MyEbella...

I'M MOVING....

BLOGS that is............

I like my Typepad blog and all, but for FREE (or very very minimal cost) I can do Wordpress. I can customize it and still it is very easy to use, to add blogs, add extra "pages".... aka a section for Digi Scrapping Moms, Photos I love, etc!!!

So I'm excited about a "newer" start...

Thankfully they have a great import set up so I was able to move over all my previous blog posts! I won't be updating here anymore so PLEASE change over your links and/or your blog readers to my new blog........................

WWW.MYEBELLA.WORDPRESS.COM   

Plus you better go check out the new blog so you can see what walked through my office yesterday... You Won't believe it!!!!

Ethan's 1st Day of Preschool

This past Wednesday marked Ethan's first day of school. Something he will only have once! I know Dad and I were both very excited for him and I am hoping that we didn't add to his nervousness. The whole day he did awesome! I had to rub his arm to help him wake up to his alarm =) but then he jumped right out of bed, hit the bathroom and started getting dressed! How adorable is he in his uniform.

 

He even did great at breakfast time... Well I did turn cartoons on but he ate his breakfast and finished getting around.

 

With school starting and reading blogs so many people were talking about the traditions they had. I knew I wanted to start with some NOW! I definitely wanted the photo of him all dressed for school. So we decided to do it on the front porch...better lighting (aka none of those harsh shadows that I get indoors) and then I decided I wanted one of Ethan and I standing together and as the years go by we'll see the changes. I guess I can be thankful that we snapped them quickly and got them taken. We were running a few minutes behind (hello we are talking about US... I wouldn't expect anything else). We also wanted to drop Bella off at Kel's house first so we could devote all of our attention to Ethan and arriving at school.

I know I remember school (not soo much grade school) and I personally loved it and I know Todd didn't love school so it will be interesting to see how much Ethan (and Isabella) like it.

Okay back to the drop off, it went great! He is used to being away from us so it wasn't like we had major separation anxiety, but he did speak really soft. =) I'm sure that will change in another week or two. It was the first time he had met Miss Kathleen so I know he was just a little nervous!

 

I am taking my lunch break and picking  him up and taking him to daycare for the afternoon. I would love to be off with him in the afternoon, but it just doesn't work that way right now. Bella is confused right now on the how and why's. I am hoping that after a few weeks it will be old school for her too  =) (no pun intended). The first day we were to pick up the kids in their classroom. When I got there to pick him up there was just him and another Boy and they left before us... Ethan didn't want to put away the playdoh (under privileged boy----I don't allow playdoh in the house...I hate the mess it makes)

So I decided I was going to be bold and ask for a picture with the teacher. She sounds like a camera/photo fanatic like me so looks like we will get along just fine  =) I even made the comment to her and in total shock I think I was the only one I saw taking a few pictures at drop off. Granted we didn't see everyone get dropped off, but still you would think there would be a couple moms/dads taking some pictures! NOPE just me!

I don't think I could have asked for a better Teacher/Student photo!

I of course wanted to hear every detail of his day while we drove to daycare, but all I got was a lot of I KINDA FORGOT  =)  Slowly he'll open up more and I think I need to learn the right questions to ask! =)

As he twirled out of the parking lot to our car he announced that he made a new friend today! (Yeah and he was worried he wouldn't make friends) He then proceeded to say his name is AXLE.... um honey don't you mean Alex? was my response with a smile! He assured me that his name is Axle and Alex =) Well now I look forward to meeting his new friend!

Over dinner he did tell us that the talked about the United States today and he was so cute when he asked if we knew which state they talked about? He told us...OREGON the state we live in. Then I got the Momma... I was the first one to say Oregon. My smart boy does know some of the states...not all of them, but a good handful of them!

Thursday night it was time to make sure his homework was done =) Tracing and writing the number 1 and coloring it in. I think he may have even earned "extra credit" LOL for coloring in the bus on his paper...He was too cute though he wanted to finish completely aka he even added a stop sign to the bus!

Friday we have the parent/teacher communicator folder ... (looks like everyday it comes home) Another piece of homework ) and today there was a 1/2 sheet in the folder saying keep at home. Looks like they got the good ole markers out and colored.

