I hate to do this but...

So I have finally decided to make our blog private. On one hand I hate to do it because it's so fun when I am able to get in touch with long lost friends or relatives through our blog, and I will be sad if someone won't be able to access it anymore. But on the other hand, I had a kind of weird experience with a comment on our blog from someone that I do not know at all that kind pushed me over the edge--I had been thinking about going private for a while now, but that just really did it for me. It made me realize that it is more important to keep my family safe and secure then it is for distant friends and acquaintances to find me, I guess. Anyway, I'm going to leave this posting up for a few weeks to make sure that everyone who wants to be able to still view our blog gets the chance to leave their email address so I can send out an invite. I don't want to shut anyone out--we love all of the visitors and comments we get on our blog! Please leave me your email address so we can still keep in touch!

Some Valentine's Fun...just a little late!

So first of all, I have to preface this posting with a disclaimer...anyone who knows me, knows that one of my greatest worries in life is hurting people's feelings...with that said, please know that David and I would have loved to invite EVERYONE that we ever hang out with to the Valentine's Party...but there just would not have been enough room at all in our little house. And believe me, I thought and thought about this for quite some time before I decided what to do! So for this time, we went with inviting everyone in our neighborhood. It was really fun to be able to get to know some of the couples better! We ate a big dinner (thanks to everyone who brought food!), played the Newlywed Game and a couple other fun games and just had a really great time, with lots of laughs! Anyway, here are some pictures from the night (thanks again Megan for taking all of the pictures, and sorry to everyone else who has already seen these on her blog--I had to post them for friends and family back home!)
This first picture is from one of the games we played where each couple had a mini size candy bar that they had to unwrap together by only using their mouths--the first couple to get it open and eaten won a prize. The pictures are so funny from this...as you can see...
Sean & Kendra getting their game on...
Mark and Katie with one of their prizes...
Rachel and Doug with their panties and massage oil...
David and oh-so-pregnant me...
Dan & Andrea--she was so excited when they won one of the games!
Nick & Sarah...I found this great pillow/door hanger at Walgreens (of all places!! Actually that is where I found quite a few of the prizes, funny huh?). Anyway, on one side it says "Tonight" and on the other it says "not tonight." So I completed the prize with a pair of sexy undies and a moo-moo (thanks Jenn for the moo-moo donation, it just wouldn't have been complete without it!)
Bron & Megan with some more sexy panties and some "Lucky Lover's Message Dice"(another Walgreen's find...I'm kind of fond of that place right now!)
And the whole group...
It was a really fun night! I'm thinking I might have to make it a yearly tradition....what do you think?

Waiting for "Baby Elsie"

I really can't believe how soon I am going to be having this baby!! I am not ready yet! AHHH! But her room is ready (for the most part), so I guess that's all that matters right? Anyway, I have had a lot of fun getting the nursery put together. I have to thank Megan for helping me come up with so many cute ideas and teaching me how to do certain things (antique the furniture, hand-quilt the crib quilt, etc.) It wouldn't be near as cute without her help! Maia has had a lot of fun helping me get the room ready too...she brings all of her dolls in there and puts "baby Elsie" to sleep in her crib, swings her in the swing, wraps her in blankets, snuggles her, and just takes good care of her! She is going to make a great big sister! I've been promising my sister that I would post pictures of the nursery, so these are for you Sienna! The first one is the view from the doorway....We are naming her Elsie Grace--Elsie, after her great-great-grandma....I think it is such a classy, beautiful name. And I've just always loved the name Grace.. I told David it sounded like a very peaceful, calm, content, name...hopefully she lives up to it right?! That's the plan.
This picture doesn't really do justice to what these look like(the flower balls below)...they are really so sweet and add such a nice touch to the nursery! The mirror was free from Salvation Army (long story about that one!), just needed a little paint! I need to put something up on the wall adjacent to the mirror, but I'm just not sure what to do with it yet. Any suggestions?

