{just me}

Happy Easter

Hello friends...I hope you all had a fantastic Easter! My weekend was spent cleaning, baking and cooking. It was all worth it though as my family loved all the Easter goodies and yummy dinner. Liam loved his basket of fun stuff and well seth was a little annoyed I guess he assumed Easter is like Christmas and your supposed to get a ton of lego sets. Oh well, He was still happy by the end of the day. Way to much candy though this year. I really have to fine a better alternative than all the candy. My kids are in that in between age where toys are not really a option and the only option left is candy. So I will see what I can come up with next year. lol ..Overall though it was a perfect weekend. We finished off the weekend by watching a movie called battle Los Angles. Not really my kind of movie but oh well. So this week my kiddos are off for spring break. I have already told them that i am not off so they are going to have to deal a bit with me getting work done. Later this week though I promised to take them to the titanic exhibit in san diego {remember my son has become obsessed with the Titanic} and the science museum and now they have added a picnic to the mix. So I am working hard the next few days so I can just hang out with them and evan is taking a few days off to also hang out with us. I wanted to share a few pics with you from our easter. I hope you all have a great monday...

The baskets..

Lillie loving her little soccer bunny...

Mr. Liam digging in...

Yes I baked for 5 hours straight... :) I haven't baked forever..

I LOVE this picture of my mom..she looks SO happy... :)

Egg hunt time...

Yes the bag was bigger than him...

My competitive lillie grabbing the eggs..

mmm sweets....

silly caitlin and her boyfriend...

isn't he just the CUTEST!!!

us with Seth...

and Miss Lillie....

i LOVE us....it was a perfect weekend....

 

Happy BIRTHDAY Mr. Liam....

2 YEARS OLD TODAY!!! How, how did 2 years already fly by. Well I know how FAST!!! I love Liam so much..I LOVE that he calls me AMA...I LOVE being his grandma...I LOVE his cute spicy personality and his LOVE of food. I LOVE the time we get to spend at the park playing...I LOVE his morning hugs and kisses...I LOVE that he LOVES sports..He is SO smart and amazes me with all his words he can say. I am grateful and blessed to have him in my life. So today HAPPY BIRTHDAY silly liam!!! Ama cannot wait to spoil you with birthday gifts...

{liams 1st birthday last year!! my lil monkey}..

A Perfect Weekend...

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend also. After a busy PDW week and getting almost everything done on my list we had a perfect family weekend. Friday night lillie's BFF Julia stayed over and I set up a cake pop making station. Goodness I need to work on those cake pops there not as easy as they look to make. Maybe we did something wrong but when it came to dipping them it was a little difficult, but the kids still had a blast and even seth got totally into it. Then Saturday I dropped boxes off at the post office and then we did a random outing. While on the freeway we went to san diego to a HUGE bowling alley with the kids. I will admit the place was kinda of cheesy but the kids thought is was the best. So they bowled, except lillie being as competitive as she is was a little annoyed that she wasn't getting the game but by the second game the kid was bowling strikes. I sometimes worry about her drive in the competitive world and her having to be great at every sport but that will be a whole other blog post. So after bowling there was laser tag that evan did with seth and i hung out with lillie and julia and lillie hit the 250 ticket jackpot twice and then so did julia it was awesome for them. Not when seth found out though, I should have just taken the kid to toys r us it would have been cheaper then me trying to win the darn tickets..oh well. He was happy in the end. SO on the way home we stopped by yogurtland and the kids went to town on toppings least they were light weight toppings since these new fancy yogurt shops are by weight. {boy how times change} Then sunday we almost made it to church but lillie had a project to work on {always our house they pick. i think it's my scrap room they like}  with friends coming over and so did seth so a another day of the house filled with kids. It was a good productive weekend though. Topped of with evans chilli for dinner. Here are a few photos {sorry there not the best I didn't bring my camera so it was just photos from my phone}...So how was your weekend? Did you have some fun family time or maybe you got to create something either way I hope it was fabulous!!!

