommies each took a camera to photograph the whole thing!

All in all, it took about 30 minutes to complete. But, the memories will last a lifetime.

I think a new tradition has begun!

Spring = Puddles!

Spring is my second favourite season (autumn is my first!!). I love the bright blue skies, the warm breezes, the sunny days, the new buds and flowers. But most of all, I love...

Puddle Jumpers!!

Yep, that's our reference for rubber boots! There is just something about pulling on a pair of funky (yes, pink!!) puddle jumpers and seeking out a puddle. As you can see by T's boots, he prefers the puddles of mud!

Thanks to my scrappin' friend {Kirsten} for the inspiration for this LO - the clouds and "raindrops" are a direct lift from one of her fab-u-lous LO's over on {Skrap'n'Chat}!

Think Pink...

I'm not sure when pink became my favourite colour. I'm also not sure how I accumulated so many pink things. But, somehow, pink is me.

I saw this great idea on a friend's blog {Jenn'sThoughts}. She took an amazing pic of all these fabulous GREEN things for St. Paddy's Day and I knew immediately that I wanted to try something like that! Well, it was my turn to complete a LOtagLO for my fave scrappin' site, {Skrap'n'Chat}, it was a beautiful sunny day and I was feeling very pink!

It took a couple of trips to get everything out on my deck. It took a couple of tries to get the "right" look. And it took a couple minutes to persuade DD to hold up the quilt properly for the shoot! Overall, I am very pleased with how this turned out.

And, believe it or not, I didn't even include all my pink ...