Elizabeth Kartchner : Newest Face of Shimmerz Paints

I have some Exciting News to share......

Liz Kartchner is the newest Face of Shimmerz!!!

She is excited to become a Shimmerz Endorsed Instructor and will be using Shimmerz Products in her upcoming classes!

Liz writes a monthly column for Creating Keepsakes Magazine called "Dear Lizzy", she wrote the book "52 more Scrapbooking Challenges" and has a fun Craft Line called "Dear Lizzy" from American Crafts.

Welcome to Shimmerz Liz!!! To learn more about Liz you can check out her inspiring Blog here.

My Friday Two...

Gasp! I forgot one thing for my list yesterday - so I had to add it today and wouldn't you know, I thought of something else on top of that, hence the 'Friday Two'.

1. Auntie A made a baby bunny for Eloise's birthday & it's just the sweetest little thing. It sleeps in Eloise's crib with her & when she wakes up, she begins to drag the bunny around the crib...at which point the bunny loses it's blankie & becomes a little naked & cold. :) Here are some pics of Miss Sophia loving on the bunny:

So sweet:

You can also see more pictures of this bunny & order your own here.

2. I *may* have bought fabric last night with Miss Amanda to make a table runner for my table. Yikes! What was I thinking?? :) Should be a fun project as long as I can have help...right Amanda Pants? :)

That's it for today - happy weekend!

My Thursday Four

My Erin is always making lists on her blog & I love it. So I asked permission a few weeks ago to try a list or two on this blog & permission was granted. So...here we go a (small) list of things that I'd love to tell you about that are running through my head right now:

1. I am loving these pillows made by My Andrea for my couch. She brought them over last week & I adore how they brighten up the entire room!

2. I've now done several posts for Shimmerz & I'm still so honored & proud to be a Guest Designer for them. Go check out the newest posts here! PS Did you know that Shimmerz has been around since 1999? That's right - I learned something new last night when I read that too. Now that you've learned something new - you're done for the day!

3. Eloise had her 12 month well baby check up this morning. She's 20 pounds on the dot & 29 1/2 inches long. Dr. says she's doing great!

4. I'm thinking of doing this & this for my next running goal (5K's for both). Does this make me an official 'runner girl'?

That's all for today - maybe next Thursday I can pull off a 'Thursday Five!'

Enjoy your day!

Birthday Party!!

Here is Birthday Party update #2. Let's see how many posts I can get out of one event, shall we?

Here are a few more pics of the birthday girl from Saturday's party. Thank you again to all of our friends who came to her party to love on her on her special day. We loved hosting all of you & hope that you enjoyed it too!

Here is my beautiful girl with one of her many balloons:

A closer look at the cupcake tower (thanks Auntie Cole!) & the signs I made:

Another balloon - the girl is all about tissue paper & balloons. No need for gifts this year - who knew? :)

The 'before' picture. Waiting for her cupcake while we sing to her. Love her face here:

I'll be back in the next few days with more pictures & more tid-bits from the party. See you soon!

The 'E' Party

Last Monday night (a week ago) we had a very special event at our house. An event that had never before been celebrated. An event so exciting that three of our guests (including one of the honored attendees) traveled over 500 miles to participate. What is this monumental event you ask? Are you ready for this?? It was an "E" Party. That's right. **And there was much rejoicing**

A few months ago My Andrea & I were chatting & we decided that we would do a joint birthday party for our 'E' 's and call it an E party. Andrea came prepared - she made each E their own shirt. I made an E birthday banner (which will be featured on a blog near you in the next week or so). We had balloons, presents, dinner, cake, & even other guests!! It was a super fun evening. Thanks Andrea, Matt, & Ethan for coming over so we could celebrate our E's together. I still can't believe my E is one year old...

Auntie Andrea & little E (as we referred to her for the day). :) Notice Eloise's hair-bow! Yeah...that lasted about 2 minutes...

'Big E' opening a present from 'Little E' . Are you confused yet? :)

Our E's

The carrot cake with two E's (yes, one big, one little, one pink, one blue) and age appropriate candles for each E:

Birthday Party Sneek Peek:

I'll be back in the next few days (promise) with a real post about Eloise's birthday party. We had a wonderful time. Thank you to all of our friends & family who joined us both physically & in spirit. :) Here are just a few pictures to keep you coming back for more...

Birthday banner:

Cupcake & favors table:

And the pictures you will all be waiting for: Her first cupcake!! Let's just say that it got worse from here...

Catch-Up!

