I want to go to there!

Oh...Life is too busy. I'm beyond ready for a vacation...

This is where I want to go:

Oh boy do I want to just go to a cabin and get away from everything with Tyler and Lucy and just relax for a week...(I'd take two weeks if I could!)
Where are your monday blues making you dream you are?

I'm not ready for this...

This weekend I will be taking my senior high students to a conference about two hours away. I'll be leaving Tyler and Lucy at home for the weekend...I'm not ready for this. I love picking up my baby and holding her, feeding her, talking to her, cuddling with her. I hate thinking I'll be missing out on her life this weekend.
I read a blog this morning The Staats that broke my heart. Today was quite possibly the worst day I could have read it. Kellie and James lost their four month old daughter to what sounds like SIDS. Lucy is 3 1/2 months and I'm leaving her this weekend. As I read Kellie and James words on missing their daughter I struggle thinking that I have to choose to leave her. They didn't get to choose, she's gone.
I love my daughter so very much, I don't know how I would ever be able to handle losing her. I know it's only friday night-sunday afternoon but it's not going to be easy. And, next weekend I'll be gone friday morning- monday evening for a conference in Chicago. I truly hate being away from my family. I know it will get easier, it will never be easy but, it will get easier...Pray for me this weekend...I need to be able to be strong and focus on my students and I know I'm going to struggle a great deal with thinking about my family... and please pray for the Staats. I couldn't imagine going through anything like that without having the strength of God supporting me and the support of others through prayer.

Would you like the good or the bad news first?

The good news:
Woo hoo! We are going to be paying off our car very soon! This makes me extremely happy! When Tyler and I got married we both owned our vehicles. I had my trusty ol' 95 chevy corsica- my first car and Tyler had a 99 Ford F150. We still have the truck but, about a year and a half ago my poor chevy started having some problems...we figure hey, we'll drive this puppy til she dies! Oh my lovely car had almost 200,000 miles. (I really miss it sometimes until I use the cd player and automatic windows and then I'm reminded that she was ready for "retirement." haha! Well one night I was driving home from work...I live six blocks away from the church I work at so just keep that fact in mind...and the poor ol' gal died 2 times on my way home. We decided that was it, we were talking about having a baby and wanted to make sure we would have a safe car that could actually get us across town and back so we traded her in for my 07 chrysler sebring touring. I LOVE this car! It's lovely! We had been looking at a lot of SUV's and such and then decided we really didn't need it with having the truck and went for the more economic car. We took out at $10,000 loan and have been "overpaying" our payment by a little bit each month and we're mucho mucho (that's pretty much the extent of my knowledge of spanish!) close to having it paid off so to save ourselves on interest goodbye tax return, we're using you to pay off the car. Which means we will be putting that lovely monthly payment back into our checking account each month to go toward student loans and hospital bills and eventually savings :) Step one onto conquering our debt- pay off car- check!
Step two greatly reduce student loans- in the process!
Step three pay off house- oh...that'll be awhile!
Step four pay off the business starting loan- on our way!
Those are our debts. We don't use credit cards, we pay only cash for what we get aside from our major purchases so, two student loans, one house loan, one business loan, a car loan and we'll be debt free! Luckily we're going from 5 debts down to 4!
And the bad...okay our mouse issue ended up being mice. :( this is one unhappy momma right now. Over the spring we installed a new tub in our master bathroom. Apparently there was a pipe that didn't get sealed off very well and it allowed mice to come and go into our bathroom...I'm beyond grossed out and freaked out. Every single item of clothing, bedding, towels, etc. will be gone through to be kept or gotten rid of. Seriously I was wanting to go through our clothes and get rid of a lot but seriously not with this kind of motivation. I'm disgusted and angry that it even happened. So until this mouse situation is under control we will be sleeping upstairs on an air mattress in the living room and Lucy will be sleeping in her playpen that we have in the living room. Oh Seriously I'm freaked out and grossed out and all I want to do is freak out at the thought of it. 3 mice down hopefully only 1 to go but seriously I can't help but keep cringing. They've been in our house for like a week or two and it's just gross. I realize the whole eco system would be screwed up but I really wish God would have gone with out rodents, snakes, bugs, and such when he made the earth...sigh.
So, there you have it our good and bad news of the evening, please pray we can get rid of these mice! I will be so grateful once my house can get back to feeling clean.

EEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK! There's a mouse in our house!

Okay, there WAS a mouse in our house. I was going to the bathroom (trust me not the prime moment to notice a mouse is in your house you want to freak out and then realize you're still peeing...haha!) Also, keep in mind it was about 11:30 or so and Tyler was very very asleep... that will set you up with the following humor:

Okay, so I'm going to the bathroom and I hear something move in our bathroom closet, I figure hey, it's probably just something settling...then, I heard it again thought to myself hey wouldn't that be crazy if there was a mouse? Then...I glanced over...mid-pee and there he was (I don't really know if it was a boy or girl I was too freaked out to care so just go with me when I say he :) )
I screamed, TYLER! TYLER THERE IS A MOUSE IN THE CLOSET!!!!
"What? A mouse? What am I supposed to do about it?"
"Tyler!!!! Get in here! There's a mouse!!"
"I'm sleeping, what?"
"TYYYYLLER!! THERE IS A MOUSE!!!"
"Oh good grief what am I supposed to do about it?!"
"TYLER GET UP AND GET THE MOUSE!!!"
"Ugh" he finally rolls out of bed..."what are you talking about?"
"There is a freaking mouse in our bathroom closet."
"No there isn't."
"YES THERE IS I SAW IT!"
He glances down, "Holy shit! there's a mouse in the closet! How am I supposed to get it?"
"I don't know! Oh, Use a cup! trap it in the cup."
At this point the mouse is running trying to hide behind things and Tyler's slowly emptying the closet.
So he finally catches the mouse under the cup and we then have to figure out how to get the mouse out because the cup is on top of it...Tyler slides a piece of cardboard under the edge of the cup and shakes it up and down to make sure the mouse is really in there. Thennnn...he decides to debate on what to do with it, set it free or kill it? (Well it's little and kinda cute honestly so I tell him not to kill it!)  So we decide to go out the front porch and toss it off the side of the cliff (yes there really is a cliff next to our house (like 50ft drop off) and below are the river bottoms.)
Finally it's gone. Thank the Lord...however I then spent most of the night freaking out that there would be a mouse in our bed...And this morning our dog's tail skimmed over my arm and I freaked out! Haha!
So, now we are debating how the mouse got in and why we even had a mouse in the house...Here are the reasons we came up with:
#1- This is the first year we've lived here and haven't had any cats to keep them away.
#2- The river bottoms are flooding out with all the rain and melting snow so all the animals (including mice) have come up to avoid the water...
#3- Tyler left the patio door in our bedroom open the other night while he was trying out his goose call. It was only a couple mins but that's all the little guy needed.  Luckily he didn't find his way upstairs he stuck to our bedroom/bathroom...
So, I blame Tyler, our lack of ability to keep cats around this place, and mother nature for my late night mid-pee mouse freak-out.
And, thank you mouse for giving me a reason to deep clean my bathroom closet like I've been avoiding...
Well, I hope that made you laugh!

Overwhelming feelings...

