Pin the Tail on the Monkey

I made this for Abbey's baby doll's Birthday party. lol It's for the Pin the tail on the Monkey game. The face was actually the front of the invitation and the background is a wipe off marker board I painted to look ... well to look sort of grass, sky and branch "ish". LOL I used a little blue star to pin point the spot the tail should go and I traced my breakfast for the banana. Abbey loved it. Daniel came home saw it and said, wow cute monkey. It wasn't until about Abbey's bed time did he finally ask what was it for. We told him Zack's birthday party and he laughed. He took a moment and said Ohhh I was wondering why we had a check written for 29 dollars and it said monkey cake, I thought it was one of your murder mystery books. LOL He's sooooooo used to me and my silliness it doesn't even phase him that we are throwing a birthday party for a baby doll ... and well it shouldn't really since we give her 3 favorites Christmas gifts and Easter baskets as well. lol. I'm just glad Abbey is still into all this. I have to say I was into baby dolls and tea parties well into my teens, lol ok, ok I still love it all. Abbey and I can play baby dolls or Polly pocket all afternoon and we still enjoy a nice "gossip" filled tea party on Saturday afternoons. Still, at the end of the year she will officially be a teen and all the silly things we do may no longer hold her attention.** SIGH** I really can't see it happening yet, Thankfully! I think I have another year or so of this magical time of innocence and little girlhood. Yet another reason to be grateful for starting this blog ... it will help me capture and remember this last year, nearly day to day of my sweet precious little girls journey into ... bum bum bum ... a TEEN! Yikes!

Family Night

Tonight was Family night at Abbey's school. It was nice to see so many families there even though it was soooo cold and drizzling. One of the coaches was even in a dunking booth out in the freezing cold! And Abbey, the little stinker, wanted to have a try at it! I stood in line with her for oh 3 minutes until she said, I'm turning into a Popsicle, and we went back in. They passed out raffle tickets to the parents for participating in the activities and Abbey was excited because we won twice. A 10 dollar gift card to H.E.B. our local grocery store and another 10 dollar gift card to some restaurant, Friday's I believe. She immediately claimed the grocery store card. lol I asked her why she wanted it and she said because I never let her get junk food. lol Her idea of junk food is Special K chocolate delight cereal and Moo Tracks ice cream ... yummm!! I'm really not a mean mom, but my mother is diabetic so we don't buy sweets or "Junk food" as Abbey calls it unless we are having it that day. So tomorrow, Moo Tracks for dessert!

Zack's birthday in a box

Abbey's baby doll Zackary turned 1 this Christmas and received this Birthday Party in a Box for his Christmas present. Since we've not had a free Saturday since then, his Birthday party has been put off until this Saturday. I found this super cute Monkey themed party kit at Michael's for about 30 dollars and couldn't resist it. This past week I found some adorable monkey hats and fun foam crafts for the kids to play at Michael's. Now all I have to do is order a monkey face cake and stock up on bananas & Chunky Monkey ice cream. :-)

