I just love watching the Olympics.  There have just been so many great competitions and stories.  I’ve loved watching the competitions with my girls.  It brings back memories of being a kid.  I love sharing memories with my girls.  I love hearing the American national anthem almost every night! ;D  Even tho it makes me tired I love staying up late watching it with Corey.  When they have stories of Olympics past we remember lots of them and we are starting to feel old! ;D

The Olympian stories are not the only thing I find inspiring.  I absolutely love the logo for the Olympics this year!  Whoever worked on it is a visual genius in my opinion.

I love seeing this logo in its various forms at the different competition venues.  I felt so inspired I had to do a little creating.  I couldn’t help myself!

You can find these new paper packs in my store.

…cake!  I had forgotten that you can “bake” a cake in 10 minutes in your microwave in a Pampered Chef Rice Cooker.  I used to sell Pampered Chef and I have all the gadgets that there are.  I don’t know why I stopped making cakes in the microwave.  Anyway…last night being our anniversary…and me not planning much cause there is so much going on ’round here…I thought…I should make a cake!  But I have no energy or time for THAT!  Wait a second!  So I looked to see if I had a cake mix and I did.  The rice cooker was clean.  Check.  And away I went!

THIS is how easy it is…take a cake mix and make it according to directions (I’ve only ever done vanilla or chocolate in the rice cooker so maker beware!).  Pour into the rice cooker (no need to grease it or ANYTHING!)  Close it up and put it in the microwave on high for 10 minutes.  Take it out.  Let it sit for a minute or two.  Open it up and invert it on to a plate.  Done!  Here’s the final product…with icing…1/2 eaten! ;D

Oh yeah…It is YUMMY!!!!!!

I’ve always loved those pictures, shows or websites of the “before and after”.  Biggest Loser, Oprah’s makeover shows, stuff like that.  Well I have one of my own…

Here’s the stove in our new kitchen before…

And after…

I love good deals.  I always shop the clearance racks of Target.  I shopped at a different Target…one closer to the new house.  The clearance wasn’t completely picked over like the one here in Parker.  I got some great baskets for the girls’ new bathroom.  These were on clearance for $2.48 marked down from $9.99!

There were a pair of woodpeckers in the new yard yesterday.  I love that we have wildlife in the new place.  We’ve seen squirrels there too.  The kids were pleased about that.

Here’s another view of the backyard.  I can’t wait for the leaves to come out!

And then one last picture.  Of Skits.  He is getting so big.  He is starting to look more like a dog and less like a puppy.

…you to notice in the photo the other day…

…was this is not our driveway.  Well it is. It is just a NEW driveway.  We are in the process of moving to a new house.  Not too far away.  The girls are staying in the same school.  Some things will change.  Some will stay the same.

New paint.  New plants for the girls’ rooms…oh and those lovely Dunkin’ Donuts.

Lunch for the first time in the new house as we are cleaning and painting.  Disgusting dark cabinets that NEED painting!  And those curtains are going too…peh!!!!

Painting Laney’s room a lovely pink…over a ghastly yellow.

Can I just say I hate moving.  I am tired anyway.  I’m really, really tired from trying to maintain two houses.  I’ll be glad when this is OVER!

…other things…Wednesday brought the return of Corey and I having lunch together.  He has been having to go into the office and I have been sick so it was nice to return to our weekly tradition.  We decided to eat at Qdoba.  They have a new menu item called Craft 2.  It lets you mix and match some of their favorite menu items.  I chose a naked taco and a grilled quesadilla.  Best food I’ve had in awhile.  I say that because my tummy has been so upset for so long!  It is so hard for me to find things that don’t make me feel ill.  This photo was taken with my phone.

We were at Burger King yesterday and the girls noticed they had crowns with Twilight New Moon pictures on them.  How exciting!  He he!  Even tho I would NEVER let them watch it in a million years until they are like at least 13 they still know what it is…cause their Mom is obsessed with it! ;D  So here they are in their crowns.  They said Bella was “watching” you! ;D  This photo was also taken with my phone.  Not too shabby for a camera phone. Oh.  Notice Laney has her front two teeth missing.  That is a recent event as well.

Does anyone know what THIS means….

That is CORRECT we found Dunkin’ Donuts in Colorado!  A little bit of a drive as they are all in Colorado Springs.  But better than none at all.  We had an errand to run in the Springs on Saturday so we made a pilgrimage to Dunkin’ Donuts as well.  Grabbed a dozen donuts and some coffee beans.  We were all happy campers.  It’s an east coast thing. ;D

We got snow.  Again.  Not much.  Just enough to annoy me.  We didn’t get our traditional 70° weather in January.  Not even our usual one day.  It has been cold.  It feels too much like Maine for my taste.  Peh.  Here are the girls shoveling the driveway.  Can anyone tell me what is different about this photo???

