New Work to Share with You

I haven't posted any new layouts on here in several months, so I apologize for that.  But I have been busy working on stuff.  I made a slide show below of all my newest stuff that I've done over the past couple of months.  Take a look and enjoy!

Juste a Taste...

Well, we did it.  We bit the big one and ordered our new kitchen this week!  I don't mind telling you that they had to use the defibrillator on me at the checkout counter...lol.  Our new cabinets will be delivered around the first week in April and installation complete about 3 weeks after that.  Then it will just be up to Tony and I to lay the new floor, paint and tile the new backsplash.  I can't wait for everyone to see it.  I think it's going to be gorgeous!  Here's just a little taste for you though:

Cabinet Style (Birch wood with a Praline Pecan color stain):

Countertops (FX180, a new really durable and gorgeous formica):

I can't wait to get it all done.  Tony and I have been completely stressed out over this.  It's such a monumental and expensive project.  It was quite intimidating.  But it will be worth it when it's completely finished and we are able to have our friends over and be proud of it.  Talk to you soon!

It's been soooo long...

Wow!  I can't believe how long it's been since I've been on here.  I've completely neglected by blogging duties (and most of you have reminded me..over and over and over...lol)! 

There has been so much going on, let me try to catch you up:

We have all been sick, sick, and sick again.  It's been an awful winter for illnesses in our house.  Not to mention the fact that I'm still battling with my migraine induced vertigo, so it's been pretty bad.  I'm sooo ready for spring!!

Probably the biggest news that most of you don't know is that I quit smoking cold turkey!  I've been cigarette free since January 11, 2010.  It was really difficult at first, but after a couple of weeks, I became adjusted to my new routine.  I'm glad I did it and the kids are really happy too.

Holly is finally getting her two front teeth.  They actually popped through on X-mas morning (can anyone say "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth"?).  Although, now the 2 teeth on either side of the new ones are getting ready to fall out...lol.  I'm beginning to think she's going to be toothless for the rest of her life. We've also been working really hard on her reading and she is almost caught up with her class.  Way to go Holly!!

Brody is about the same.  We don't see a whole lot of him.  When he gets home he does his homework and then he heads straight out to play with his friends until dinner.  He's still working really hard at school and making decent grades.  The amount of detentions has dramatically decreased which is nice!

Tony and I have been busy working and with life in general.  We celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary on January 30 at Fogo De Chao.  What a fun restaraunt! I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful and loving husband to spend my life with.  I'm not sure that it's possible but I think I actually love him more today than the day we got married. 

We've also started a new and very exciting project.  We are remodeling the kitchen!  It's already been stressful and it's only been about a week, but we hope to have it finished in the next 6-8 weeks.  We have an appointment tomorrow to order the cabinets we designed.  And we spent all last weekend purchasing the new appliances.  We are planning on doing most of the work ourselves at this point, but we'll see how that works out...lol.  I'm going to try and document this process with pictures.  It will be fun for everyone to see the before, during and after!

I'll try not to wait so long before I post again.  I hope everyone is having a great year so far.  See you all soon!!

Just Me and My Baby Girl...

Holly and I spent a girls weekend together.  Tony wound up going hunting with Andy and Brody spent the weekend with my Mom. 

Friday night, I got the kids all dressed up and we took our X-mas card pictures (hilarious by the way...lol).  Then Saturday, we dropped Brody off at Grandma & Grandpa's house at the lake and we headed to the grocery store and Archiver's to pick up supplies for our X-mas cards.  After getting all of our groceries put away, we sat down to watch the epic movie, Hannah Montana...lol.  It really was a cute movie.  I don't think I've ever seen Holly sit that still before.  She was absolutely engrossed.

We spent the rest of the evening eating, doing a little baking and making cards.  It was quite enjoyable (and quiet for a change...lol).  Then Sunday morning, we got up and made breakfast and got back into card making.  Just as we were walking out the door to go get Brody, Tony pulled in the garage.  So Holly decided she wanted to stay home with Dad.

Brody and I stopped at Joann's on the way home because I needed a little more embroidery thread for my cards.  Apparantly, Grandma taught Brody how to embroider (he made his own pillow...lol), so he wanted to try cross-stitching.  He picked out a cute pattern with 3 frogs on it and was already well on his way by the time that we got home.    We also picked up a couple of the stained glass kits for the kids.  They had a blast doing those last night.