He seems to be having fun and like everything so far.

So here he is ... His first ever day of school (and the other tradition... a picture with mom! I can't wait to watch him grow!)

   

May the rest of the year go as well as the first week!

WE ARE SOO PROUD OF YOU HONEY!

What a Busy WEEKEND!

So yes we had a 3 day weekend, but boy were we busy!

Lets see there was the cirucs Friday night (after working), Saturday cleaning (yeah that was fun), Sunday Church and then the State Fair, Monday finished school shopping, grocery shopping, and Todd stained the deck! So maybe it doesn't sound super busy, but lets just say IT WAS!

So lets start with the Circus!  Yes I paid way too much for the tickets, but we all had a BLAST!!! I know it is a downfall for me and well hubby's wallet because if I'm going to go to one of these events I want good seats! We have had pretty good luck at the Disney on Ice shows we have been to (1st or 2nd row seating) and thankfully we had just as good of luck when it came time to buy our tickets! =)  FRONT ROW CENTER "court/stage" I think I heard multiple times how I shouldn't have bought the tickets, but the looks on the kids' face were PRICELESS and I would do it again in a heartbeat! With our seats came a celebrity pass...It entitled us to go down on the floor amongst the clowns ... We danced, we shaked, we got to ride in the circus train and be on the floor for about 15 minutes! It was awesome. The clowns were everywhere, the host was signing amongst us, Bello the star clown was out dancing to it was a BELLO-BRATION, and there were a few elephants! I do have to say it was pretty AWESOME. (Here you can read about the circus celebrity and what it is about.)

Of course you can't come home empty handed. Well we got to keep the Bello "hair" hats we were to wear on the train ride (pictures coming), plus our celebrity passes, and of course we let the kids pick something out. Miss Bella picked this adorable "kitty" purse! Yeah that is what I wanted her to pick! Ethan picked out this little motorcycle. Not what I would have picked out for him to get, but what was I to expect...he is a boy and it was a motorcycle. (It just doesn't do what it is supposed to do ...)

   

Here are a few of my favorite pictures! (more to come later... it was pretty dark; so I will need to do a little editing!)

For practically the whole show he sat like this, leaning over the railing. He was completely mesmorized by the show and with soo much going on (3 rings to watch) he didn't know where to look!

So Todd wasn't overly thrilled about going down to the floor during the show, but it was fun!

Nice hats huh? Like I said it is what you do for the kids!

After some editing I'll have to add a few more pictures of the actual show!

P.S... Do you remember how I said in the beginning how Todd stained the deck...WELL IT IS POURING OUT. Oh please let it be dry enough... Todd will not be happy!

(getting late more tomorrow!)

We are BAD PARENTS =(

So it was Bella's birthday! Wanna ask us what we did?

GO AHEAD ASK??

Nothing!!!!  I know isn't that just horrible! Do I dare say we didn't even sing Happy Birthday to her (I know the poor thing). Well her birthday didn't go un-recognized. I made some brownie cupcakes for the kids to take to daycare. They sang Happy Birthday to her and had their cupcakes. When I picked them up Daycare gave her a present. She loves her new baby doll. The poor baby is pretty full though, seems like Miss Bella is constantly feeding her =)

(and you have to love the new Adobe LightRoom conversions). 

Okay okay her birthday didn't go completely un-noticed. I did buy her a few presents (so far) A pack-n-play for her dolls, a few play necklaces, an adorable new brown zip up sweatshirt, Cabbage patch doll, plus more) but well she just doesn't know yet. We are going to have her party in a couple weeks. Kind of hard right around the Holiday weekend!

Did I mention too that we had plans for Ice Cream at Baskin Robbins?? Yeah that was the plan but both of them were horrible. Screaming, crying, tantrums...basic tiredness (Ethan included) so lets just say we finally got thru dinner and then it was snack and BED!!!

Well we'll try again next year! =)

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY MISS BELLA LOU

Lots more to come tonight! I had had to post really quick this morning and say I wish you my baby girl a wonderful day!!!

The SICKNESS is starting already?

