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.

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 needed more rest today.  Skits was the one who got the rest tho.  I’m thinking he’s feeling a little more secure in his surroundings.  We had some success in potty training today.  The girls gave me a nice long break when they got home…they pretty much played with him all night long.  They took him outside when he needed to go.  It was nice.  All three of them were very cute together.  It is a lot easier having a puppy when you have kids who are old enough to help out with things.  When we got Baxter they were practically babies themselves! ;D  Oh, and I put on his collar today.  He HATES it!  I put him in his kennel when I went to get the girls at school.  He must have survived.  He was just fine when we got home.  Yay!  He also discovered he likes his bones…a lot…today.  So we started working on taking away his bone and giving it back to him.  He’s chewing on my hair right now.  Weirdo. ;D

It’s like having kids.  You forget what it is like having an infant or you wouldn’t do it again.  Same with puppies.  ;D

So I know you are thinking I’m crazy for getting another dog.  Especially while still recovering.  Hey.  So do I.  Do we plan these things?  If I told everything that was going on in my life right now you’d probably shoot yourself. Isn’t that how it usually is if we stepped in someone else’s shoes for a bit?  When is it ever the right time to get a dog? Yeah.  That’s what I figured.  I needed something good in my life.

We actually have been looking for another dog for a good 6 months or more.  I just don’t announce everything on this blog.  Believe me if I did you wouldn’t read it anymore! ;D  We found an add for this litter of puppies last week.  I knew I was sick but everything else about it was working out.  So we did it.  I just means that Corey and the girls are helping out with him a little more.  And boy do the girls ever want to help out.  I mean there is FIGHTING in the house over who gets to do what with Skits.  No one wanted to go to school this morning. ;D  I could have used the help…but that would have been a little irresponsible. ;D

paper WoodsyII, Ornate Frames, love sticker, clipped heart, dog sticker Amore all Jen Maddocks Designs

This morning Laney and Ava were arguing about some pencils they got for Christmas.  I guess there was some confusion as to which pencil belonged to which girl.  Not in Ava’s mind.  Somewhere in there Laney said something to the effect of it didn’t really matter anyway.  With that said Corey politely asked Laney to give the pencils that Ava wanted to her and take the other ones…since “it didn’t matter” and it would “make Ava happy”.  Well Laney didn’t like that one bit.  So we spent the next few minutes explaining and giving examples to Laney of making other people, in a family, happy even when you don’t want to.  Examples of when Ava has done it for her.  When I do it for Corey like when I take his laptop or phone to him at work when he forgets it…and he forgets a lot…and I don’t want to.  Or when I have to go pick him up in a hail or lightning storm when he is on his bike and it wasn’t convenient (and he should have looked at the weather before leaving).   Real life examples of things that have happened to us that I figured she would remember…she was there for the time I had to pick up Corey when he was bike riding.  I don’t remember everything surrounding it but I remember all three of us had to drop what we were doing and drive in the horrible weather and go get him. ;D

After many examples and much thought and still pouting Laney came to the conclusion, “Pencils are NOT part of the family!”

I got about 2 hours of sleep last night.  If you read this blog at all you know I operate quite poorly on small amounts of sleep.  The reason I didn’t sleep was because I was in pain.  I’m sick.  Again.  Or still.  However you want to look at it.  I don’t talk about it much because I just don’t want to dwell on it.  I’m soooooooo over it.  Argh!  So I was laying in bed last night trying to decide if it was better to lay there hoping eventually I would be so exhausted I’d finally drift off or get up and try to do something productive.  I ended up just staying there.  Mind racing.  Not a good thing.

Perhaps because I was overly tired today I really missed the kids.  Maybe I missed them a little too much.  Today they went back to school after being home for two weeks on Christmas break.  I don’t know who was more depressed about them being gone.  Me.  Or Baxter. ;D  I was thinking about them going off to college.  And how I don’t want them too.  Yeah.  I didn’t get enough sleep.

Headed to the dr tomorrow.  I hope they give me some good meds! ;D

Today wasn’t all bad.  Corey came home and surprised me with this.

Here are the specs.  Just so you know.  We don’t live in the lap of luxury. He does computer work on the side.  When that money comes it we usually play with it.  He found a great deal on this Canon 40D.  I mean great.  My Canon Rebel XT has been having problems for awhile now.  I just haven’t said anything.  I told Corey not to buy it.  He surprised me with it tonight.  He said it was a birthaversary present.  That’s what he said he was going to call presents now.  Anniversary and Birthday presents for me.  Cause our Anniversary is in February and my birthday is in March.  He made me laugh.  And cry.  ;D  Thank you Honey.  You blow me away.  Now to get better.  So I can play. ;D

Happy New Year!

Here’s how we are celebrating.

Ava laying on the ground playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii with the controllers over her head.  When I asked her about it she was like, “Well yeah of course I play like this.  It makes it so much more interesting!”  Yep.  SO Ava!

Laney playing Lego Rock Band.  She was dancing around while playing the guitar.  It actually helped her play better. Go figure. ;D

Are you going to do Project 365?  I think it is being also being called Project 52, Project Life, Design 365, etc.  I haven’t completely decided what I want to do yet.  However.  If you are planning on doing this “project” this year I will have a line of products designed specifically for it.  I’m calling them Capture 365.  I’d rather not call it a project.  It sounds too much like something more to do in my life! ;D  My first installment is a calendar template.  You can find it in my store.

I also have signed up on Facebook for my business Jen Maddocks Designs.  Come on over and become my fan!  I’d love to hear from you!

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!