Yeah, Danika

She was 6 ounces short of gaining a full pound in one week! That is such a relief...now I know that she isn't getting enough from just me. I have supplemented her for a week now, along with nursing, coupled with rice cereal which I am going to continue to do. Just before her nap she had a nice big poop, so all I have to say is thank the Lord! Things are great in Danika's world! :)

After the doctors appointment we had McD's for lunch and then we went to the Consignment store, in Langdon, where I came out these items. The bill was $43.60 and I had a $42.47 credit, so I had to fork over $3.31! Good deal.

Now I need to scrapp something...

First taste

of whole grain rice cereal was on March 26th. As you can see it wasn't a great hit, but she did finish most of the bowl. I am now giving her at least one bottle a day and have noticed her diapers are far more wetter-which is a good thing. She took to a bottle no problem-which was shocking as she has only had 3 since she was born-but I am so glad!

I was in the kitchen and came out and saw Danika on her tummy (she was laying on her playmate). That is the second time she has rolled over. She is growing up so fast...as they all do. She still has bright blue eyes...I hope they don't change.

I noticed Travis' eyes seem to have a green hue to them and aren't truly blue anymore. Here he is in his 'man cave' playing with an 'electrode' which is a calculator. I love when the kids use their imagination! I am taking Travis to the doctor on Tuesday to get his feet checked...they are cracked under his big toe and flaky all around his toes. Those cracked areas look so sore...I feel bad for him. I hope there is something we can do for his skin.

I did this layout for a few challenges...Method Playground which wanted a monochromatic layout and for Cafe Mojo which wanted embossing on the layout. I LOVE the way the birds turned out. I used Versamark and white embossing powder and Voila! Everything was from the Just Cre8 kit which also let me put it in their monthly March challenge. Yeehaw!

Jacie was almost 3 years old and Travis was almost 15 months here! Travis is just a few months younger than Kael is now in these pictures! Hard to believe.

4 month vaccinations

were yesterday for Danika. She had 3 needles-2 in one leg and 1 in the other. She of course cried but was easily comforted. She is 25 inches long and weighs 13 lbs, 12 ounces which means she didn't gain any weight over the past 2 months which is very alarming! The nurse and I talked and we think maybe she isn't getting enough from me only. That is why we could also be having the less frequent BM's. I felt so bad as this never even crossed my mind as she is a happy baby and when I burp her she usually spits up a bit. Needless to say when I got home she had a bottle and thankfully had no issues with taking the bottle. She drank about 2 ounces from that and off to bed she went. By the time she was ready for her next feed I had plenty to offer her as missing one feeding let my milk supply build in volume. The nurse wants me to bring her in once a week to weigh her now and make an appointment with my doctor to have her looked at. Now that I know to supplement her I am not as alarmed as I was last night. To boot she had a nice poop for me before her nap. I am also going to start her on rice cereal soon...as I think she is ready...I feel so guilty, but by no means is she dehydrated, gaunt, etc. She is a plump, pink and a happy little baby...I will be more watchful to make sure she is gaining a half pound a week from now on!

I finished this layout yesterday. All of it was from Just Cre8 March 09 kit...except I used Glimmermist on the keys and the lock. I wrote UN by the lock...but it is hard to see. This layout was inspired by two things...1. a fight between me and Dennis...long story but the short of it is he went out Friday night without calling to let me know that he was going out...how rude! and the 2nd is the Letters to Scrap By challenge to use the colour magenta. So the upside to the fight is it produced a layout about me again! HAHA

Last Saturday I took Jacie and Danika and us girls went shopping all day. We ended by going to the movie "the race to witch mountain". I was so nervous taking Danika but thankfully she did really well. It was so loud though, but she was good sitting in my lap and she actually fell asleep for a bit. It was nice to spend the day with my daughters! We will have to do that again soon.

Real

is the word on the challenge posted at One Little Word. It gave me an opportunity to scrap a little something about me again. I used most of the products from the Created With Paper kit...I embellished with Crate die cuts and cut out the dictionary word for 'real'...which still feels like I am breaking the law when I tear out a page from a book!

I am trying to find a long stapler so that I can staple up to 6 inches on every side. I can only find standard sizes...anyone know where I can find the longer ones???

On Saturday we had our Stampin' Up! club where we decorated plain metal boxes into recipe boxes. I am happy with the way it turned out and glad we did it. I just have to finish up the inside...when I do, I will post pictures.

10 years and counting...

It was our anniversary on March 12th. It was 10 years ago that we got married in Las Vegas with 52 of our family and friends. It was such a good time and so glad we did it the way we did it. We planned our wedding for 15 months...we were together for 5 years before we got married. It is hard to believe we have 15 years behind us...in that time we have had 4 children and truly have grown closer-especially this past year.

