Loving what I’m doing…

I have been SO busy and I love every minute of it! I worked on Teacher appreciation gifts the last two weeks.

These were for Alyssa’s teachers.

These were for a friend.

This is a checkbook cover I did. I won the plastic blank cover off a blog give a way. My first thing I’ve ever won!

I did this travel mug and I really love the way it looks. It is really a bright blue and with the white monogram. It looks great!

And finally I had a chance to get caught up and I was able to spruce up my craft/work room!

This is on the door coming into my room. 

and this is on the wall!

If you need a personalization gift or even just something for yourself, just let me know.

Kaylin’s Kreations is open for business! 

Alyssa’s Freshman Year of Soccer

She has loved it and I’m glad it’s over. It keeps us busy, and this year she did Math Team at the same time, so we were really busy. Every weekend was either Soccer or Math Team, but I guess that’s part of being a “mom”!

It’s hard for me to believe how big she is getting! Only 3 more years and she will be graduating and heading off to college!

“Thomas” the train

Last weekend “Thomas the Tank engine” came to Calera. Emma LOVES trains, Sara not so much. I checked into the tickets and got us some. Alyssa was at a Math Tournament, and Kory was working, so it was just the little girls and I to go. I was right, Emma LOVED every minute of it, Sara nope, the only thing that made her happy was the “jumpy thing”.

Kaylin’s Kreations

My newest adventure….

View Full Album

I’ve been selling a lot and having SO much fun! It keeps me busy!

Busy, busy, busy

This time of year is a very busy one around my house. Kory has inventory at work next week, so he has been working alot more. Alyssa has soccer and Math team, add helping Sara with homework and Wednesday night church (I teach 3 year olds) and it makes for something going on every night!

But in that busy schedule, I have found some time to have some fun… I got a Cricut expression for Christmas and really haven’t done much with it till last week. I made a picture frame for Sara’s teacher. She had a baby this year, and every time we see something baby related, Sara wants to give it to baby Natalie! So, I finally made something for baby Natalie.

The blank white part is for her to put a picture or her birth announcement on.

She (Sara’s teacher) told me the colors in the baby’s room were pink and brown. I hope she likes it, Sara does!

Then I was looking on a message board and found other things I could do. I started etching glasses next. These are the first ones I have done. I got these vases and candle holder at the dollar tree just to try my hand at it.

This is the first one I did. Followed instructions on bottle.

This is the next one I did, I left the cream on there longer, much better!

 

This is the last one I did, a candle holder. I left the cream on even longer, why would I start following instructions now! I like it a lot better!

I have also ordered some vinyl to start playing with. I have lots of plans for that. Which includes a set of fun wine glasses for my sister, who has already put her order in! lol I’ll be sure to post pictures! 

Spring Break 2010

This year for spring break we went to Stone Mountain, GA. It was SO much fun! We went to some outlet malls (I love outlet malls, when you really get stuff at good prices!) and to the Stone Mountain Park itself.

I think we could have stayed at the park for two days just in play area. The kids LOVED it, even the biggest kid, Kory loved it! He is already thinking about when we can go back.

The family on top of Stone Mountain!

This is a Test!

Testing out a new program I got. Trying to see how it all works…. This is from our Spring Break trip to Stone Mountain, GA. I’ll get to blogging about that here in a min or two!

March 17th??

Where has the first few months of this year gone? I don't really know!

We have been pretty busy. Alyssa's soccer season starts the first part of February. She usually has at least two sometime three games a week, plus practise the rest of the days, and this year she has had some Saturday games. She is also on the high school Math team and that is a nearly every Saturday event too. One Saturday we did Math team in the morning, ate lunch then had soccer in the afternoon. It makes for some busy weeks!

Ok, so I'm not really into blogging about this but I was told by a friend that I needed to tell my story. 1. for motivation for myself and 2. to maybe help someone else who is struggling with losing some weight. So, here we go!

Back in August of last year with some help from my parents, I decided it was time to change some eating habits. (aka DIET) So, this was me back in Sept of 2009.

I was over 200lbs. Ok, so 20lbs over. I might as well be honest and face it!

I started walking with some ladies in the our neighbor and got up to walking 5 miles a day. We were walking atleast three times a week, some weeks we did it 5 days a week. It was great! We were eating right, I was cooking more. Before Christmas I had lost about 20 lbs. I was finally under that 200 mark!

I haven't taken any picture lately.

Since Christmas I have only lost 5 more lbs. This is why I need the motivation. With the weather being cold and rainy we haven't walked and I can surely tell! I'm not making good food choices and I'm not cooking as much. I don't feel like doing anything! People would talk about after exercising they felt great, I didn't believe them till now. It's a feeling that only gets better each day you exercise! It's so hard to describe, but it does make you feel better and feel like you want to do things!

Diet and exercise is a daily battle for me, it's not easy, but God never said life would be!

We have gotten back to walking one or two days a week, and I've gotten a friend that that is doing this journey with me and we report our gains or loses every week to each other. It helps for accountability and so will this blog. Or at least I am hoping this will.

Casting Crowns

Last night Alyssa and I got to go to our second Casting Crowns concert. (My third one) It was AWESOME! If you have never been, you must see them at least once. It is not a regular music concert, it is 3 and a half hours of Worshipping the Lord. It is like 3 and a half hours of the best song service you have ever been too, then add a little more and you might get what this Worship experience is like. You leave there on a high like no other! It's great music, preaching and worshipping all rolled up in one! It is worth every penny you spend!