I hope that everyone had as enjoyable a weekend as we did.  See you all soon!

Fall is here!

Sorry it's been so long, but we've been busy in the Abbate house.  Holly turned 7 on Monday!  I can't believe it that time has flown by so fast. She is no longer a baby (or so she tells me..lol).


She informed Tony that she wanted him to make and decorate her birthday cake and he happily obliged.  The difficult part was that she wanted Tinkerbell (OMG! could she have picked anything more difficult...lol).  She was also very specific in cake flavors (as with she is with just about everything.  I mean she is my daughter and she knows what she wants).  She didn't want chocolate or vanilla, nope, it had to be Strawberry and Lemon.  Tony and I kind of looked at each other and said what the heck!  It's her birthday, so that's what she'll get.  I think for our first crack at cake decorating it didn't turn out too bad.  I drew Tinkerbell on the cake and Tony colored her in.  It was a true team effort.  Here are a few pics from her special day...

Our first crack at cake decorating (don't laugh too loud please...lol):

My Mom, she cracks me up!  A true 7 year old ballerina at heart.

Wait a minute.  Is this a tutu or a giant headband?

Sunday was such a beautiful day, the kids were outside and wanted to play in the leaves.  They worked their little butts off raking and raking, but they weren't getting very far.  So Tony got out the lazy man's rake (better known as a leaf blower) and went to their rescue.  They wound up having a rather large pile of leaves to spend the afternoon in.  I'm not sure who was having more fun, the kids or Tony...lol.  They didn't come in until after dark!  Take a look:

Way to go Brody!

Today has been a busy day.  The jury duty curse caught up with me, so I spent all morning at the Cass County Justice Center in the Jury Assembly Room.  Thankfully, the case was settled so they released us.  There was one good thing about it.  It gave me a chance to sit and read for about 3 hours.  I started the new Dan Brown novel, "The Last Symbol".  So far so good...lol.

But the true main event was this afternoon.  I was sick to my stomach because I thought I was going to have to miss it because of this mornings events, but I made it.  Brody was given an award at school for making honor roll!  WOOHOO!!  He got 3-B's and 5-A's on his 1st quarter report card.  Way to go Brody!!  Tony and I are so proud of him.  He's really worked hard for those fantastic grades.  Here are a couple of pics (sorry they are so poopy, but my camera is pretty bad and I had to really zoom in):

Busy, busy, busy...

We have been so busy around here I haven't had time to do anything!  Brody and Tony have been sick for almost a week now; fever, coughing, sore throats, etc.  I didn't think we were going to be able to go trick-or-treating on Saturday night.  I tried to talk Brody into staying home with me to watch movies and drink hot apple cider, but he wasn't having it.  So I broke down and let him go (against my better judgement...lol).  And he paid the price on Sunday.  He was miserable. 

I did take some time Saturday afternoon to sit and watch a movie that I've heard people talking about for months and months, Twilight.  OMG have you seen Robert Pattinson (can you hear me growling like a little minx...lol!).  He's gorgeous.  I watched the dang movie twice.  Tony thought I was a complete nut...lol.  Now I know why all the women have been raving about this movie.  Can't wait for the new one to come out this month.  That is definitely going to be a girls movie night!

This week is going to be another busy one.  Holly turns 7!  I can't believe it.  She has accomplished another first as well.  She took a shower instead of a bath last night and informed me that she didn't want to take baths anymore.  I'm losing my grip here people...lol. 

I've been called to serve the public as well this week, Jury Duty!  AARRGGHHH!  Nothing is going my way...lol.  Keep your fingers crossed for me NOT TO GET PICKED!  I have a hard enough time staying awake at work when I'm busy, I'll never be able to handle sitting in a wooden chair for 8 hours listening to some lawyers drone on and on and on.  Juror number 4 next to me is going to have to poke me to keep my snoring to a minimum...lol.  Do you think they'll believe me if I tell them I'm a narcoleptic?!?

Well, I do have 2 bright spots during the week; Girls night on Wednesday and I'm getting my roots done on Thursday (and boy do they need it!).  I hope that everyone has a great week this week.  See you all soon!