Scrappin' 40!!!

Today is the day. I'm the big 4 - 0. Wanna hear an added funny? My mother-in-law's birthday is the same day! We always joke that Jim married me so that he could remember his mom's birthday. Anyway, she's great, so I adore having the same b-day as her. Back on track...Fourty doesn't feel too bad so far. Jim and I always wonder that as we get older how are we going to maintain energy for the kids, since they're so young. Well, we've been working on taking better care of ourselves. We try to eat better....doesn't always work when we're feelin' lazy. We've started jogging again which has done 2 things - given me more energy (although I could always use more), and helped me sleep better at night (I've never been a good sleeper during the night). The trick for me is.....can I keep it up? I can find ANY excuse not to go jog....too windy, too cold, too hot, too tired, blah, blah, blah. I'm actually starting to enjoy the jogging again though, which helps out with the motivation. Shoot me a "you can do it, Donna" comment every once in a while!


What am I doing for the big birthday you ask? Well, first Jim got me this GREAT camera (well, I think it's great). Suzanne, you'd be proud to see what this one is compared to my old one. Thing is, I'm still trying to figure out how to use it. I can do the point and shoot thing, but I want to know ALL the cool things I can do with it. Unfortunately, the way I read instruction manuals - hmmmm, well it might take me a while. Anyhoo, I'm enjoying it so far.

Last weekend, we had a family birthday gathering at our house. My mother-in-law and I decided on pizza and wings to keep things easy. Plus, the kids love pizza - makes it double easy. We hung around, goofed off, told stories, etc. Then my niece (almost 13) decided we should play hide and seek. So, we did. It was soooooo much fun. What better time in life to remember that we can still be kids!!??

Next, my best friend is putting together a girl's night for me tonight. I'm looking forward to that. Basically all Iknow is we're going out to eat, then to a friend's house for girl stuff. I'm excited to spend time with friends I don't get to spend too much time with these days.

Then, the culmination of it all.......scrapbook weekend! 5 other girlsfriends and I are going away to a scrapbooking cottage. We leave tonight and don't come back until....ready for this....SUNDAY EVENING!!! Wee-hooo! Avery will be 4 this summer and I just MIGHT get her 1 year book done. I plan on getting a 1 year book done for all 3 kids, but I don't plan on being a scrapbook mom. Who knows, maybe that'll change....maybe not. I enjoy cardmaking more. It's less taxing on my brain.

So, here's the deal. I'm normally a bit of a jokester when it comes to overnighting with friends. There's one friend in particular on this trip that I would LOVE to come up with something to 'get her'. So, if you have any ideas on good pranks, please offer them up!

To sum up the entry, I just want to praise my Father above for the great life He's planned for me. It's not always easy...okay, it's pretty much never easy...but it's still wonderful. While I can only see the parts of my life He's shown me thus far, I know He has a beautiful plan for making it all for His glory. That knowledge and hope keeps me going everyday. Thank you, Jesus!!!!

My Little Girl Turned 3 and More

It's been a while since I've gotten on blog to read or to write. I've been blessed to have my family in town the last 2 weeks. My sister and niece came in last week, and my wonderful mom has been here this week. And I had all my family in (well, except for my oldest niece who I don't see too much anymore.....teens!) for Avery's 3rd birthday. Since she has the only summer birthday, she gets the pool party at Grandma's.

Sorry, but since I can't figure out how to get the pics to position correctly with the text, you'll have to figure out what pics go with what. It won't be hard. First 2 pics are birthday/birthday cake.

Avery also had her first haircut. Yes, 3 years after her birth. She has unfortunately been blessed with hair like mine.....very thin....very fine. Well, her hair hadn't even gotten really long anyway. Then on top of that, Ian pulls her hair. He doesn't just pull it, he pulls it OUT. I started noticing that the girl just didn't look right. Her hair was uneven and had gotten bizarrely short. Her hairdresser also said that sometimes baby hair falls out. That made me feel a little better. Now, hair is short again...hope it grows fast.

Now, the cake. I have a friend named Julie who is AWESOME at making cakes. One day if I remember, I'll post some of the cakes she's done for my kids' birthdays over the last 4 years. To my total horror, she was going to be out of town for Avery's birthday and couldn't make the cake. Oh my, I almost thought I'd have to cancel the party. Her cakes are that fun! Back on track....so I decided to make the cake this year. I found a recipe for a butterfly cake and flower cupcakes on KraftFoods.com. I didn't want to just do the butterfly cakepan. I figured it take me longer to figure out how to decorate it. They were both so easy to make and if I may say so myself, they turned out pretty good (not as good as Julie's, however).

Okay, the finale picture is my best friend, Zane. She was in charge of pictures at the party. I figure if she was brave enough to take a self-portrait, then it was good enough to post. Seriously, we are playing jokes on each other all the time......re-setting cell phones with different ringtones and backgrounds; turning on the wipers, A/C on high, and radio really loud in the car for when she gets in to go to work in the morning; taking self portraits for me to see when I look through the pics....stuff like that. She's great! I don't know what I'd do without her all these years!

Oh, I can't forget the Avery saying for today. We were in the van and she wanted to hear a certain song from her CD. She kept saying "guac-a-roni". After my mom and I put our heads together, we finally figured out she wanted to listen to "Yankee Doodle"....you know, the part that says, "....called it macaroni".