OH MY HECK!!!

I was alerted that the advertising for the new card book that I did a few samples for last year is about to be released. I was asked by Lark Books (Sterling Publishing) to create some quick and easy cards using beads just before we moved to Colorado. I only really had a day or two to complete my samples. Since we were moving, I didn't really have the drive to be creative but I ended up making 3 cute cards. They pay great money per project so I got paid pretty well for only doing 3 simple cards (as opposed to all those difficult and time-consuming projects I did for their Michael's Wedding Book where I still got the same pay per project and several of my projects didn't even get published-egad). Anyhoo, I AM ON THE COVER!! See the pink card on the upper left side? That is one of mine! I am totally thrilled and excited about that. It's hard to really see it in the pic but it says "amore" with letter beads. I strung the letters on wire and curled the ends. Cool huh?

You can check out more at: http://www.larkbooks.com/catalog?isbn=1600591469

Gross, what a way to begin the day...

Poor E fell asleep on the couch yesterday before dinner was ready at 6:30pm. We let him sleep for a while and then eventually we decided that he wasn't going to get up so Clayton put him to bed. He got up this morning and got into bed with me. He wouldn't smile or talk so I knew something was wrong. I made him a little breakfast and a cup of milk (I know, what was I thinking!). Milk is the worst thing that I could have gave him. Well, in my defense, he seemed somewhat ok. He wasn't running a fever and he ate his breakfast without complaint. We were sitting on the couch and I was returning some emails when he began chunking all over the place. Yuck! I haven't had to deal with puke since he was a baby. Now I have a load of nasty clothes and towels in the wash and Emerson is sitting in my bath tub playing with his toys. He seems to feel better since the incident so I hope that his upset tummy is over. We shall see. Heaven help me, I feel a bit nauseous now. Ewwww....

Class Reunion *sigh*

Well, I got the invite in the mail a little while back and I have been undecided. This is our 12 year reunion since our class president decided to be slack and not live up to their duties at the 10 year mark. I was totally ticked off when we didn't have one. Some sweet gals stepped up and planned everything out for our class this year. While that is totally awesome, I don't think that I will be able to attend. For one thing, the flights back home are outrageous from Denver (why, oh why couldn't we have done the 10 year reunion when I still lived in NC!!). I wouldn't think much about paying $300-$400 for me to go but I have to bring my kids back with me too so multiply those numbers times 3. Ugh. At least my family would be able to babysit if I went and that is blissfully *free*. The kicker that really bugs me is that my hubby can't go. We already have his vacation days for the year planned out. He has already used several for seeing family when they drop into town and for watching the kiddos while I do surrogacy stuff. He also has to take a week off for our Disney trip and he likes to take most of December off for the holidays (which I love having him home!). Basically, I would have to go it alone and I have no desire to do so. As far as the surrogacy is concerned, that will likely be another issue too as I bet that we do the transfer in CA around the same time as the reunion. Gosh I am bummed out. I would love to see some of my old friends and hear about what they have been doing the past 12 years. :(

A Day at the Denver Zoo

The boys enjoyed checking out the huge elephants

The boys' cool ride (they were checking out the hippos)

This bear totally cracked me up! He just lazed around and made himself completely comfortable.

Aunt Stephanie came down from Cheyenne and joined us for our Sunday trip to the Denver Zoo. The weather was absolutely perfect. The sun was bright but the temperature wasn't too hot. We ended up buying season passes so that we can return again soon.

The boys had to go 10 straight nights without getting into trouble. They always like to cause a ruckus once they are in bed so we have been bribing them to make bedtime much easier. The zoo was their reward for 10 nights in a row. Luckily, they didn't mess up once. We also tried this tactic a month ago and they had to be good for 7 straight nights to get a milkshake. It took weeks for them to get that prize because we had to start over at 1 so many times, lol. Hmmmm, now what should be the next prize? I am thinking Elitch Gardens but we'll have to wait and see.

Jet Lagged

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't updated lately. I have been a bit tired since Tuesday's wonderful trip to CA. The medical screening went off without a hitch and I LOVE the RE there (Dr. Zouves). The ultrasound showed that everything was in perfect working order so now we are close to receiving an official calendar. The estimated time for transfer is early June and I couldn't be more excited!! Once we get the contracts completed (which their fabulous lawyer is currently working on), we will get to set the tentative dates. I should begin meds in just a few short weeks. Wow, I can't believe that we are already rockin' and rollin'. Everything seems to be happening so perfectly. I sure hope that the good luck continues. :)

I am off to Cali tomorrow!

I fly into San Francisco tomorrow morning to go to my surrogacy medical screening. I can't wait to get this part over with so we can start talking calendars. I guesstimate that we will be transferring sometime in July. My IPs would like to have a singleton pregnancy so we are going to do single embryo transfers. I am thrilled about that. I know there is still a chance of the embryo splitting into 2 babies, but hopefully that won't happen. I remember with my first surrogacy I became a little frightened when I found out that I was carrying twins. Considering how big baby boy ended up being, I can't imagine if both babies had of made it. I would have been enormous, lol. Wish us luck!!

