Update on Ava

Since several of you have been asking about Ava, I thought I would give a little update. She is recovering nicely. When Todd gave her a blessing, it said that she would be careful so that the cut would heal properly. She has been very cautious and does not want anything near it; in addition, she doesn't want anyone touching it unless they are "cleaning it for the doctor to see on Wednesday".
The black eye has begun to turn yellow, which has frightened Ava a little- but she's a trooper. She will go see our doctor on Wednesday to get them taken out. From there we will begin the scar treatments & hope for the best with her continued healing. Although it has made Ava Grace a little more hesitant in her play, she hasn't stopped being her usual silly self. In fact she & Sydnee were on their way to play outside and Ava opened the door for Sydnee & said, "You look beautiful, come on outside!" They are so fun to watch, I love that they are good friends- it definitely beats being enemies...

Here is a picture of her. Click to enlarge if you really want a close look.
Thanks for all your kind words & well wishes.

Easter Pictures!

We had a fabulous Easter with my family, here are a few pictures...

Crying in the ER

So it's official, Todd & I spent our first night as parents at the ER. Ava awoke after having a fabulous time at the Jacobsen's housewarming party in a full-out scream. I was on my way home after cleaning up & Todd had just put them down about 45 minutes.
So he enters the bedroom with Ava standing in the middle of her room screaming. He goes to comfort her when he sees all of the blood. I remember from an incident with my Nacogdoches friend Schuyler that the face bleeds a lot. So when I get home he is standing in the garage with the door open waiting for me.
Here's a brief analysis of our personalities in a crisis: for some reason when in the midst of a crisis, I am cool-headed. I claim this goes back to when Jacob hurt his lip- even as a little girl I was able to remain calm despite the blood. This was the same last night. Todd was not sure what to do, so I organized us all to go to the ER. On the way I sat in the back of the car talking to Ava in the event she had a concussion to keep her awake. There's more to this analysis later....
Anyhow at the ER, the girls were great. Ava, somewhat covered in blood, was calm but tired. Sydnee who had been asleep was wide awake. Both were actually funny as we talked about the noises to keep Ava's mind occupied. There is an especially loud air conditioning blowing thingie that keeps bugs out of the hospital- they thought that was funny. We talked about all the bugs that are being blown out.
Ava was great with the nurses and doctors. She explained that she fell out of bed & hit her head. Her deep cut is on her right eyebrow. The people at the ER were very sweet to her. Once we got into a room, they turned on cartoons and assessed the situation. The doctor said it looked too big for glue & that it would most likely require stitches. Now I have had experience with children getting stitched when I worked for the shelter. It's way not fun. So here's part 2 of my personality assessment: once we are in better hands, and the actual doctoring takes place- I'm not a valuable assset anymore, but luckily Todd is. We decided we compliment each other well. I had to leave the room, with a sleeping Sydnee at this point, to cry with Ava. I can't describe this feeling accurately, but I will say that it's heart-wrenching and painful. She screamed and cried as they sewed her up. Todd held her hand and talked her through it. She screamed my name many times, which didn't help me at all. I wanted to be brave for her, but I couldn't help crying myself because I hated that she hurt. The worse part of the procedure is when they got to a point where the paper fell over her eyes and she couldn't see Todd anymore, and she screamed louder than ever.
When is was all over, I went in- sadly composed- and held her. Such a small procedure, really- but so dramatic! She was asleep in a matter of minutes; it had been a very long day. So we got home, put her in our bed & we all wen to sleep. We are up this morning a little groggy, but awake. Ava looked at herself in the mirror and said she looked scary. I remember thinking that about Jacob when he came back with stitched in his lip. So in about 5 days she will get them removed & I will work hard on doing all of the things I need to do to prevent bad scarring. As vain as it is, that is a worry of mine. It's all her eyebrow, and hair might not grow back...so we'll see if some of the new ideas behind scarring will be effective.
Anyhow, Ava let me take some pictures of her to show you, so here is our little princess. We're going to the movie today (for the first time) to celebrate her bravery. She has 8 stitches. It's still very puffy and Ava as trying to smile- which is not really a smile. :)

Hey YOU there!

So I was chatting with my dear husband last night & I told him I missed his posts on the blog- especially since this was HIS blog. He said he was almost motivate to post! So I'm putting it out there for all to see:

Hey YOU there! What's on your mind lately?

Exhausted

Well it has been quite a dramatic few days as I put the finishing touches on my Artisan Award entries. My stampin' room is a MESS! But the projects are done, and in the mail.

Note: Those that do not know what the Artisan Award is- it is a contest between Stampin' Up! Demonstrators that is awarded to the top 10 Artists who submit 5 cards, 3 scrapbook pages, & 2 3-D items to Stampin' Up!

I am not stamping today. I need to stamp tomorrow, but today I'm taking a rest. I think it would be best if I just cleaned it up a bit, and the rest of the house for that matter.


So let me tell you just a hint of my Artisan Award entry drama. When I was finished with it all, I was filling out all of the information needed which includes all of the supplies for all of the projects. I had my catalog in hand making sure I had all of the names right, etc.. when I came across an over-sight. I had used retired eyelets on one of my scrapbook pages- AHH!!! (This is a big deal b/c it would have disqualitfied me instantly after hours of labor!) I was so tired by that point I didn't even want to THINK about it! I had already given up on the whole thing several times, so this was just the last straw. So I just went to bed. I awoke with an idea & got to work EARLY. It turned out just fine, I won't go into details- but it's all okay now.