What does one toddler with a runny nose at daycare mean? YES MY KIDS WILL GET A COLD! What the heck...it isn't even September yet. Thankfully so far it is just the sniffles and a small cough for Bella....well that was the case up to a little bit ago. Bella was fussing in her room so I finally moved her to my bed and heard a noise and walked out of the "office" and found her like this:

Laying in my doorway sucking her thumb! The coughing has picked up quite a bit and she feels a little warmer than she should be so I Guess that means I have spent enough time on the computer tonight so I'm heading to bed. Still have lots more to say, maybe I'll sneak a blog post in from work or try to get the blog caught up tomorrow night (Monday night)

Oh yeah before I go we (me and the kids) ran to Target tonight and I found two of the cutest shirts for Bella (couldn't find links-maybe photos later) and a couple of Ethans' school supplies and this adorable rug (also a very fun grey/black do not enter/dead end pillow case too) I couldn't resist and they were only $4.99 each. Now to see if I can find some more matching pieces...it will look great in his black and yellow room!

Hope everyone has a GREAT MONDAY!

Reunion Pictures . . .

We had a family reunion a couple weeks ago (yes I'm finally getting to posting pictures). It was a little bitter sweet. It was the first reunion with out my Granny! All of moms brothers and sisters were there and most of their kids (my cousins). Todd had to work and then he took Ethan to his best buddy Joseph's birthday party. His parents are having a rough time and we thought it would be good for Joseph if Ethan was there to help him celebrate his birthday! I think that was the first birthday party Todd had taken Ethan to by himself and OMG it was funny...He was like I am NEVER doing that again! he he he.... Um I'm sure you will be doing it many more times!

Here is my absolute favorite from the day =)  HOW SWEET IS SHE?

and well who can beat this photo?  See Bella in the background of this photo?

YES that is my BABY GIRL falling out of her swing! Thank goodness Uncle Jake strapped her in because thank goodness she didn't fall to the ground, just hung there until Nana could get to her! and I can't believe how big Jaimy is getting, she is the big 3 now!

More pictures to come later...  =)

Robin Carlton Kit for FREE!

So I have been meaning to post this all month and well we all know how well I blog on a regular basis! Might actually be better that I am posting now because now Robin Carlton is offering a FREE kit from her goodies if you purchase her Dreamsicle Kit offered at Songbird Avenue. The is beautiful and you won't be sorry you purchased it! The best part of the whole thing is that every month there is a new designer picked and that designer picks their charity to donate 100% of the profits to. Robin has chose Make A Wish Foundation for her charity. GO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT and enjoy your free kit!

This kit has soo much varitey in it that I have used it for both boy and girl pages; check them out:

Credits can be found HERE

and this has quickly become my new favorite page:

Credits can be found HERE

What to share . . . My weight loss journey!

There always seems to be soo much I want to share or talk about here and then the time gets away from me, I get lazy and just don't post it, or I decide it is too personal to share. I guess I don't really know who is reading, do they really want to know this ect...  =)  Well for today lets give it a shot...I guess I am always amazed at how one moment or one thing that is said can stir up soo many emotions and feelings. Probably feelings you didn't even know you were feeling. I have mentioned it before that I am doing LA Weight Loss (and loving it--really I mean it may not always show but I do really like it). I love the one on one w/ the counselors. It was expensive (even on the 50% off sale as it was when I joined, but worth it) I like that I don't have to count points, but that doesn't change the fact that I haven't been journaling what I've been eating or the fact that for 3 or 4 weeks now that I have gained or lost the same 2-3 pounds. Miss H (what I will call her) is awesome and though at the moment I wasn't feeling the love LOL.... I told her on Friday that I didn't have a journal and she looked over my file. She gave me a stern look and said I can't give you the benefit of the doubt anymore! I am going to be STERN with you... YOU NEED TO QUIT MAKING EXCUSES!  Well lets just say it hit HARD. She asked the hard questions like WHY AREN'T YOU JOURNALING? WHY ARE YOU MAKING THE FOOD CHOICES YOU ARE? Then when I him/hah'd she said I was just making excuses! She was completely right! It all makes you think WHY you are doing this! The reasons why I want to lose weight, WHY, WHY, WHY... I am sure I am the only that understands why it would be hard to explain or talk about why I want to lose the weight, but it all just HIT me that day! I was a WRECK! Poor Miss H she didn't quite know what to do or say! I promised to BE ON PROGRAM! I composed myself and went back to work LOL

