Marissa's 1st Communion {{Photo Heavy}}

Today Marissa received her 1st Holy Communion. We had a beautiful day, the weather was perfect & Marissa enjoyed all the attention! She looked like a little bride in her dress! She looked so beautiful! The other day they had rehearsal & I had the hardest time holding back tears! I was sure I'd be wreck at church so I made sure to bring tissues. Marissa was so excited & not nervous at all--or emotional!! LOL!

We had an early morning to make sure we were all ready & had plenty of time to do her hair. I wanted to make sure we had extra time to take pics around the house & outside.

I was thrilled that the cherry blossom tree was in bloom. It was perfect for pics! It's not often I get pics in front of this tree, usually it rains when it's in bloom & washes the blossoms away.

This might be my thank you pic.....or this one....maybe this one....or maybe even this one.... I have a hard time making descisions don't I??I plan on printing an 8x10 of this one for our wall...would be perfect if Gianna had both legs down but I'll take what I can get!Here's Marissa with her Godparents, my sister Marie & our friend Bobby....and that's my nephew Tyler hanging off his mom....All the cousins plus or minus a couple.....We couldn't take pics at church during the ceremony so I made sure to take as many as I could afterwards.

I am pleased to announce that I did good & didn't cry like a baby as anticipated. I did tear up in the beginning when all the kids where lined up in front but I managed to hold back the waterworks!

When we were all done there, we had a lunch for everyone at an Italian restuarant. I gave Marissa the option of getting changed but I think she liked "dressing up" & stayed in her dress the whole time. Didn't take too many pics at lunch (you're not complaining are you?) & since this post is so pic heavy already I'm only going to share 2 more.

Photo Tag

Susan tagged me on her blog.

Here are the rules:
Take a picture of yourself right now, no primping or preparing. Just snap the picture.
Load onto your blog.
Tag 3 people to play… remember if you are tagged on another blog we will all be heading to yours to see if you played along.

Here I am looking tired with those heavy bags under my eyes. Please take pity on me! At least I have some color on my face & I'm not so pasty white anymore!

Now I'm tagging Laura, Carla & Mary. Come on girls show us your "best" shot!! And no cheating ladies!

365: Week of April 6

I'm playing catch-up & finally posting my 365 pics! It's only taken me how long now?? LOL! Hope I haven't lost anyone who reads my blog! I'm trying to get back on schedule..I haven't been feeling like blogging lately...or if Joe were typing this post CLEANING!!! LOL!

Mon. April 6 #96
Awhile ago I bought this nail kit for Gianna. Since then everytime I turn around she has been "getting ready for Disney" constantly! She's such a little girly girl!

Tues. April 7 #97

The craziness that surrounds life around here before a trip. I lay out everything I want to take, then trim things down to reasonable amounts.

Wed. April 8 #98

The craziness has been contained!! Everything's all packed! All ready for our 4:30 AM pick up time!!

Thurs. April 9 #99

All ready to go! Buckled up on the plane, ready for take-off. Disney here we come!!! We are so ready!

Fri. April 10 #100

The best way to start the day is breakfast at Chef Mickey's! Minnie makes the morning GREAT!!

Sat. April 11 #101

Our favorite park hands down is the Magic Kingdom. It helps that our hotel is on the monorail & just one stop away from the happiest place on earth!

Sun April 12 #102

Easter Sunday was spent in the Magic Kingdom. There we met with Mr & Mrs Easter Bunny & just enjoyed the day!

Just for the record, I'm going to try for unusual 365 pics for the next week & not have all "Disney" pics. That'd be just too easy right??

Disney in Pictures

Finally posting some pics from our Disney trip....



Thank goodness for the post options on Blogger....it makes playing catch up so much easier!

We're Back!

Well actually we've been back since the 19th but it's been hard to get back on schedule.

After days of being on the move my body sorta got back at me & Marissa & I came back with sinus infections. I basically haven't done much Monday or Tuesday except laundry & various little things since my head felt like I was in a fog & was gonna explode. Luckily today I feel sorta normal.

Also feeling slightly overwhelmed by everything.....I'll explain more on that later...I hear the laundry calling my name!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail....

Just stopping in to wish everyone a

HAPPY EASTER!!!

We're having a great time at Disney World! If I knew how to work Joe's laptop I'd share a pic or two but he's sleeping! hehe!

Be back soon!

Challenge take 3

What can I say? I was just loving these colors & had to make a card to match the LO's (1 & 2)

Besides I had to break in my Hero Arts Butterfly stamp!