Decorating cake pops..

So cute Miss. Lillie

Julia's cake pops...

Lillie and Julia made duct tape flowers....SO cute!!! and sprayed them with perfume so they smelled good...silly girls..

Seth...the bowler..

Lillie getting the hang of bowling..

Collecting all there tickets..

 

 

MMMM Ice Cream...

First off thank you ladies for the kind comments I really really appreciate them. SO...Ice Cream...This past weekend for St Patty's day Evan and I stayed home with the kids. Vegas was plenty for us in the going out stuff. Well we were trying to find something family friendly to do on St Patty's day (since I forgot to start the corn beef) so we went to Farrell's ice cream. When I was a kid I had SO many birthday parties there and a long time ago they closed up. It wasn't until recently I learned they have opened a few and one is about 30 minutes from us. So on the rainy night we went to mission viejo and stood in a LONG LINE for dinner and ice cream. When we finally sat down Lillie and Seth thought it was the best place on earth. They couldn't believe the candy shop and the workers running around with sirens and huge buckets of ice cream. So that was our st Patty's day out with the kids and they loved it!!! Then the rest of the weekend was filled with laundry, cleaning, menu making and grocery shopping. So what did all of you do for St Patty's day!!!!...Hope you all have a great Monday....

Lillie and her daddy...

Me and my twin....

mmm Oreo cookie sundae and "nachos"..aka waffle chips with butter pecan ice cream..double malted crunch and mint and chip...covered in carmel and hot fudge.. (not a dieters best friend but hey I didn't have any beer..lol)

He is such a BIG kid....

that is lillie's mmmmmmm face....

1 year ago....

On my Anniversary in Las Vegas..I looked like this...Now I don't think I look horrible but what I do think is weight is a tricky...weird..funny thing. I am beyond proud of my weight loss so far. I still have some more to go and this past anniversary didn't help with all the fancy food we ate and having a gimp knee at the moment that isn't allowing me to fully run on it just yet. I will say this though I will always and forever grab the fruit before the cupcake. I will do this because this past anniversary I was happy..so VERY happy...happy that evan and I made it another year {even though VERY rough} we did it. I was HAPPY to look decent in our photos and wear some pretty awesome swanky clothes. { I even bought earrings!} I was HAPPY to have evan hold my hand all over Las Vegas. He doesn't care what I look like {obviously} but deep down inside I DID! I was always the fashion girl..the girl that was 2 steps ahead of everyone and well the last few years I just kinda of let "me" go. Not anymore, I am my own focus..I love walking into anthro and buying a size Medium in there tops and almost the single didget in there jeans ;)...I LOVE feeling GREAT about myself..We all look like we feel great but sometimes we don't...My kids think I am beautiful and having daughters I didn't want them to think well mom thinks she is fat maybe I am to..I approached it with them as a lifestyle change that for me the sweets are no good but for them {since they are so active}....eat all you want children..I won't lie some days are harder than others. I had a crop last weekend and there was left over candy and I sware every time I walked through the kitchen I grabbed a piece...Finally yesterday I gave the WHOLE bag away..sweets are bad for me..like i said good days and bad days..so today while walking through the kitchen I grabbed a banana..I know my limits..I know what my triggers are..I know when I am super stressed i DO NOT eat..{which is BAD}..So I go in tomorrow for my weigh in I am a little nervous but even if a few pounds where gained..they were gained with LOVE...ANNIVERSARY LOVE!! lol...So do you have food addictions or triggers...and what do you do..I am slowly getting back on the fitness wagon...Thank you for listening and do PLEASE share with me your weight loss or struggles I wanna hear them.... I hope you all have a Happy Friday...