On Tuesday (the 14th) was my next weigh in... Unfortunately Miss H wasn't there or available and Miss M was my counselor and well she is the ONE girl there I DON'T LIKE!! I know that is horrible, but seriously I just don't think she is supportive and very encouraging...both reasons why I joined! So she chuckled when she opened up my file... Of course I wanted to know why! Well Miss H after our meeting had put a sticky note on my file that said HANDLE WITH CARE! Gotta love that! Funny as it was I thought it was awesome that she thought to leave a note!

Friday (the 17th) was another weigh in and well I guess it pays off to BE ON PROGRAM! For the week I was down a little shy of 5lbs! Ahh it was awesome to see that huge jump in loss.

Weigh in again today (the 21st) down about a 1/2 a lb! I'll take it, not huge, but not a gain! I haven't got all of my water in, not all of my veggies and I was at a family reunion on Saturday and there were not a huge amount of great food choices... aka I had a few cookies and a brownie! =)  They have changed up the portion sizes some and how many proteins and starches etc I get so tonight was spent reading up on some of the food choices we are given and trying to figure out a better plan of attack for what to have for my meals!  Anyone use a meal plan for the week? Want to share if you do?

I did leave Miss H a nice little THANK YOU card today! Might have been sappy to give my weigh loss counselor a thank you card, but they are a huge part of this time in my life! They aren't any different than anyone else, I'm sure she will love to see that she was appreciated and a HUGE HELP to me!!!

THANK YOU MISS H (and everyone else in the office)!!!

Melissa and her sister Becky!

Started this DAYS and DAYS ago... Not sure how I forgot to finish this entry!

Melissa's sister Becky received her email with the gift cards! A few of us at Digi Scrapping Moms wanted to do something nice (and a total surprise for even Melissa) for Becky. Becky got the surpise that no one wants to get.... a visit from her doctor telling her she has Breast Cancer!  From Melissa's post she seems to be doing pretty good. But with treatments, a hubby and TWIN 19mo BOYS.... she has her hands full! So I hope you have been enjoying the gift cards and do let us know what you get!

Stop by their blogs and leave them both some happy thoughts!

Stuff and more Stuff

Okay so once again I have too much to say and not enough time! I guess it would help if I would start my blogging a lot earlier!

First I'll go with Bella! Sleeping is going a little better. We don't really struggle at the actual bed time. We do a diaper change, in bed, read a story (ok most likely 3 stories). The 3 vary from night to night, usually one or two always stay the same! Sleeping beauty, Hannah and the Dusty Stars, Monsters get scared of Dogs too...hmm maybe some day her book selection with adjust a little! Okay back to the story! So once we do our stories, we turn on a CD and I leave the room. We did finally install the baby gate a few weeks ago. I hated to do it, but she was wandering downstairs at night while I was sleeping. Funny thing is every night she climbs out of her bed and lays right up against the baby gate. Most nights we don't even hear a peep. The other nights we do have to holler back upstairs for her to lay down and go to sleep  (LOL not yelling, just the holler you do when you are too lazy to walk back upstairs and the fear that her actually seeing you will make it worse) LOL  This is done with moments of fussing, not even real crying! AND SHE IS SLEEPING! Really doesn't take her too long to fall asleep, granted give her a couple hours and she is fussing again. I carry her back to her toddler bed and most nights she is good for a few more hours aka 3am, 4am, 5am.... all very common wake up times for her! Laziness coming back into effect here... when that early am wake up comes I tend to just bring her to bed with me. Only once or 3 times I have been able to tuck her back into her bed and she has slept in her bed all night! Whew ... I tell myself that someday in the hopefully near future I will sleep straight thru the night. I mean it has only been a year and a half since I have slept the whole night thru.... Ahhh SLEEP!

