Live Out Loud

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:04:00 +0000

So, I cheated and took Christmas pics before Halloween...

My first baby looks so grown up next to the last baby.

My favorite picture of the two of them.

My beautiful girl!

My other beautiful girl!

What he was thinking about doing the entire time we were taking pics!
You would think all these pics would inspire me to scrapbook. I haven't done anything in over a year now. It makes me sad just to walk by my stuff. Hopefully soon..... Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday
season!

New Pics

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:32:00 +0000

Here are a few pics of the little one. She has grown so much.

She Is Here!

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:56:00 +0000

Okay...So she has been here almost two weeks. This is little Elsa Belle. She arrived July 22nd at 2:43 am. She weighed 7 lbs and 6 oz. I will skip the scary birth story. She is perfect and we think she is beautiful. We truly feel blessed to have her.

Grandma and Grandpa Rhodes brought daddy peaches from Belleville in an Eckert's peach basket. Elsa's nickname has been peach since the kids found out they were getting a sister. (Austin loves Baby Peach on Mario Kart). So...when the peach box showed up shortly after the baby came home the kids insisted we take her picture in it.

Some Scrappy Love

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:47:00 +0000

I can't believe I'm actually getting in 2 posts this month. What a record for my lazy self. Anyway...I made these onesies for the little one. This material was a lot harder to sew on then I anticipated. They will probably fall apart when I wash them. They didn't quite turn out like I envisioned. Cute Boy thinks they are adorable. He made me feel much better. I used Creative Cafe felt, buttons, puffy flowers, and felt letters. Pretty much everything I guess.

We are finally out of school as of Friday. I am teaching summer school later in June, but for now we have been having a good time. More pictures at our favorite park!

We also enjoyed a beautiful day at the zoo. I felt like the fattest animal there. Geez...every time I see a picture I can't believe how big I've gotten!

Random Pics

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Sat, 09 May 2009 04:53:00 +0000

Here is the hideous Easter pic as promised:

Ashley got a new baby for her birthday. Just thought with all the other changes in our family right now, might as well throw in a new puppy.

My best bud came all the way from Illinois to celebrate Ashley's birthday. I somehow managed to forget for the first time ever it was National Scrapbook Day. We celebrated by going to Elsie's Red Velvet Art store.

Geez....I am round.

Annika was all about the underwear album.

Austin had to spend some time outside due to behavior issues, but I distracted him by taking his picture a billion times.

The weather has been beautiful in between days of rain. We have been playing outside all we can.

My beautiful girl who is growing up too fast!

Hopefully I will have a scrappy post soon. I am working on a project for my momma and she has really been whining. (By working on...I mean I started the album cover :)

Holy Cow

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:16:00 +0000

I didn't realize how long it has been since I posted. There is not a lot going on here. Just mostly being fat and grouchy. Or both. Every time I think about blogging...I think geez ... what am I gonna say. Nobody wants to hear that I've had to buy undergarments in sizes I didn't even know existed or about that weird stripe that's making it's way up my huge, round, ever growing belly. Or any of the other weird/gross pregnancy symptoms I am having. I'm sure you would go to one of those pregnancy chat boards if you wanted to hear that kind of info.

We did find out what we are having. Ryan's family isn't supposed to know yet. They want to be surprised. So, I probably shouldn't be blabbing all over the Internet that we are having a GIRL!!! Even though they don't know I have a blog. It still probably isn't fair to say we are THRILLED that we (I) get to buy little dresses and hair bows once again. Ashley is already feeling sorry her little sister and the torture that awaits her with the frilliness. Anyway, I am 27 weeks (already met all expectations for weight gain) and am due at the end of July. Here is the little chicken chunk at 19 weeks. We already have a name, but I won't spill on that yet. We will just call her baby E.

And I haven't really scrapbooked at all and I think I would feel better if I did. Here is a project for Creative Cafe that I did back in January. Sad, but true.

