Sorry for the absence!

I didn't realize it's been over almost 6 months since I've written in here!  I stop in at least once a week to read and catch up, but every time I try to post, I get pulled away and never get back when I'm thinking about it.  I guess time gets away from ya!

As it has been the past months, the baby has been my main priority and I haven't got to do really ANY crafting or scrapbooking since I've had her.  I did get to spend a little time doing some things this past weekend, but nothing substantial.

Here's what's been keeping me busy.

Ava at 3 months old

taken in July 

 Ava with her great-great grandmother (my mom's grandmother)

Sorry if that's baby-photo overload, but as you can see... my little angel is growing so fast!  And now she is crawling and getting into everything!  :-)  But I LOVE every minute of my time with her.  

It's hard to believe, but her first birthday is coming so quickly, so I am starting to get some ideas together for her party and we have decided to do an Elmo/Sesame Street party because she's OBSESSED with Elmo.  Thank goodness for Pinterest!  I have found some awesome ideas!  I also ordered the Elmo Party Cricut Cartridge and the Sesame Street Seasons cart (I already had the font cart and the Sesame Street Friends) so I should be able to do most of her decor and invitations myself... well, if I find time to get into the craft area to do it!  :-p

I want to thank you all for sticking with me as followers and putting up with my long absences, but I promise, I'll be back eventually!  I miss keeping up with everyone each day and participating in the blog hops, but I hope you understand my absence!  <3 p="p">

Long Overdue! Photos, Projects, and Layouts update!

Has it really been over 2 months since I posted?? I really stink at this updating thing! Please forgive me though... the baby is my priority, so sadly, my crafting has been bumped down my list... and blogging even further apparently! But here I am for an update!

Today... what a day today is!

First, my dearest husband and I are celebrating 4 years of marriage! It's certainly been a roller coaster of fun, drama, tears, MUCH laughter, fights, and making up.... but I can honestly and truly say (even if he doesn't read this) that I have not one single regret and that I would do it all over the exact same way if I could!! He really is my best friend and I cannot picture one day of my life without him in it. :-) With that, here's a few photos from that day!

I look at those photos and it's so hard to think that it's been 4 years since that day!! So much has happened since then, but I still feel like I remember every single detail about Sunday, Feb 10, 2008! Crazy! :-)

Today ALSO happens to be my baby girl's 3 month birth-iversary! Again, I can't believe that time is going so quickly because I swear I was just at the hospital being induced!! But.... she's getting sooooo big and is such a wonderful baby! She very seldom cries (only if we wait too long to feed her, if she's got a super messy diaper, or just wants more loving!) and is smiling and laughing and cooing and imitating our faces so much now! Watching her grow each day makes me realize truly how blessed I am. And to think, that if someone had told me last year at this time that I would have a 3 month old baby, I'd have laughed and laughed and told them where to go. But.... God truly works in mysterious ways, because now, I can't think of what life would be like without her! She has truly put meaning and purpose in my life and I now know that I was meant to be a Mommy. Not to be pompous, but I think I rock at it! :-) Here are baby girl's monthly photos to see how she's growing!

So crazy to think that this little tiny blip on a black and white screen would grow up to be such a beautiful baby!!

6w1d pregnant

5 days old

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

Craziness!!!

In the middle of raising this beautiful baby and trying to keep my house from looking like a ToysRUs gone horribly wrong, I have managed to do SOME crafting... not much, but some! And of course, it all revolves around her!! LOL!

First, I started to play with vinyl. I'd never really been serious about trying it, but I figured why not! So I ordered some while it was on sale from OhMyCrafts.com and did a few little projects. The first is on Ava's wall in her nursery.

The second attempt was at a family for my van! (I waited to do this until she was actually here.) I love how it turned out (although everyone now tells me that it looks like I have TWO babies because of the "mommy" figure that I picked from the Car Decals cartridge... I thought it was more of the occupation of the figurine, but I guess I can see where they're coming from, so I may re-do my figure!)

I've also been working on some layouts for her baby book. This one is about us setting up and preparing her nursery.








This layout is about Daddy's Girl (because Ava DEFINITELY is a Daddy's girl allll the way!)

This layout is about all of the ultrasounds that we had and the progression of her growth during the pregnancy.

There are several other layouts, cards, and a few books and other misc. projects I've completed, but I often forget to take photos of them. :-p I'll work on that.

