Say What?!

Happy New Year's blogger friends!

Today I woke up and had weigh in day....not good let me tell you!  I gained!!  2 lbs!  Say what?!  I'm not sure what happened!  It's very frustrating though.  You see, I purposely picked Monday's as my weigh in days so that it forced me to watch it over the weekends.  Well, today starts a new week so here's to a new week- cheers! lol  One thing I'm going to do is download the ww app to my phone.

Do any of you have new year resolutions?  Every year I try to focus on the following- one of my aunties told me about a few years ago and I thought it was a great idea :

1. Faith- any suggestions for a good devotional?
2. Family
3. Friends
4. Fitness- Shred and WW
5. Finances- over the past 2 years, chuck and I managed to pay off over $20K in debt. It wasn't easy- we made a lot of sacrifices and have done a lot of frugal living but it's been totally worth it.  We now live debt free other than our house.  Our quality of life has improved as we've had more money to do fun things.  It would be nice to put more money away or towards our house this next year.  I guess you could say we used the 'snowball' effect.  We focused on the smallest bill and when it was paid off, we put that payment into the next larger bill and so forth.  We also quit using cash cards/debit cards and strictly use cash for the week.

So, that's my focus for the upcoming year.

Have a wonderful New Year's!  Thank you for following my blog!  I love reading your comments!

~Kim

Shred and WW

I FINALLY opened up my Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD last night after reading a post from 4 Mars and 1 Venus- check out her blog!  She doesn't disapoint that's for sure!  This mama managed to lose 8 lbs in 12 days after doing Jillian's dvd!  How's that for motivation!?  (I'm not sure when this took place but it was in her top 5 posts of 2012).  I was so motivated!  I worked out last night AND this morning!  Not saying it was easy- oh no, not at all.  Infact, I felt like I was going to die...on level one.  Yes, we have a ways to go.  Getting up at 6am was dreadful.  My legs are already sore and the day isn't over yet.

Our recent trip to Mexico, I managed to gain a lot of weight in ONE week!  Yes, not 3, 4 or 5 lbs- MORE!  Yes, I'm not even kidding!  On my drive from the cities to my house, my pants were unbuttoned.  I couldn't even button them!  I've managed to lose 6 lbs since being home but STILL!  Seriously!  I guess chasing kids around does keep us mama's in line right?

I have registered with Weight Watchers online and am committed to losing weight.  I want to feel healthy again.

GOALs:

• Eat healthier
• Eat Breakfast other than just coffee
• Drink more water
• Work out at least 4 times a week

The reason I'm telling you all this?  Accountablity!  Who's tired of having 'lose weight' as a new year's resolution every sticken year?  Me! Me!  It's on my list every year so my resolution for this year is to take 'lose weight' off my list NEXT year!  Ha!

Starting Weight: 186
Goal Weight: 140

Since this is a journey- I'm starting in 5 lb goals.  I don't want to feel like 'oh gosh I have 46 lbs to lose!! Ekk!!'

I'd love to hear any tips or tricks from any of you! :)

GAME ON!!

Remember- Beauty

I managed to sneak into my scrap room today- it's been WAY TOO LONG!

While cleaning up a little I came across these pictures of my kids.  Aren't they sweet?  I managed to use up scraps while completing these pages.  Can you believe Beau's page is completely halloween paper and stickers? 

Paper: Moonlight (current idea book), Hooligans and Hooligans stickease (retired) I don't think this page looks halloween at all!  He's about 18 mos in this picture.  Isn't the wording on the picture cool?!  Sad to say but the company went out of business!  It was an online company called Scrapbook Pictures.  They had the coolest special effects for pictures!

This page was created using the Avonlea paperpack.  I added a little pink to match her shirt.

Stampsets Used: Childhood Portrait (retired), Hooray Bouquet, Love Life.  You can't see it, but on the sweet leaf paper above, there is a background stamp on it from the Love Life stampset.  This picture was taken last August while we were out in the garden.

Thanks for checking out my creations!  Hoping to get into my room tonight after the kids go to bed.

~Kim

Happy Day after Christmas!

Well, did Santa bring you all of your heart's desires?  We sure had some pretty happy elf's around here!  It was just our little family yesterday.  Our house was loud, messy and I LOVED every minute of it!  We played and played all day with our new toys and cuddled in at night to finish off Christmas Day with The Grinch.  It was the best Christmas....(I say that every year but seriously...we get more and more blessed every year and these kiddos really are what make it so fun!) Both of the kids were so fun this year!  Beau is learning that this is the day we celebrate Jesus' birthday and who Santa is and Chloe LOVED opening her gifts! Here are a few pictures for you!  Enjoy~!

