A few layouts and some exciting news...

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The top one might be my new favorite layout. It's so simple, but I keep finding myself drawn to simple... maybe I ought to try that more.

And now for the exciting news... Look over on the right hand side of this little bloggie poo! I am going to be joining 2 more CTs... DigiScrapShak (which is really cool cuz it's a store gig, and I'll get to work with lots of different designers' stuff) and Wendyzine Scraps (she's at Elemental Scraps, but I don't have a blinkie just yet.) So anyway, I'm super duper excited!

OK, going to bed now. It's the only time when my ankles aren't elephant-like. =)

Cankles and other random thoughts...

It's official... I have cankles. I've made it through three other pregnancies and never had them. Lucky #4... brings me big, fat, swollen feet and ankles. Seriously. You can barely see the bone on the outer part of my ankles. And the inner part? Not so much. Can't see that bone really at all. Oh, for those of you who don't know... cankles are basically where your calf meets your foot with no ankle definition whatsoever. I asked the good ole obstetricianologist (that's what Caleb calls him) yesterday what to do. He said to keep my feet up as much as possible. It was right then that I realized I was going to have to call Jeeves, my chauffer, and ask him to pick up my nanny and butler, as well as the maid, gardener, and chef so that I can sit around all day with my feet propped up. I'll get right on that.

On an even more special note, I think I broke my pinkie toe. For those of you who don't know, I sprained my ankle a couple of weeks ago. Now I have a toe that's fat and many different shades of purple and blue because I stubbed it on one of our kitchen chairs. That lovely bruising even extends into my foot. And for some reason, that little teeny tiny pinkie toe is like a MAGNET sending out an irreversible attraction to all three of my children to either step on it or bump it. I can't really wear closed shoes because it hurts too much, and leaving it uncovered... well, yeah... you see how that's working for me with my little girlies... Main point is... I'm a clutz. And it hurts.

There were other random things I was going to blog about, yet now I'm tired after waking up at 4 am with my 18 month old who evidently just didn't feel like sleeping, so I'm gonna take a nap. Maybe if you are lucky I'll be back to finish this blog later... =)

Feel good movie and a layout or three, defining myself and C is for cookie...

Monday's blog challenge was to blog about a feel-good movie. Because I'm so punctual, I'm blogging it on Wednesday. That's how I roll...

I really can't think of one movie in particular that I watch that one could consider a feel good movie. I really like Say Anything, and anything with John Cusack for that matter. I'm also a fan of all those Meg Ryan chick flicks. Maybe Adam Sandler movies, because they never cease to make me laugh. Except Punch Drunk Love. Didn't like that one, although I went into it expecting it to be a typical Adam Sandler movie, which it wasn't. Anyhoo... I digress...

Here's a layout I did yesterday. I cheated and used the same layout for each of my girls. That's why I love digital scrapbooking. I switched out the pics, and voila! Instant layouts for three girls! And because this is my blog and I can do what I want... I'm gonna post all three pics so you can see my three little cuties in all their glory... Here's Hannah-

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Just a little note about Taylor's... while one of my daughters has no fear, it is NOT Taylor. She's scared of lots of stuff. Including the slip 'n slide. So instead of running and sliding, she pretty much slow crawled her way down. Hence no cool splash action shots. We're working on that, though...

And Lexi's -

And last but not least... blog challenge #20... defining myself by giving you a word that starts with each letter of my first name...

Loving - very. But not to everyone. Just peeps I'm close to. The deserving ones.
Youthful - Maybe not in years, since I AM advanced maternal age... but I am in spirit!
Nutty - Yeah. Too much so.
Nifty - I'm not really sure if I'm nifty or not, but I use that adjective probably a little too much.

Not a whole lot of descriptive terms I could think of that start with Y. And although I WISH I was nimble, which I'm not now that I'm 36 weeks pregnant, I just couldn't put that in.

