I think someone had a birthday?

Well, I guess somewhere since I last posted I guess I celebrated another birthday!  LOL!

We kept it pretty low key by eating out for supper and Joe and Hope got me some new headphones and a nutria-bullet (like a blender) to make smoothies.  I know once it warms up we will put it to a lot of good use.

But before it can warm up it HAS to STOP snowing!  OMG!  I am so sick of snow this winter (and NO I am not one of those that complain about it being too hot because I just don't care for winter).  I have no idea why I still live in Iowa.  I need to convince all of my family and friends to move to a tropical climate.  Let's think about it, ok?

Anyway, we have had a week of bi-polar weather...

Monday-low visibility on my way to work due to heavy snow, slick roads.  On my way home it was already 50 degrees and clear roads.  Crazy!  Hope went out and played in the snow before it all melted.  I guess she thought it would be fun to stick her head in the snow and came in with snow packed in her hair.  Oh my!

Then for two days we had nice weather and faced another Blizzard Warning.  Good Grief!

This is what our back yard...

...and front yard looked like before the snow started.

Then we had almost every type of weather you could think of in a time frame of minutes to hours...rain, thunderstorms, to sleet, to snow pellets and finally HUGE snowflakes!

Yep, those are the HUGE snowflakes coming down.

I hear there is more snow in the forecast.  I think if I see Mother Nature out and about I might have to hit her with my van!  LOL!

Anyway, since I celebrated a birthday I guess I will share some birthday cards.  Some I recently created and some that have been in my stash for a while.  Enjoy!

The butterfly card was a recycled gift card (I think from Hobby Lobby).  Once I used the card I kept it because I thought it was pretty.  I knew eventually I would find the perfect scraps to use it on a card.  I just trimmed it smaller to remove the store name printed on the front and rounded the corners.

I am so excited for tomorrow.  We get to go see the litter of puppies and choose which one we will be bringing home with us next month.  It is going to be hard to leave it there until March 15th.  Oh I can't wait!  Will share here when I get the chance.

Darla

Puppy Update!

I can't remember if I posted here or not, but our puppy was born on January 18th.  We will be going up to choose our furry baby on the 21st this month and then he/she can come home with us on the 15th of March.  YEAH.

For now, here is a picture of the litter.  Oh how cute!  Nine total puppies.

And now on to my human baby...Hope!  LOL!  She is doing great in school, but is nervous about taking her first standardized tests next week.  She will do great.  They have been practicing in class this past week on how to fill in the circles, etc.

Anyway, here are just some funny everyday photos of Hope.  I found her in an empty laundry basket playing on the iPad when I came out of the shower last week.  I cracked up when I saw her.

We met Grandma and Bonnie, Aunt Dawn, Annie and Ally at Bang Bangs for supper last week and of course these three ended up doing the walrus with the chop sticks.  LOL!

Hope's school had a reading event last week.  Hope's teacher was in charge of the dancing in the gym.  Here she is with a group of students and the HS Cheer team.

We met up with one of Hope's friends for this photo op.

The tooth fairy came again last week.  Hope asked for chocolate coins instead of money, but I guess the tooth fairy didn't think that was a good idea to eat that much sugar.  LOL!

And we ended the night with the Daddy/Daughter dance at church last night.  Hope had a great time since she saw a LOT of friends from school and even one of our neighbors from our previous house.

They had fun doing crafts...

...and eating cupcakes...

...and I think they did some dancing too.  :)  Then Hope and Joe enjoyed a snack and supper at Wendy's on the way home.  Since it was a 50's theme at the dance this year, all the kids got these glasses.  

And of course, there are more Hope stories to share.  One night coming home from (somewhere) we saw a few deer pop out of the ditch.  One stopped in the middle of the road, but moved in time so we didn't hit it.  I think it spooked us both, but then Hope was like "they need to learn to watch for cars and not cross in front of them like that when they see the car lights".  I cracked up!

This week on our way home from dance we were listening to the radio and the country song "Don't Ya" came on that starts with..."Girl you cut those jeans just right..."  Hope says (very loudly) did that song just say "Girl you cut the cheese just right"?  LOL!  I laughed so hard I almost couldn't drive!  I had tears running down my face.  Oh she is a funny one!

Well, that's it for the update.  So here is a layout and a few cards to brighten your night (or morning depending on when you are reading this).  :)

This is a layout of last year's Daddy/Daughter dance.  Joe was able to take Annie and Ally too.  Since Hope's dress had purple in it I wanted to find a paper to match.  Who would have thought it would have been from a Halloween line.  It was from the Halloween line from Fancy Pants from a few years ago.  It was the perfect color and there really isn't anything noticeable to make you think it was from Halloween.  I love versatile paper lines.  Of course there is is little MME mixed in there too.

This card front is recycled from another card I received.  I loved the dots and colors and how some of them were glittery.

Stay warm out there.

Darla