mexican food & margaritas

well, last night, amidst the pouring down rain we were having, me and some of my best girlfriends decided to go out to my all time favorite authentic mexican restaurant. we ate lots and lots of yummy food and had some yummy drinks as well. it was seriously the most fun i've had in a long time! there was hardly anybody there, because of the weather, so we were able to be loud and silly and the waiters were having fun with us too. we got free cheese dip, fried ice cream, and of course the girls got a free shot for me. ya know, cause it's my going away party (even though i plan on eating at this restaurant at least 4 more times before we leave :) ) oh 'mi ranchito'...how i'll miss thee (sniff, sniff).

here's amy, marietta, moi & jami (allyson is on the other side of the camera)

okay, this is funny in so many ways (and probably only the girls who were there last night will think it's funny, cause you truly had to see it). all of the waiters started clapping and coming towards our table with a giant sombrero...of course i immediately stand up and take the giant hat, thinking it's for me...well, all of a sudden one of the waiters runs off and grabs another one, and brings it back for a lady at a table right next to us. apparently it was her birthday and they were coming to sing to her, but i clearly stole her thunder. oh well, i stood up there with the waiters and helped them sing to her...a song that was ridiculously long and in spanish, which i don't understand a word of...and the manager put his arm around me and we started swaying...i couldn't stop laughing...i mean, the waiters were so nice and funny...and instead of saying "umm, i'm sorry the song and hat are not for you" they played along with it and let me stand up there. they were probably thinking "poor girl...we're embarrassed for her, so we'll let her have the hat too".
and here is my face after the girls made me take my shot...okay, we clearly knew nothing about shots, cause we were just like "give us something yummy"...i don't know about you, but i've never had a yummy shot...anyways, the manager and bartender were back there making up a yummy concoction for me...and it indeed was...a schnapps mixture. it was YUM! but you still can't help making that face...ya know? thank goodness they didn't make me do a tequila shot...i would have passed out right then and there.
it was a lot of fun and i'm so thankful we got to go out...i love those girls!!! thanks girls :)

a complete layout

so, here is the other page that completes this layout...i LOVE that picture of caedmon holding my belly...(yes, my belly looks like a gigantic boob...but it's still sweet). the greenish paper is from the same paper pack, that i so endlessly raved on yesterday...i LOVE it! anywho, enjoy the pages!
so, today is day #2 of the ice/sleet/snow storm that we are dealing with, and that has kept us in the house for the majority of the past 36 hours...our kids were getting cabin fever this morning, so we loaded them up and took them to grandma and grandpa's house...nothing like a little spoiling to cure the winter time blues, right? our kiddos (including me) have been in our jammies for 2 days straight...we don't leave the house, so no need to change clothes, right?? there's nothing more dirty feeling than going to bed in the same clothes that you woke up in. yum. speaking of jammies, my son has officially named himself the "jammie king"...the minute we walk in the door, he runs up to his room, takes his clothes off and puts on some jammies (we caught him in milo's pants last night...they looked like midget's capris on him...how he got his legs in the leg holes, is beside me...but just imagine...it was quite funny)...anyways, he puts his jammies on and then finds his king's crown and runs around singing "i'm the jammie king"...yes, it was cute the first 38 times, and now it's just annoying...the child changes his clothes more time than a woman does...that's pretty bad. and he loves to change his underwear too...so there is just 3 year old boy underwear (complete with spiderman, batman, superman and any other "strong" man plastered all over the boo-tay of them) strewn all over the house, and i'm not sure if it's clean or dirty, so i put it in the dirty clothes...and pretty soon, 42 pairs of underwear is down to 3 pairs, and i have to do laundry yet again, cause caedmon's undies are filling up the hamper. so, for whatever reason, he loves to be in his jammies and change them quite often, and he loves to think that he's a king. oh the stories i will have to tell his future wife one day...payback for what he's putting my through right now :) well, we've got to get some things done while the kids are away...we're trying to paint and pack and all of that fun stuff that comes with moving cross country...hallelujah it will all be done with in a month!! all right...peace out my friends!

finally! something creative :)

well, i finally had the chance to sit down and scrap last night! yah!! keith was super tired and went to bed early, and so i decided to stay up and use this fabulous new stampin' up paper that i just got! it came on thursday, and it's been calling my name ever since!! it's from the new spring/summer collection, that will be available in january...i'm not kidding when i say this has to be my favorite designer paper i've ever seen/used! it's absolutely beautiful! this is a lay-out that will go in our family album...i realized that after i did the title, that it looked more like hadley and i are sisters, rather than hadley being the "big sister" to the baby in my belly, but it goes really well with the other page that i made (which i will show tomorrow)...so when they are together, it looks better. anyways, did i mention that i LOVE this paper yet???
today i am finally receiving my birthday present from my husband (yes, my birthday was 6 months ago, but who's counting??) he made me a coupon for a "day of relaxation"...so, i woke up and it's an ice storm outside, and since i can't go anywhere anyways, i decided to take my day. i have been in my craft dungeon working hard on orders and our christmas cards, but decided to take a break to blog...hey, it's my day...i can do whatever i want! how fun! the only time i'm seeing my family is when milo needs to eat. not bad, huh? i just plugged my i-pod in and have been jamming away to tunes all morning!
so, i will post the page that goes with this one tomorrow...it's so cute!!! and again...get this paper when it comes out...you will not be disapointed! have a great day!!

