Co-op Competition & Ministry Outreach

So I'm the "Outreach Ministry Coordinator" in our homeschool co-op. This just means that I help set up and organize various projects for the co-op to do to help out people in our community or missionary families that we're familiar with. For our first project I'm going to have each grade grouping of kids take part in a little competition to raise money for us to send to a family in Haiti. Check out this blog (click on the name): The Apparent Project BlogI decorated empty jugs I had (still need to do one more for the preK/K class) with each grade grouping. I'll have the high school kids help the 1st and 2nd graders because they only have 8 kids in their group and the others have like 10 and 14. Our co-op only meets on Fridays and this competition will be for the month of October so each co-op day I'll set the jugs on the stage during our morning announcements and whichever group of kids brings in the most amount of money by the end of the month will either get a bag of candy each or a pizza party. I'll let them decide. Then we'll make a one time donation to the Apparent Project to help women buy materials to make things and sell them. Like it's said, give a man a fish and he can eat for a day but teach a man to fish and you'll feed him for a lifetime! The Apparent Project is working to give people the tools to build/make things so they can earn their own money and continue to feed their families. Amazing! If you get a chance to check out the blog, be prepared to have some tissue on hand because some of the stories break your heart! I wish there was more that I could do!!!
Anyways, here are the pictures of the decorated jugs:

WW Weigh-In Week #10

First off, check out this sunset we had tonight!! I have family visiting from Arizona and a group of us went to the beach to watch the sunset and it was freezing but GORGEOUS!!! (You can click on the picture to see a bigger version.)


So I'm late getting this posted! I did really bad this week at Weight Watchers...gained 1.6 lbs this week YIKES! Oh well, I'm not really beating myself up about it which I'm really surprised about! I guess I knew it was coming, sorta been expecting it for a few weeks now. It's girly time stuff along with a super busy schedule and eating out WAY too much...it had to add up eventually! Now that my nephew is back home with his mom I'm hoping to get a grip on our schedule and start cooking dinner at home again. Really looking forward to soccer season being over especially now that DH and I have signed up to be the Tiger Cub Scout den leaders which is going to add to an already crazy schedule! I've figured out that I get really overwhelmed and stressed out if I focus on too many things at one time. I can't look at the whole weeks events, I have to take it one day and project at a time or I get anxious and freaked out and start getting snippety with my hubby!

On a side note, my other sister, Kimberly is a total angel!!! She came down this past week to spend time with us and she told me that on Thursday she didn't care what I did or where I went but I was not allowed to take my kiddos! She wanted to bless me with a Mommy Day where I didn't have to worry about the kids or the house or anything, I was just able to go and do whatever I wanted to do and it was AWESOME! Seriously, since my son has been born (he's almost 7) I have NEVER spent an entire day doing stuff just for me, that I enjoy doing by myself or with friends. I love my family more than life itself but I was desperately needing a day for me and I'm so beyond thankful that Kim did that for me! What did I do on my special day??? One of my best friends, Dea and I started around 8am by going to a local cafe and ordered coffee drinks, hopped in my hubby's sports car and drove down the coast a little ways and walked along the beach for about an hour and the Lord truly blessed us with perfect weather. We chatted, took some pictures and got some exercise then we drove down to the shops and went in just about every store on the strip and we were able to take our time and look at everything and not have to worry about kids grabbing things or begging for us to buy them things or saying they were bored! It was awesome! LOL After spending a few hours shopping we headed back to our town and grabbed some lunch at the cafe, browsed around the Christian bookstore, chatted a bit then walked down the street looking in antique stores and little shops that we had never been in before. We went to the pottery store and colored pottery for an hour or so which is another amazing thing to do without the kiddos! We were able to take our time and focus on our projects in peace and quiet and got to visit without any interruptions. We walked down a few more streets looking in neat stores and then I had to run to Weight Watchers and a Cub Scout meeting. Hubby and I were supposed to go out to dinner and a movie afterwards but our sweet baby girl was having some tummy issues and got a fever so we opted to grab fast food and just eat at home and snuggle little Tatym til she went to bed. Even though the day ended sadly with her being sick it was generally a perfect day for me. A much needed break which I jokingly told my DH should be a once-a-month event! LOL Seriously though, I'm definitely going to do something like that at least twice a year, it did wonders for my attitude!!

Well, now that I've babbled long enough, I'm totally exhausted this evening and need to hit the hay! I'm working tomorrow (my one day a month) and I'm also going to visit some family in the morning so I need my sleep!

Hope you all are having a GREAT weekend!
Here are pictures from our walk on the beach on our Mommy Day Out:

Christmas Cards with help from KP!!

First of all, I just LOVE Karen Pedersen's work! She is extremely talented and I'm always drooling over her stuff! Last night I sat down to come up with some cards to make for an upcoming Christmas card workshop and I came across some of her Christmas cards and had to steal some of her layouts!! I think her cards are way better than mine but I gave them a shot! :O)

Here are the 5 I made last night:






Be sure to stop by Karen's blog (HERE), you won't be sorry!!!

WW Weigh-In Week #9

Wow, what a week it's been! Without going into too much detail, I've had my nephew (he's almost 2) staying with me since Saturday night and he's a handful, especially when it comes to nap and bedtime! I'm talking hours upon hours of battling to get him to sleep which gets frustrating especially when I'm exhausted and my 14 month old daughter is teething and has a cold. Fun stuff! LOL

Anyways, I haven't had any time to do crafting other than a quick thank you card and a quick Tooth Fairy card for my son (he lost his first tooth the day before last).