Wanna see our home? Come on in!

I have had several distant relatives ask to see what our house looks like so I took a few pics. We still haven't painted all the rooms but at least everything is slowly coming together. Maybe by the time everyone comes out here to visit I will finally be done decorating and organizing (yeah right), lol. I don't have pics of the laundry room (it's pretty dull), the downstairs bath (haven't done anything to it yet) or my scrap room (it is a DISASTER at the moment, lol). Our basement is 1100 square feet of concrete and not much else so it doesn't deserve any mention either.

Check out the posts below to do a little walk-through. ;)

Entry

Our front door-the formal dining room is on the left

Our cubby system-each family member has their own space

As you walk into our home, you would see this mirror to your right as you walk into the kitchen. Clayton picked it out and I just love it!

Formal Dining Room & Sitting Area

This is the first room that you see when you walk into our home so I knew we couldn't leave it empty for very long. Considering that we had never had such a room before, it really stunk buying all the furniture to fill it up after we moved in. I had never wanted a formal room before but now I am glad that I have one. It is awesome for entertaining. The table seats 8 so it is perfect for Thanksgiving dinner (my favorite holiday meal-I host every year). I don't have my formal dishes in the china cabinet just yet but they will soon make their way in there.

Hmmm, I just realized that I need to bug Clayton to get those pictures up on the wall.

Living Room & Kitchen

This is what our living room looks like right now. We still haven't gotten the recessed area aboved the tv painted just yet but that should be happening soon. I need to get more knick knacks to go up there too. Oops, I just noticed that the couch still has those pads underneath it to make it easier to move. Ugh, those have got to go, lol.

This pic is a bit distorted due to too much sunlight coming through the windows but at least you can see what they look like. We had to get shades custom fitted to go over each one because they let in way too much light during the day. I have long curtains to go under those valances but I just haven't gotten around to ironing them just yet. :P

Who is that sexy man down there?? BTW-He was attempting to do a little dance for me, lol.

You can see a little bit of the kitchen from this shot. Since I recently posted a million pics of that room while organizing it, I will spare you the agony. If you didn't see the posts about my kitchen organization, you can read them here. I absolutely love my kitchen now. :)

Master Bedroom

I just love having a grown-up bedroom for the first time! We finally upgraded our bed to a King when we moved in last year and it has been wonderful. Our friends could never understand how we slept in a Full sized bed before. We never minded being cuddled up close (we spoon each other anyway) but it is a nice feeling to be able to spread out if we need to.

Now, what color can you guys recommend for the walls in here? The curtains are a dark chocolate brown and the bedding is a pretty soft blue.

This is our little seating area. I like to chat on the phone here (hence the phone charger cord hanging from the table).

Ok, one of the weirdest things about Colorado homes is that alot of them don't have doors going from the master bedroom to the bath. I can't understand the logic in that so I hung a chocolate brown velvet curtain (same as the others in my room) from a spring rod so that the light doesn't blind me in the mornings when Clayton is getting ready for work. When it is down, it covers the opening completely so that no light comes into the bedroom.

Master Bath

Ahhh, this is my favorite spot in the whole house. I plan to eventually cover the window with rice paper so that people can't see in but I still get alot of sunlight.

This is Clayton's shower. The black thing on the glass is a mirror so that he can shave his face in the mornings.

This is the right side of bathroom when you walk in. There is a toilet just behind the wall on left. It is enclosed in a closet. That seems to be pretty standard here in CO. When we were looking at houses, our realtor was appalled to see a home where the toilet was in full view. It's kinda funny how that was the norm in all the houses we looked at in NC.

What in the world should I put on the shelf above the sinks?? Also, what color should I paint the walls?

Master Closet

Sorry this picture stinks but the light coming in the window was too bright. I had to lighten the pic up alot with ArcSoft because the bright window made the room very dark. Anyhoo, Clayton's stuff is on the left and mine is on the right.

This is my side of the closet. The plastic drawer thingie is used to store all of our medicines, first aid supplies and camera equipment.

These shelves are on my side. I store most of my maternity clothes, towels and jeans here.

Our shoe rack just below the window

Guest Bedroom

This used to be our master bed. I still love the PB quilt so I decided to reuse it for this room. Those pictures above the bed are a bit too high for my liking. Hubby refused to move them because he was so tired after putting them up. I will eventually move them down just a touch or get bigger pics to replace them.

Recognize this old dresser anyone?? My Mom's side of the family has seen it around for a long time now. My cousin Christine was the original owner and she had it while growing up. After she got married and didn't need it any longer, my cousin Rachel got it. She got a new bedroom suit and then I inherited it. It's kinda nice having something that has been passed down the family.

This is the guest gift basket that I plan to re-stock each time I have a guest stay over. This one was put together for my MIL Christie.