Oh today was one of those days...last week I had the worst dream...I had a dream that Tyler had died, I woke up crying and every time I fell back asleep the dream started back up and I would wake up crying wondering if it was real. I HATE nights like that. Every time I would wake up I'd snuggle up close to Tyler and cry for a little bit until I could eventually fall asleep...only to have the same dream keep continuing.
Today for whatever reason I got that feeling in my head again and boy I was super close to breaking down. I really don't know why but I had the worst feeling. Do you ever have those days you just have a bad feeling and then your mind just runs wild with all the possibilities? I hate them. Because really you freak out for no reason. (I'm thinking it's all because I watched "Life as we know it" where the young parents die.) So, let me just say right now, how grateful I am to have Tyler and I hate that sometimes having those freak outs remind me just how much I really care about him and the fact that it's stupid that I argue with him over the dumbest things when what I should be doing is spending my time with him loving and building our relationship.
Well, that's it for today, I'll give you some more exciting news tomorrow. Lucy and I get two days off together this week and boy it's nice :)

Prayer Request Friday

Happy Friday!
Oh has it been a long busy week or what? Tonight I along with another local youth pastor are sponsoring a dodge-ball tourney for 5-8th grades. Please be in prayer for the volunteers and students. We're hoping for a good fun clean evening!

Lucy didn't do well with her pictures last night. She just wasn't in the mood...so I'm going to be selfish and ask that you pray we had some turn out well...

Tyler's grandpa is back home again from the nursing home with a person living with him to take care of him, please be praying for him that it goes well and he can remain living at home.

My brother and his fiance couldn't come out this weekend. He got denied leave so we're hoping to do the bridal shower sometime around Easter now. Please pray they allow him to come home for a few days, we really miss him.

I'm exhausted. I feel like I'm running on empty and my patience seems to be wearing extra thin these days...please pray Saturday refreshes me and that I'll be up for a few crazy weeks that are ahead.
I'll be taking my students to a conference next weekend so it will be my first over night time away from Lucy. I'm struggling with it a lot. Also, the following weekend I'm going to a conference in Chicago for youth pastors. I'll be away from her again...I'm trying to handle it well but I may very well have a break down or two...

Anyway, those are my requests, now it's your turn. How can I pray for you?

Growth Chart!

Woo Hoo! I can finally share with you all the growth chart I've been itching to make for Lucy! (keep in mind it's home made so it's not perfect!)
I got a board from RP Lumber- $4.70 and Tyler cut it for me:

Thank you dear!

I swear I would have cut it but if would have ended up super crooked.
I'm going to use the other piece for a second project which I will tell you about later! (Gotta keep you interested, right?!)
Well anyway, I painted them with a white coat of ceiling paint- goes on pink dries bright white so you don't miss a spot! (Used a random can that we had when we painted after buying our house! Free is great, isn't it?!)

And here are the freshly painted boards:

 When I came in from painting I found this:

 It melted my heart. Tyler had to work that night so he and Lucy were just relaxing on the couch and fell asleep like this. I think I took a million pictures it was so cute!
After I got home from church and got Lucy to bed the real fun began! I got my paints, brushes and boards all set up:

 I painted flowers, butterflies and even did some grass!:

I added card stock numbers and 1/4 and 1/2 mark tabs with card stock too:

 And on the top I put "Watch me grow!" keeping with the whole plant theme:

 The glue dried a bit yellowish against the white paint so I need to go over and do some touch up's but over all I was pretty happy with it considering I'm not much of an artist. Here's the standing almost final product:

 It's not exactly what I envisioned (I pictured my painting skills much better then they actually are haha!) But I kinda like it, simple and cute.
And Lucy got to wear her "spring" Jacket this morning! It's so nice out! And she looked so stinkin cute in it I had to take some pictures!

cuteness monster! she has her daddy's crooked smile :)

she almost squints when she smiles really bit it's cute!

Anyway, there it is! The long awaited Growth chart! We're going to get Lucy's 3 month pictures taken tonight and I'm really excited! I just hope she's in a good mood for it! I can't wait to finish my next project with the other "spare" piece of wood! Hopefully you'll get to see it in the next couple of days!

A Tragic Loss...