Oh... I have one more thing to blog about. Do you remember that song "C is for Cookie" that Cookie Monster sings on Sesame Street? If you don't, go find it here on YouTube. I want you all to share in the misery that is my life this morning. Now that my three year old knows how to press the back button on the DVD player button, we've listened to this song at LEAST 25 times. I haven't counted, but I'm quite sure we're at the very least at that number. And to make things even more fun... my 18 month old knows how to turn up the volume. So now we are listening to it at a much higher decibel level than is probably safe for little ears. And yes... I am letting the DVD babysit my kids while I blog... Bad Mommy...

Two layouts...

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Fearful Friday...

No, today isn't a fearful Friday. That's just the title of our latest blog challenge. I'm supposed to blog about a time I felt fear.

The one time that REALLY sticks out in my head is when Caleb was in Iraq for his first tour. He had been there for about 4 or 5 months, and there hadn't really been any incidents at that point, at least that I had been made aware of, of Blackhawks getting shot down. Well, one Saturday in November, it's all over the news that there was a Blackhawk from the 101st that had been shot down. And I knew Caleb had been flying that day. And I hadn't heard A SINGLE WORD from him in over 24 hours... no email, no instant messaging, no phone call... nothing. I tried really hard not to panic, but I also hadn't heard anything from the family readiness group that is supposed to notify us when things happen. I went to church the next morning, still not having heard anything. I actually had to leave church that day. I was so scared that something had happened to him. People knew our situation, and they were asking me if he was ok. I choked back tears as much as I could while telling people, "I don't know... I haven't heard from him." (Keep in mind that I'm 6 months pregnant and way too emotional already...) Finally I just started bawling and couldn't stop, so I left the one place where I actually could have probably found some peace. Although I think it was in God's plan for me to go home, though, because as soon as I got home, I got an instant message from Caleb. He was completely fine, although he knew the entire crew from the aircraft that was shot down. They were in the same battalion, just a different company. At the time I didn't know this, but they shut down all communication out of the areas where the soldiers are living. They do this so casualty information doesn't get leaked before the families are notified. Makes sense, but it doesn't help when you are one of the ones NEEDING information.

Anyway... that's my story for Fearful Friday.

More layouts...

I'm all caught up posting my layouts... Did these four today. Really it only counts as three, because when I have a layout I really like, I just put another one of my girls' pictures in, and voila... another layout for her!

I've been totally inspired by the Page A Day Challenge at ScrapGal.

Here they are...

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Same credits as the above layout.

That purple one is of Taylor. She's three now. And the pink one is Lexi, who is 18 months. I'll do one for Hannah as soon as I get one of her baby pics scanned.

Going to bed now. Niters!

Layouts...

OK, so I've done several layouts that I forgot or was too lazy to post, so here they are...

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I know... I know. My style is all over the place.

See ya tomorrow!

Three for the price of one...

I actually haven't been neglecting my blog so much... it's just that I have several things to blog about. All on different topics. So rather than typing in three brand new blogs in one day, today you'll get three for the price of one. Hence the title of this post. "How clever she is" you must be thinking. Or maybe not.

Post number one... I have big news. I am not usually a big tooter of my own horn, but I feel the urge to toot! (my horn, people... not that other kind of toot... geez) If you look over in the sidebar of this oh so lovely blog, you'll see that I am a member of TWO AWESOME DESIGNERS' creative teams. That's big news for me, because I never thought I'd even apply for one let alone be chosen. So I'm super-duper excited that I decided to think about what Shandy said to me on several occasions (Thanks, Shandy... still waiting ANXIOUSLY for your call) and I applied. There... toot over. =)

Post number two... This is gonna seem like a really weird one, but I have to blog about seeing my husband do his job. That probably seems like a really WEIRD thing to blog about. But see, we've been married for four years, and although I know what he does... I've never actually seen him in action. For those of you who don't know, he's a pilot in the army. He flies Blackhawks. And for the first time ever, our two youngest daughters and I got to see him fly. We have only been out to his airfield a couple of times, and never even gotten close to one of the helicopters, so this was a BIG deal to us. I guess if he worked at an office or a fire station or a hospital, we'd be able to see at least a little of what he does. But since he doesn't, like I said before, this was a big occasion for us. He was working with a skydive team from Ft. Campbell, so as an added bonus, the girls got to see parachuters jump out of his helicopter. Cool stuff. Here are a few pics. If you want to see more, you'll have to check back in a few days. I'll be doing a layout of the pictures I took.