Taking the SAT's

Well, today is the day ... Abbey is at the HS taking her SAT's. This is a quick photo I took after asking her if it was ok. lol That is so not her real smile, she forced one for me, my poor baby!! Her little red pencil holder was stuffed with about 30 pencils, her school ID, erasers, her test ticket, the letter from Duke University, tick tacks to calm her nervous tummy and her oh so expensive 380 dollar calculator that Daniel bought for her the day we found out she was taking 11th grade math. She looks tired too. We were up pretty late snuggling and talking about not being nervous, because we both were, and I was afraid she'd be tired this morning. Luckily she woke up at first call, her wake up normally involves turning on all her lights, me stripping the sheets around her, taking away her pillow to change the case, bugging her to kiss me good morning, tickling her feet, tossing a cat up to greet her and threats of missing our 100 kiss kiss, but today she was up in a flash and bouncing around the house like nothing major was going on. Then at breakfast she didn't want to eat so she had a yogurt and one drink of chocolate milk. She babbles when she is nervous (I babble all the time. lol) and was talking about such random things it made me even more nervous. I tried to reassure her that this is just a practice really, since she has years and years until the real go at it. When we arrived at the HS she started wringing her little hands at the sight of all the Seniors waiting to take the test. It was funny though when a teacher came over and said "Ok mom you can go" she held on to me and said can she stay for 1 more minute and the teacher said "No you both need to leave now." Abbey said but I'm here to take the test and she said "Oh you're one of the smarties." She let me stay. Thankfully! The boy next to Abbey asked her " Are you really smart?" She laughed and said yes. Then he said "Oh yeah! I want to sit next to you." lol Then she was more at ease and even chatted with him a bit. Turns out his math teacher is the same one that come to the JH and teaches Abbey. He talks about her to his students so he knew of her. They have the same Honors English teacher as well. Still I was really happy when they told the little kids, 3 other 7th and 8th graders also taking the test, that they were taking the test in a different room. The relief on Abbey's face almost made me giggle. Before she went into the test room she turned and whispered "Can we have stuffed peppers for dinner?" I said yes and she let out a long breath and hugged me tight then walked in. There was a Daddy of one of the boys and he said wow they looked like they were being lead into the slaughter house. Awwwwww, they did. :-( So first thing I did after I left her there was head to the grocery store to purchase the fixing for stuffed peppers. Daniel said to take her out to lunch at The Olive Garden, her favorite place, and then to a movie as a kind of reward for being so FANTABULOUS!!! lol

Jeans

I was putting some laundry away today and I realized I've gone a bit overboard on buying jeans ... I've been on a jean kick since mid December. For a girl that never wore jeans it's crazy! Ok, Well I did have a pair of "jean" like Capri pants. lol Anywho, The reason is, in December Abbey was invited to sing on a river barge with some of the choir kids, it was freezing cold (28* I believe) and Daniel was concerned about me wearing a skirt so we went to Catherine's to look for a pair of jeans and wow who knew they were so comfy??!??! So from one pair that night to 13 ... I've gotten to love them. So far I really like the dark ones, because they tend to look dressier, but the light ones are nice too for errands and such. I'm a bit prissy and the only jeans I can even remember owning were some Jordach jeans in JrH, that I think I wore once. lol They were the "cool" jeans back then and I HAD to have them. ** Ignore the nightgown under the jeans. ** lol Have a great weekend!!

Playing catch up. :-)

I'm going to do a little catch up today. Silly me, I lent my camera cord to my friend Helena and then days later I was missing having it because I couldn't download my photos for my blog. Then my oh so brilliant Abbey said "Use my computer, all you do it take your memory card and insert it here." **BLUSH** ... I didn't know it did that!! LOL I am soooooo not a computer person, I'm happy to know how to send E-mail, view a few sites and download photos. She even showed me how to use more than one photo at one time instead of adding one at a time. Ok, enough babble! hahaha

So # 1, This was a huge packet of papers her drama teacher sent home on Tuesday to be looked over, signed and returned the next day for the play they are doing. The play is called "Once on this Island" and Abbey is, Erzulie, the Goddess of Love, it's so her! In a few weeks, they will be putting on the play at a local HS as part of a competition and then they will put it on at a school assembly.

#2, Abbey is taking her SAT's this Saturday and even though she claims not to be nervous (I am!!) she sat down Wednesday and sharpened 20 pencils for the test. One was sharpened down to about palm size. Poor thing, she is nervous. I think I'm starting to regret letting her do this. Ugh!!!! My tummy is all in Knots over this.

#3, Yesterday Abbey changed her baby doll Zack and her Build a Bear Elliana into new outfits and she left their "old" shoes on her keyboard. I walked by her computer room I glanced in and noticed them and thought oh did Anna Marie, my sister, leave Miles shoes here, then I looked closer and started to laugh, they were the dolls.

SWF party.

Abbey spent most of the day in her Pj's looking adorable until Daniel came home and we headed out to dinner. When we came back home she changed to take a shower and put her clothes in the hamper and Daniel said "Hey little one, you wore those for an hour and a half." We both looked at him and said "Now they're dirty." LOL It bugs him a bit that we germ freaks. Anywho ... There was a scrapping party in a group I belong to from Cafe Mom today (Scrapping with friends)... Here are a few of the projects I worked on between Abbey having a day off from school, house work, laundry and a headache I can't seem to shake. I loved the envelope corner book marks, I'm a avid reader so book marks always come in handy, and the super cute cupcake decoration was too easy to pass up making. I also made a card for another groups card challenge. Thanks for looking! Have a great week.