Let me back up a second and give you some background info on the night. Two years ago my sister and I bought tickets to go to our first Casting Crowns concert. My sister ended up getting sick and couldn't come. So, we went ahead and went and were not disappointed. In December the morning last nights concert tickets went on sale, I was on the computer getting us three tickets. We were looking forward to it. Thursday night when all the snow hit, my sister called and said she didn't think she would be able to come up for the show with the weather being like it was. I was disappointed. Then when we continued to get snow yesterday, I was begining to wonder IF we would make it to the show. They were talking about the ice refreezing as the temps droped again last night, and I was worried about the 30 min drive home from downtown Birmingham at 10 or 11 o'clock at night. I prayed about most of the afternoon, and we went ahead and went. I was SO glad I did! Kind of like when you don't want to get out of bed on Sunday morning and you go ahead and go and you are SO glad you did after.

Our seats were great. They were right in the middle of the stage on the floor on the 3rd row. Someone said we could see there tonsils, yes we could. You could feel their energy! It was great. We saw Kaleb and Will Chapman (Steven Curtis Chapman's son's) and Kutless. They were great too. Then Casting Crowns took the stage. Mark Hall the lead singer for Casting Crowns is a youth pastor in Atlanta, GA. He has dyslexia and ADD. He gives his testimony and how it all started.

During the show we were told that roads were being closed and parts of the interstate were being closed because of the ice on the roads. We found an alternate way home and you know God paved the way. We didn't see any ice on the roads we were on, no slipping and slideing, nothing. We made it home in an hour safe and sound!

This was taken with my cell phone camera. I didn't take my camera, the tickets said no camera. There were tons of cameras there, I should have brought my camera!

Great news about Jackman! God is GOOD!!

http://harpertimes.blogspot.com/

This is the baby we have all been praying for.

I have been truely blessed by this family!

God is Good all the time!

Halloween 2009

Someone lost a tooth in our house!

Sara has been wanting to lose a tooth for a long time. Well, she finally lost one. It was Very lose and I kept tring to get her to let me pull it. She kept telling me, "I'm going to lose it at school!" So on the morning of Oct. 27th, it was hanging on by a thread, but she wouldn't let me pull it. That afternoon she came home from school with the tooth in a tooth shaped holder. I asked her if she let the nurse or her teacher pull it, she said "No, I did it when I got in the gym!" See when she gets off the bus in the morning, all the kids go to the gym and then the teacher comes and get them to go to class. She said, the teacher on duty took her to the office to get the tooth holder and a little goodie bag.

That is why she wouldn't let me pull it, so she could lose it at school and get a tooth holder

and a goodie bad!

That night we put in under her pillow and the tooth fairy left her some money.

Emma keeps asking when the tooth fairy will come and play with her!

Pumpkin Patch

This year we went to a Pumpkin Patch and it was alot of fun! We had never been to one. They had a hay ride to the patch, where to picked out your pumpkin. They had big and small pumpkins. I thought they would only have small ones since it was a pay one price. Then a corn maze, pony rides and a couple big slide inflatables. I think this just might have to be a yearly thing now.

Homecoming 2009

October 19th -24th was Alyssa and Sara's Homecoming.

Alyssa on "Tacky day".

Sara and Kory at Sara's Homecoming ceremony.

All of us at Sara's Homecoming Ceremony.

October Where did it go?

I don't even know where October went. It went by so fast!

The first part of October I went to take some pictures of the girls at the Train yard. They loved it! It was alot of fun to see all the old trains, and they loved being able to climb all over them to take pictures.

We then went over to the park.

New pictures of Alyssa

ALyssa's permit wasn't easy to get. First, we picked her up from school the day after her birthday to go get the permit. When we got to the place they stop doing testing at 3 o'clock. So, Monday morning she and Kory went to get it and then came home with a sheet that had to be filled out by a eye doctor. She passed the test, which was what we were worried about, but failed the vision test! So, we had to make an appointment with the eye doctor a few days later. It was almost 2 weeks after her birthday that she finally got her permit.

The day she got her new glasses with transition lenes. She loves them.

Alyssa's 15th Birthday

It is really hard for me to see Alyssa turn 15 years old, I just can't believe it!

She got her drivers permit,

we moved her room down to the extra basement bedroom,

she started wearing her hair curly again

and went back to wearing glasses instead of her contacts

all in a matter of two weeks!

She took the money over party option this year. So when we went shopping with her

birthday money, she picked out grown up outfits.

Inspirational....

This family is Kory and I's Sunday school teachers...

they are a deer family no different then you and I.

Their blog will make you laugh, cry and inspirer you.

To God be the glory!

http://harpertimes.blogspot.com/

Thank you Greg and Lisa for sharing Jackman's story!

Cheerleading update!

Sara is still LOVING cheerleading!

Don't know where she gets that big mouth from!

Sara's 6th birthday!

It is hard for me to believe Sara is 6 years old!

Birthday girl...Aug. 27th before school.

Becase of our busy schedules, we went out to eat and took her shopping for her presents a few days before. She wanted a fish, and some littlest pet shop. Well, we went to the fish store and she looked for over an hour at all the fish and came home with a blue and red betta. We took all the girls out to eat then ended up at Build a bear.

On Thursday her birthday she came home to find presents, and cupcakes.

I can't believe my little girl is not so little anymore!