And post number three... Last but not least, Shandy's blog challenge is to post a to-do list for today. Seeing as how today is just about over, I think I'll post a to-do list for tomorrow instead. Mostly cuz this is my blog and I can do whatever I want, right? K, so here's my list...

1. Clean the kitchen and mop the floor. I swear, I could create a small meal with the crumbs and such that are on my floor right now. I wouldn't, but I could if I wanted to.
   
2. Upload my most recent layouts to my super coolio blog.
3. Leave some feedback on the layouts of my peeps at ScrapGal, and for my fellow CT peeps.
   
4. Do some fun stuff with the kiddos... like PlayDoh and/or Paint.
5. Do preschool activities with Taylor.
   
6. Take the girls outside for a long time so they can run around and get super duper tired so Lexi doesn't get out of her bed 27 times like she did today. (For those of you who have read my previous blog... I didn't count this time. I just estimated)
7. Shower at some point... preferably before the girls wake up, but that doesn't always happen.
8. Make dinner. Don't remember what we're supposed to have so I'll have to figure that out first.
   

Lather, rinse, and repeat all this on Friday. I swear it's like Groundhog's Day. Although Friday, I get to go for another ultrasound, so that should throw some fun into the mix...

OK... going to bed soon. Have a good night!

Blogging gets put on the backburner...

I've realized that when things get a little busier for me, this little blog of mine gets shoved aside. Not that I have a huge reader base or anything, so it really doesn't matter. However, I really should try harder to not say "oh well... I'll blog another day." Because one day can easily turn to four, and on it goes.

Anyhoo... with that being said, I have two blog challenges to catch up on...

#15 Tell about a time I've re-gifted or the best present I've ever received. For all you lucky little ducks, I'll tell a little about both. I've re-gifted a few things, but they are usually kids toys that they get for birthdays, of which they already have one or two of the exact same thing. Nothing exciting about that, I know. There have been PLENTY of things I wanted to re-gift, but I just thought the item I had been given was too cheesy to pass onto someone else. Let me tell you about the most obvious and truly tasteless re-gift I have ever received. There were four little juice glasses with really bright colored citrus fruits on them. Got them for a wedding present. I guess they could have been a nice gift had there not been about a quarter inch of dust in them and ROACH DROPPINGS! I kid you not, my peeps. Roach droppings and dust. In a set of glasses that somebody WRAPPED up and put our names on. I don't think they liked us too much...

Now... the best gift I have ever received... my husband got me a Nikon D70 two years ago. I had told him that when we had extra money, I was going to get one. In Caleb-speak, extra money apparently means "I'm gonna go out right NOW and buy that for her because she is the coolest thing since running water." This was about a month before Christmas. He bought it for me for Christmas, although the day the package arrived via UPS, he made me open it. On like November 30th. He's so not good at waiting until the actual occasion to give presents. But he's sweet, so that counts double!

#16 Release some of this useless knowledge that is cluttering my brain.

Here's the problem... I have ENTIRELY too much useless knowledge, but most of it comes in the form of song lyrics and the bands/groups that sing them. Caleb and I have an ongoing game in which we call out the name of the artist whenever we hear a song on the radio. We both rock at 80s stuff. Hair bands, especially. He's super good at oldies from the 50s and 60s. Either way, we both know way more than any human should about musical groups and lyrics. But that doesn't release anything from my brain. So I will try to think of a few other things to post.

Did you know that your wingspan is supposed to be the same as your height? Hold your arms out to the sides and measure fingertip to fingertip and it's the same as your height. Unless you have gorilla arms. And if you actually try this and it doesn't work for you and you have gorilla arms, I'm sorry for pointing out to you that you have gorilla arms. And that was a really special run-on sentence.

Did you know that if you double a child's height at two years of age, it is generally VERY CLOSE to his/her adult height?

