**Happy New Year!**

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Wishing you all a wonderful new year! I am so blessed to have met you all:) I look forward to this next year; 11 months till our long-awaited wedding!! I cannot wait. So, my New Year's Resolution that I MUST keep is to be positive about life, which includes the fact that I must get motivation and believe in myself that I can get my body in better shape for our wedding! I want to feel AMAZING that day, not like a chunky momma (how I usually feel)! I want to be a better mommy this year, a better student, a better friend, and a better "housewife". (yes, I need to get better at dusting on a regular basis, lol!) I hope you all have a great day!

Hugs,
Noelle ;)

The best MONDAY in a long time...

Don't you agree that Mondays usually stink? We always seem to get bad news of some sort on Mondays in our house, or the kids are extra crabby, etc. Today was the first GREAT Monday in a long time. My mom, Gage and I went to lunch today and to 2 craft stores in search of some Christmas clearance glitter gold leaf garland we saw for my wedding- we are thinking for the head table. And we found it for $3 a piece. We were so EXCITED! While at Michael's, I ran into a friend of mine who I hadn't seen in awhile. I met her back in 2000, when her precious daughter was in my preschool class that I taught at a little church. We became friends and I adored her little girl so much who was 4 at the time and now is 12!!! Talk about making me feel old! LOL Anway, my friend is a teacher at a local Catholic school who informed me a while back that her school was going to be adding a Pre-Kindergarten classroom in a year or so. Well, today she told me that it is scheduled to open next Fall. I told her that I just finished my degree in Early Childhood Education, which most likely make me eligible for this preschool teaching position!!! HOW EXCITING!! She told me to call her principal and ask him to set up a meeting, take my resume and portfolio and tell him that she sent me! I am almost jumping out of my seat thinking about this possible opportunity!!! It would be a wonderful door to open for my future in teaching! So say a little prayer that I will have some luck:) Brian also got some good news today that he could possibly start his apprenticeship in the local electrical workers union this coming Monday, instead of having to wait till June '09!! So that is very exciting too:)

I'm on the run now to tackle some housework before Gavin returns from his sleepover at his grandma's house; hopefully he's a good boy when he comes home!! (lol)

~Noelle~

*Sunday Sweets*

Hello girls! I had to run to Meijer today, milk and laundry soap was on sale (yippee!) so I thought I'd sneak a peek and see if any of their Christmas stuff was left. They had a section this year of pretty bubblegum/pastel colored ornaments and I was lucky enough to snatch the last of these cute ornaments:)

These little candies are so cute and full of glitter!

These 2 little pink and white stockings are embellished with sequins and were only $0.74 each!!

I thought these little tree ornaments were sweet too with candy canes for the stumps!

Remember the $1.00 pink glittery tree I found at Goodwill a couple weeks ago?
Well, here is the before shot...

And here it is after I added a silver snowflake ornament I had, as the tree topper. Then I hot glued those little present ornaments and silver ball ornaments that I found at Walmart yesterday for $0.50! I also hot glued some of my grandma's old silver/gold tinsel around the pot.

Came out pretty cute, huh?

Well, I must run up and tend to my little Gage who didn't nap today and fell asleep after 6 pm in the truck, went back to sleep and is up for the 2nd time in an hour!! I think he still isn't feeling well and its gonna be a looooooong night! Figures, the oldest is at grandma's for a sleepover and this one has to give me a hard time!! Can't this momma ever catch a break??

~Noelle~

Shhh! Silent Shopping Saturday!!

Can you see the excitement in my eyes?? This morning was "Silent Shopping Saturday" for me!!

Now you are probably wondering what that means? It means, I got up at 6:30 am and went shopping by myself, without my kids!! Hence, the silence! lol It was SOOOOO fun and relaxing, I think I will do my shopping this way from now on!!


Thank goodness for eye drops and make-up this morning; cause I do NOT look like this when I roll out of bed!

Uh-oh, what time is it? 7:32 am and I'm pulling out of the driveway, by myself- hehe!!

I do LOVE my boys with all my heart, but I REFUSE to take them shopping anymore!

My last stop today was GOODWILL!! It was 50% off today also. I found this Home Interiors Pie Plate in Apple; just like my kitchen! Got it for $2.00!! So CUTE! I had a pie plate before but got rid of it last summer at my yard sale and had been regretting it, so this pie plate makes a great replacement! It has 2 little chips on it but you can't even really tell!

Found these 3 Partylite votive cups, too cute for $1.50!!
The best deal of the day was an antique box lined with silk that women used to put their gloves in. I already gave it to my mom so I don't have a pic yet. We found out that its at least 100 years old and sells for up to $250 in antique stores... and I found it for $0.50!!!! UNREAL!!