The Catwalk & Play Area (Loft)

View from the master bedroom-The boys' room and bathroom are to the left (a linen closet is between the two) and the play area/loft is to the right.

looking over the catwalk railing from the left side

This is the kiddos' play area in the loft. It is directly above the living room (I don't recommend that to anyone-It is way too noisy to watch tv downstairs sometimes). The guest bedroom is to the end of the hallway on the left.

FYI-I highly recommend having an entertainment unit such as the one above for play rooms. We got this one from Pottery Barn and it is awesome for keeping everything organized. It is hard to see in the pic but the buckets and baskets are personalized to make sorting easy. Another cool item from PB is the book organizer on the right. We hung it a little bit higher than we would like but we didn't want the kids getting their own books down (thus preventing it from being torn off the wall).

The Boys' Room

The boys' bunk beds are never made I hate to admit. It is just too tedious a task and they always tear them completely up every night. I gave up a long time ago. I still need to get 2 blackout shades for the little windows, put the valance up on the big window (not shown), paint the walls and buy a lamp for their dresser.

Left side of the closet-I keep all long sleeved shirts up above in size order (3, 4, 5) and all of their shorts/pants get folded below. Their shorts are arranged by size on the top shelf and the pants are arranged by size per row. I keep the khakis separated from the jeans.

Right side of the closet-All of their short sleeved shirts are arranged by size on this side. I use the blue sweater organizer to arrange complete outfits for them. All we have to do is grab a stack from it to dress the kids. It makes getting them dressed go much faster in the mornings. Their laundry bins are located at the bottom and each child knows where to put his clothes due to color (H is red, E is blue).

The Boys' Bath

This is a cute canvas that I made for The Scrapbook Stand a couple of years ago. I just had hang it for all to see. The boys were so stinkin' adorable in those pics.

The theme is outer space. Most of the accessories have glow-in-the-dark paint on them. The sink area is seperate from the toilet/bath area.

These are hung just above the toilet.

Soccer Boys

Hayden rarely gets near the ball so this was a prized shot, lol.

Emerson got to play for the first time last weekend and he loved it.

Emerson

This cracked us up. Big E ran and then threw the ball in. He was so cute!

Yes, I know I posted more pics of E than H but there is a good reason for that. Hayden doesn't really care to play. He prefers to sit out on the sidelines and drink water from his water bottle. To him, it is all about the novelty of playing soccer. He doesn't really care to actually play the sport, lol. Emerson, on the other hand, really enjoys being out there in the middle of the action. He is really good at kicking accurately. E also gets the concept of teamwork. Hayden couldn't care less, lol.

So far my predictions of the kids are correct. Hayden is going to be a brain and Emerson is going to be into sports. Hayden loves the science table at school (maybe we have another chemical engineer in the family?), learning new things, figuring out how things work, etc. Heck, he even likes Velma on Scooby Doo the best (blech, she was always my least fave). When asked why he likes her so much he says, "because she is so smart". Hee hee...

Mmmmmmm.....Peanut Butter Pie

I pulled the recipe for this yummy pie last weekend. Hayden began carrying the recipe around and proclaiming that he was going to make it for me. Well, I ended up surprising him with it after his soccer practice on Wednesday. He was thrilled!

Here's the recipe if you want to try it out:

1 prepared chocolate cookie pie crust
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
8oz. cream cheese, softened at room temp.
8oz. Cool Whip
1 (11.75oz.) jar hot fudge topping

Combine peanut butter, cream cheese and sugar in a medium bowl. Reserve 1 1/2 cups Cool Whip and set in fridge. Fold in the remainder of the Cool Whip into the peanut butter mixture. Spoon mixture into the pie shell. Using a spatula, smooth mixture to edges of shell. Reserve 2 T. of hot fudge and place remainder into a microwavable bowl. Microwave just until barely warm. Stir.

Spread hot fudge over pie. Refrigerate until serving time. Just before serving, spread the remaining Cool Whip over hot fudge layer, being careful not to mix the two layers. Place 2 T. hot fudge in a small plastic bag. Knead for a few seconds. Cut a tiny hole in the corner of the bag and drizzle over pie. Do the same with 2 T. of peanut butter and drizzle in the opposite direction of the hot fudge.

Enjoy!

Lost Highway

Hey, hey, I finally found my way
Say goodbye to yesterday
Hit the gas there ain’t no brakes on this lost highway
Yeah I’m busting loose, I’m letting go
Out on this open road
It’s independence day on this lost highway...

Clayton and I went to see Bon Jovi last night and it was a total blast! We had no interest in Daughtry (the opening act) so we showed up late after walking around downtown Denver. It was wayyyy too cold to be without winter jackets so we froze our behinds off, lol. At least the Pepsi Center was warm when we got there. We had wonderful seats. Jon and Richie actually came out and sang 3 songs right in front of us. They were so close to us that we couldn't believe it! Unfortunately, I couldn't get a pic of them. All I had was my stupid camera phone and the spotlights made it impossible to get a good pic. Oh well, that's okay. At least we got to see them up close for once. :)