Abbey and Holly

Most Sundays, if all goes well, we visit one of my all time favorite people in the universe.... My baby sister Elizabeth. :-) Tonight and I took this oh so goofy picture of Abbey and my adorable 6 year old niece Holly. I decided to use it because it hits the nail on the head when it comes to these two little girls. SILLY times 2!! They were waving to the audience after their talent show (singing, cheers and dancing). The "crown" was from Holly's lunch at Long John Silvers. On the back of the crown she wrote: Princess movie 7:00 to remind herself that on the Disney channel was a new princess movie. Too cute! Notice how tall Holly is ... if they stand up straight Holly is about half a head shorter than 12 year old Abigail. Wowee! When I look at them I can see the two of us, they are so close and even play the way we did as kids .... running up and down the stairs, jumping on the beds, singing at the top of their lungs and putting on shows for the adults. Holly even has her mommy's same precious smile. Sundays are great days!!!

Cards

These are some cards I made for a challenge in a cafemom group.

On the first one I punched out a little window to the stamped image on the inside, then framed the window by punching out the same scalloped circle from a larger scalloped punch.The stamp is really cute and reads "love Birds". I picked it up from the dollar bin at Michael's a few days ago.

On the second card I used my paper piercer to make the crazy circles around the center. The butterfly is really thin plastic with bling already on it. Super cute!
Thanks for looking!

The Science Fair.

I used two photos because Abbey wanted her photo taken with her dessert. lol Tonight was the Science Fair at her school and because she won First place (Yay Abbey!!) among the 7th graders she was able to present her project at the fair. Along with her framed certificate and Blue Ribbon she won a 10 dollar movie gift card. She's already decided to see some vampire movie again. lol I have to admit it was a pretty good movie and I wouldn't have minded seeing it again, but this time Daniel gets to take her. Daniel's mom was able to attend the fair and even went to dinner with us. Normally, she is busy watching his sister's children and doesn't make it out to Abbey's functions ... But since his sister changed her schedule things worked out. bla bla bla ... lol I babble, can you tell??? hahaha Anywho, Abbey wanted Chilli's and yumm it was delicious. After dinner she ordered this huge dessert of chocolate cake drizzled in caramel, topped with a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream and smothered in chocolate sauce. YUMMY!! Next time I'm just ordering dessert. :-)

Scrapbook page.

Today I worked on a challenge LO for a cafe mom group I'm in. The aqua mat paper for the 3 inch photo is the last of a batch of home made paper I made about 3 years ago. I was kind of sad to use it but I'm trying to let go of my silly want to save all my "best" stuff. lol It's an illness. I love love love collecting and making pretties but I find it hard to use them. *Sigh* What does make me happy is I have the perfect photo to use for this LO ... it's of Abbey and Daniel playing Rock Band over the holidays. As for the rest of the day, I did my normal things ... flirted with Daniel for a good 20 minutes on the phone while he was at work (Next best thing to in person lol), paid bills, laundry, ironing (my favorite!), cleaning, scrapbooking, and checking out cafe mom. :-) I have a tiny headache but I can't head to bed yet because I have banana nut bread in the oven for my Mom to Mom meeting at Church tomorrow. So now I get to check out the latest 365 blogs.

Angel's Baptism

I took this very quick photo of Abbey and her cousin Angel after his Baptism today.The sun was so bright and there were tons of extra people at the Church because of the service that I didn't have time to get a good shot. Even still they look adorable. After mass we went to lunch with the Garcia side of our family. Daniel's mom, dad, 2 sisters and their children ... 13 of them (3 were missing) and 3 of "Us" ... we are so out numbered. lol Well, I guess we are "them" too. :-) Anywho, we filled the back of the restaurant. The service took forever and the food was eww. I'd never had enchiladas with cold tomato sauce from a can smothering them, the Spanish rice was white rice cooked in tomato sauce with peas in it .... for a Mexican restaurant. they don't know how to prepare Mexican food. ugh yuck. Daniel is such a sweetheart and kept bragging about my cooking and how we had soft chicken tacos, refried beans, Spanish rice and guacamole last night for dinner. :) Abbey of course had eggs Just like her Papa would have. She can eat eggs for breakfast lunch or dinner. She reminds me so much of him it breaks my heart sometimes. Ugh ok before I get all emotional, lol I'm off to watch The season ending of Stargate Atlantis with Daniel and a bowl of popcorn. Yippee.