The crib....we found it on the curb(FREE), I sanded it for HOURS, primed, painted, and antiqued it for several hours more...she better LOVE to sleep in it!! Megan taught me how to antique it and I think it turned out so cute! My mom and I made the bumper pads over Christmas break and I used the leftover fabric from that to piece together a little quilt for the crib. It is not totally finished yet...Megan convinced me to hand-quilt it (something I have never done before) so it is still a work in progress, but I am about 3/4 of the way done with that part and then I just have to add the binding....another thing Megan is going to teach me to do! See what a gal she is??

The dresser...another curbside find....gotta love that free stuff! And it's amazing what a little bit of paint will do for a piece of furniture. That long, brown thing on the dresser is a magnet board, in case you were wondering! I made the little flower magnets on a whim and am now just waiting for pictures, or something like that to put up on the board.

So there you have it! Not a lot to it, but I think it turned out pretty cute, especially considering all of the furniture in there was either from the curb or garage sales!! I seriously don't know what I would do without them! Pay FULL price for something?! Are you crazy?

Playing Dress-up

So Shutterfly and Creating Keepsakes have teamed up to offer another free 8x8 photobook--this time I decided that I was really going to take advantage of it. When I went online to look at the pre-made templates, I saw that they had a cute ABC book. That made me think of how fun it would be for Maia to have a Princess ABC book. Problem was, the pre-made template was very neutral colors and didn't allow for real "princessey" stuff. I was talking to Megan about it one day and she, of course, had a great suggestion....take a million pictures of Maia in different princess dress-up's and poses and make my own ABC book (did you know that you can do amazing things with Powerpoint?? That is what I used to make all of my pages for the book). Yes, I really am unworthy to be her friend, she comes up with the cutest ideas and does SOOOOOO much for me. I keep telling her that maybe someday I will have a talent or two to offer to her, but who knows! So anyway, last week I packed up 2 garbage bags full of princess gear and headed over to Megan's house for a photoshoot.....the pictures turned out so cute!! Megan photoshopped them and then put them on a CD for me and I got to work designing Maia's book... "A Princesses Book of ABC's." So before we get to the pictures of some of the pages I have been working on, you need to do two things....first, visit Megan's photography blog HERE and set up a time to have her take your family pictures, and second, log on to shutterfly.com/inspire and create your 8x8 book of the wonderful pictures that Megan just took for you! After you have your pictures, just get on Powerpoint and arrange/design the pages how you want or you can just use the pre-made templates from Shutterfly, either way you really should take advantage of it! Here is the promotion code for the free book: CK47-9RS4-FR8H-62FA0W, and the offer is only good until the 28th of Feb. so you better hurry! And here are a few of the pages that I've put together so far...it has been so fun making it and I know Maia will LOVE it--I mean what 2 year old wouldn't love to look at princess pictures of themselves??!

My Favorite Dentist!

On Tuesday I had the wonderful opportunity of being Dr. Marchant's 2nd REAL patient!! Megan watched Maia (Thank you soooooo much!) so I could go down to the school and spend the afternoon with David. It was so exciting! Maybe more for him than for me since I have a fear of dentists, but as long as he's happy right? And seeing how he didn't do anything invasive, it was actually a great visit for me as well. David is so happy to have me as his patient because I have rotten teeth and need a lot of things done...my teeth look nice on the outside, but don't let that fool you, they are really rotten inside, literally! I always have at least one cavity when I go to the dentist and have already had TWO root canals, so you can see why I have a fear of dentists! And David is naive enough to think that I'm going to be his first cavity filling.....which would mean I would be his first anesthetizing shot besides the one he did on his lab partner....We'll have to see about that! It is definitely going to require serious buttering up beforehand...massages, shopping sprees, pretty much whatever I want...and maybe a little laughing gas or Valium beforehand....anyway, here are a couple of pictures from my visit.

You'll never guess what happened!!

So guess what happened today?? The SUN actually came out and the temperature got up to 30 degrees! So do you know what Megan and I did? We took full advantage and went for a 2 mile walk--it felt so good to get out! Sometimes all you need is a little fresh air and sunlight to rejuvenate you, know what I mean? Anyway, hope you are all enjoying the sunny day!