Bratz gone for good???

Wow so while sitting and chilling with the other parents today at chuckee cheese at a birthday party autumn attended - one of the other parents mentioned bratz going off the shelves after the christmas season!!!! I actually cannot believe how bummed I am ! I unlike some parents like Bratz - I think they have more personality and they have really branched out the line into the petz and pony'z. They also have REALLY tamed down the hoochie mama look they had when they first came out.

I buy barbie too but as I found out while in Florida I apparently only buy the ones tied to their movies LOL - My daughter received a barbie from her Grandma and asked me which movie it was in hahahahaha.

Overall I personally think they are different enough they should not have to be pulled and I am rather disappointed in Mattel that apparently cannot handle some strong competition, which I am sure they were feeling as Bratz diversified their line even more.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/12/11/bratz.vs.barbies/

Blog Catch up!!!

Okay It is time to finally catch up my blog!!! It has been pretty much a month since I have done a "good" post so here it goes!!!

For Thanksgiving we went home to Florida to visit family - we stayed with my hubby's sister and the kids had a blast in her pool / hot tub....well autumn had a blast alison I dont think ever got more than her toes wet LOL she is definitely my cautious child!!

Of course when the child is not cautious she regrets it ---- Aunt Spring has a sliding glass door to the pool which we had open all day and the kids ran in and out all day...well that night we closed the door and poor alison running full force ran right into the door - unfortunately I witnessed it all and nearly fell over laughing while trying to console the poor thing - all she could say is why didnt we open the door.

We had our christmas with the family before we left and the kids got to open their presents from their aunts and grandparents early, then Dan got to go to a Bucs game, and Spring and I learned that we are not meant to take the kids anywhere LOL.

Attempt #1 - we took the kids to a downtown light set up where when we returned to the car the kids asked where the surprise was --- Failure LOL Attempt #2 - we took the kids to a pottery shop to paint ornaments, when we got there we discovered it had been closed down ---- Failure Attempt #3 - after all 3rd time is the charm, right? We decide to take the kids to Orlando to wonder works, but with my kids, spring's 2, and dixie's 1 - we all cannot fit in 1 car. Spring's ex hubby came along and drove with her 2 kids and we all rode with spring. Unfortunately we faced hurricane type rain driving to Orlando, and as we pulled off on the exit we get a call from her ex that he had an accident!!!!! A tire blew and he went into the guard rail spun, back to the guard rail, etc. --- Failure!! Luckily everyone was okay, and the kids were more worried about their broken DS's then anything. We have learned our lesson though!!

Even with all of this we had a great time! I went shopping with spring on black friday and actually had a great time - who knew you could have fun with your sister-in-law LOL

Needless to say upon returning home I needed some recouping time! and then it was onward to my christmas cards! I chose my Santa card for my card and I had enough supplies to make 40, unfortunately I sent out 96 cards LOL

Some were for Pampered Chef though with an adorable snowman cake recipe and I used store bought ones for my co-workers at work. So with my 40 cards I was only truly short 3, but I would have liked about 10 more to cover some I wanted to send a real card to and I discovered I forgot 2 people LOL However, after sending out 96 and so far receiving 6 back - I am good LOL What is up with the trend of Xmas cards? I have noticed each year they have been less and less - I thought it was due to our moves but from what I hear from others - I am not the only one that is getting less!

It was then onward to trimming the tree,

wrapping presents and working with Ali's birthday party!! Are you starting to see why I am behind on my blog yet LOL I work from 8 - 5 or 6, cook dinner, get kids bathed and in bed, then have me time, which means card, wrapping, birthday, or now goodie bags (more on that later LOL) Anyhoo Ali's party - she wanted a Dora Theme (again) and I talked my mom into making her a little army of dora cakes!

Daddy took her to breakfast where someone called her a princess so she became princess for the day as she informed us LOL I worked a half day so while I worked, Mom and her decorated her cakes and then after her nap and when autumn was home we went to chuckee cheese! On the way out the door she informed me this was the best day of her life - awwwwwww!!! We went and played, had pizza, I got them some loot from the counter, and then onward to home to presents and cake!! She still has to pull every piece of tape and paper from a present before passing it on LOL so it took forever!! Her absolute fave toy was her frog backpack, which is currently stuffed with anything she can cram into him! During the cakes she informed me I was to light the cake, singe her happy birthday, and then she would blow out her candle LOL so we followed her instructions......then it was bath and bed time and my time to collapse!!! life has calmed down since (tuesday)...now all I have to face is making goodie bags for autumns class and cookies for her last day on Tuesday!