Abbey and Apple the Kitten

I love this photo of Abbey and her little kitten Apple. They were snuggling a bit before bed and Apple was walking all over her purring up a storm. Then suddenly she climbed up on Abbey's chest, reached over and bit her bottom lip! Crazy cat!! Normally, Apple will leap from the bed over to anyone that walks in the room, for a quick trip around their shoulders and a purr that tickles like crazy in the ear. Tonight, however, she thought she'd have a quick nibble ... Abbey was giggling so hard and Apple was totally enjoying her snuggle before bed.

Michael's

I did a little bit of shopping today. Yay. I was supposed to be looking for next years "Special" ornaments but I didn't find anything I liked so I bought a few scrapbook goodies instead. :) As for the glue runner, I just can't find one I'm happy with so this is yet another one to try and see how well it works for me. I think I'm just a glue tab kind of girl. I also found some super cute chipboard albums for a steal so I bought 10 of them. They also had this pack of mini Christmas stamps marked down from 20 to just under 5 dollars. Oh and the felt squares were too cute to pass up and for a dollar ...I had to get a few. Of course I never leave Micheal's without a few of their fabulous dollar stamps. Even though I didn't find the ornaments the trip to Michael's was worth it. Tomorrow .... Hobby Lobby!

My Scrap space.

These are a few quick photos of my scrap area. I get a little crazy about how things are organized so once I start I can't stop until I have it just right. I think I reorganized this space and all the things in it 4 times. Some good things about these storage cubes are they hold a lot of things, store 12 x 12 papers with ample room, and the drawers are large enough for even my largest punches. If they came assembled I'd be happier. :)lol I have 3 more to put together ... So once those are up this space will change again and not look so cluttered. But not today since Daniel is off and I'd be crazy to take that much time away from us. Have a great day everyone!

Science fair project.

So ok, it's a lousy photo but Abbey was too excited to sit still. Here she is with her Science fair project grade and letter to let us know she was selected to present her project to the parents at the PTA meeting next Tuesday with the 3 other kids that scored over 90 . Side note ... I straightened her hair this morning before school and she was really excited to tell me all her friends loved it, more so than the good grade and the upcoming presentation. lol

SAT's

I decided to take a photo of one of Abbey's workbooks for the SAT's since it's been the focus of our thoughts lately. Duke University is paying for her to take her SAT's this January as part of their 7th grade talent search. She and about 70 other kids in the state have qualified to take it based on their math and science classes and grades. She'll be taking the whole test but they are mostly interested in the math portion. Since she is seriously a math whiz I know she will do well. At first we were hesitant about letting her take it at her age (12) in a room full of high school seniors also taking the test, (talk about some serious pressure!) but after taking to one of the representatives at Duke, her counselor, Math, Science and GT teachers we decided to let her have a go at it and see what happens. If she scores well enough she will be invited to attend specialty camps hosted by Duke this Summer and even start taking online courses. We are trying to make the prep for it all more like a game but sometimes I can see the stress it causes her and I wonder if I'm doing the right thing.

New year's eve

Normally we ring in the new year at my mother in law's home with about 200 dollars worth of fireworks. Silly I know, but worse still is the fact that Abbey and I are pretty much scared to go outside for a good 3 hours while the neighborhood goes wild. And I mean wild ... I tell you their fireworks displays are almost better than at the AFB! It's crazy. Anywho ... lol That was the main reason we chose to stay home this year. That and Abbey asked to have a few girls for a sleepover / New years eve party since she received some fun sleep over books and games for Christmas. So here is a photo of Abbey (third from the left) and her friends after they screamed and played with huge sparklers for 5 minutes and woke up the neighborhood. LOL jk most were up. Thankfully!! It was nice to exchange new year greeting right on the dot with our neighbors this year ... a first in the 6 and a half years we've lived here. I'm hoping this will be the start of a new way to celebrate the new year .... toned down a lot but really nice!