My Favorites on Friday

What a week! I got the results from my Insulin test back today and everything is normal in that area. I am still wondering what could be going on then?

So onto a happier note... Here are my favorite things from this week...

American Idol... Kris and Adam in the finals- YAHOO! I ♥ them both!!

V-8 Fusion in Blueberry Pomegranate- YUMM!! And sooo good for you too; a serving of fruit and veggies in each cup! Our peds dr. recommended this for Gage since he has such crappy eating habits and HE LOVES IT too!!

Biggest Loser TV Show... I am SO inspired by this show!! I recently started watching it and can't wait for the new season to start!

Pretty things like picnics in the summer; don't ya love this picnic basket? I found a picnic basket at GW last winter for $4.00; I don't think I have posted a pic of it yet!! LOL

Thinking of 4th of July; cookouts, decorating in red, white and blue, fireworks... FUN!
I ♥ Summer!!

AND... My SWAP from Heidi!! Heidi was the host for the Crisp & Clean, White & Green swap and my partner! I got my package from her today and LOOOOOVE it! I will post about it tomorrow though; too much to do today!!

What are your favorite things this week??

Noelle ♥

Needed: Some ideas...

So... I got an Apothecary Jar a couple months back and had it filled with little pastel eggs for Easter time and now it sits empty on my counter:(

I need some fun and creative ideas from you girls on what I can add to my lonely jar!! I'm thinking Spring and Summer ideas... HELP!!

P.S. I listed several items on Ebay the past 2 weeks and have made around $65.00!! Yahoo $$ So, I suppose I could spend a few bucks of that filling the inside of my jar with something CUTE!

My mom suggested Salt Water Taffy, which is CUTE but too tempting to eat!!

So, tell me... what do I put inside my jar?

Noelle~

Update: Doctor!

Ahhhhh... a sigh of relief is what I have now that I visited my new gyno dr. today. I sat and talked with her explaining all of my troubles such as the weight gain, being unable to have a period on my own, etc. She looked at me and said "Sounds to me like you may have Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome. And... I wonder if you aren't pre-diabetic"!!!! Helloooooo... this is everything that I was telling my OLD dr. and she never said anything about this!!

I have to fast for 12 hours starting tonite at 8 pm and go in tomorrow for an Insulin test. She told me that she would call me when she got the results and we'd go from there. The more and more that I read about the PCOS, it has me wondering about the pre-diabetes! It would explain the rapid weight gain, difficulty that I have losing the weight among other numerous things too.

Its scary to think that I might have this and have to COMPLETELY change my lifestyle and eating but KNOWING that I will have ANSWERS to my problems and be on the right track to losing weight and feeling better, both mentally and physically makes me want to JUMP for JOY!

I am so grateful that I was referred to a good and understanding doctor FINALLY! I pray that things get better from here on:)

Chat later, I'm off to exercise for the 3rd day in a row- YIIIPPPEEE for me!!

Hugs,
Noelle ♥

2 days worth of posts TODAY!

Hi girls! I'm back and I owe lots of posts!! Here is my layout for Scrapbook Sunday; the theme for this week was anything MOMS! This layout is about my grandma; I did this one not long after she passed. My oldest son Gavin was extremely close to her and took her death very hard- he was only 4 years old at the time. I added this layout to his book so he could always look back and see all the wonderful memories of her that we had in pictures. The ONE thing I regret most is not taking more pics of him with her when he was little. I didn't start scrapbooking till he was 2 1/2 so many of the photos that I would have taken "now" weren't taken back then!! Which I could SO kick myself for it now:(

My grandma, Etta, that we called "Nanny" was such an amazing woman! She was so patient and kind with her grandchildren and a wonderful giving mother to her own children; she is missed SO much!!