Oh my...it was a tragic day yesterday for Lucy's swing... yesterday Lucy and I were spending the day together as per our normal tuesday. It was great. She was cuddled up napping in her swing and I was working on a little project (which you will hear about in a later post! I still need to finish it...). I glanced over at her peacefully sleeping and noticed suddenly that the swing wasn't swinging. You could hear the motor running but no swinging action could be seen. No worries, I'll just unplug it and plug it back in, that should solve it. (It always solved the problem in the past...) This time...not so much...apparently I did more damage by unplugging it because I couldn't even get the thing to turn on after this. Sad day. Lucy's cozy swing and mommy's lifesaver was in desperate need of a visit to the toy-emergency room.
Well, when Tyler got home I begged him to take a look at it (since we got it used from a cousin it had no warranty)...he started unscrewing covers to access the electrical stuff and motor....when the cover decided to become nonremovable (Is that not a word? well it is at this moment!) With what appeared to be careful prying the outer cover for the electrical "stuff" it broke. Into a few pieces and no longer held any of the wires and do-dads in place. Lucy's swing died a sad and tragic death. It was long and drawn out (It has been doing this for about a month now...) and now sadly it is resting in pieces in the garage waiting for trash day so it can be delivered to a stinky abyss (aka: landfill).
So, here is a minor tribute to Lucy's first swing...the swing the let me take many a nap, clean many a dish, and kept her in motion when I was feeling stationary. You'll be missed.

Lucy's first time in the swing.

(Oh, and don't tell the old swing but we have a new one to be delivered in a few days thank goodness. Lucy is a huge fan of swinging, she would be heartbroken without one...This is the one we are getting:

 I tried to talk him into a basic one but he said no, if we're going to get one we're getting the awesome one! I think she's got him wrapped around her little fingers already...I think I'm going to be in trouble when it comes to Christmases and birthdays in the future! She can't even talk yet but by golly she knows how to get the best out of him!

And now onto our other exciting news of the day! Over the weekend I talked Tyler into stopping by the lumber yard to get me a board for Lucy's growth chart I've been itching to make! He cut it last night and I'm about it go to the garage to do the first layer of paint- the base color will be white but I got some really cute paint and I'm hoping I can knock out some awesome "free hand" flowers, butterflies, etc. If not then there will be a fresh coat of white paint that will cover it up and I'll be taking the decoupage route instead! Wish me luck and hopefully I will have a finished product for you to see tomorrow! (Tyler is off doing more remodeling electrical work at walmart tonight so I've got plenty of time to work while he is gone! I never can go to bed early when he's away.)

Valentines Day Picture Story!

Valentines day! It was a good day so I'm going to give you the story through pictures:

Sunday night I made these cookies for Tyler which he ended up pretty much devouring!

 

cookies for Tyler

 I also made his card that night (he was working out of town so I got to have some time to be creative! It was fun!)

card for Tyler

 We got Lucy some new outfits that are in her growing size! Doesn't she look cute?!

Lucy in her Valentines gift from mommy and daddy

 Tyler got me flowers delivered to my office and they are beautiful! He also got me an adorable precious moment figurine and some candy:

my beautiful gifts from Tyler

 adorable right?

adorable isn't it!?

 Then Lucy and I took some pictures and played for a few hours until daddy got home:

Me and my valentine!

 She worked very hard to "make" us a valentine!

Lucy "made" us a card at daycare today

she does very professional work! haha!

 She's very talented already haha! Here's her stash of valentines from daycare:

all Lucy's valentines from daycare!

 yes, she really got a Harry Potter Valentine: I giggled when I saw it!

a Harry Potter valentine!

 Here's the cards I made for Tyler and Lucy sunday night:

Cards I made for Lucy and Tyler

 We then attempted a good family valentines day photo....important word here was attempted...

Our family on Valentines day take 1

 Tyler started off making a funny face then switched so I am the weird one here...

our Family on Valentines day take 2

take 3...we gave up!

 And as you could tell Lucy got distracted so we gave up...and she got to fly!

super baby!

