Sites of the week

In case you were wondering about the title, yes, you read it correctly.

First, I have a question. When is a child officially potty-trained? For all intents and purposes, I would consider Ellie potty trained. She gave up diapers, she tells us when she needs to go, she takes responsibility for her accidents {few and far between}, she is dry through naps {still working on through the night}. All that being said, I still think I am going through the potty training process. Just wondering if there was an official end to it?…maybe when she goes through the night, or is able to get up and go by herself in the middle of the night? Something tells me that there is no definitive answer.

So, being that she is now going pee pee {and the other} on the potty, I have made myself into a “Pee Pee Cheerleader.” Yes folks, I even do a dance and sing a song with her when the pee hits the toilet water. Why I am putting this on a public blog, I do not know. LOL

Sorry if this is TMI {too much info}, but I feel that I have to share it. Yesterday after she went, I had to go. As most of you moms know, there really is no point to closing the door. So there we are… Me on the pot and her staring at me {of course, the dog was peeking in through the open doorway, too!}. Then, at the appropriate time, she does the pee pee dance and song for me. Wow, I think, my very own “Pee Pee Cheerleader”! To quote late night commercials…”Wait, there’s more…” Not only did I get the dance and song, she runs up to me and says “I’m so proud of you, high five.” And to think I used to work in an executive office. If they could see me now! LOL!

I leave you with this. My darling Personal Pee Pee Cheerleader admiring her own work just before “it goes to its new home.” {yep, that’s a quote!}

PS- Yesterday I was asked how Grandmama was pronounced. It’s just Grandma with an extra “ma” at the end. Or add “Mama” to Grand.

While I admit that these are more for family to ogle at, I do hope that you will enjoy them, too!

Ellie’s first day of “school” (Mother’s Day Out)…

Walking in the parking lot to school…

What’s that in her backpack? Her T-Rex, of course {she is dino OBSESSED!}…

While her Auntie was in town, we had lots of fun! Here’s story time one night…

We went to the Dallas World Zoo and Aquarium, too. I swear this stingray was waving at her! Can you see the splashes on the wall of the aquarium?

Hugging a sea turtle {how cute is this!!!!!!!!}…

The octopus was very active. Ellie loved it!…

The zoo was so much fun that she just couldn’t take all the excitement of the ride home…

Yesterday she had a lollipop and a photo session to go with it! You can see her new lil’ bob haircut too {really curly because of the humidity today!} I just {heart} this pic!…

While I am showing off all these pics, I have to show one that I captured of “The Abby Dog” looking uber pathetic waiting for a morsel…

See you tomorrow for a Bella-rific Sketch For You To Try!

Psst… Blog Tart on THIS POST!

Have I mentioned how cute Ellie is these days? SERIOUSLY…OMGoodness!!! Well the title of this post makes me laugh because when there is a lot of something she says “Lotsa, lotsa…” She does it in the most serious voice, too. Cracks me up every time. She says that “Daddy has lotsa lotsa freckles.” and that she has “Lotsa lotsa dinosaurs.” We had “lotsa lotsa fun” this weekend when her Auntie came to visit. Here she is in Auntie’s glam glasses…

No more piggie tales, Auntie also cut her hair {very much needed!}…

The “after” pic is coming soon. Right now the only one I have is from her eating a Sunday morning doh-doh {donut} and the chocolate smudge makes her look like she has a Hitler mustache. While it’s cute, I think I would rather show a better shot of the cutie patootie!

As the title of this post suggests, I have lotsa lotsa cards to see. The first is a sneak peak at the next Verve release {THIS WEDNESDAY!}. Release party details HERE! More sneak peak from other Design Team Members HERE.

This card features two sets, Abundant Blessings and So Happy. I am really liking keeping it simple (KISS) and letting the images and colors do all the “talking.” I know that there are some of you that are thinking that you don’t need another floral set, but just wait! I’m tellin’ ya that this one will make it into your collection.

I also noticed that I have lotsa lotsa cards…{{um, well does 3 count as “lotsa lotsa”?}} that are from the August release that I haven’t shown yet. Here ya go…

***ETA…Butterfly paper from American Crafts! of course! ***

That’s all folks! See you manana for TCP Tuesday…in which I am the Hostess With The Mostess!

Before I get to my card, I wanna tell you a cute little Ellie story {two, actually}…

The other day I was changing her diaper and she said, “Mommy, I tooted.” I replied, “Well, I think you did a lot more than toot.” To that she followed up with, “Yep, lotsa toots-es.” That made me laugh!!

So a few days ago we went to Wal-Mart and someone pulling out of one of the parallel handicap spots almost hit us {in the car}. Unfortunately, my mouth spoke faster than my brain could think “Ellie is in the car!!” She said, “Bad Momma, no yelling at people! Say sorry!” So I said, “Sorry for yelling at people,” but did not address what I said thinking that she would forget. Last night we were on the phone with Grandmama and asked Ellie to tell her why I had to say sorry. Does she say “Momma, yell at people.”? NOPE she says, “Momma God Damnit.” Grandmama almost lost it I think {laughing}. I can only imagine the 100 shades of red my face was!