Wow..I almost forgot I had this blog...lol

Updates..updates..updates...I do envy the people that can update everyday. I wish I was one of them. I am going to start making a conscious effort though to update this personal blog of mine. So I guess I shall just jump right into things. So I went to New York got tossed out of a cab majorly hurt my knee {still on the mend} and then just got back from Las Vegas with my hubby.... SOOOO Life...It's been a bit crazy..nothing to drastic just BUSY. It is nice though we have the next few months off of soccer {I know lillie is not happy about it} but I am. Spending your nights and weekends on a soccer field can take up allot of time. Then there is just kids and school work, this is the time of year were they have all there field trips and BIG assignments due. Good times I tell you. Then there is the house renovations that is going slower than molasses, it's ok though I would rather it take a year and be done right that have it half fast and be done wrong. We are holding off on the kitchen for a bit as it was going to cost a bit more than we budgeted for so hopefully this fall. We did though decide to re-do our master bedroom into a retreat/sanctuary I will keep you updated on that "project". My weight loss is still going well, except this past week Evan and I where in Las Vegas for our anniversary and let's just say I ate and drank what i wanted and I am regretfully paying for it this week. Ewww note to self DO NOT EAT LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN!!! Least the jeans still fit. I have about 20lbs to go to get to my goal weight of 135...so darn excited for that and it felt good in vegas {besides the food} to look nice in my photos with my hubby of now 13 years...13 YEARS...WOW..I am proud of us because it is not always a easy path for us we are VERY different but like they say opposites attract. SO that is about it on the home front. I hope to start sharing with you my creations again and some decorating stuff.I just kinda lost my MOJO for a bit but thankfully it is BACK full FORCE!!!..SO I promise not to be a stranger. Have a happy tuesday everyone I am off to finish updating our PDW site....

Here is a picture of Evan and I in VEGAS...I just LOVE this picture!!! I did a fancy braid I wish you could see the back it was kinda cool!!!

A day off...for the kids...

Holidays, I do love them but they throw me off. I get the guilty feeling that my kids are bored and mom is working. Well that's what you get when your mom works from home. lol...So over the weekend was busy. Evan and I carved out all day saturday to go to ikea and home depot to plan our new kitchen remodel. YIKES, 6 hours at ikea on a saturday while they are having some free food event is pure chaos. NEVER EVER AGAIN will I go to IKEA on a weekend. I am not sure what we were thinking. My mom came over though and stayed with the kids all day so we could get it all done { i don't even know how anybody could get anything done at ikea with there kids as ours can no longer go in the "play" area}. So the kitchen is all planned out a little bit of ikea mixed with Martha Stewart's new kitchen line will create my prefect gathering area. Our kitchen is from the 1960's, now I LOVE that era just not my falling apart disgusting cabinets and gross laminate counter top. It all gets started about the 3rd week of march I am beyond excited. Other than that sunday came we stayed on track and went to church {2 weeks in a row} yaa hooo. Then came home and hung out, evan took the kids to the movies and I cleaned up the house a bit with no one here. NICE...I have to share something funny about church, It has been about a good year since we have been back and mostly we just wanted to get our life and our marriage and our children all back on track. Having a son I worry about Seth at times and last year he seemed to just act out and get super angry at his sister. Evan and I didn't like it one bit. So fast forward to the past few weeks where church has been back in his life and it's strange he is a different kid. Last night him and Lillie played for hours together in his room {rare}. But this is the story, so Evan took the kids to the movies and on the way there he hit like 10 red lights, then the next one was green and seth said "see GOD is great I was praying to him that we wouldn't get any more red lights and look the rest are all green" now mind you it could have been a timing issue with evans speed and the lights but to him it was magic. He came home and told me all about the lights, and how he needs his own bible. This kid the one that gives me so many tantrums was truly a awesome boy this past weekend and SO helpful. I am so grateful that he is listening to the Scriptures being read in class and I really hope it sinks in with him because where I live let's just say alot of the boys around here are turds...SO besides a pretty awesome weekend..today has been lazy for the kids and work for me. Here are some pictures of my day today...Boring let me tell you...