 Then we dove into the giant heart shaped cookies:

Tyler and his giant heart shaped cookies I made him

 Lucy then cuddled the night away:

Lucy snuggling with her bear and daddy

It was a good valentines day with the two loves of my life :)

5 Years ago today...

I would have never guessed if you asked me five years ago today that it would be the day I met my husband....
Would you like to hear the story?
Five years ago I was a sophomore at Greenville College. My friend was going on a date with this weird/nerdy guy she met, Marion, and began begging me to go with her because they had decided to bring friends along for buffers in case it went bad....It was laundry day for me and I had fully come to terms with the fact that I'd put off doing laundry long enough that I desperately needed my good cute clothes wearable again (plus my t-shirt stash was running dangerously low...) Anyway I'd settled down to start sorting my loads when Tressa (friend) walked in and started trying to talk me into going on this double date with her. I kept saying how I needed to do laundry and that I didn't have anything to wear. She kept telling me just how great this guy was, how wonderful he was, etc. I asked her if he's so great why don't you go for him? She laughed and said she wasn't his type. She then dragged me over to her friends dorm room, Kendra, who had a picture of the guy I was supposed to be stuck with on this "date." It was a picture of them white water rafting on a youth group trip. Boy did he have nice built arms. I contemplated it and then remembered hey, you have no good cute clothes clean. Pft, that did it I was again set against going.
And then it happened....the guilt trip above all guilt trips...she said..."So you're going to let me go alone on this date with two guys? What if something happens to me? You'll feel guilty for the rest of your life."
That did it. I knew if she was going to stoop to that kind of guilt trip there was no getting out of it. So I threw on a crappy blue hoodie, jeans and flip-flops- yes I was insane enough to wear flip-flops in February. I knew I didn't look good, I was tired and cranky and all I wanted to do was just stay home and wash my laundry.
We got in her car and headed up to IGA where we met the guys. We then decided to head up to Dairy Queen where we sat and talked for about an hour. It wasn't anything special, it wasn't that fun, it didn't even seem like we cared about being there...(later I found out that Tyler's friend talked him into going by saying they were going to go hang out at a girls dorm! haha! we both got tricked into going!)
Then once we finally decided to call it a night, I was walking toward the car when he hollered after me, hey, can I get your number? I said sure and I gave him my number.
When we got back to the dorm rooms that night Tressa called him and asked if he liked me and when he was going to call, by the end of the conversation she had talked him into calling me that very moment. We spent the next hour talking. A week later, he asked me to be his girlfriend and we've been together ever since.
Who knew that in those five years we would fall in love, get married, and have a baby. Life sure is full of surprises but I wouldn't trade them for anything!
Happy Valentines Day, Tyler! I love you!

Prayer Request Friday!

Oh goodness! Tyler and I get to go on a date tonight! His mom is going to watch Lucy and we're going to dinner and a movie. I'm pumped! Saturday we get to spend all day together as a family and Sunday I have church galore and that night he's back to work at Walmart. While he's gone that evening I'll be at home finishing up my bridal shower decorations. I was up thinking non-stop for quite awhile last night until I wrote down all the decoration ideas running through my head. Gosh I was almost sure I wasn't going to get to sleep last night!

Anyway on to my prayer requests:
Tyler and I- I'd love for he and I to do a bible study together and I am hoping I can find the right thing and we can keep with it...we're both easily distracted so every time we've done this before we get side tracked with wanting to go to bed earlier or well life just gets in the way.

My brother and his fiance will be here in a week- pray they have safe travels.

My grandpa who is going through cancer treatments.

How can I pray for you? If you don't want to share but you'd like prayer then just click the "like" button! I hope you have a great day and I'm praying you all have a wonderful weekend!!

When Inspiration Strikes!

Oh! I am so excited! Inspiration has hit me! I'm not kidding when I say I feel like I've had my shining light hallelujah/ light bulb moment. These are the moments I truly love my job. When I've hit my stride and I've found something that is going to work so unbelievably well. Have I peeked your curiosity yet?
Well here it is...drum roll please....okay that might be a bit dramatic because honestly I realize I'm probably one of the few that will actually have this much excitement about this project but nonetheless here we go...