Beau was up at 6am and woke his sister up.  She was not happy! Once she saw all the presents and started opening them, she was a happy girl!

A train set for beau!

A new stroller for Chloe for her 'bebes'

Excitement!

A new highchair too!

A new nerf gun too!

Playing with his big brother....I mean daddy :)

My sweet girl~ PS do you like her hair?  Gramma cut it after getting gummy's stuck in it :)

My handsome little man

A little horsin' around.....

And a little Christmas love.

My boy playing with his train set this morning :)

I love my little family and all the joy they bring to me daily.  I hope you had a very blessed Christmas~

2 weeks

Hi friends!

I don't have any creative projects to share today- just a few pictures of what's been going on in my world these past few weeks- sit back, relax and enjoy the pictures because there are lots of them :) Shhhh....I'm supposed to be wrapping presents! 

Pre-destination: Mexico!

The view from our balcony- we stayed at a RIU in Puerto Vallarta

 The Beach at our hotel :)

Chuck and I stopped one day at what we thought would be a hole in the wall restaurant.  It ended up being a beautiful eatery outside in the back of the restaurant.  There were huge avocado trees, mango trees, banana trees, coconuts, etc.  It was so gorgeous.  The best part was we were the only ones there for lunch and got the royal treatment!!  It was quite the  little 'hole in the wall' if ya ask me :)

The gentleman in the picture with us made us custom necklaces from a coconut shell.  The next picture shows the cross he made for us. 

Can you see Jesus?  His name is written in the cross. 

This picture was taken after the most delicious Brazilian meal we had ever eaten (well the only one eaten lol)!  It was seriously a 9 course meal!! 

One morning Chuck and I hopped on a bus and traveled on it for about 45 min until we decided to get off.  We ended up in Puerto Mita - a beautiful little town. 

Bucerias- this was probably one of our most favorite days.  We walked the beach to a little town called Bucerias.  We stopped for an hour massage on the beach, shopped and ate lunch at the little hole in the wall I mentioned earlier.  Oh by the way, you can get an hour massage on the beach for only $20!  Pure relaxation and paradise!

We arrived home last weekend have been finishing up with the Christmas decorations, shopping and baking.  Well, I should say I have been- Chuck has been so sick!  The sickest I have ever seen him!  Took him right to the urgent care.  He had the flu but is feeling much better now.  Guess our week in paradise was really over and back to reality!  That's okay because I sure missed these little elfs....

Rugrats sneaking candy canes :)

Caught red handed!  There's even a little evidence on her face!

Beau's Preschool Christmas Program

Baking Cookies :)  This gingerbread recipe was from Beau's new book so we had to try it! As beau says, 'for real!'

Caught red handed again....lol 

Enjoying Christmas cookies and watching Christmas movies...

Enjoy your Christmas celebrating our Savior's birth and remembering all that there is to be thankful for.  Hug your kids a little tighter and kiss them a little more and say a prayer for the families whose little ones were innocently taken from them in Newtown.  My heart goes out to all of the families and their community.

Blessings to you all- Merry Christmas and I'll catch up next week!

~Kim

SOUS Dec 19th Card Challenge

Hello Friends!

It's been awhile since I've blogged!  Actually, it's been awhile since I've been on the internet!

Mexico was amazing as you can imagine!  I sure was happy to get home to my babies though.  I'll post pictures soon...

I'm a day late but there's a new card challenge up at SOUS sketches.  Check it out HERE! and play along!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend! ~Kim

The Pink Elephant Challenge #37

Hello Everyone!  Yes, I'm in Mexico now but I scheduled a post for the Pink Elephant Challenge.  This week's theme is a reciepe: Stiching, Green and Lg Title.  Join in on the fun HERE!

Here's my page for the week:

Hope to see your creations over at The Pink Elephant!  Thanks for stopping by and have fun!

~Kim :)

ABC Challenge Guest Designer

Hello friends!

Today is a very exciting day for my hubby and I!  We are leaving for Mexico today!!  Whoot Whoot!  I'm really looking forward to spending a week with my hubby and relaxing!!  I've scheduled a few posts this week while I'm gone. 

I thought I'd share that I'm up on ABC Challenges as Guest Designer this week- check it out HERE!  I'd also like to thank them for the opportunity to be guest designer!    The challenge was holiday cards with bling.  Here's my creation:

I love these colors together~ they are so girly and soft for snowflakes! 

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by!

SOUS- Sketch Challenge~

Hello!  Today is my first design team challenge over at Stuck on U Sketches!!!  Click on the link to join the fun!