Did you know that we just put Lexi in a big-girl bed? She is only 18 months, and really didn't need to come out of her crib. Only problem is... since this darned baby is supposed to be here in 6 weeks, we didn't want to buy another crib. And this little story leads me into my next useless fact...

Did you know that Lexi got out of her big-girl bed 43 times when I put her down for her nap yesterday? I counted. It was only 18 today for naptime. Maybe tomorrow it will be even less.

Did you know that my little family of five goes through at least 8 gallons of milk a week?

OK, OK... I realize these are not the useless facts that you are looking for. Sorry. I'll try harder next time.

Going to bed now. Later dudes!

Two layouts today...

Here's a quick layout I did while the girls were napping...

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And another one I did a little later...

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I'll write more tomorrow. I'm too tired tonight.

Lynn needs...

Here's the latest blog challenge over at ScrapGal. It's too long for lazy old me to type out, so click on the link if you wanna know what it is.

I googled "Lynn needs" and got lots of fun stuff. Actually, the first several were people that had apparently already played this game. I could have just copied them directly, but where's the fun in that? So... here are some of the more fun ones I found.

Lynn needs a new job. Maybe washing dishes or something. An interesting thought, but I'll be a SAHM for awhile still. With this new one not even born yet, I won't be going back to teaching until she's in school. That's at least 2013. And even then, I'm not so sure I'm in a mad rush to going back to raising other people's children and dealing with their issues as parents and accusing me of being unfair to their children when I expect them to follow certain classroom rules. Anyway, I digress. I already wash dishes. I really think Lynn needs a new job like lying around all day and getting paid for it.

Lynn needs a blog. Not so much. Got one. But thanks for playing.

Lynn needs money. Checks or cash should be sent promptly. This means YOU!

Lynn needs to lose at least eight stone. She is pinning her hopes on a gastric bypass procedure. Ummm, yeah. I realize I'm a little thick in the middle, but I think that's because of this darn BABY growing inside me. And after she's born, that lovely thing called breastfeeding will kick in, so, if things go like they did the last three times, that weight should start to fall right off. And I'm not real sure what "eight stone" is, but it sounds like a lot.

Lynn needs to loose the tattoes. I don't know why people mark their body. When they get old her skin is going to get rinkly, and so are here her tattoes. And she is going to whish that she never had them. OK, so this one cracked me up. I'm not the grammar and spelling police, but REALLY. How many errors can you have in one post? And WHAT are tattoes? Is that like a combined word? Tattoos on your toes? Apparently there is an entire forum dedicated to the discussion of my tattoos. I do have a tattoo. One. Not plural. It's on my right ankle. It's of three little plumerias (my favorite flower) and it's very small. It could be covered entirely by two dimes. I'll take a picture of it sometime and post it. Anyhoo... I'm not really sure how to "loose" it. And I'm quite sure I won't "whish" I never had it. Even when I'm old and "rinkly."

Lynn needs some respect. Maybe she'd get some if she'd "loose" those darn tattoes she's gonna "whish" she never had when she gets old and "rinkly."

Lynn needs to read the Constitution. I actually have, but that was a few years back when I was teaching American History to some fifth graders. Right now, there are much better reads that are much higher on my priority list. Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See, It Looked Like Spilt Milk, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar to name a few.

Lynn needs to bring an empty suitcase. YES I DO... that's EXACTLY what I was just thinking. I would have to get it out of the attic, though, and that is just too much work. And I won't even go into where I'm supposed to bring it...

Lynn needs to have a cute and homey trailer. In tornado alley or in Florida. That would just be awesome. I'd also need a lot of insurance to go with that cute and homey trailer.

Lynn needs to lighten up here and stop taking themselves so seriously. I apologize. I didn't realize I was so self-absorbed. Please forgive me.

Lynn needs ride to San Jose. Because I want to spend 4 or 5 days in a car. With a complete stranger. That would epitomize fun for me.

Lynn needs to stop raiding Dakota Fanning's closet. I couldn't agree more. Being 6'2" and pregnant and all that entails, I'm having more and more trouble as the days pass squeezing into her cute little clothes.