These next pics aren't in the right order, but oh well. I just remembered the other day that I have this glass Trifle Bowl from Pampered Chef and I have always wanted to use it as a table centerpiece. So I stopped at Menards and found these pretty silver shatterproof ball ornaments and the pinkish-red glass ones and put them inside the trifle bowl with a tall mulberry scented pillar in the middle! Its SOOO pretty:)

These white snowflakes were ornaments that I got in a set of 4 for $0.50 yesterday at Target so I slid them into the sides for extra pretty sparkle! I was feeling very Martha Stewart-ey today- minus the prison sentence, lol!!

Here is what I used in the bowl that came from Menards, less than $9.00 for all of this!

Found this pretty crinkled purple top at Walmart this morning! It has sparkley buttons and little rhinestones on it. I'm planning to wear it on New Years.

Got the last Gingerbread House photo holder from Kohl's for $2.00 today! Sniff, sniff! I got my mom one of these and a ginger-girl one for Christmas.

Wrapping paper, at last!! Found all of these at Walmart and...

the cute gingerbread paper that my friend Holly paid full price for!! lol (Sorry Holly just teasing you honey!!) I got mine for $2.50:)

Martha Stewart CUTE, CUTE, CUTE scrapbook paper for like $4.00!! I have been drooling over this paper for a couple weeks now and was so happy when they still had some!!!

I picked up these little ornaments for my pink glitter Goodwill tree that I found awhile back. I did jazz that tree up tonite and its mighty CUTE, but my camera died so the pics will be on tomorrow! These little ornaments were only $0.50 each!

I hope you all have found some great after Christmas deals! This is what I usually spend my Christmas money on, lol! Stuff for next year:) It was so nice to just get away today and wander aimlessly from store to store, enjoying being able to look at things without distraction! Maybe I was chosen to have 2 sons as a way to curb my shopping addiction? Boys hate to shop but I love too, so you'd think I'd learn to stop taking them shopping with me!! No, they are precious but very, very busy! And I know that a shopping cart is NO fun for them:)

Gotta get some sleep ladies, more stuff tomorrow! I am still sorting through about 200 photos from Christmas, whew! SOME of those will be up soon too.

~Noelle~

Bah-Humbug, Christmas is Over!

Hello everyone! I just wanted to drop in today and let you all know that we had a very nice Christmas but now I am feeling a bit "grinchy"! I tried to get out of the house today to do my after Christmas shopping; for wrapping paper, tags, tissue paper, etc. Which is usually very enjoyable for me but I chose to take the boys with me today and it was NOT FUN! The little one was such a grouchy butt! I thought maybe after lunch they would do better but nope! So we headed back home and put him for a nap. I am hoping to get out tomorrow for a bit so I can have some quiet time! I need to figure out where to put all the new toys now; and muster up some energy to get rid of some old ones! What I wouldn't give to win a home makeover focused on storage!!! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and I'll get some new pics up soon after I get this bug out of my grumpy butt today, lol!

~Noelle

Wishing you a...

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Gingerbread Goodies

As promised, here is my post of all the Gingerbread Goodies I got for my birthday!


After dinner last night, Brian and I went grocery shopping without the kids! (Now thats what I call a DATE, lol!) We were walking out of the store and my eye wandering to the Hoosier Lotto ticket machine and what did I see? Gingerbread Lotto Tickets!!! I told him that I felt lucky seeing those and they were too cute to pass up:) He rolled his eyes at me and gave me $4.00 to buy to of them. We got into the truck and I said, "Oh my gosh, they are scratch and sniff too!" Another rolling of the eyes came from him!
Will I be a winner?

Not a winner! BUMMER! They were mighty cute though:)

My BFF Valerie got me the Sex in the City DVD and a Martini ornament to go with;
cute and fun!

Close up of the Cosmo Martini ornament.

My friend Wendy got me a Gingerbread towel set and 2 silicone baking pans! Aren't they adorable? Also a set of craft punches for when I scrapbook!

Close up of Mr. Cute Gingerbread! My mom suggested making a plaster of paris mold with this one and painting it; that would be too cute!!
I think I am going to try it after the holidays are over!

Here are 2 ornaments I got; the one on the left is from Valerie and its a mommy, daddy and 2 kiddo gingerbreads! Amie got me the frame ornament on the right and put a photo of her and I in it. SWEET!

Amie also got me a pretty sparkley sweater that I have been wanting, a towel set with a gingey cookie cutter and recipe on it! And an adorable plate and candle shade:) Thanks sis!