Challenge take 2

When I really like something I keep at it until I get sick of it. Sort of like a favorite song. So I had to do another version of Laura's LO!

I did the Butterfly version of Laura's LO, totally un intended. I had set out to lift her LO but then it went a different way. Since I still wanted to do the whole "today" theme & I still had my supplies out I did it again, this time I made it 8x8 instead of 12x12. Only thing I'm not liking is how sloppy my paint went on. I had stuck everything down & THEN realized I never painted the edges of the blocks. DUH! So I had to peel everything off & paint around the string.

This was my day 3/31/09.

In case you're wondering.....

Yes there is something else with this same color scheme, but you'll just have to come back! LOL!

Challenge

For those of you that don't read Laura's or Mary's blogs, they both challenge each other every few weeks. They determine what they'll use & how & both come up with some amazing stuff yet totally different!

The last challenge was to use:
the colors, green & teal
string
embossing
& paint

Once again I was amazed by their work! Laura's LO inspired me to get to work right away (see it here). I have been wanting to use my Martha Stewart butterfly punch for awhile now & this came together without me thinking much about it. I was originally gonna just copy Laura's work but then this happened.

The colors are much prettier IRL & that's lavender not pink...

365: Week of March 30

Gotta make this real quick! I need to finish packing before we leave for Disney on Thursday & I'm behind---what else is new??

Mon. March 30 #89

Our Daylillies are finally sprouting. The plants are huge by summer & my favorite part of the yard.

Tues. March 31 #90

Miss Marissa lost another tooth today. It's been wiggly for awhile now & tonight she kept twisting it around grossing me out! I remember doing that as a kid & grossing out my mom but now I don't find it funny at all!! LOL!

Wed. April 1 #91

Marissa's 2nd grade class are growing cucumbers but since we're headed into Spring Break they sent the seedlings home. She's excited about it, especially since it's already sprouted! Let's just hope it stays alive! {We made arrangements for Marissa's BFF to babysit her plant while we're away. No need to alert the authorities on Cucumber abuse!}

Thurs. April 2 #92

Round 2 of my closet re-organization that needs to be done. These are my summer tops. There is seriously no more room at all on that rod to fit anything else. **SIGH**

Fri. April 3 #93

When I was re-organizing the closet the 1st time around, I made sure to get rid of the un-loved-clothes. Just to verify, some of these clothes have been sitting in a pile in the closet for awhile but since I had added to it this time I really had to get rid of it. No more putting it off!!

Sat. April 4 #94

Today my sisters & I went to our cousin's fiance's bridal shower. Long story short, we all met at my house & my B-I-L & the kids ended up hanging out at our house with Joe & our girls. When we got back, the girls were begging for a sleepover & we caved & let Nikki stay over. My girls were dying to use their sleeping bags, so they slept on the floor while Nikki had the bed to herself! They were loud & noisy until sometime around 11pm!! Crazy, but so cute!

Sun. April 5 #95

Marissa loves to make breadsticks for dinner & I love having her help out in the kitchen! She gets such a charge doing this & likes to eat them even more!! (this is a filler pic from a few days back--Gianna got sick & I never took pics today---shhhhh!!)

My next 365 post will be delayed due to our trip to Disney, but don't worry I will be taking plenty of pics--despite my favorite camera back in the shop---another long story...***SIGH***

Celebrate the Seasons March

I just squeezed this in!! Just in time since tomorrow is the 5th & that means a new class goes up on 2 Peas. Really having fun with Nichol's "Celebrate the Seasons" class! They're so my style in that they have a lot of pics on them!!

I have to warn you the colors aren't this bright IRL!!

1 Week

In just one week we'll be here....



Can. Not. WAIT!!! Bring on the Pixie Dust!!!

Card Share

A few weeks ago I posted some cards that I made while on a "Card Making Spree". I was orginally inspired by Laura & once I was on a roll I just couldn't stop!

These cards were made during the same time I made these & these....I just forgot to share them!

I made this one for my good friend Carolee, who I met back when I was still working. We're like sisters & would do anything for each other. Now after working at the same place for over 10 years, she decided she was ready to move on. Luckily she found something better & I made her this...

This is a total lift from Laura's work, you can her original here.

My BFF, Diane, from high school whose birthday is exactly one week after mine got this in the mail.... BTW--this is another lift of Laura's you can see her's here.

Plan on using this one for Joe...obviously! LOL!

ETA---I realized after posting this that I never edited the last 3 pics. Just pretend they are cropped & brighter! LOL!