Whew! It's been a busy & wonderful couple of weeks - which will help explain my absence on the blog. So sorry to my 2 faithful readers for my delayed posts. :)

Last weekend (3/14) we went to Portland to meet up with some of my favorite girls: Amanda, Laura & My Andrea (who came all of the way from ID to participate in what I'm about to tell you) & Laura's super sweet friend Leigh. Why the meet up in Portland at 7:30 AM on the day that we switched back to Daylight savings time?? For the 5K Shamrock Run of course!! This was my first 'race' (if you can even call it that for me) & I was so excited & nervous. I'm so proud to say that I ran the whole race & I did it in about 37 minutes. Not too bad especially since my only goal was not to walk. 3.2 miles under my belt officially. I'm now looking into running at least one more 5K in May or June & then again in September. Who knew that I would get the running bug? And...since I didn't walk, I'd like to now proclaim that I'm "Almost A Runner Girl" - our team name for the race - & I no longer 'wog' or 'wun'. :)

Here are some pics from our beautiful & fun day. Thank you again girls (& Ben) for all of your encouragement, support, & above all friendship - you girls are the best!!

Me & my #1 cheerleader just across the finish line:

Laura & Leigh (on the right hand side) stayed with me the whole race & were SO encouraging & wonderful to run at my slow pace!:

Our group 'The Almost Runner Girls' (Ben was a good sport!) :

My Andrea & me:

I'll be back with one more post about the birthday party that was on Saturday...hard to believe my little sweet pea is going to be ONE tomorrow!!

Showering Kari...

Tonight our small group had the privilege of showering one of our own with baby goodness. Kari & Brett are expecting their first little one in about three weeks. Unfortunately, Kari is super sick...poor girl. But she made it to the shower & we went as fast we could so she could get back home & rest. Thanks SO much for coming tonight Kari!!

I promised I wouldn't post pics of her/the shower until she approved of them - so until I get the okay, I'll share with you some 'us' pics.

Here is my little pea & me in my new specs - self portrait. :)

The banner I made for Kari's little guy: Wyatt Reed T.

The little buggy I made for the centerpieces on the tables. I got my inspiration from My Andrea - she did a similar one for my shower. I love how these turned out - & they were super fun to make!

The delish ice cream cake. Nope...didn't make it - but thought that the place that did did a great job. And it tasted delightful. Mmmm.

More later...

11 Months!

Well, I guess technically, she's now 11 1/2 months old. WOW! Here are some 11 month pictures with her elephant. Have you seen how the elephant has shrunk this year? Amazing. Kelly - I think you should get your money back for this shrinking elephant. :)

Elephant pictures are much more entertaining with only one shoe on....

And that goes for socks too...

Next, I will attack the elephant...

Times up!! I'm outta here!

This month:

Eloise is loving books. She'll sit in my lap for a long time reading Noah's Ark (her fav), and almost any other book. It should be noted that Noah is always first. :)

She is mimicking what we do. Today she was coughing after I'd cough - so cute.

She has a new bff (watch out Sophia & Grace!). The neighbor girl next door (she's 8) loves to come 'play' with Eloise. She called a few weeks ago to ask if E could play. She wanted me to know that her homework was all done & so were her chores, so she could come over right then. How cute is that? She came over yesterday to play with E. They had lots of fun.

She's a great eater. She's loving Cutie oranges right now - eating between 4-5 a day!

Sleeping from 6:30 pm - 8:00 am with two 3 hour naps the past few days. Growing? I think so.

Got her first cold last week. Poor baby! Still has it a little bit, but she's feeling much better now.

Is starting to pull up on things.

Is fine with army crawling. No incentive or motivation to get up on those hands & knees...

Giggles & laughs when 'wrestling' with Daddy - SO cute.

Gets compliments from random strangers every time we go anywhere on how pretty she is. I think so too. :D

Has discovered how to arch her back & throw her head back when she doesn't get what she wants. Nice.

Her mama is getting excited planning her first birthday party - what an absolute joy this year has been!!

Reveal & Miss E

Well hello there! Here we are again... :D

For those of you here for the reveal from the previous post, here is a picture. But you *really* need to go here to get the full effect. (And don't forget to leave a comment so we know you stopped by). While you're at it, you may want to play along with this game!

And for those of you here just for the pleasure of viewing Eloise (hello Grandparents) here you are:

Cookie? What cookie?? (It really *wasn't* a cookie - but don't tell her that!!). :)

My new favorite headband of hers. I kinda wish I had one too...And all too fitting, her shirt says 'Cutie Pie'.

Sneak Peek...

My first layout for Shimmerz *may* be centered around a photo of my favorite baby... *maybe*. :D Check out the blog this week for the full reveal!