the natos

my best friend, jami, and her precious family needed a few pictures for their christmas card this year...and not to mention, i've been wanting to practice my photography skills, so we went out this morning and snapped a few shots of their family! are they not the cutest family ever?? little layne is so adorable...we always joke that him and hadley are going to be married one day...hadley and him could pass for brother and sister, so that makes it even funnier! i would LOVE it if they married...ahhh, i can dream...and pray :)
so, in other news...you can probably tell that it snowed here!!! this was the first time in my life that i was actually excited about it snowing...i so badly wanted to see the snow again before we move, and now my wish has been fufilled...the kids were so excited about it too! today it's all melting away, but they (meaning, the well knowledgeable weather men) say it's going to snow a little more tonight...i love when the snow is falling...it's just beauty.
well, short post today...not a lot on my mind! that's a first :)

6 x 6 page

here is the page that i created for the MOPS "favorite things" give-a-way. it's a 6 x 6 size, and i copied it from another one of my pages that i did last year, that actually won a stampin' up contest! i won last december, so if you're a demonstrator, you can look in the onstage for that time period, and see my page in there! i changed the colors around a bit, but i love how this turned out. it matches the family wreath that we made earlier this year, so hopefully people can frame it and hang it next to that!
anyways, the kids went to school today, from 9-3, but it never fails that thursdays are the hardest days with them. they come home at 3 and are cranky cause they haven't napped, and are needy cause they are cranky...it sucks. i quickly lose it with them...i just CAN'T handle whining and fighting with each other...it never fails that they are in their rooms, very shortly after they come home, cause i just don't want to listen to them anymore. caedmon chooses to bang on the walls, kick the door and do everything else completely loud when he gets sent to his room...i'm surprised our neighbor (we live in a townhome) hasn't called the police on us yet. just waiting for the day when they show up at my door :) and in other news...is it possible to have a 3 year old vegetarian??? cause i think i've got one. well, actually not, cause in order to be a vegetarian, you have to like veggies, and this kid doesn't like them...nor does he like meat. he is major drama at dinner time cause i make him eat 3 tiny pieces of chicken, or hamburger...or whatever the meat of choice is that night. it takes the child hours to swallow 3 pieces of meat (he better enjoy the 3 pieces, cause when he turns 4, he has to start eating 4 bites :) ). he tells me that he does not like meat...that it's gross to him. he says that the only meat he likes are the chicken mcnuggets from old macdonalds, as he likes to call it. sorry to say kid, i'm not quite sure what that meat is...turtle maybe? anyways, i don't like him eating that food very often, so, here we are stuck...trying to get the kid to eat some protein. why is it so hard? dinner time is always a battle. isn't dinner supposed to be fun, family time. not in the anderson house...around 4:00, i start getting knots in my stomach cause i know the drama i'm going to have to deal with. i'm not one of those moms who feeds the kids mac and cheese every night cause they don't like what's for dinner. i'm sorry if you don't like it...i worked hard on it, and you're going to eat it. those are the rules in our house. when do they start to understand that there are starving kids out there who would love to eat his chicken enchilada?? one day...we can only hope...one day.
well, i've got to run and pull my hair out....the fighting and screaming...please make it stop!!!!!!

MOPS

today was my last MOPS meeting before we make the big move! the theme of this morning's meeting was "our favorite things"...we got the idea from oprah and how she has her favorite things show every year (you know the one that we all so desperately want to be on...i mean come on...free stuff that oprah picks out?? i can't stand that woman, but she sure has great taste). anywho, the steering team (pictured above) each picks out their favorite thing and we make/buy enough for all 30 or so ladies in the group. we stand up and explain why it's our favorite thing and then we get to give one to each of the ladies...but it's all exciting and loud and we try to get the ladies excited about getting candles and socks, just like on oprah, you know, when they are excited about getting cars :) but it's such a fun meeting, and i made a 6 x 6 scrapbook page (which i will post tomorrow) i hope that the moms in the group felt so loved (cause we LOVE them so much!) and that they had a lot of fun! allison surprised me with a scrapbook that she put together, that included notes from some of the moms, to me...basically a going away gift. i have yet to read all of it, cause i keep getting interrupted, but once the kids go down for bed, i will sit with my box of kleenex and read away! i love those ladies so much and will miss them dearly! the other picture is of me and melissa...this lady is such a sweetheart, and i am so thankful that god put her in my life...she just recently moved here, and so i know i will be calling on her often, after i move...as i'm sure i'll be needing some advice on how to deal with moving!!