Lynn needs to get a life. Fo shizzle. I couldn't agree more. I'm off to find one right now.

That was fun, Lisa. I actually found myself reading into page 8 of all the hits that came back on google. Then I realized I need to get a life. And on a more pressing note, I need to change a little girl's diaper. So I'll find that life later.

Have a great day, my friends!

"Life is like a box of chocolates..."

"You never know what you're gonna get."

Blog challenge #13 - Who said it and what does that mean to me?

It means that it's the little, unexpected things in life that make it worthwhile. Meeting my husband where and when I did was unexpected. Two of my children were "unexpected" little surprises. And there have been countless others along the way. I'd have to say, though, that those are the biggies. I learned a long time ago that if I try to have everything planned and mapped out, I'll end up biting into a nougat center instead of a coconut like I had planned. And that would just ruin my day. So now... I like the unexpected. Makes life so much more... interesting.

Forrest Gump said it cuz his momma always used to say it.

Two layouts I did today. I'm gonna try to get one more done tonight, since Caleb has Staff Duty and won't be home until after midnight.

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**Edited to add my third layout for today!! Yay!!

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Happy Easter...

Busy day today. I had to go to my favorite store in the whole wide world... WalMart... this morning to pick up a few last minute things that I needed for today. Wow. So fun. For those of you who know me... you know I'd rather run naked through my neighborhood while 8 months pregnant than go to WalMart. I will say, however, it wasn't too bad. I think I got there before the main church crowd.

I picked up Hannah from the airport today. She went to Florida to see her dad for Spring Break. I miss her so much when she's gone. Thankfully she got back fairly early in the afternoon, so we were still able to have our Easter egg hunt in the backyard. I took pictures, but alas... can't find the USB cable right this second. I'll upload the pics tomorrow.

Here's a layout I finished today. The pictures are really low quality. I'm waiting on my sister-in-law to send me the CD of pictures she took when she was here 10 days ago. I really wanted to do this layout, though, so for the time being the pics are super low-res. I'll replace them when I get the good pictures. Anyhoo... it's my two little ones in the tub with their 11 month-old cousin. As the journaling says, we had just eaten a big spaghetti dinner. Of course, Mia looks just fine, while my two little piggies look like they bathed in spaghetti sauce.

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OK... gonna go to bed now. Need. Sleep. =)

Another layout...

Here's a layout I did for a challenge at ScrapGal. I'm so glad for the challenge, because I might never have done this without it.

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The name game...

Today's blog challenge is to, in a nutshell, tell about my name. So here goes...

The name I was given at birth was Janice Lynn. My parents really liked Lynn, but couldn't think of anything that would sound good as a middle name, so they decided to make Lynn my middle name. I have no idea why they picked Janice for the first name. That's the "oh, so exciting" version of how I got my name.

Now for the "not so sure it's true, but sounds way better" version that my dad and mom used to argue about. My dad said I was named Lynn because I was almost born on the linoleum. Apparently for one of my mom's three deliveries, she progressed pretty fast, and they had to tell her not to push until they got her to the delivery room. The only problem with the way this story relates to my name is... my dad firmly believed it was my birth, and my mom swore it was my brother's. I tend to believe her version, because I don't think I'll ever forget many details of the birth of my own children, so how could she. However, I know they used to give some pretty good pain meds back then, so who really knows? And since both of them are no longer alive, I guess I'll never really know the truth. Oh well... it makes for a good story, nonetheless.

I'm sure anyone who has read this feels way more enriched knowing all of this. Happy day for you.

I will tell you, though, that I actually went to court and legally had my name changed. Bet you haven't! I had Janice removed from my name. I wanted to keep my maiden name, but didn't want to have four names. And the name police won't let you just drop your first name like you can your middle name. My husband apologized to me the day we got married for giving me such a "jacked-up" name. So not only did I have to go through my entire childhood telling people that I went by Lynn, not Janice... all to puzzled looks and pondering questions like "how do you get Lynn from Janice?" Now I have the last name that... even when I spell it... which I always do... I always have to start again after the first two letters. People always assume there is a vowel where there's not. And no one EVER pronounces it right.

