Party Time!

Yesterday, I enjoyed a morning of laziness since I had taken the day off from work.  At 9 a.m. I was still lolling about in bed, just being flat out lazy.  It was wonderful.

Once I did get moving, it was party time! Katie had a shower at school that I wanted to attend. I hopped in my car with an adorable present for Macy and headed into town. On the way to Katie's school, it occurred to me I needed a card for Donna's birthday party, which was just after the shower. Zipped into the drug store, found a cute one and a gift card to accompany my gift. 

As I headed to the checkout, I remembered I also needed reprints of a few pictures! Hop out of line and over to the photo kiosk.  

---rabbit trail---

Back in my college days, a required class for journalism students was Photo Journalism.  For my final project, I highlighted a small community in the country that had few markers to identify it as a cohesive community.  This general store and its owner was one of those things. In cleaning up this weekend I found the original prints from 15 years ago and scanned them in at the house. This is one of those shots that I had printed at the drug store for the family.  He passed away a few years ago and I thought they'd like to have them. (I love the combination of cigarettes and lollipops...)

---back on track--- 

After my drug store trip and a looooong wait in road construction traffic, I finally approached Katie's school... only to drive past it because I couldn't get into the parking lot due to parents! ARGH! I ended up grabbing to-go food and bringing it back.  

The school shower was super cute, lots of amazingly adorable things like a handmade white dress with a white "M" embroidered on the bloomers. Embroidered burp clothes for Sunday use that just make you want to tweak a child's cheeks and the baby isn't even here yet!  

Pictured is Katie and the teething blanket I bought from Amazon.  You wouldn't believe the amount of research I do on all the stuff I buy - and this received rave reviews from mamas.  I hope Macy likes it, too! :) 

After partying with the teachers, I headed to Donna's neck of the woods for a 37th birthday bash!  As is the Sartor custom, we all headed to a nice Japanese Steakhouse for some awesome vittles and celebrated another successful year for our friend, Donna.  We had three kids with us and I must say, they were precious. Behaved very well throughout the meal. 

 Ellie and Ella sharing secrets before dinner.  Ellie's shirt was a scratch-n-sniff of chocolate chip cookies, so that was MUCHO fun.









Donna in her decorated chef hat, which is their trademark for the restaurant.  When it's your birthday, they'll serve your fried rice with a candle. :)











Mel's birthday was the day before, so Donna insisted she also sit at the table with a huge hat on her head! Hee hee... I can't blame her at all.

Our three little munchkins - Ellie, Adam and Ella.  Aren't they adorable?  It really was a great day off from work, having family time and friend time. :)  

#300 post! :) Muffin Monday!

300 posts!! It's a milestone, a miracle! I've managed to stick with this for 300 posts. :)  So, I figured the best way to honor my 300 post is to do it on MUFFIN MONDAY!  Muffin was in a mood this night, she tried to BITE my FACE (obviously she didn't want to be snuggled).  I thought the moody shades of gray would be appropriate for her mood.

Thanks for sticking with me for this long. :)  Hope your week is a good one!

PS - MANY THANKS to our veterans and their families, for their service to each and every one of us. You are not forgotten and are prayed for often.  Thank you so much.

Gift Idea: Nora Fleming

My boss needed a gift for a gal that had everything she could possibly want.  She went to one of our local boutiques and found the coolest and most simple idea - I love it.

Platters and minis Nora Fleming.

Basic white platters and dishes with a small hole in each one.  The minis transform the simple platter into a birthday dish. Or baby shower dish. Or summer event platter.  Or vacation platter. Or a wedding shower platter.

ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES for the use of these things!  And the best thing - you have a dish for every occasion but only have to store ONE dish and a million minis.  They have even created a storage container for the minis, to make this even easier.

Click on Nora Fleming and find a retailer near you.  I can't wait to see what they continue to add to the available dishes and minis!

Happy Birthday to YoOoOooU!

Sunday we celebrated my Aunt Linda's birthday at mom's house.  Not sure how old she is, she's in her 50's but she's truly so much younger and always has been.  Yes, my aunt has CP.  She's not quite as spunky as she once was, but she can still tickle your funny bone.

Wonder why Linda has the giggles?  Because we were asking her about her boyfriend.  She gets that giggly when we talk about him.  Currently her main squeeze is Jason, who carries her tote bag to the van after work for her.  I think they went to the prom together - is that not the sweetest thing? 

These three are brothers and sister, Emily, Jeremy and JJ.  That little Emily is bad to the bone and will stand her ground against her older brothers.  Don't cross her! 

My niece, AH!  The hammock was definitely the center of their attention, including dumping half the kids out onto the metal stand below.  I told her my rule, "NO STITCHES!"

One of my newest cousins, Rylan.  He is fascinated with his FEET and plays with them all the time. 