and this is a picture of my bestest friend in the whole world, jami...or james, as i like to call her :) she has been my best friend since high school...we met at her locker...she said something funny...i told her she was funny...and we've been best buds ever since. i love this girl with every bone in my body, and will miss her tremendously!!! i finally got her to come to MOPS this year (after months and months of harassment) and it's been fun to have her in the group. i'm sure it's annoying to everyone else cause when we get together, it's all about jami and emily and the ridiculous high school and college stories, that nobody knows anything about, but that we think are completely funny. you could put jami and i in a corner and we could entertain each other for hours. she is such a woman of god (totally takes after her mother) and has encouraged and inspired me to be the same. ummm...can her and her precious little filipino family please move with us???
anyways, gotta run and put the bambinos to bed...have a great night!

advent calendar that i like

okay, no, i wish i could say that this beautiful advent calendar was hanging in my house, but instead, i was blog-surfing and found it on the making memories blog. i mean, i love this...and so wish i didn't already make the crappy other one. this is made with a cookie sheet that was spray-painted white...and the numbers and stuff are magnets! how clever??? i'm saving this, and going to make this next year, cause i'm sure my other one won't hold up once it's packed away in the christmas tubs anyways...boo. you can view other pictures and the "how to" for this calendar on their blog. i just love this. okay, i've got to run...will write more later!!!

4 months old!

i can hardly believe that little man milo is 4 months old already!! he is changing so much, and is such a joy to be around! i told keith the other day that i didn't want to leave milo (we were going on a date) , cause i just love being around him! he has been our best baby thus far (they seem to get easier and easier)...hope that trend continues (if we have more ;) )
well, tomorrow is my last mops meeting before we move. i am so sad about this...i have such a heart for this ministry and love all the ladies in my group...it saddens me deeply to know i won't be a part of this group anymore. i know that i can find a group in florida, but i will miss those ladies tremendously! so, i am excited for the meeting, and hope to savour every moment with them!
onto other news...i got a haircut! my fabulous friend, marietta, cut me some short bangs :) i love them...my husband is still getting used to it, but i definitely love them! my grandma said that i look like i'm 12...don't know if that's a compliment, but thanks :)
all right, such a short post i know, but i got a bazillion things to do before small group tonight! gotta run!

christmas present

sorry for my lack of creativity on here recently...i have had NO time to get to my stamp dungeon and create anything. well, actually, i did finish my advent calendar and think that it was just about the biggest waste of time...the tins fall off, the lids of the tins fall off...the paper is not sticking to the canvas...i just spent way too much time on it for it to be falling apart...so, that's a little frustrating!! i did have a christmas party yesterday and we had to bring a $10 gift for a woman or a man, so i put this little goodie basket together. it's just a candle and some 3 x 3 cards in a ceramic reindeer bowl...the bowl, is super cute and from wal-mart! the party was fun, and it's always good to see that side of the family (we only see them about 2 times a year!) caedmon had an extreme toddler meltdown near the end though. picture this, it was a 3 year old, with no nap, and hyped up on sugar...not a good combo. so, he threw a fit all the way home, and we quickly put him to bed at 5:30...he slept till 7:00 this morning! i guess he was tired?? he likes to call us "stupid" when he's angry at us...every time he says that, we put a little dot of soap on his tongue...i can't handle the name calling...that irritates me! i wish i could video tape his ridiculous tyrants, so he can watch them later and realize what a fool he looks like! he just doesn't understand that it's not the end of the world, over the smallest things!!
anyways, we are headed over to his best friends house, caden, today...so they can get some much needed friend time in. i have a christmas card making get together tonight, at my house, so hopefully i can get some creative things done!
have a great day :)

the fulk family

keith and i are so fortunate to have this family in our life :) we met corey and marietta fulk about 5 years ago at church, and instantly hit it off with them. a couple months later, we ended up moving across the street from them, and we've been neighbors ever since! they are just about the sweetest little family you could ever meet. i feel so blessed to have marietta as one of my best friends, and she is one of the big reasons it will be so hard to leave kansas. it has been fun to see them be blessed with their precious little girl, nevaeh...she is a joy and being parents has only made them better people (and i thought they couldn't get any better!!) we will miss looking out our back door and seeing their house, but i know that we will be in touch with them quite often! our kiddos will especially miss "auntie rita and uncle corey" as they have called them! it's so cute! anyways, i know that marietta and i will still talk about 5 times a day (like we do already) so i'm very happy about that...i will just miss having her a few feet away!!
anywho, they needed a quick christmas picture for their card this year, so we went outside tonight (it was super windy, cold and wet) and took a few shots. the photo shoot took all of about 3 minutes, so it was quick and easy! and they are such a beautiful family, that it's kind of hard to get a bad picture!!
tomorrow morning we are having milo dedicated at church...all my family will be there, so that is nice! and then afterwards, we have a family christmas get-together...fun but busy day! well, gotta run...the husband thinks i'm addicted to the computer...hmmmm...could be....could be.