Wake up people... blog over.

A five minute layout...

But I LOVE it!

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The truth...

OK, so it's time to reveal what's the truth and what's not. I have a few pictures. Fun, fun!

#1 is true. I did go skydiving while I was pregnant with Taylor. Now before anyone thinks I'm a terrible human being, let me point out that I didn't KNOW I was pregnant at the time. I think I was only about 4-5 weeks along. It was a blast, by the way. I would LOVE to do it again someday, although being the mother of 4 makes you a little less likely to take stupid chances.

This is a picture of my sister and me. I called her up one day and asked her if she wanted to jump out of a perfectly good airplane the next morning. She said, "Sure!"

This is me strapped to the guy I tandem jumped with. I love how we're above the clouds. We jumped at 13,500 feet.

And the next truth is #2. I actually did see Oprah's show in person, only it wasn't in Chicago. If you watch Oprah, you may remember she did a HUGE baby shower for something like 600+ pregnant soldier's wives at Ft. Campbell. Well, I got to go. I got all the cool goodies that she gave away. I will say, however, that we already had a lot of the stuff she gave us (stroller, bathtub, pack n play, etc...) so we gave it to another soldier and his expectant wife in Caleb's company. We did keep a few things, though, including this...


And #3 was almost true. Sort of. I had a super-long and super-difficult first labor. When I was in labor with Taylor, I kept waiting for the real pain to start, but it never did. Long story short... we got to the hospital and I was fully dilated. I delivered less than 10 minutes after we got there. So it coulda happened, but thank goodness it didn't.

So I fooled everyone but Rachael and Kimberly... Thanks so much to everyone for playing. This was super fun!

Two layouts...

So excited... I got not one but two layouts finished today!

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A massive post today...

Today's post will be a biggie. Mostly because I am lazy, and I've either been spring cleaning or entertaining company for the last week-9 days. I haven't gotten online too much, so I am gonna have to play catch up with the blog challenges. So here goes...

#7 - An article of clothing that I thought I looked good in but in hindsight... not so much. Hammer pants. Such a big thing back in the day. Did anyone look good in those things? Doubtful. I owned about 5 pairs, all in random and ridiculous colors and patterns. And I'm sure I didn't look good in any of them. I will look for pictures, but I have no idea if I even have any. Too bad for you.

#8 - Create a layout based on a previous post. Here it is...


#9 - Snaz up my blog. Since this is a fairly new blog to me, I've already "snazzed it up" like I wanted it. I'll see what I can do. I'll have to work on that and get back to you. EDITED TO ADD: I snazzed it up by adding a little blinkie/button in my sidebarfor Shandy's blog. Click it. Be inspired.

#10 - Name something I collect and add a picture. This is kind of a hard one for me, seeing as how I don't really collect anything. Dust bunnies come to mind, but I'd rather not show pictures. One thing I think I unintentionally collect is little girl clothes. Seeing as how we'll have four of them pretty soon, I don't really get rid of their clothes. So here's a picture of a bunch of bins we have in our garage right now. Actually, that's part of the reason I haven't blogged in awhile. I was spring cleaning, which included getting all of these clothes organized by size and season. In total, there are 27 bins of just clothing. Scary. That's from birth to 8 years old. You can't see them all in this photo, but you get the idea. Like I said... scary. Maybe I should start INTENTIONALLY collecting something. It would probably take up way less space and cost way less money. hmmm......

#11 - Make three statements about myself. Two will be TRUE and one will be FALSE. In the comment section, the two people who actually read this lame blog vote on which one they think isn't the true statement. On the next blog challenge I'll reveal the lie! So...

1. I went skydiving while pregnant with my second child.
2. I have seen Oprah's show IN PERSON.
3. I delivered one of my babies in the car.

So there they are... I'm caught up with the blog challenges. I'm sure everyone is very excited. I am hoping to be a better blogger now that I'm not a hostess to visitors.

Have a great day!!!