It's not beautiful but it gave the intended effect! :O)

With all the stress and chaos of having my nephew here we've eaten out just about everyday and I haven't been good about sweets so I was really thinking I gained this week and thankfully I didn't!!! I lost 1.8 lbs this week for a total of 17.8 lbs lost FOREVER! I looked at a picture of myself in February and April and WHOA MOMMA...I can already see a difference! I only have 8.2 lbs to lose til I've reached my 10% goal (26 lbs) and once I hit that mark I'll post one of those pics along with a recent pic for comparison! Thankfully I still have the same shirt as my before picture so it will be a good comparison!!

Alright, I'm off to RELAX!! Nephew is staying 2 nights with my mom to help give me a desperately needed break and the new season of The Office starts in 9 minutes YAHOO!!!! I'm gonna relax on the couch and not have to worry about spending the next 3 hours battling a 2 year old! PRAISE THE LORD!!! It's a good thing he's cute and I love him so much! LOL

Hoping to get some cards made tomorrow night...I'm feeling the twitch from withdrawls! LOL GOODNIGHT!!!

WW Weigh-in week #8

This is a quick post because I'm making myself get up off my bum and go on my walk. I lost another 0.6 lbs this week for a total of 16 lbs gone forever! :) It's not nearly as much as I would have liked but like every week I'm shocked I haven't gained so I'll take it and be thankful! LOL

So I've gone from 264.8 down to 248.8 in 8 weeks...not too shabby! I'm really crossing my fingers that I can lose 4 lbs this week for a total of 20 lbs gone...we'll see! My 10% goal is 26 lbs so I still have 10 lbs to go to reach that goal!

Alright...I'm grabbing my pepperspray and ipod and heading out the door! I'm hoping to get something crafty done tonight so maybe I'll have another post later!

Laurel's Blog Candy

Laurel is celebrating her followers and a big weight loss by giving us the chance to win some blog candy!!!

Check our her blog HERE to not only see her amazing paper crafting talents but also to see how you can maybe win some of the goodies!

CONGRATS LAUREL!!!

Kim's Blog Candy

My wonderfully talented friend Kim over at Memories In Thyme blog is offering up a chance to win some blog candy! She's celebrating her 5 design team spots and what a sweety to shower us with the gifts! I personally think it's gift enough to scope out her awesome work but hey if she really wants to offer up some candy...why not?! LOL


CONGRATS KIM!!!!!

Go HERE to see her offer!!

Mojo Monday card & a notebook!

Here's this weeks sketch for Mojo Monday:


And here's my take on the sketch:



I also made this notebook cover tonight:

A Blog Award for lil ol' me! THANKS KIM!

My sweet, sweet blogging friend Kim over at Memories in Thyme sent this blog award my way! She's just the best! Definitely click (HERE) and check out all her amazing cards and layouts...she is one talented lady and I'm so blessed to call her my friend (even if we've never actually met *wink wink*)!

So the rules for "I Like Your Style" are to pass it on to 5-7 bloggers who inspire you. Geez louise, how in the world do I narrow it down to 5-7??? There are so many of you ladies out there in blogland that inspire the poo right outta me...ok, not really the poo but you get what I mean! LOL
So in no particular order here are the ladies I'm giving this award to (click on their name to be taken to their blog site):
Sarah
Teresa
Tresa
AaronB
Vicki
Karen
Kelly Jo
Laurel
Kristen

Ok...that's more than 7 and I could keep going but I'll stop now! :)

3 Gift Card Holders

So I mentioned in another post that we're going to a birthday party for my friend Deena and 3 of her 5 kiddos and I always have such a hard time picking presents for kids. I took the easy way out and got them gift cards! :) SOOOOO...of course I had to bust out with some gift card holders to spruce up the gift a little! LOL

This one is my favorite of course because it's got butterflies (LOVE BUTTERFLIES) and it's girly. It's for little Alissa who is turning 3 this month. She's so adorable!



This one is for the oldest boy, Nicholas. I think he's turning 11.
.


And lastly, this one is for the Andrew who is turning 7.



For direction on how to make these gift card holders see the right sidebar of my blog where it says "Tutorials" and it gives you step-by-step directions!

Weight Watchers week #7

It's a good day! I went for my weigh-in and found out I've lost 1.2 lbs this week for a total of 15.4 lbs lost so far and never to be seen again! THEN, even though my knees are still tender and sore I set out to go on a walk, thinking I'd do a half walk rather than my normal 3.5 miles but I was feeling pretty good, took it easy the first half and noticed that the longer I walked the less my knees hurt (except going downhill...that still hurt) so I decided to push it and did my full walk AND...even jogged the last 3 blocks WITHOUT FALLING!!! LOL WAHOO!! I think I might actually like to jog now which is weird because I've never enjoyed it before. My sisters and father are runners and always have been but I figured I didn't get that gene but ya know...maybe I did but it was just hiding out! :)

Also, on a side note, my little man, Keegan got reading glasses today. He'd been complaining about headaches and his eyes hurting. The Dr. said his vision isn't very bad, just one line up from 20/20 but because he complains of headaches and eyes hurting that it would be best for him to get glasses just for reading. I'm not a fan of the glasses he chose but he's still cute and as long as he likes them then that's fine by me. He's the one that has to wear them!



Alright, it's movie time with my hubby and our friend. Have a great night!!