I'm going to make a video for our sunrise service this year.
Feeling let down yet? I hope not because seriously this has got to be one of my best ideas ever.
Why do I say that?
Because:
#1 for the past two years I've been at my job my youth group has lead our sunrise service and we've done skits/plays and lead music. It's been okay but it's always a major fight to get them to perform in public.
#2 Teenagers (and most adults) have a serious fear of speaking in public. So allowing them to be taped will make them feel a million times more comfortable.
#3 Teenagers (well the ones I work with) HATE doing skits and memorizing lines so they are always jumbling around scripts and such while "performing" now, I can have "cue cards" that they can read from as they are being taped- I seriously wish I could get my hands on a teleprompter, that would be awesome.
#4 Those who still don't want to talk can be silent. They will hold up signs with scriptures or quotes or single words for dramatic effect.
#5 I don't have to worry about them over sleeping and missing our 7am service- yes this has almost happened before. So, now if they don't show up pft, who cares! I've already got them taped!! (well I care but I won't have to freak out nearly as much)
#6 I don't have to try and get one person to lead a sermon/message. It can be shared amongst all the students.
#7 Our church got a projector system last year and I think it's time we showcase how awesome this thing is.

Now I just need to write the message and schedule a "taping" day.
I'm really excited and I'm praying with all my heart I can get this to work!
It might be a bit ambitious but, it's totally worth trying!

Maybe if you're lucky I'll even post the video to get your opinions before it's official public viewing! (You might not get to walk down a red carpet for the premier showing but hey, our church has red carpet down the aisle so just dream you're walking down it and enjoying a front row seat!)

Moo's and Valentines

Oh Lucy cracks me up. Tyler decided to make animal noises last night and let me tell you, she loves chickens, roosters, sheep, dogs, and cats....a cows moo however makes her cry! hahahaha! Here's a picture of the face she made when Tyler mooed:

She just sticks that bottom lip out and then breaks into a wail! Oh it's so adorably sad!

Anyway I've got a secret that I'm going crazy keeping! I got Tyler's Valentines Day gift and it's making me crazy not being able to tell anyone. We haven't really gone on a good date in a little while so I thought I'd find something that we could go on just the two of us. I got him tickets to see Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, and Larry the Cable Guy in March. I'm so excited! He's going to love it! We haven't gone to a concert/game/event really since I was about 4 months pregnant. We've gone to a movie here and there but we haven't really gone on a real date. I'm pretty pumped. This means we'll get to go out for a nice dinner and spend the evening together. I'm the worst person with gifts, I find just what I want to get someone and I go crazy not being able to tell them. I get so excited so. I can now sigh and feel slightly relieved that I told someone! Now, all I have to do is make his card and get him candy!

Well I hope Lucy's sad face pictures made you smile! We laughed so hard when she got upset about the moo sound!

Bridal Shower Decoration Creation's- #3- Heart Wreath!

Oh boy has it been a fun day so far! Lucy and I have been hanging out at home enjoying my day off. Tyler got to come home for lunch today and Lucy got some daddy time! It was really cute watching them play. She's our newest spokesperson for Montgomery Electric:

Cute huh!?
Okay so onto my project of the day- While Lucy napped this morning I decided to try making a heart shaped wreath that I'd seen other people making.
I used scrap fabric and bent a hanger into a heart shape and used some left over brown ribbon that I had used on my mantle redecorating.

 My supplies.

 cut strips and the beginning of the ties

The finished product! I wish I'd had some pink fabric but I'm pretty happy with how it ended up turning out!
For my next project, I'm waiting to get a few things I ordered and then I'll be able to finish all my decorations for the shower! I'm thinking I'm just going to have to drag Tyler to the lumber store so I can get the piece of wood to make Lucy's growth chart with. I've also got two small tables/stands that I'm going to paint and use in Lucy's room.
Well she's awake and I need to get her ready to go to the doctor for her check up! Hope you have a great day and seriously if you have some extra scrap fabric laying around make one of these! They are super easy and fun to make!