Here she is on her 81st Surprise birthday party in June 2005! We were told at that point that she had about 9 more months with us:( She only made it to August 15 of that summer. The cancer hit her so hard and fast; it was awful to see such a loving and delicate person suffer so much. But knowing that she would be in a better place when she passed away was the only way I could bring myself to cope with it; I loved her too much to let her go but I knew that she didn't need to be here suffering. I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU, NANNY ♥

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Here is my mom, Lori of Pink Faded Roses, with my 2 boys on this Mother's Day! They were enjoying some of Nana's cookies! My mom and I had a rocky relationship for awhile years ago; but after my grandma passed away... we knew we had to be there to lean on one another. Now we are the best of friends ♥

Here I am with my babies:) Aren't they silly??

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Here is what the boys and I made for my mom and my future mother in law for Mother's Day. Each boy painted a pot for one of the grandma's and then I used ovals and circles form scrapbook paper and added their pics in the middle to make them into little flowers! The little flower in the front said, "Happy Mother's Day from your lil' sprouts!"

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Funny cause my mom made me something very similar! She put the boys faces on little faux cupcakes she made using pom-poms and cupcake liners!! She put on the jar "Mom's Lil Cupcakes"! LOL

Great minds think alike!

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Brian and the boys spoiled me too! I got a new Yankee Candle in one of my favorite scents- Mandarin Cranberry:) I've been complaining about how these 3 guys make our house "stink"; if ya know what I mean!! LOL So now I can just light my candle to ward of the "guy gas"!!
Can anyone else relate??

I also got a $30 Bath and Body Works gift card to get me some new shower gels and lotions ♥

And.... I got my teacup flower pot!! Isn't it cute? Brian actually called me on his cell from Walmart on Saturday because he had NO idea what I was talking about, even though I showed him the pic in the sale ad last week:) Oh, the lengths he will go to, to make me happy sometimes!

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We spent the rest of yesterday just lounging around like Gage is doing here!!

What a HAM!!

Last night, we went to dinner at Olive Garden-YUM! I went to bed at 9:45 last night because I was so exhausted!! I started the 30 Day Shred video yesterday and it about killed me; I was so sore and tired last night! Now I am off to clean, Gavin is at school and Gage is with grandma till 12:30... time to SPRING clean!! Yippee (not really, sigh!)

Have a great one!
Oh, how was your Mother's Day?? Hope it was as wonderful as you ♥

~Noelle~

MOTHER'S DAY and Scrapbook Sunday UPDATE

Wishing you all a very Happy Mother's day! I am taking the "day off" tomorrow so we will reschedule Scrapbook Sunday for MONDAY... and theme it with Moms on Monday!! That way you can show off some Mother's Day pics, or scrapbook pages of your mom, grandma, etc.
Anything MOMMY related!

Have a great day tomorrow and enjoy some of these fun graphics...

An Early Mother's Day surprise!!

Not that I would ask (beg) my son for my Mother's Day gift he made me at school, a day early... ok, I did!! LOL He was like "I said you could have it a day early!" So he gave me his precious hand-made gift that he worked on at school and I got all teary eyed and momma-mushy!

His gift that I will show below made me think of this poem written from a child's perspective about his/her mommy. I'd like to share this precious poem with you... grab a kleenex cause its a TEAR JERKER!!

When You Thought I Wasn't Looking

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw you hang my first picture on the refrigerator,
and I wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw you feed a stray cat, and I thought
it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw you make my favorite cake for me,
and I knew that little things are special things.

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I heard you say a prayer,
and I believed there was a God that I
could always talk to.

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I felt you kiss me good night,
and I felt loved.

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw tears come from your eyes and I learned
that sometimes things hurt,
but it's all right to cry.

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw that you cared and I wanted to be
everything that I could be.

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I looked....and now I want to say thanks
for all the things I saw,
when you thought I wasn't looking.

OMG!! Isn't that the most precious poem ever?? Here is my gift from Gavin!

A photo of him in a frame holding the card he made me, awww!!

Here is a close-up of the card... he said "Look I colored the letters in your favorite colors, pink and brown, mom!" Awww... sniff, sniff... he remembered his mommy's fave colors!!