Here's today's sketch:

And here's my card:

I hope to see some of you over at SOUS!  It's such a fun and talented group! :)

Have a great day! ~Kim

Oh Burlap tree oh burlap tree....

Hello!  Just a quick post tonight....I wanted to share this little burlap tree I made with you:

This is NOT at all how I intended this tree to look.  I wanted the burlap with a FEW buttons and a giant bow at the top.  Well, my 4 year old wanted to 'help', rather than get frustrated, I let him help me decorate it and this will be our special project for years to come :)  He loved it and had fun! And that makes me happy.  Then my little baby girl crawled up on the table to get in on the action too.  A good memory :)  Anyways, I plan on making another one with just plain burlap- I thought I'd post the picture so you get an idea of the burlap tree anyways.  I started with a cheerio box and hubby rolled it up to a cone while I super glued.  What a hubs huh? lol  Then I cut 2 inch pieces of burlap and hot glue those babies on! 

I had another cone ready to go but found a better fitting project for it:

Meet Roni, our elf!  He's been up to no good since the 1st I tell you~  First a bubble bath in the bathroom sink with marshmallows and a few friends, then taking cowboy hats, hiding under glasses and now this!  Geeezzz~!  Anyways, beau is going to laugh so hard when he finds him tomorrow!

Linking up to:

cupcakecraftroom-christmasy

ladybugcrafts- Christmas

Do you have an elf?  I'd love some elf ideas!  Have a great night!  I'm off to catch up on my dvr'd Dr. Phil's! lol

~Kim :)

A simple ornament

happy sunday!  my family literally did nothing today- we didn't even make it to church.  infact we never got out of our pj's.  my hubby and i didn't feel that well when we woke up this morning and decided to stay home and take it easy. finally around 5 we started to perk up a little and got a few things done around the house.  i was able to make this little guy:

isn't he cute?  i can't take credit for the idea of it tho.  last week i went to my friend's house for a playdate and she was making these cute little guys.  she found it on pinterest.  all it is is a tp roll.  they look just as nice plain or dressed up.  your kids would love to make these.  i found some scraps in my bin and covered the outside of the roll.  then added a simple stamp to it (which had never been inked up) and added a little button.  took me about 15 mins to make- my kind of crafty!  here are few more views- the paper is red and white (from ctmh elemental)

i'm entering this card into the following challenges:

liveandlovecrafts- anything but a card
abc-challenge- clear it out
sketchycolors- color photo (red, green, white)



have a great rest of your night and thanks for stopping by!

A Christmas Wreath!

Hey everyone!

I feel like all I've been doing lately is making Christmas cards (which is a good thing) but I wanted to switch it up a little and make a DIY project.  Since I have a lot of scraps laying around I thought I'd put them to good use in today's project.  The Jingle paperpack from CTMH was one of my favorite holiday packs!  I since had about 7 sheets of it on hand I wanted to make something with it.  I've been admiring a TON of really cool Christmas items on blogland!  This one HERE at Something from Cassie, really caught my eye!  You should check out Cassie's blog- lots of goodies I tell you!!

Here is my 'Christmas Wreath' I made today- I love how it turned out!  Sure there are some areas that aren't perfect or didn't turn out how I wanted it to- that's the special touch of a homemade project in my opinion.

For this project, I started with 12x12 sheets of paper and cut (4) 6x6 squares.  I rolled them and used liquid glass to adhere them.  I cut out a piece of cardboard (circle shaped) for the backing and simply glued the pieces on to my liking (cut each piece in half).  Then embellish as desired.

The center was cut with the circut.  I used both Art Philosophy and Artiste.

I'm entering this wreath into the following challenges:

Cut It Up- 3D Holiday Item with diecut
Totally Papercrafts- anything christmasy but a card
Joyful Stamper- anything goes
wagsnwhiskersrubberstamps- Christmas Theme
Cimbo Cracker- Anything Goes

Thanks for checking out my wreath!  Have a fun day! ~Kim

The Pink Elephant

Hi there!

I have some exciting news!  Lori Boyd from The Pink Elephant picked me to be on their scrapbooking design team!  How cool is that! 

This week's challenge is to scrapbook a page with a 'thankful' theme.  Here is my creation:

I love this page because there's nothing better than a little boy on a hot summer day, running down the road with this best bud next to his side- mixed matched clothes and rubber boots!  AND the clothes are even on backwards! haha! Oh these are the days I cherish and am so thankful for!

Be sure to visit The Pink Elephant and have some fun!!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Kim