The Abominable Snow Baby!

Snow suit perfection:

 She wasn't exactly happy about it....

 But by gosh she was adorable in that snow suit!

 And Pardon the weird family photo where we all have our eyes either closed or extremely close to closed!
I've been itching to get her picture taken with the snow and I finally got to. She got all bundled up and was out side for about four pictures and then we went back in haha!
Anyway, that was our saturday- I worked that morning. My youth group was selling sub sandwiches on super bowl sunday so we made them that morning. Then we spent the day with my in-laws and then went to the basketball game that night. Lucy is really starting to get into her sports!
Then came Sunday. Lucy got to wear her dress and even shoes for church! We were greeters and Lucy was extremely popular! She was super cute...she may or may not have spit up on the floor and there is now a baby puke stain in our church narthex that I will smile at every time I see it :) It's our little secret!

 Wasn't she cute? The shoes made her feet look huge but by gosh they were adorable!
Then we went over to the Metzger/Montgomery Super Bowl Party (well, after Lucy and I took a delightfully long nap in the afternoon- almost 2 hours!) While there she got to hang out with her cousin Brody where they didn't hold hands but...they held each other's sleeves and it was cuuuuute!:

 Adorable right?
And to give you a small recap of friday too here's Lucy playing on her activity mat attempting to roll over and giving me a silly look for taking her picture:

I can't tell if she was more irritated, surprised by the flash or if she was farting when I took this picture! Honestly, it was probably all three!
 She's three month's old today and it's both blowing my mind and freaking me out...she's growing up way too fast already...I suppose I better schedule her 3 month pictures soon!
Well, I hope you all had a great weekend!

Bridal Show Decoration Creation: Project #2- "banners"

Oh I love having a reason to decorate in cute girly ways! I've loved being able to use my cricut too! That thing is a life saver! Tonight when I got home from work it was time for my "second job," taking care of all the business stuff for Tyler's business. I got all my quick books entered and updated and I'm happy to report for the 2010 year I am only off on my balance (comparing my records to the bank) by...drum-roll please...2 cents! Woo! Aka: I've successfully completed almost one year of business without any major screw-ups! Lucy was my trusty secretary while I worked...She was rather focused as you can tell by this photo:

my rather focused secretary!

 Shouldn't every secretary make you want to smile like this one!?
 Well, after dinner Tyler ended up having to work tonight. He was supposed to tuesday evening but the walmart he was working at lost power so he came home and it was rescheduled for tonight. So once Lucy was in bed I had some free time. What? Free time? I'd forgotten what it feels like to have free time all to myself! I won't lie, I kinda enjoyed it! Although once I'm done with this post I'd be happy if Tyler came home, I've had enough "me" time... Anyway, I decided to work on some more bridal shower decorations! I finished up the cupcake toppers and made two "banners"!

 Once I got all the letters glued on I hot glued a tooth pick to the back piece of paper and stuck the second one on top. Here's my end result:

 They aren't perfect but, I think they turned out pretty cute! And the fact that they are hand made makes each of them a little different then the next!
I then started on my banners! I cut out six inch patterned circles and 5 inch white circles and 3inch letters:

 And..here the first one is!:

 Simple but girly and something I can use for valentines day in the future! The next one has to be attached to just the right surface or it won't lay right...I was too lazy to walk upstairs and tie it to my china cabinate where it will go so you will just have to use your imagination a bit on this one:

I didn't want it to be tied too tight so it droops too much for how it needs to lay but oh well, I was pretty happy with this one too! I just did heart shapes instead of circles for this one. And, I made the letters removable so I can replace them with a different saying so it will have more uses.
I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to decorate my tables so that's going to be my next project for the bridal shower- I need to decorate my dining room table and my coffee table in the living room. I've got some ideas but I haven't decided for sure yet on what I'd like to do. Anyway I'm going to head to bed since it's kinda late! I hope you have a great weekend!