And a project for Creative Cafe/Hampton Art Stamps:

That's all I am up for tonight. I will try to post more later this week. I have some Easter pics of me looking pretty hot in a maternity dress. Stay tuned for those gems :)

Finally....

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:34:00 +0000

I am back. Wow. I have never neglected my blog for this long. I feel like I am behind on everything. So, I will share a couple of things that are going on.

There was this:

and then this. Which has made me sick and really tired.

and a couple of Creative Cafe projects. The owl is a new AccuCut die!

Hopefully there were enough orders at CHA to save these cute little felt butterflies.

and of course, my favorite two little people in the whole world.

Some Things...

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 04:34:00 +0000

that have been going on around here....

I finally took pictures of a couple of Creative Cafe/ Hampton Art layouts I did two weeks ago.
My favorite Belleville girl came to visit. Enjoyed ourselves a little thrift store togetherness.
Captain Amazing turned 5!!!!
This one managed to get more beautiful.
We had a Halloween themed birthday party. Fun for all!
Got to visit with cousins and hang out at the park.
This one let me know how he feels about all the picture taking.
And last, but certainly not least, we spent some time holding up trees.....

These are just the photos. The little guy has been sick and can't seem to shake it. I thought he was better, but I stood corrected after his lunch reappeared in my car. Yuck. I swear he licks the toilets at preschool. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Scrapbook Love

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:30:00 +0000

I get so busy with life I forget how much I love scrappy stuff and actually scrapbooking. Sometimes I just have to kick out projects because I have to and that is just not the same as really rolling around and enjoying the stuff. I got a box stuff full of new Art Warehouse goodness tonight. I almost peed myself. I have so many ideas...and well, if you are a scrapbooker you can understand all that. Never enough time. My migraines are back and I have gone back on Topamax for awhile. Hoping I don't have to do this too long. Trying some things with my diet for once. I hate to admit it might be all the crap I put in my body making my head hurt. Anyway...I have a ton of stuff I would love to post about, but that would require taking pictures and putting final touches on layouts. Also, downloading and editing pics. Just going to settle for these little projects tonight and hopefully I can catch up tomorrow!

Another topiary like the 4th of July one I made with Creative Cafe goodies.

A Little Creative Cafe goodie bag with Hampton Art stamps.
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Last, but not least a little layout love with New Class Act and Candles and Cake Collection. The scalloped paper is Class Act...the rest is the birthday line...such fun colors and the layout has nothing to do with school or birthday, so there you have it! Have a Super Tuesday!

Fortune Tellers

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 01:12:00 +0000

Remember these little guys? Very popular when I was in elementary. Apparently these things don't die. I'm sure my daughter has the coolest Fortune Teller at school. All Creative Cafe goodies!

The biggest news of the week. Notice Captain Amazing here. He picked the t-shirt out himself. When I read it to him he replied, "That's SO ME!" The real news is the footwear. He is NOT wearing boots for once. He finally agreed to get some shoes if we could find some Slimers. He thinks he is REALLY fast in these. His sister thinks they just up his Dork factor. I think it's adorable.

Lotsa Things

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 01:21:00 +0000

So hard to keep up with everything during the week, I thought I would just do one ginormous post.

First up, we have grandpa and Austin fishing. Little hillbilly in training. Grandpa also got a new horse and she has a cute little colt. All the kids could say for the first 5 minutes was "Baby Horse! Baby Horse!" I'm sure it was exactly the reaction grandpa was going for.

We went to the park in Bolivar today. I think it is the best park evah! They have all this old metal equipment instead of the brightly colored plastic stuff you see everywhere. They even have teeter totters! We ate some Burger King and then tried to make each other sick on the Merry Go Round. Good times! Ashley was so sweet pushing all the younger kids on the witch's hat. I tried to tell her to go faster, but she said it was fast enough and the little ones could get hurt. Ahhhhh. So, I started chanting, "Faster, Faster, We need a new MASTER!" Then a little 4 year old girl caught on and made her own version, "Faster Faster We need a new PASTOR!" Ashley was very disappointed in me for starting the whole chanting bit.