Sorry about the curses! Now onto the real deal for today…

It’s TCP Tuesday and Katie has chosen the cute Baby Train stamp for us to use this week. I did not have this stamp until just yesterday. I’ve always admired it, but waited to get it. Now, I am glad I did! It’s hard to believe that I actually was able to resist a baby stamp, especially a TCP one! This card uses Julee’s Mojo Monday Sketch from this week. I tried to do something a little different with the sentiment panel. What do you think?

Wanna play along with us? Here’s what you need to know…

1. Each a week one of the The Cat’s Pajamas DT Members will host a challenge.
2. The challenges will vary {stamp, color, theme/inspiration, sketch, etc.}
3. You will have until {this} Saturday night to complete the challenge.
4. Link your project on this week’s hostess’ challenge announcement. This week you will link your project on Katie’s TCP Tuesday post.
5. TCP stamps are not required, but of course, highly encouraged. {Unless it is a challenge calling for a specific stamp}
6. There will be one winner each month. They will be deemed that month’s Swankiest Stamper and get $25 in Cat’s Cash {money to spend on the TCP site!}.
7. When uploading to SCS, please use the keyword TCPTUES22 for this challenge.
8. Alma will post the entries from the week the following Monday on her blog.
9. The newly crowned Swanky Stamper will be announced on the First of the Month and have his/her winning entry posted on The Cat’s Pajamas website where he/she will reign for the entire month.
10. Oh yea…HAVE FUN!

I’m going to go ahead and tell you now…this is going to be a long post. A fun one, but a long one.

Let’s start things off with TCP Tuesday…

I am your {Guest} Hipster Hostess With The Mostess this week. Carole’s off living the dirty girl life, and asked if I would take over for the inspiration challenge this week. Not only is it just plain fun, but she’s a good bud, so there was no way that I would say “no.” Your inspiration for this challenge is a swatch of Michael Miller fabric…

I chose this piece of inspiration because there is so much to play off of…colors, the geometry, the florals, the repetition {I could go on}. The main focus that I used for my sample was geometry and color. Normally I print an inspiration piece out, but this time I didn’t. I felt a lot better about not constantly referring to it and just letting my creativity do the walking, ahem…stamping, cutting, embossing, etc…

Here’s my sample…

Detail shot…

Stamps: Sunburst Curtain, Big Thanks {The Cat’s Pajamas}
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Purely Pomegranate, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze {Stampin’ Up!}
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze {Stampin’ Up!}
Other: Sewing Machine, Ribbon, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Nestabilities Scallop Square Die, Flower Punch, Ticket Corner Punch

Stuff you should know about TCP Tuesday…

1. Each a week one of the The Cat’s Pajamas DT Members will host a challenge.
2. The challenges will vary {stamp, color, theme/inspiration, sketch, etc.}
3. You will have until {this} Saturday night to complete the challenge.
4. Link your project on this week’s hostess’ challenge announcement {ME, this week}. This week you will link your project HERE.
5. TCP stamps are not required, but of course, highly encouraged. {Unless it is a challenge calling for a specific stamp}
6. There will be one winner each month. They will be deemed that month’s Swankiest Stamper and get $25 in Cat’s Cash {money to spend on the TCP site!}.
7. When uploading to SCS, please use the keyword TCPTUES16 for this challenge.
8. Alma will post the entries from the week the following Monday on her blog.
9. The newly crowned Swanky Stamper will be announced on the First of the Month and have his/her winning entry posted on The Cat’s Pajamas website where he/she will reign for the entire month.

**************

Onto fun family stuff…
Ellie’s birthday party was a blast. She has such a good time and it was so fun to see her get excited for the party. Thank goodness it’s over…if I hear “pink cupcakes” anytime soon, I might just have to be sick! Boy, was she THRILLED about those!! Here’s a picture of one of the cupcakes that my friend created for the party…

And what they look like when a 2 year old gets a hold of one…

PRESENTS!!!… {boy, did she get SPOILED!!}

Now for a little story that I just have to share…
Yesterday, Ellie came with me to the post office. Like 90% of the times that we go to the post office, it was packed. This time it was so busy that I had to park across the street. When we came out, it was just as crazy and instead of attempting to turn around right there I drove up the street to do a U-Turn…which ended up being more of a 3-point turn. In the middle of me turning around, a “little” voice from the back says, “Try Again!” LOL!!!

***I will be taking off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from blogging. I have been under the weather and need to catch up on some stampin’ stuff as well as some much needed rest. Of course, I wouldn’t miss a Saturday and a SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY. See ya then!!