I guess I took a million pictures of the kids and not many of the adults! HAHAHA! Can you tell my brain is focused on the coming of MACY! Can't wait. :)  Here, have a preggo sister picture, just because you know you like to see how far along she is: 

Ok, now I need to focus on something else, like the fact that today is WEDNESDAY, it's HUMP DAY, and we are almost to the halfway point in our work week. :)   Do the Cabbage Patch, get excited!

Preggo Sister... Shower Time!

Katie had another shower this weekend - my dad's side of the family.  Super sweet and nice shower with wonderful yummy food (the best part!). Check out the cake made by my aunt ... 

My cousins have "showered" my aunt with all kinds of CUTE crafty items featuring the grandkids feet print, hand prints and thumb prints. Adorable items that I plan on copying for my own needs, muahahahaha!

See their hand prints on the vase? On the one side, they used the baby's feet to make a butterfly! I love it! What a great idea.

This platter is made from three of the children's feet print and the bottom says, "We love horsin' around at Nana's!"  I love it, I wish we were horse people so that would make sense for our family... Darn. So I'll be googling cute painting ideas to create with Macy. 

Sorry, I got distracted from the shower.  Here are some cute shower pictures... 

 Aunt Peggy, Logan, Maddie, and my mom

Aunt Judy, Kim, Peggy and Logan

Katie and Maddie.  Logan and Maddie are twins, Peggy is their "Nana." That would be their feet print featured in the horses platter.

 Maddie, Mom, Katie and Logan.  Katie had several "helpers" in opening presents. 

 Maddie, Katie and Logan read "Pete the Cat," my gift to her. I LOVE PETE THE CAT!

 Mom showing the girls a Peter the Rabbit pop-up book. 

 I love this picture of the girls - about the only smile I could get from Logan!

 My newest cousin, Lily Claire! 

Katie and Mom just before we left.  It was an absolutely beautiful day on Saturday.

One of the best blessings I always thank God for is my family.  My immediate family, who I am SOOOO thankful for, and my extended family, too. I have a family tree full of "good peeps!"  I'll share mom's family tomorrow, as we had a birthday party for my Aunt Linda this weekend, too!  I'm telling you, it was an action packed WEEK of events! 

Happy Tuesday! :)  Come back tomorrow for more family fun!

Muffin Monday

I couldn't help it, I had to add this photo. Lol. She was so not happy being hugged and having her picture taken. I just laugh every time I look at it!




Here is proof she does love me...I'm the lump she's laying on. It's her morning ritual to lay on me for snuggle time.




And when she's had enough she walks off. Stepping on as much of my body as possible, of course. ;)

Hope you have a great week! Pics are coming this week of my very busy weekend!

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Week of Events!

This past week kept me in the road, that's for sure. Some sad events, some thrilling event, all very special
moments.

Pictures of Katie's shower will appear soon. :) Those are on my real camera.

Dad and I hit a tractor show Saturday. It's pretty much one every other weekend during the Spring and Summer. One smart individual took oil drums and turned them into cars to be pulled behind the



We noticed there wasn't an orange one for Allis. If dad had one they would all be red and orange for Farmall and Allis.

AH came to my house to play Wii, only to discover it was dead. So we moved into craft time!






She would only do pictures with her banner with her tongue sticking out. So there you go, my niece and her goofy self! She is a ball of energy. Field Day was Friday at her school and she must have done pretty well. She was a whooped puppy after that, though!

Now it's time for church. I'll have more pics next week. Look for cute preggy Katie pics!

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Retired?

Mom's retirement party was last night with more than 40 people coming out to wish her well in her new venture...babysitting! Mom decided to toss in the towel at the school and stay home to take care of Macy, Katie's baby-to-be. The surprise of the night is when they told mom she also receive Staff Member of the Year for her school! Whoo hoo, go mom!

 How cool is this? The art teacher at school painted this for mom, which is so MOM.  She loves the beach and spends lots of time picking up sea shells whenever we are down there. Perfect.

Mom showing off her gift from the school, a beautiful silver cuff with her initials. Her former principal came, too, which I thought was super nice. They worked together for many years.

Mom typed up her comments, a story about her elementary school she attended years ago.  The principal showed them what "Second to none" really meant, setting goals and expectations for her students, staff and herself. Mom spoke about her current school/workplace, how students have pride and want to come back to work or bring their children through this school.  Mom said her workplace/school is now "second to none," and can remain in this position through excellent leadership and striving for mean outstanding standards.

 Mom and one of her co-workers, Debbie. A Super nice lady! :)

Mom's sister, Ann, and mom.  Don't they look so much alike! It's a bit crazy how much all mom's family look like each other.

Many congrats to mom, who deserves this retirement.  She's such a hard worker with an outstanding work ethic and dedication to her job.  She's going to be a great babysitter for Katie/Macy, giving Katie a peace of mind knowing her baby girl is in very loving and capable hands!