Grandparent's Day was Friday at school. Look how happy Little Bit looks with her grandparents. She had just come in from recess. Her head is usually not tomato red.

Last, but not least a little layout love. Had this thing done forevah and even had it in a scrapbook frame for her bedroom. I haven't managed to hang the frame, so I took it out to photograph it. She hasn't said much, but I have a feeling she is not too keen on having a layout hanging in her room.

Some Photo Love

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 03:30:00 +0000

Not much to post about. I know my girlfriend has been wanting to see the photo wall I finally put up after I painted. It was kind of hard to get a picture of since the hallway up the stairs is so narrow, but here it is. Also, a couple of pics of the 9 year old I adore. Also, the 9 year old who is embarrassed to speak to her mother at school. These were from her birthday pics back in May, but I just never got them posted. I have also scrapped them and never posted the layout either. Hmmmm...a little bit of a slacker. Seems to be my theme right now. Hope you are having a wonderful week!

A Post

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:27:00 +0000

Finally having a little time to blog. I didn't realize what a baby I was until school started again. I need to woman up a little. I just feel exhausted in the evenings and there is never enough time to get everything done. I also had five small children at my house all night and that was quite the way to end my week. Their parents assured me they would also be pooped and want to go to bed early. At midnight there was total mutiny and I had to lay down the momma smack down. Too bad they were back at it at 6 am. Oh well, it is a three day weekend. I'm sure I'll get to sleep at some point. So, here are some pics and a couple of layouts. They are in pretty random order. One is my best girl I got to see last weekend and of course the mecca we have to visit each and every time I come to town. The layouts are Creative Cafe. A couple random pictures of Austin being a boy and the only decent first day of school shot I got of Ash. She refused to let me take her picture and I had to threaten to walk her all the way to class and kiss her in front of her classmates before I could even get this much. Happy Happy Saturday!

A Little Creative Cafe Love

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:22:00 +0000

for this beautiful Sunday morning. I used chipboard cut from the new scalloped circle ribbon die, a die cut word and butterfly. The circles are new punch outs, and of course some delicious felt ribbon and twill. I put the white behind it so you could see the transparency better. A little hard to photograph, but I always say that. Anyway...I'm off to church...hope you have a Wonderful Sunday!

Pink Paislee

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:21:00 +0000

Finally getting my Pink Paislee pics up. Love those silver rub ons! Kind of hard to photograph, but they look really pretty with the silver in the paper.

Sweet Things

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:37:00 +0000

My house is still quite this morning. Two little boys are still sleeping and I have threatened two little girls to stay quite (and they have also been fed chocolate donuts, so that should hold them for awhile). This is a little album I made just for me. Sometimes I get in such a slump and I have definitely been in one lately in more ways than one. I get caught up in trying to make deadlines for things and I end up laying on the floor in my scrapbook room wondering why I have all this junk. I decided making something just for me would help me kick it. I couldn't think of anyone who made large apple chipboard, so I cut the stupid thing by hand. Then I go to the AccuCut website and see they do make a jumbo apple die...oh, well. I don't know anyone around here who has it anyway, but I would love to have one for my very own self. My bulletin board at school could definitely use some jumbo apples, but I'm sure not hand cutting any more. So...I am rambling now. Anyway...I also heart green paper, so I used a bunch of my favorites and also some random scraps of fabric. My grandma gave me that red polka dot stuff over a year ago and I have been hanging onto it. LUVVVVVV it, but it was just a few strips. So, I used some of my random favorite stuff and some pics I adore and I feel like I'm outta my funk. Just in time to go back to school on Monday :) Happy Happy Friday!

Pink Paislee!

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:39:00 +0000

Finally, here is one of my projects. The two layouts didn't photograph well, so I'll have to take pics tomorrow again. Have 4 little children in the house tonight, so I'm not getting a lot done.