But check out how cute she is all sprawled out next to the baby gate

So the other day I posted about these great capes I found on www.Etsy.com. If you didn't go to HER SITE the other day ....What are you waiting for? GO NOW!!! These are the two I ordered! J for Joseph and E for Ethan. Todd took Ethan to the birthday party so I didn't get to see the reactions, but Todd said everyone loved it and thought it was soo cool. Ethan hasn't actually seen his since he has been in trouble all weekend. At the rate he is going now he won't get it for weeks! =(

So just a quick photo of the two capes! Oh and I had to mention that I ordered this LATE LATE LATE Sunday Night/Monday Morning and begged and begged her to ship it as fast as she could since it was for a birthday party on Saturday. I completely offered to pay extra if the shipping costs more etc. I just have to be sure I point out how amazing it was to work with her. We got the capes on Thursday!!! It didn't cost anything more and they arrived with plenty of time to spare and they were PERFECT!!! I haven't made it back to her site yet to leave my wonderful comments, BUT I WILL BE!!!

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Well it seems like I have tons of photos I want to share! So tomorrow night (aka Monday night) I am going to start with the photos and get them blogged first thing! =)

I PEED and more fun musings!

Things that you hear from your kids! I have talked about it before Miss Bella's pottying! Well we truely aren't working hard at potty training her, she tells us most of the time when she has to go and we just go with the flow! So I guess you could say we went with the flow when Bella decided that during the quietest part of church that she would use that time to announce I PEED!! Thankfully it was loud enough for us to hear it, but I don't think too many others did ... we can hope anyway! Let's hope this Sunday isn't as eventful! =)

We have been renting tons of movies lately. The kids watch them when we get home from daycare for a while. I get the mail sorted, go potty, get dinner started...aka CATCH MY BREATH and then they sometimes get to watch them in the mornings before daycare! Ok so back to my story =) We were at Blockbuster (gotta love the late fees or lack there of) and Ethan is walking around the video store saying, "A BM is the perfect solution!" Another couple walking by kind of chuckled at him and I quickly said I don't even think he knows what that means. I bent down to his height and said, "E did you know that BM stands for Bowel Movement, which is just a fancy word for POOPING!" You should have seen the shocked look on his face and then the laughter! The next words out his mouth were, "But Donkey siad it in Shrek!" Sorry buddy, just because it was said in a cartoon movie doesn't mean we get to say that out in public!

Oh Ethan .... I swear I should have made the title I'm going to be a Grandma! I swear we didn't teach him all this stuff.... Ok so I'm sure we are guilty of him watching too much TV.

Dad likes to NECK with the kids (aka rub necks LOL) So Todd asks Ethan if he wants to neck? Ethan responds with "Yeah" then seconds later followed with, "You want the Tongue?" Um there was dead silence then Todd and I just burst into Laughter! After asking him he told us that meant SWORD FIGHTING WITH YOUR TONGUES!  OMG ....(He said he learned that from the TV) Oops!

Then a few minutes later Ethan was kissing on Todd (he's always been super lovey) I ask Ethan if I can get some of those kisses! Ethans' response with out missing a beat was, "Only if you are Naked!"

LOL   Ahh get out of my room and stay out!    LOL

In so many words we are screwed! WE are going to have to lock the boy up! =)

Etsy....My newest Love!

Okay so who new about this place and didn't tell me! Yes I posted about it recently and then again tonight I was reading Shannon Tidwell's blog. (I used to love looking at her layouts at 2peas!) So checked out her post and link and OMG how many of you with boys would love their own personalized cape??? Check this out! This is Shannon's son Maddox:  (Here is her SUPERFLYKIDZ Etsy site)

So I quickly and I mean quickly ordered Ethan one and a matching one for is buddy Joseph who is having a party this weekend (hmmm told her I would pay extra if I could have it by this weekend!!!)  We'll see...either way Ethan & Joseph will love it!!! (I went w/ the red cape, silver inside the emblem, and blue letters)

How cute are these dresses I found at Boutique Mia. Look at what I ordered for Bella.