And speaking of details, I would love to post all of my work, but I think it will disqualify me & since I worked my buns off- I'm not willing to risk it. When the winners are announced, you will see them one way or another- if I am among them, you'll see them through Stampin' Up. If I'm in the loser bracket- you will see them on my Stampin' Blog & mourn the loss of such fun projects with me. (I never get them back). Sound like a plan? Let's just hope for the best, though for now.


So this is what I'm banking on that could help me win, just humor me for a sec:

• People accidentally using retired stuff


• People not following directions & all that entales


• People not getting it in in time


• People giving up & therefore making the competition slimmer!

I am thinking this will unfortunatly happen to a lot of people because....drum roll please...they ALL almost happened to me! :)

So to all who actually entered, best wishes- hope to see you in the winner's circle! To those who fit in these catagories...I feel your pain!

Retreat Myself

I had a lovely St. Patty's day. It was just a laid back wearing green kind of day. I was going to make something green for dinner but didn't remember till we were eating. Oops. :)

This past weekend was my stampin' retreat. I had a fabulous time, and we've been getting back really great/helpful feedback. I am thrilled with all that I was able to get done, even though when I was showing Todd I thought there would be more. BUT! I did give away some of the cards I had made, so I guess that's okay. I'm glad that we have been smarter about Retreat & hope that Leah & I continue to make improvements. We definitely made a HUGE improvement in location & food- which were our 2 main complaints last time.
We've decided to cut down on classes. It will be a challenge figuring out what classes to offer next time. Most everyone's favorite classes have been ones we didn't think we'd repeat- the beginner class & the technique class. I think what is great about these classes is that they were quick. So maybe I'll do a stamp-a-stack of Christmas cards & a technique class. The tech-y classes are always fun- people come up with some crazy techniques & I've only scratched the surface on them. The Back to the Basics class was a big hit & there were plenty of things we didn't cover, so that would be a no-brainer, especially since prep for Leah & I is very little. So enough ramblings...You see my work on my StampWithLinz site.

Actually the BEST part of retreat was being with my friends, Mamaceta & sisters. We enjoyed poking fun at each other, eating Mom's cooking, & laughing at Heather's lame jokes- or my silly stories. I just love them all to pieces & wish we could be together more often!

Easter is this weekend & I am totally excited. We love to entertain & my family is coming up- we might even take the girls to go see that Horton movie. Anyhow, it should be fun. We decorated yesterday, everything up high so it can't be messed up. :)

Have a great week!

Balloon Fun

I discovered a fantastic distraction for little kidd-o's! Last Friday, the girls and I went to HEB and, as usual, they each got a balloon. If you have ever looked up at the ceiling in HEB in Woodway, you would see quite a few balloons up there; they are probably the girls' because they like watching them float away so they can say bye-bye to them. In a rare feat, the balloons actually made it all the way back home.

They soon discovered a fun game called Let the Balloons Float to the Ceiling so Daddy Can Get Them Down. I got tired of playing, so I tied each balloon to a couple of their little toys. Now they had an even better game because the helium in the balloons was equal to the weight of the little toys, so when they would through the balloons in the air, they would remain suspended for about a full minute before slowly coming back down. They were so excited and entertained for about an hour!

The Princesses

Here are a few picts of the girls in their dresses for Todd's sister's wedding...Sydnee was quite impressed with herself. :) I'm sure the photographer got better shots, but here are a few of mine. :)

Baby, It's COLD outside!

This morning as Ava woke up & was on her way to our bedroom she yells, "Mommy, Daddy! It's snow outside!" And sure enough- she was right. They lasted about 5 minutes...maybe less. Yes, we are TEXANS! :)

So who's blog is it?

This blog was originally created for Todd to keep family & friends updated in our whereabouts while I was busy stamping & posting on my blog. It was HIS idea, however if you look through the recent posts you will see that slowly, it has become MY blog about the family. So, let's analyze this friends. How did this happen? Do I have more time to devote to this blog? Well, no not actually. Does Todd have less time? No, not less- about the same.

I'll answer the question. You knew I would!

Two things #1)Todd has lack of motivation. He just is not sure anyone really cares. I totally get that, I'm not sure they do either (about my posts)- but I keep posting. I think this stems from the fact that Todd was the first in our family to do a blog & the blog got little activity. Then I began my Stampin' blog & BAMM! 50,000 hits and I haven't even hit my year mark! So, lack of motivation or secret jealousy that he can't stamp as well as I can. :)

#2) He has absolutely nothing to say- or at least he THINKS he doesn't. For those that actually know Todd, he can be quite wordy- but for those looking in on us, he's the quiet one of the bunch.

So friends, today I have been given admin privileges and I ran with them! I've posted pictures, I've changed the lay-out, hey- I've wasted a lot of precious time. So, just between you & me- let's guess how long it will take Todd to check the blog again. Prize? I'm sure we can find some Mars products laying around here. :)