My mom got me this blown glass gingerbread house on a cupcake ornament!

Cute cupcake stickers!

This gingerbread man sings "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" and the marshmallows in the mug pop up and sing too!!!

I love this red ceramic gingerbread basket!!
She also got me 2 gingey ornaments.

And I got another sweet towel set; the little ginger-girl is a pot holder/oven mitt!!

Lastly, my dear friend Holly that I met on her through blogging and a mutual love (or obsession, lol) for gingerbread, sent me a birthday card yesterday and put these sweet gingerbread stickers inside!!
THANKS HOLLY!!

Well, we have a busy night ahead of us! We celebrate Christmas with our boys on Christmas Eve morning, so tonite we need to bake our cookies for Santa and clean up our toys so Santa will visit us tonite! Tomorrow evening we are off to my moms for dinner and more gift-giving. Then on Christmas Day, we celebrate with Brian's family in the morning!! The holidays are very busy for us! So I will be back soon:)

Love and Happy Holiday wishes!

Noelle and family!!

Officially 30 today!

Well, I am officially no longer in my 20's! (lol) That's ok though, I've heard that you are taken more seriously by others when you are in your 30's; is that true? My mom kept telling me that I'd freak out about turning 30, but I honestly feel content with where my life is at this point, so I don't feel the need to FREAK OUT!! Tonite my future mother in law is going to watch the boys so we can go to dinner by ourselves, woo-hoo! We have not had a "date" night since last March; isn't that sad? We are going to a Chinese restaurant where they cook your food at your table, its pretty cool!

I'm off to do my last bit of Christmas shopping, only 3 more gifts and I am finally done! Oh, and nosy Gavin looked behind the dresser this morning in our room and said "Whoa, who are all those presents for?" UGH!!!! That is where "Santa" has been hiding "his" gifts for 3 years now; I am so afraid that this year he might realize that mommy is really Santa!! SO SAD!!
What a little stinker!

Chat soon,
Noelle

Birthday Blessings:)

My birthday dinner last night was fun! It was nice to get away from mommy duties and house work to chat with the girls! Here is my pink gingerbread cake that my mom made; isn't she good? It was a vanilla cake with strawberry filling and bavarian creme, YUM!!


Here I am with my AMAZING, LOVING and WONDERFUL mom is the whole world! See my pink hi-lites; they are much brighter in person:)

Here I am with my best friends and half of my bridal party-lol! Valerie on the far left, Wendy next to her, me then my sweet sister-in-law Amie! What would I do if I didn't have those girls? I would truly be lost:(

I'll post pics of my birthday gifts later, but be prepared to be on Gingerbread overload!! I got lots of cute GB stuff:)

~Noelle~

Today is PARTY day!!

Whew! I am counting the minutes down till I can get away today for my "Surprise thats not really a surprise" birthday dinner with my gal pals! Gage has been super whiny the past 2 days; its driving me crazy! He is typically very mellow and happy but I am wondering if maybe he isn't coming down with something? Looks like a trip to the dr. on Monday is in order. Gavin has been demanding candy since his Christmas Party yesterday at school! He has a natural sugar high most days anyway, we don't need to add to it!

Since the big 3-0 is coming on Monday, I decided to go out on a whim and do something a little wild! I got hi-lites put in my hair the other day, but... she put in blonde and pink!! It looks so cute though, I just don't have a good pic to post yet.
I needed to do something to make me still feel 20-ish! lol:)
My sons are making me feel waaaaaaaaaaaaay older than I am lately!

Here are some more pics from our Christmas photo shoot the other day. We were supposed to have a family photo done but Brian took a job that has him working about an hour away from home so he couldn't join us:(

This photo below is a gift for Brian for Christmas. I didn't even realize that Gage was doing the Shhh... finger but our photographer added the Don't Tell Daddy which I thought was too cute! She is SO creative!

This one is sweet too:)

This is about as much cooperation we got out of Gage on this day! lol I kept telling him "Bring mommy a ball" so he would at least look at us somewhat!

At least Gavin posed nicely! Not his usual big toothy grin though:(

Big brother telling little brother what to do; that NEVER happens in our house! (yeah, right!)

My favorite one of all! My 2 little turds! lol

I am soooo ready for Christmas to be here! How about you? I still need to get Brian his "big" gift and a gift card for my dad and then I am DONE! I got most of my wrapping finished the other day, whew! I usually love to wrap but this year it was a burden, probably due to all the other stuff I have had going on. Well, I am off soon to get the boys hair cut and to run a couple quick errands. I'll chat more tomorrow and hopefully have some pics from my birthday party:>

Happy Saturday!
~Noelle~