The FOLDER...yikes...paint colors,catalogs,estimates...and so on...You would think I would create something cute for the remodel..well I just might...as soon as I get a chance to clean up the insane scrap room..

Seth watching Mindcraft videos...his favorite game EVER...

oh dear...it's a disaster almost embarrassed to show you..but it is what it is...life is messy..I do plan on cleaning it tonight though...

Lillie just kicking back in her neon room..on her ipod touch..she just finished skateboarding and is waiting for her friend to go to souplantion...

and me...with my fancy anthro sweater on..with ugly sweats and a t-shirt and uggs..oh yea I'm looking good today...lol...{i am down 5 more lbs though} hoping to be in at least a 8 by chaw but most likely will stay a 10... :) better than a 22 that I was...

So I hope whatever you are doing on your "day off" that your having a creative good time.....

Happy New Year...

only 12 days in... :) I hope you all had a fabulous Holiday and New Year. Our family had a awesome Christmas and Evan and I celebrated anther New Year together. I will sum up 2011 as not my best year. It was just a rough year, but somehow Evan and I came out a little stronger in our marriage and my family a little bit more at peace at how this house really has to run everyday. Evan and I have been married almost 13 years,it's a long time and I am not the easiest one to be married to. Then you put kids and step-children into that mix and well it gets messy. It was a rough year for my 17 year old and I {caitlin} she is a senior this year and well let's just say she not a sweet little 5 year old anymore. We had some HUGE fights in 2011 they were not fun for anyone in our house. In the end though we made a peace offering {most of the problem is we are JUST alike} and I love her so much and just want her to be happy with herself and her life. She has a new boyfriend {he is 22} so that was a HUGE fight in 2011 but after getting to know him with out judging him by his age he is really a nice guy and makes her smile and at the end of the day it makes me smile. I hope it lasts cause now we really like him..lol. 2011 also brought my oldest daughter {danika} and our grandson {liam} back home. Well that got messy to. Having 2 more people in a house that is already tight quarters well let's just say it can get ugly. Not to mention 2 sisters living under the same rough again {DRAMA}. We made the choice as a family to let danika and liam move back in so she could get caught up financially the problem with that is I am a MOM..and well I like my house to be a certain way and run a certain way. That didn't happen. I do LOVE though having my little liam here but that also meant my POlkadot Whimsy suffered a bit I do hope I am able to dig it back out of the rubbish. I got so insanely behind, watching a toddler, cleaning house, making dinners, fighting with children and spouses..well that puts you behind. I could feel the anxiety of it all coming on in late october and by the 2nd week of november i was toast. So the holidays came and that was nuts and then they left that was great. other than that 2011 not being as awesome as I wish it was I will just be so amazling thankful for it all. 2012 is already showing to be a fantastic year {besides Evan getting horrible food poisoning on new years}. Early in december Evan and I had a LONG talk about our future and that there was no way were gonna have another 2011. So 2012 is right on track, he is my saint I know I have said that term before but he really really is. At times i get so angry and frustrated and rarly it is with him I just tend to put the blame on him because it is easier that way than admitting my own flaws. We decided on a plan together, and he told me some things I didn't want to hear but had to hear know what I mean. So here is our plan I am gonna share it with you. Eat dinners at home, keep a budget and stick to it, be with our kids and play with them go on bike rides, invest in our house and not so much on material things, LOVE OUR LIFE, be more understanding to everyone who lives under this roof, stop sleeping on the couch {my problem always has been I always fall asleep there} create a working schedule that works for the whole family and stick to it , try not to work so much on the weekends, CHURCH is our #1 priority with out it everything else is gonna fail and trust in it, create a calm environment for our family because there all growing so fast, travel more and create memories vs shopping more and creating debt, and finally if PDW fails accept it and move on. The last one is SO hard for me, but Evan has given life to PDW for one more year it is either make it or break it for PDW and I know I can get it back to where it used to be it is just gonna take all of the above. Also I like our new look on 2012 I feel like I have something to look forward to everyday. That also means I will be staying up to date on this blog...NICE...We have some big trips planned this year..one is our 13 year anniversary that we will be celebrated together at the cosmo in Las vegas and the 2nd one is ENGLAND for lillie's 13th b-day. I hope I didn't bore you with all this rambling but it is nice to chat with all of you again. What are some things you are changing for yourself or your family in 2012 please share I wanna hear. I am hoping to do some creating this weekend {it's not working it's fun}..Also here are some pictures of our christmas and a few from New Years as Evan and I celebrated again in Las Vegas with our dear friends brian and tricia....Oh on a side note 2011 was a great year for loosing weight..and in 2012 still loosing :)....almost there to the goal weight of 130...