I felt inspired after taking that photo of Skits sleeping in his kennel yesterday.  So I did a layout of it.

Verdant, Tagged Alpha, Grungy Frames II All other elements Easter Mega Kit coming soon Jen Maddocks Designs

Skits and Baxter play together pretty much all the time…until Baxter has had enough.  Even then Skits just doesn’t know when to quit. ;D  Here they are playing.  I’m very thankful that Baxter is so tolerant of Skits.  I actually think he kinda likes him. ;D

I also have a new Freebie for you.  You can find it in my sidebar and also in my store.  Enjoy!

It is fun going over all the photos from the last year.  It is easy to forget all the things that have happened over the last year.  There have been so many things!  I used this template and just chose a collection of pics to highlight 2009.  I love doing these types of layouts! ;D

Today it was warm enough for the girls to venture outside.  Not to mention it was warm enough for me to get out there with them for some photos. ;D

The girls made a fort in Ava’s room today.  (I did not help them.) It turned out really well!  They want to sleep in it tonight. ;D

I love having the girls home on break.  It reminds me of when they are home for the summer.  I love them and miss them when they are at school all day.  Can you tell they have been good and not fighting?  If so I’d want to be shipping them back to school asap!!!! ;D  Wink wink!

Think.  Think.  Think.

Winding down.  Finishing up.  Making resolutions.  Thinking ahead.  Yep.  It’s that time of year.  Again.  Ali is posting her word for the year. Some are wondering if they should strike out and do project 365 again.  Or for the first time.  Yeah.  I’m thinking about all these things too.

So for me I’ve decided that a new blog header might be nice.  Two.  A new Jen Maddocks Designs logo was in the works so that needed to be revealed.  It is in my sidebar.  You will see it below and on my new paper packs now.  Three.  I need to go through my blog and see what links and other things I need to keep/remove/add.  Working on that.  What about you?  What sort of “resolutions” or things are you working on?

I have a couple of new items for the store and I have a Freebie for you. Just wanted to say thank you to everyone for making this a fantastic break out year for me in the digital design world. I cannot wait to see what 2010 holds! ;D

Been busy.  Doing this and that.  Mostly kid stuff.  Practices and games and festivities at school.  The kids are now on Thanksgiving Break.  And we are relaxing.  But there was so much going on leading up to it!  Phew!

Corey and I saw New Moon.  It rocked!  Then I saw it again last night with my friend Jill.  Even better the second time! ;D

After 35 years I finally did this…

Ava had a “mini play” in her class the other day.  They were focusing on Pilgrims and Columbus and things of that nature.  She was Samoset in her play.

Grandparents day was yesterday at school.  Every class performed something.  Here’s Laney.

Where are you headed for Thanksgiving?
Wherever you end up I’m sure you are thinking what kind of photos am I going to take and what kind of layout am I going to do?  Take lots of photos I always say.  The delete key is your friend! ;D  You can never take too many photos and you can never get back the moments and retake the photos but you can always hit delete if you have take too many…GUILTY! ;D
So what should you take photos of???  EVERYTHING!!!!
The food.
Your plate of food.
The table.
The turkey in the oven.
YOURSELF!!!!!  Get someone to get at least one photo of you!
People cooking.
People lounging around.
Watching tv.
Playing the Wii! ;D
Decorating for Christmas…if you start to do that now.
Family members.
Things that don’t seem so important.  They will later!
People praying or giving thanks.
Candles burning.
Wine bottles.
Get creative!!!
Then when you get done with your projects there are some great ideas for Thanksgiving layouts here.  I know they aren’t digi.  But you can use the ideas to inspire.  I do! ;D

Lastly I’ve been working hard on some Christmas digi stuff.  I want to do a December Daily album but this year I really want to do it digitally.  So I’ve designed a kit for just that.  I cannot wait to share it with you!  It is all done I just have to put it in my shop!  More to come…;D

Last night we got a little crafty and a little dirty.  Not on purpose.  Just kinda worked out that way.  Ava has these paper pom-poms that I got to hang in her room.  I folded them and I am letting her open them up.  It is actually not that difficult for a kid of her age to do.  So that is what she was working on last night.

Laney got a mini plant pot from a birthday party she went to recently.  She’s been pestering me about planting them.  So we did that last night as well.  She loves dirt!  She loves the smell of it!  I do too.  I thought that was interesting.  She was commenting on the smell of the potting soil and I was smiling.  I love the smell of a greenhouse.  Do you know that smell?

So hopefully something will sprout soon.  And soon we will have a room full of pom-poms…just like Laney’s room is full of them. ;D

I LOVE moments like these!!!