A Little Post

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:46:00 +0000

What is new here? Austin just learned he could pick up the other line while his sister is on the phone. I know it has happened when I hear delightful 4 year old giggles and maddening 9 year old screams ...well, I actually hear that combination a lot. Then I hear 4 year old little running feet and screams and still more 9 year old screams. I try to catch the entire thing before she injures him, but she is really pretty quick when on a mission. When the whole episode is over and she's off the phone he insists he gets to call a friend. Luckily he only has one and they are both short on attention so the conversation doesn't last long.

I got the Pink Slip from Pink Paislee this month. I am super excited and have some layouts finished except for the journaling. It's hard to get computer time to journal when the kids are fighting over who gets to play Webkinz. Hopefully today or tomorrow I can get my projects up. I am posting a little Hampton Art Stamp Art Bar project. Hope you are having a Fabulous Thursday!

More Photos

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:34:00 +0000

of the park today and one of Dr. Austin and I at another park last week. Happy Monday!

My Scrappy Space

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:49:00 +0000

Last month I finally got around to painting my scrap space. The white walls were driving me crazy. I can't say it has helped with the creativity, but I love it none- theless. My space is a bonus room and it is VERY hot all the time...good in the winter, but I keep the downstairs fairly warm anyway and it will be 90 degrees upstairs sometimes. I'm going to blame the lack of scrapping on that. Anyway...it looks a little cluttered in these photos, but it is actually pretty clean for me. I love all the bright colors and baskets of junk everywhere. Not the best pics because there's not such good lighting either and I didn't want to use the flash, but I promised Lyd I'd post these eventually. I love it. I feel blessed to have a space of my own.

St. Louis

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:02:00 +0000

We had so much fun in St. Louis. Lyd and Annika came in to hang out with us. We got to go to the Arch at night. The kids had never been at all before, so they were super excited. It was so pretty at night. The next day we went to the City Museum. That is the most AMAZING place. So much dang stuff to crawl through though. We were pooped after that and had to immediately visit The Spaghetti Factory ...yum. I'm leaving out the picture of me wearing the balloon crown at dinner. Let's just say when you end the evening with balloons on your head, you know it was a good day!

Creative Cafe and Hampton Art

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:49:00 +0000

Bucket and stamps are from Hampton Art...I love these little guys. They work great to put gifts and candy in. Also, they come with some delicious chipboard like the flower on the top. Papers, felt flowers, buttons, and tag are all Creative Cafe.

Super Fab Picture Post

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:18:00 +0000

We are having a great summer! Lots of water balloons and hanging out with friends. Look at that sneaky little guy with the water balloon. Wonder who he is hiding from? Grandma even got in on the action. Check out the look on her face...that woman means business! We also went to some friends' house to swim and ended up with another water balloon fight. I think Austin enjoys being the only boy in this group. I can't believe how big my Sweet Pea McGee has gotten this summer. She looks so grown up. Breaks a momma's heart. The last pic is grandpa and Austin on a trip to the zoo. That is rotten x 2!

We are off on a mini vacation to St. Louis tomorrow ....just as soon as we get that horrible, stink pink cast off the little one's arm. Happy Tuesday!!

New Creative Cafe and AccuCut Dies

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:40:00 +0000

New Creative Cafe paper and AccuCut Die! Yummy stuff. You can check out the other projects on the Creative Cafe blog.Happy Saturday!!

Fabulous Friendship

noreply@blogger.com (creasa) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:07:00 +0000

We all know I'm a Fab Friend....okay, well that may not be what my girlfriend is thinking. She loathes this picture of us in Jr. High and somehow I scrapped it and got the baby published in the new Fabulous Friendships book. She knows I love her! Thought I would post some cute photos of us as well to balance things out. A fun shoot in a photo booth on our trip this summer to Vegas. Love those photo booths!