Our Tree...

Caitlin's snowboard..and she got boots and bindings...

it was a lego christmas for Seth...

Lillie and her Barclay's League ball..she had a awesome christmas

Little Liam in his new tent...he LOVED christmas

I got Evan a new fancy monitor, what else do you get a computer geek..lol..

caitlin and her boyfriend mikey, he came dressed in holiday jammies so cute...

I got all my Martha Stewart kitchen stuff.. {did I tell you we are remodling the kitchen and I got all new beautiful appliances and a convection oven }....

at the Hard Rock Las Vegas, I Suprised Evan with Guns and Roses Tickets... :) Had to take a picture infront of my 2nd favorite man...

And..Finally Happy New Year....man i LOVE him!!!

 

Fresh Vintage Sizzix Blog Hop

I am SO thrilled to be a part of this blog hop. I have ALWAYS loved sizzix and have ALWAYS used there dies in almost all my projects. Owning a kit club {Polkadot Whimsy}, sizzix has allowed me to create fun custom creative yummies for our kits every month. I am always die cutting fabric...veneer...felt...pretty much you name it I have probally die cutted something out of it. So you ready to get started on some very inspiration blog hopping...I want to share with you 3 fun projects I have made using this FABULOUS Fresh Vintage Leaves Die.

First up...a cute and VERY simple gift idea, just think of all the cute stuff you can put in there.

Gather Supplies....

I am using the Leaves DIE of course..plus some very cheap plastic containers from the dollar tree and part of our October kit and of course...my EPIPHANY CRAFTS TOOLS....

so cover the plastic container with mod podge....

Wrap it all around with your color choice of yarn. I also placed a fall doilie on the bottom..

Using my ornament die for a circle...Cut our your fabric..

Mod podge the top and sides and place the fabric onto the lid. Mod podge the top of the fabric, I clipped around the edge of the circle so I could fold it down. set aside to dry.

let dry...

now comes the fun part using the leaves die....layer your materials I am using 2 different colors of wool felt and some lace. now die cut them out...

see....so pretty....now layer which ones you would like..

and go stitch them together...

adorable..

using the epiphany round 14..I made my own custom Apple epoxy...place your epoxy into our vintage setting..

lid should be all dry, now wrap your fabric tape around it...I LOVE FABRIC TAPE.. ;)

All ready to put all together and fill with gift cards..or treats...

I just hot glued the leaves to the top of the lid, and then placed a vintage fabric yo yo onto the leaves and then finished it off with our cute epiphany custom epoxy...

Ready for a few more goodies with the Leaves die....

Using our NEW SCALLOPED tool I punched out one of the label phrases.

i LOVE it..

using some fall fabric I die cutted some more leaves and then put them through my zyron sticker maker...

see a super cute gift card holder..and can you tell the scalloped custom epoxy is pop dotted up...

and to seal your cute package shut..just use the fabric leave sticker...

OK...so now here is a special surprise..next week I am teaching at CKU. I love all the different ways this die can be used..not just for fall or holidays..take a look at one of my album inserts for my "be silly" album track class...