He also made this book called "My Mom Wears Many Hats"; this book is what made me think of the poem I shared above. He wrote about some of the little things I do, that I NEVER thought would be all that important to him, but come to find out, THEY ARE!!!

"My mom is a chaffeur, she drives me to... SCHOOL" LOL

"My mom wears many hats in our family. My mom is a teacher. She taught me how to... Speak!" Wow, good one son!!

"My mom is a cook. I love it when she makes jello!"
(This totally cracked me up; he loves grape jello and drew jello jigglers!! All the YUMMY things I make and who would of thought that my jello is the BOMB! LOL)

"My mom is a nurse. She always makes me feel better when she... gives me medicine"

"My mom is an engineer. She can always fix... a rip!"
(He drew the rip that was on his Pokemon book that I taped!!)

"My mom is a magician. She can always find lost things. Once she found my... game chip."
(HE ALWAYS loses his DS game pieces!!!)

"My mom is the best mother in the world because... she loves me."

OMG, this little book just made my day! I love my sweet boys even when they are the biggest turds in the world! All the sleepless nights I endure, tantrums, the messes created by them... are all worth it; because I have them!!

I'll be back tomorrow to post Scrapbook Sunday; actually I may just do it tonite cause tomorrow will be busy. Have some tissues on hand for that post too!!

Hugs,
Noelle ♥

My Favorites Friday!

TGIF!! Today has been a WONDERFUL day (so far, the day is till young!)! I was able to get away this morning to enjoy a half hour massage and a pedicure (which was an Easter gift from my 3 guys ♥); the massage was wonderful; my back and shoulders needed it! After that I picked my lil one up and we headed off to Target so I could spend my $10 gift card from my sweet swap partner Stacy!

FAVORITE THING #1: TARGET'S DOLLAR SECTION!

I hit the Dollar Section first to get some Scrapbooking goodies! I got 2 packs of paper; one summer themed and one is circle paper- too cool! I also got some summer/vacation stickers and some girly spring ones.

Aren't these cute?

I also got some cool adhesive epoxy buttons for card making/scrappin' and some new toe nail polish! (I don't paint my finger nails cause I still bite them when nervous/stressed!! Bad BAD habit!)

FAVORITE THING #2: These 100 calorie packs of nuts! So yummy to put on a salad or in a bowl of cereal and they are GOOD for you!!

FAVORITE THING #3: A MOTHER'S DAY CARD AND SURPRISE IN THE MAIL!
My new sweet friend Laurie and I swapped hand-made Mother's Day cards; did hers some out super cute?? She also sent me some CUTE pink beaded earrings and a fun flower pin that she made! Thank you Laurie, what a nice surprise!!

Close-up of the card ♥

FAVORITE THING #4: EBAY!! I have been selling some items on there and also got these 2 Bath and Body products for a steal!
Cherry Blossom is one of my fave scents!

FAVORITE THING #5: A NEW FRAME THAT I AM ADDING TO MY ETSY SHOP! It screams baby girl and I thought it came out really cute, what do you think??

FAVORITE THING #6: But the BEST part of this week, seeing my TODDLER TORNADO in a good mood and being loveable this week! Whew... since he turned 2 a couple weeks ago, I am starting to wonder what happened to my SWEET boy?? Tantrums, "NOOOOOO", not eating, waking up at night again... A-YI-YI! But he was in a good modd yesterday so I had to snap up this sweet pic of him with a morning ba-ba!

I know, I know... he shouldn't be drinking out of that thing, but when he is a TRAIN WRECK, sucking on that ba-ba is HIS COMFORT!! And, WHO can resist that lil face?? He also let me take him for a haircut too; only the 3rd one in his life!! LOL So doesn't he look so cute???

Alright, thats it for me! I am SO behind on laundry this week; must go into housewife mode now!! Talk to ya'll later!!

Hugs,
Noelle ♥