Thank you all for sticking with me despite my looooooong absences. Someday, I PROMISE that I'll find my happy balance of things and get back to where I want to be in my crafting world!! I hope that you are all well!!!!

Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to my dear crafty friends and your families! I wish you all a beautiful holiday and a happy, healthy, crafty New Year!!

Personally, I have already received the best gift I could EVER want... my beautiful Ava! :-)

Announcement customized with Smilebox

Introducing Ava Mary, my angel!!!

If someone had told me last Thanksgiving that by this Thanksgiving, I'd have a newborn baby, I'd call you lots of names and laugh at you. But guess what........ I have a newborn! LOL! It just seems like last week that I posted about our pregnancy and suddenly, it's almost December! My original due date was December 1st (which is tomorrow), but baby girl is already here!!! Due to some complications, my OB decided to induce me at 37 weeks on November 9th and baby was here shortly after!

(a few minutes after her arrival)

Ava Mary arrived at 8:08pm on Thursday, November 10. She weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 21 inches long. Healthy as can be and sooooo beautiful!!!

(getting ready to go home!)

The labor was not quite what I had expected and was a bit rough, but she is here and healthy and I am fine and healthy (though still recovering, so taking it easy), so it was worth it! She will be 3 weeks old tomorrow already (oh my goodness!!) and is growing so fast. I am still trying to figure out life with a newborn in my house. I was blessed to have my mother make it here to Florida from PA in time for her grand arrival, so I had some help for the first week that we were home. Then the rest of my family from PA (father, sister, uncle, stepdad) came down to meet her and to spend Thanksgiving with us all. Sadly, they all went back to PA on Saturday so it's just me and baby now. Someday I'll figure out how to organize my time with her, but for now, I'm just enjoying her!!!!!

Sooooooooooo, hopefully sometime soon, I'll get back to crafting and posting on a more regular basis. The past 9 months have been so hectic and crazy, so for that, I deeply apologize! I managed to get out on Black Friday to get some new supplies to encourage me to get back in my crafting room and I know that for Christmas, I will be getting some more neat crafting/scrapping stuff, so I just have to get to it, eh? :-)

I do want to thank you all for sticking with me through the past 9 months; for understanding why I've been MIA and for all of the sweet comments on my blog and on my FB! It really makes me smile to know that I'm surrounded (even if only virtually) by lots of love and support of all of you that I now consider friends!!!!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are preparing for a beautiful holiday season and I can't wait to catch up with you all soon!!!

An Event for my northeast Florida/Jacksonville followers!

Hey everyone! I know I need to get back on here to do a real update soon, but I wanted to get on quick to share a really neat event that's going on in the northeast Florida/Jacksonville area for anyone who follows me and is from here or is around the area!

My great friend Shirley (follow her on Facebook!) (or her blog!)planned an event called "Community Card Making Event for Our Soldiers" that'll be this Friday, October 21 all day long!! Here is the info from her Facebook event page:

Time	Friday, October 21 · 10:00am - 11:00pm
Location	Journey Church 6225-2 Lake Gray Blvd Jacksonville, FL
Created By	Shirley Wright
More Info	Operation Write Home supports our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them. PLEASE SHARE AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS!!!!!! I ask you RSVP by calling me at home: 904-771-9744. Please call by Tuesday Oct 18 so the snack boxes can be ordered and the space set up. Bring what you would like to work on, crop space is available for $15 or Drop off what you've made. Don't forget your extension cords!! Drop off at Journey Church on the day of the event or contact Shirley Wright to make arrangements. Cards will NOT be accepted after the event date. There are strict shipping guidelines to make sure our Heroes get the cards on time. Cards must be handmade, cannot have glitter, and be 4.25 x 5.5. No store bought or hand written sentiments. Click this link for more guideline information: http://operationwritehome.org/guidelines.html IF IN DOUBT PLEASE ASK. I would hate for you to spend time making cards and they can't be sent. Letters written to heroes are also accepted at the same location! The small fee charged at the door is to cover the costs of the church resources we consume and shipping involved for sending the cards to the distributor. All proceeds will be donated directly back to the church. The fee includes a Subway Sandwich, cookie and chips. Beverages are available onsite.

I think this is an AWESOME event and while I know that I cannot attend personally, I will be working on some cards to at least drop off on Friday!

If you are in the area, please try to go to this! And if you're not, but you know you have followers in the NE Florida area, please share this on your blogs or your FB pages! It's a great event for a great cause being organized by a great person, so why not!!! :-)