I haven't ordered from this site: Baby O'Really! Seeing as I don't have a need for breast pads, but these would make really cute baby shower presents and/or check out the DOODY MASK she has made: 

I know there are soo many more out there, but I have just spent enough money for tonight! If you shop Etsy....please link me up and share!!! More shopping later!

So much to say --- (Bare with me)

WARNING:  The beginning of the novel...stick with me =)

You know I go through the day (or night) and things go through my mind or like today after picking up the kids, I even write things down and soo often don't make the time to get on here and "blog" about it. Heck for somethings it would just be great to go back to my blog and copy and paste those feelings and words right onto my scrapbook page. You know how some things can be soo fresh on my mind at a certain time! So I'm going to try my darndest (don't you just love that word LOL) to give one huge blog update tonight and hopefully I don't jump around too much =). Have fun with all the links I'm attaching!!!

At work I usually have my google email open which also has my GOOGLE READER (my default homepage is literally my email, all the blogs I read, a clock and some noteworthy news tid-bits! So if you haven't signed up for GOOGLE EMAIL do it now! Well I could say soo many things about google and their email, calendars, google reader etc...but well just trust me JUST DO IT!  Plus those that are in groups and/or need multiple people to update the same thing...check out their Document & Spreadsheets. There are tons of fun and helpful things that GOOGLE can help with... Let it be your friend LOL

Now Sara and Melissa here it is.... all the links are above! GO CHECK IT OUT!!!!

For them and everyone else ... here is what your customized home page "could" look like! It is custumized so you add what you want!

Heck you can even customize your blogs into different categories... So go check out the link! You will love it!

NEXT     =)

Ali... Am I the only one that wants to be like Ali Edwards? I swear she always has the coolest ideas and I am in awe of her and sooo many others that have these wonderful ideas and they get them finished! LOL  I swear I really do have awesome ideas too, but can never seem to get them out of my head! They are stuck there... I don't have time to do them, can't get them started, too tired... well you get the idea!!  So speaking of cool ideas, Check out Ali's DAILY SOMETHING. I mean really how creative is that to use envelopes you receive in the mail!!!

Then there is Donna Downey. Have you read the newest Simple Scrapbooks magazine (the September/October 2007 issue)? Donna has a great (small but great) article on School albums. She used the large manila envelopes that she had bound into a scrapbook; she used these for papers and projects, memorbilia from her childrens' school year. Use an envelope for the whole year or one a month.... OMG what a great idea!!! She calls them School Profolios. HERE is a link to a supply list and directions on how to make it! HERE is even pictures of a completed one! So many of my "friends" have little ones starting Preschool!

Here is a photo from the website:

I mean seriously isn't this the coolest idea!!! I am soo doing this! Ethan starts school in a month and I can't wait to save his projects and how easily you can get back into the envelopes to show grandparents and/or to just look at them again as the years pass.

While we are talking about scrapbooks I want you to check out the TASTE TEST challenge! I have really enjoyed all of the challenges that the Sweet Shoppe post (and you can earn points which earn you a discount in the store). Okay back to the TASTE TEST challenge! I really think we should all do this. This all goes back to wishing I could get to my blog more and all the talk about google earlier....I saw the blog post pop up on my google home page (from google reader---see link above) so I quickly read it (it pops open like a pop up window). Seriously one of the few times I have read one of their challenges and KNOWN exactly what I was going to scrap about. Might even be one of those pages w/ out a picture (later you'll see why). LOL now if I could ever finish this WAY TOO LONG blog post and I can get started on my layout!!!

Are you still with me?

Well I guess I've said enough for tonight! More updating on the kids, Leo and fun stuff later! Check out my links and share your TASTE TEST challenge layouts with me!

Well it only took me until the wee hours in the morning, but I finished my layout:

Credit can be see HERE

Piggies...

Saturday afternoon Bella let me put pig-tails in her hair and LEFT THEM IN...
That is a first for us!

Amazing how the last couple of weeks she seems to be talking more and
more, repeats everything that Ethan says. Sometimes funny and
sometimes not soo good.

Just can't believe how much she looks like a lttle girl and NOT a baby anymore.

Don't let it fool you she still sucks her thumb constantly and loves
her blankies still.