I recently joined Stampin' Up as a demonstrator to help support my hobby for stamping and crafting. I placed a large order to make Tika's birthday invitations for this weekend. Here's how they turned out...
These are her Thank You Cards:
So although these stamps are not from Stampin' Up, I had to use them since that was the reason I bought them :) and they're cute!! I did, however, use the Stampin' Up ink, paper, ribbon and markers. I have to say, I love their products!!
These are some other cards I made with Heather. I thought they turned out pretty cute:
and 
These were made with Stampin' Up stamps and supplies.
I will be making some crowns, journal books, bookmarks and headbands tonight, tomorrow and Saturday for Tika's birthday party on Saturday. Check back to see how those turned out!!
Have a great Thursday!!
Ok, it is now March and I have had these photos on my laptop since...July?! I haven't done anything with them {didn't know what, yet, to do with them}...until now!
I bought this really neat wireless picture printer (for printing pictures of course) to use for Scrapbooking. I was messing with it about, oh...5 minutes ago, getting it to print. I randomly selected this picture of Tika, the center one with her hair flying and her serious smile on her face...its one of my favorites!!! Anyway...I realized during editing it that I could make a collage with it in Picasa (love this, BTW!!). So I pulled all her soccer pictures from last season together and randomly rotated, spun, cropped, and placed them to look like this {I know, it looks like a pile of pictures but remember, I've never done this before!!}:
Cool, isn't it!!! I love how it turned out! The best part is that there is this little button on the bottom of the editing page that says, "Blog This!"...so...I pressed it and voila!! It posted to my blog!?!?!? WOW!! Amazing...
that it can snow 6-12 inches and be sunny and warm ALL in the same state!!!
This weekend was great! It was warm on Saturday (perfect for soccer watching) and rained Sunday (fun for soccer playing). Both were enjoyable. We had a great time watching Zeek's games, they of course played hard, scored many but won none! 
We had a nice relaxing time over at the Sinkwitz's where we BBQ'd, made some cards, and made more cards...(Thanks Heather!) :)
Tika enjoyed making flowers out of paper (which she hung in her room) and QJ finally warmed up to the dogs which makes my life easier! Zeek unwound by playing video games with the boys and Jay caught up with Chris watching Dexter...(have you ever seen that show!?!?! GREAT!!).
Anyway, we came home in horrible conditions, it was snowing up here and the highway was bad. We counted 9 cars off the road, in the median or on the side. I felt sick and couldn't wait to get home, OUT of the car and OFF the highway!! Thankfully, Jay drove very slow and we made it home safe and sound.
We came from this:
Came home to this:
Can you believe its only a 2 hour distance?! Laughable really.
Its Friday, again (funny how that keeps happening) and I'm so happy its here! I'm looking forward to a nice warm weekend in Phoenix watching Zeek's soccer games and hanging out with good friends. I can't wait to relax with a cocktail (or 2), enjoy some good food, good company and have tons of fun making projects planned by Heather!!
As you know, this week has been very hard for me. I experienced something very traumatic and I am having a hard time recovering from it. I hate that I am expected to just get up, dust off and move on. How easy...share your secret if you have one...
MONDAY:
Monday began as normal, I thought since I was 'fine' I could work my usual 10.5 hour day and manage. I didn't take into account the 12 children that were going to make my mental noise unbearable, an emergency chiropractic appointment that took over an hour, another hour spent on the phone with the insurance company trying to get a rental car nor the random bouts of tearfulness and space staring I experienced. I luckily came to my senses Monday afternoon and called all my daycare parents and regretfully apologized but I couldn't work on Tuesday. I needed a 'mental health day' to recoup and organize myself. I am fortunate in that they all understood and even asked if one day was enough! My car was towed over to the auto repair shop and my rental car was picked up Monday night. QJ screamed from the inside of the house as they were loading my car on the flatbed, "My car...my car!! No car!" I think he's as attached to it as I am. He must recognize that it is now our best friend since it helped save my life! Unfortunately, he's freaked out of the Dodge Ram rental, "No truck...no truck...scared truck! Want car...where car?" Very funny boy...
TUESDAY:
I took all day Tuesday to catch up on sleep since my nights had been full of thinking and analyzing...I was exhausted (and very, very sore)! Thanks to Jay who took QJ on errands and Riann for picking my kids up from school, I hardly got out of bed!
WEDNESDAY:
Wednesday was a normal day back at work, less tearful but another chiropractic appointment to go through. I finally sucked it up and went and got a massage that night and couldn't believe how much better it made me feel. I was surprised to discover that the pain in my body hit me the hardest 2-3 days AFTER the actual accident! My arms felt as if I had carried my car through the accident instead of actually driving in it. After my massage, I was finally able to get a good nights rest for Thursday. It felt great!
THURSDAY:
Thursday I hardly left my house...it was a good thing. I woke up feeling 'normal' if you could call it that. My mind was a lot less foggy...very aware yet very ready to move on, it gets easier...right?!?