I just layered a TON of tissue paper in various colors and then randomly stitched them onto the top of the album insert..it is one of my favorite pages in the album...

 

I hope you have a fantastic day hopping...Thank you SO much for stopping by....

Be sure you click the {hop forward} link below...There is lots of inspiration out there today...

 

Sizzix Fresh Vintage
[ Hop back ] [ Hop forward ]

Weight Loss...

Before I go there, I want to give a couple of our Scrapfest Class kits away...to..

Oh my gosh!!That's a hard pick..right now im loving the Crate Paper Random collection!!

Posted by: christy | September 27, 2011 at 11:50 AM

I'd have to go with all of them but if you make me pick right now I'm loving banners.

Posted by: Doreen | September 28, 2011 at 08:38 AM

Thank you SO much girls just send me your info to michele@polkadotwhimsy.com 

Now onto a LONG time battle...Up until my mid 20's I NEVER struggled with weight, EVER. I was always a constant 110-120 max. Then after having Lillie it was much slower coming off, then seth well that was close to impossible. Over the years I have tried all sorts of "stuff" from weight watchers to jenny craig. For me what I know works is exercise and portion control and eating and choosing the right foods to fuel my body. So let's jump forward to earlier this year. During spring break we took the kids to Big Bear for a fun filled week, it was the last weekend of the lifts being open and a very freak snow storm came through. The kids have been bugging Evan for years to learn to snowboard. Finally he caved and we all went on the mountain gear in hand and a teacher to show us all how to do it {evan}. Evan of course is a great snowboarder, Caitlin,lillie and seth picked it up right away NO PROBLEMS. Well me on the other hand couldn't even get her self up on the board when I fell, not only did I have no muscle in my legs to get me up but I was also trying to get 207lbs off the ground. Needless to say I walked down the mountain in tears and headed back to the cabin to do what I do best SCRAPBOOK. My snowboarding days where done before they even began. I was sad, I wanted to be on that mountain snowboarding I wanted to hang with my kids and my husband but unfortunately fat took over. So let's fast forward again to about 6 months ago. I was DONE with being FAT! I was DONE with my favorite jeans starting to be so tight it was uncomfortable. Most of all though I was done with myself and this muffin top I had created over the years for simply being lazy. So I made a appointment with a weight loss doctor. Now some may think this is the "easy" way out well I am going to tell you it ISN'T in any way EASY! I have the BEST doctor in the world he has not only helped but he has changed the way I look at food and that is the core puzzle piece. We all can take pills or drink shakes but it is learning to control what goes in your mouth and the amount you put in there. It is taking a brisk walk everyday even if it's only 10 minutes. So for me it is yogurt in the morning, followed by a healthy snack, onto a protein filled lunch and then anther small snack and finally a portion controlled dinner. I also know this, I will be on that darn snowboard this winter and I will never again put on the size 18 clothes because the 10's are fitting WAY better. :) Hopefully by snowboarding season I will be in a 6, that is my GOAL 125-130 I have about 25 more to go. One more thing can I just say I never viewed myself as "fat" ever. It wasn't until that number on the scale that I was like NO WAY that's so wrong. It wasn't..lol...So anyway I came across a few photos and to me they show success...I am proud of myself...also what works for me may not work for you...but I wanted to share this small story and let you know if you are struggling with your own weight that it is never to late to get healthy!!!

This photo to me when I saw it showed me WOW...you have lost weight, because I am my own worst critic..but I must say all my photos from SCRAPFEST { which you will have to come back tomorrow and read my whole post about that fantastic event} are my favorite by far because I can see the person I was wanting to be...now I am not all that yet comfortable in my own skin...but it's getting better.....

I hope all of you have a fantastic THURSDAY...and if you have a weight loss story or any yummy recipes PLEASE leave me a comment with the link I would love to read them...