The goodie bags! I ordered her some stuff from oriental trading because nobody has good trinkets for Christmas! You can find plenty at Halloween though! I will say I am impressed by Oriental Trading - My order was right but the items did not look like the pic so they sent me new items out free of charge, if the new items look okay I will definitely go back based upon their customer service!!! I should get those today and that just leaves us to make 30 candy cane reindeers LOL Why I do this to myself I will never know!!

On Wed. night I took Autumn to Her school store for her to do her christmas shopping - I gave her $5 to shop during class for her sisters to feel like a big girl, but whoever helped her was on something LOL - you wrote down who they were shopping for and ages, well she comes home with a teacher pen for her 4 year old sister and a #1 mom mug for her 1 year old sister LOL While very cute and thoughtful one wonders a) how my child can not read the item and b) how the helper did not catch it! Anyhoo I transferred those items to myself and her teacher and took her back to get daddy and her sisters and nana something. She had fun picking out presents and putting them in the bags and writing who they went to....so much fun next year I think she is helping me wrap LOL if only she was not my child that would tell everyone what they got - it would be on accident but it would happen.

Whew I think that brings us up to the present! I will strive to keep it updated from now on =0) I should have some pics from our goodie bag making and reindeer candy cane project coming soon!!

Bad Blogger

So it has been nearly a month since my last blog!!!! Needless to say it has been crazy, with a trip home to Florida, Thanksgiving, Christmas Shopping, Christmas Crafts with the kids, Picking and decorating a tree, wrapping presents, getting ready for Ali's Birthday, and making christmas cards! So hectic to say the least!! It has been so nuts I have actually contemplated thinning down my scrap stuff *gasp*!

I am going to take a few minutes later today to update my blog, tell some funny stories and some not so funny stories from our vacation and general catch up!

Pampered Chef

Just a reminder that Pampered Chef is throwing its stoneware sale this month!!!! All unglazed stones are 20% off!!! Email me at sricharz2077@yahoo.com for more information!

More Christmas Cards

So I started yesterday evening working on cards - trying to catch up on a card challenge for LinneCards and what do I end up doing - cards that have nothing to do with the challenge LOL I am card making like I scrap - I let the supplies lead me rather than me leading them!! I used a huge Joy stamp from Unity on one card and their Christmas List stamp and I believe it is itty bitty christmas santa stamp on the other. Both cards have bazzill as the base and Basic grey as the patterned paper. I am not quite done with Joy but as soon as I get a light grey copic and a glitter pen I will take care of that =0)

Other than that not much is going on!

Ft Meade Card Swap

Wow it has been awhile since I updated! It has been crazy around here with getting ready for the card swap and just general life with 3 kids! I finished my card, my finished product is below. I used Stampin up Green and Red cardstock and I embossed one layer with the snowflake die for the cuttlebug. I then used shimmerz on this layer to give it some sheen! Used a stampin up santa stamp and an inkadinkado stamp. I used copics to color in santa and accented him with stickles...overall i think he turned out pretty good!

The swap itself was awesome! It was hosted by Tracy and Amanda and they did a fab job! I had a blast trying out everyone's cards and for a newbie it was great to get some ideas and learn some new techniques!! I also unfortunately now want about 4-5 more stamps sets then I did when I went in LOL I have a pic of some of my completed cards below.

Also I won a fabulous prize from Rhonda - an adorable altered house she did! She is being pretty modest but it is adorable!!!! So overall a wonderful day away from home and I am uber motivated now to make some christmas cards!!! I think I will continue with Santa for now. But I foresee that Cardinal stamp set and the snowman stampin up set in my near future!

Our Weekend!

We had a very busy weekend full of trick or treating and a trip to the Smithsonian National Zoo!! It was a very fun weekend though and I think the girls had a blast (ignore autumns scowl in the halloween pic hahaha)