FRIDAY:
Zooming in to today...I feel good. I had another chiro appointment this morning (3 a week for a month will get me back to normal...so they say) and I actually faced my fear and drove the route past the accident. I had avoided the freeway all week although it would have gotten me where I needed to go much faster than it actually took. I was scared...my palms were sweaty, my breathing was rapid, my heart was racing, I was anxious and scared! I HATE THAT!! I like to be in control...I like feeling safe (go figure), I like thinking everything is OK. It was most difficult seeing the skid marks going OFF the road. It also unnerved me to see the 3 foot around cement pole in the middle of the median that was in my path...how did I miss that? It shook me up all over again how lucky I was.
I have to admit, I learned a lot about myself (and others) this week. I don't need to be strong all the time. I can admit when I am upset or need help. I don't need to feed into others ideas of where I should be mentally/emotionally or physically. I am where I am...take it or leave it. It can only get better from here, please understand that.
I discovered what a true friend is, who I can count on and who I can't. I'm amazed, STILL, at others reactions (or lack there of) to what happened...I guess I need to remind myself that what I went through is still IN MY MIND as awful, others are not expected to understand that, it didn't happen to them. I am thankful for the few friends and family who were able to at least "imagine" for my sake what it MAY have felt like and reached out with kind words. It meant more than I can explain.
I discovered a renewed sense of passion for Jay who has been nothing but sensitive/understanding/loving/compassionate/helpful to me, my emotions, my lack of energy, my distractedness, and/or my spewing of repetitive expression. He gives me a hug when he knows I'm upset (the gnawing of my inside lip gives me away every time) and even helped me out of bed the first couple days when I felt like a 90 year old woman all stiff and hurting.
{No, this is not all about Britt day/week, it just feels very therapeutic to put these thoughts into words}
On a side note, the kids and Jay are doing great! Jay is finally getting busier as each week progresses. (Finally is the operative word here...the winter has been a slow one in the hVac business) He is enjoying his new skis (Grizzlies???) and thinks he's better (thanks to the skis of course) than he was even in high school on the ski team! {Smile} Zeek got a 10/10 on his spelling test yesterday (par for the course for that smart boy) and Tika is quite excited since finding out her teacher is expecting her third child this fall (she gets to be a big helper which she of course excels at). QJ is...well...2. He told me the other night that he threw away his bugger...in his mouth. {Yum...}
Happy Friday, have a great weekend!!
::{**Thanks for listening**}::
skier that is! Tika has taken a couple ski lessons this winter (begrudgingly at first) and has magically, almost overnight, turned into a pro! She enjoys skiing down the slope fast (racing Zeek on his snowboard or Jay on his skis) and she seems almost fearless (which I fear!)!
On Thursday her kindergarten class went on a field trip to the Nordic Center to cross country ski (which she has never done before). 
She had so much fun and although she fell several times, she got back up and kept her gorgeous face smiling. 
Jay was lucky enough to tag along and share the moment with her and he caught some great pictures of her in action. 
I can't wait until I can go with her next time!
doll that is. I'm thinking about getting Tika an American Girl Doll for her birthday in April (she'll be six if you can believe it!!). The fun part is that you can have the doll look just like you, dress like you and even comes with pierced ears, if you so choose, which is way too cute considering Tika got her ears pierced a couple months ago (that's a story for another day!). Anyway, here's what the doll would look like:
Too cute, I know! I sometimes think she's too 'old' to play with dolls but how fun is that to play with a doll that looks like you and is dressed like you?!? Or is that just weird to be playing with "yourself"?!? All of us girls come with the maternal desire when we are 5/6 years old, right, or was that just me?
Tika is very excited to move up from the "Little Books" in her kindergarten class to the "Big Books"! Last night she brought Max home and has slightly struggled through it. Every time I hear her read I envision this great relationship she is day by day forming with reading. I imagine us sharing books when she's older, recommending books to each other and talking excitedly about them over a cup of tea. I really, truly hope Tika love...love...loves to read as much as I do (no pressure here Tika) but...it all begins with Max.
Having a blog that is dedicated to the workings of our family is quite exciting! Not only am I able to share it with friends and family that may not be able to see us often due to distance or time but I also get a "scrapbook" of our family without breaking out the scissors!
To break the ice I decided to introduce our small family for future reference. You will be hearing these same names over and over throughout this blogs lifespan (names have been changed/abbreviated to protect the innocent):
Jay (Dad): 35 year old small business owner (hVac) that loves watching movies, skiing, poker, football and soccer
Britt (Mom/Me/I): 29 year old daycare provider that loves reading, baking, sewing, creating, scrapbooking and writing
Zeek (brother/son I): 9 year old third grader that loves soccer, playing video games, memorizing football stats and snowboarding
Tika (sissy/daughter): 5 year old kindergartner that enjoys dancing, 'wearing' makeup, stealing moms high heels, Hannah Montana and skiing
QJ (son II/toughie): 2 year old devil that thrives on Dora, playing with hotwheels, sugar and little sleep
We are lucky to live in the gorgeous mountains in Northern Arizona. Here is the view from our front porch:
I should warn you--this blog is written from my perspective but the other 4 characters I named are my inspiration (they deserve some credit....) :)
::Stay tuned to read about funny stories, interesting adventures and crazy moments::