So that night he came home early from work with this arrangement of 3 big ass flowers with pussy willows, greenery, and small pink flowers. It was very beautiful, but I would have been happy with a slurpee and some extra money to order some more scrap supplies! I am not a high maintenance girl. I am going to tell him that for the future. The thought was very nice and I was thrilled but flowers die too quick and are a lot of money. We ordered pizza for supper as well...yum-o!

On Friday, Jacie went to the dentist and got 3 fillings and 2 baby teeth pulled to make room for the adult teeth that are coming in. It was her bottom eye teeth that were pulled. I felt so bad for her, but she did so good. The dentist we go to are so amazing-especially with children. I swear she still doesn't know she got needles (as she is terrified of them). At 7 years old she is braver than me! So that night the tooth fairy brought her a DS game-SimAnimals and a twoony. She must have been exhausted hauling that over here! :)

Today we headed out to Elbow falls for a little hike and to get out of the house. I love road trips. We then went to McLean Creek and had a fire in a fire pit and had lunch there. We did hot dogs with fresh bakery buns! YUM!

Brrrrr it's cold outside...

I can't wait for spring and warmer weather. This -34'C needs to go away!! On Sat I went to the post office and picked up my RAK...it finally arrived!! :) I won a random draw for a layout, on the blog Letters to Scrap By, back in Oct and this is what I picked out. How wonderful!!

I am expecting one more RAK to arrive shortly from another random draw over at Creative Therapy. It is exciting to see what goodies will come. Over at Just Cre8 I won a random draw on the sketch challenge they have. It will arrive with my monthly kit. YEEHAW!

I finished a layout today for a challenge over at Scrapping Across the Universe and Pencil Lines-which is a sketch challenge. I stamped the paper with cardboard to get those lines. Everything is from the Just Cre8 Feb 09 kit except the butterfly, paperclip an the oval date.

I am loving stocked up kits and hunting around for more...eek! I want to stay Canadian...and love those sites that offer free shipping over a certain amount of $$. I loath paying for shipping...I know we have to, but I don't like it!

I tried that cake in a mug and it is no where near as good as homemade cake. I wouldn't make it again...take the extra time and make a whole one...it is well worth the extra time.

Well tonight I am recording Dancing with the Stars. I really like that show. Dennis wants me to learn the program AutoCadd so I can draw up his cabinets on the computer. I am actually looking forward to learning this program. I printed out the 22 page tutorial...now to do it!!

It's a cold and windy day today,

so after my morning chores and the little ones down for their nap...it was time to scrapp!! I have been waiting to scrap these photo's for a long time and while I was going through my stuff (trying to organize) I came across this kit from Created with Paper. It feels good to use materials from past kits...heck knows I have a lot of them.

Kael has a cold -just came yesterday-so he is a little 'glazy' due to the nose running. Danika is sleeping like crazy today...will have to wake her up after this to feed her...she's been down for over 4 hours...don't know if it is a growth spurt or if she is fighting off something.

I did this layout for a sketch challenge over at Pencil Lines. This is my first time over at that site, and I like it!! I used everything from a kit from Just Cre8. I am not sure which month it is from though.

I really liked the way it turned out and that is was on me for a change. This is my first layout on me and it is important to have these ones to leave my legacy and who I am for the kids. I will be doing more of these!

The flower used to be white and I used Glimmer Mist to change the colour to blue and finished it off with spraying it with the colour graphite (for extra sparkle).

If you try this recipe please let me know how it turned out!! I have been dying to try it...but have no vanilla ice cream...when I get some though I am trying it!!!

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).
And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world ? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time. the day or night!

God is testing me

and I am failing miserably. One of the fruits of the spirit is patience and I am flawed in that area. The kids are fighting more and more with each other, coupled with the nah nah nah nah voice, well this and that, NO to us, I'm bored, etc I am losing my mind. We think it all stems from the Wii and video games, so that is turned off for at least a week to see if any improvements are made. Back to one movie at quiet time and that is it for TV, computer, etc. Play with your toys and be grateful for what you have. Kids don't seem to be grateful for what they have these days-speaking about mine here-they just take for granted what they have and how lucky they are. This is going to change. They should feel like saying Thank You to us for suppers, clean clothes, toys, and each other. I am going to start too, by taking some extra time to play with them, instead of always being busy with other things...in part I need to get off this computer as well. A lesson learned by all.

The layout I did used some glittermist on the May circle and the chipboard corner that I turned by the title. I used a new technique, to me, which I ripped out a page in my old school dictionary (felt totally wrong when I did it), applied Gesso to it and let it dry. Then I stamped on it and drew a rectangle around the word Play and sport. This technique I will be using more and more!