Time For An Update!

Once again it's been way too long since I've posted anything here.  I need to get back on track with that!  A lot has happened since my last post.  Some things I can mention, others aren't my place to say, but our lives have been on a roller coaster lately!  First, about a month ago, we had to put our baby girl, Cloz'r, down.  That was a terrible day.  She wasn't acting quite like herself so I took her to the vet.  They found she had a tumor on her spleen and that it had been bleeding into her belly.  With her being 13, there wasn't much they could do, that wouldn't have ended up being incredibly rough on her, and the odds of her survival were slim.  It was heartbreaking to have to make that decision.  She went peacefully in my arms.  Our house is so not the same without her.  Every day there is something that reminds me she is not here.  When the kids drop food, when someone comes to the door... it's just not the same without her.




In other news, the kids are enjoying their summer break!  We've gone camping a few times already and have had a great time.  They love it, but much like me, they are always ready to go home at the end.  :)  Each time we've gone with been with family and/or friends and it's been a blast.  We hope to go a lot more in the near future.  The kids are also both in the summer reading program at the library again.  This year, Lucas is really getting into it.  Lauryn loves being in the older group and getting to do more with it.

Lloyd and I are doing great!  We are coming up on 15 years of being together (11 years married, in October).  It's been the most wonderful 15 years and I know they wouldn't have been this way if it weren't for him.  I'm so incredibly lucky to have found someone so amazing

Things are getting pretty exciting with my Jamberry business!  In 8 days, Cheryl and I will be going to Texas for the International Conference.  I'm excited and nervous!  The only time I've really traveled like this was almost 11 years ago, with Lloyd on our honeymoon!  It's going to be great!  We're going to trainings, special events and hooking up on some major Jamberry Swag!!!  Being away from Lloyd and the kids for a few days will be tough but I think it will be beneficial to my business....not to mention Cheryl and I have a blast no matter what we do!  :)  We'll be staying at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center....look it up, it's insane!!!

I suppose that's all I have for now.  Hopefully I can get back on track with this.  Not only can I share with everyone, it's also a little therapeutic!

Here Goes....

Yesterday was the start of my launch party and I was thrilled to see quite a few ladies participating!  I have incredibly high hopes with my Jamberry business.  Not only do I love the product and love showing it off and telling others about it, I love the idea that I can make a career out of it.  What better way to make money as a stay at home mom, than to have a business that's all about something you absolutely love!  I can't wait to see how far this launch will go!  Here are pictures of my newest "jamicure" and Lauryn's, using the Jamberry Junior Wraps she got as a stocking stuffer.  Check it out at:  carielle.jamberrynails.net/shop

[caption id="attachment_5187" align="aligncenter" width="219"] Bubble Buddies[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_5186" align="aligncenter" width="220"] Orchid Bouquet with Boysenberry Accents[/caption]

 

A New Venture

I've decided to try something new and become an independent consultant for Jamberry Nails.  I have been wearing the wraps for a while now and I absolutely LOVE having pretty nails all the time.  My friend, Cheryl, became a consultant and after hostessing a party with her and using the wraps myself, I became addicted!  I've always loved having my nails done but can't stand chipping polish.  I'm also not a big fan of the cost to get them done at the salon and what acrylics do to my nails.  Having pretty nails that are simple to apply, don't chip and stay on for two weeks or more is fantastic!  Not to mention the amazing designs and colors to choose from.  My biggest problem with these wraps is that I have a hard time deciding on which ones I want to wear!  If you'd like to check them out go to carielle.jamberrynails.net  You can also email me with any questions you might have on how to make your nails this pretty:

Another Great Weekend

I absolutely love our weekends!  Whether we make plans or just stay at home, I love spending time with my family.  This past weekend was no exception.  We started with "Nana Friday" where my mom comes over to spend some time with us and we eat dinner together.  Lloyd surprised Lauryn by taking her to the Belding football game to watch one of our favorite players, the Brim Reaper.  :)  She was thrilled!

Saturday started off with Lloyd making a yummy breakfast of omelets, brown sugar baked bacon and toast, and I did some cleaning and laundry.  In the afternoon we got a visit from one of my favorite people in the world, my cousin Ashley, and her equally cool boyfriend, Matt.  They came to share the good news that they'd gotten engaged!  I was so beyond excited for them!  I can't wait to see my beautiful cousin walk down the aisle!  After a nice visit, they headed out and my mom came over to watch  the kids.  Lloyd and I went to Allendale to pick up his sweet cousin, Jordynn.  We got to see her dorm and then we all went to Uccello's for a yummy dinner.  The service was less than impressive but the food was great.  We had a really nice time catching up with her!  We took her back home and then headed home ourselves.

Yesterday was a pretty lazy day.  We went and got a ton of groceries, Lauryn went to the neighbors for  a couple of hours to play with her friend, Sophie, and I made General Tso's Chicken and homemade crab rangoons for  dinner.  The rest of the night was spent hanging with the kids and watching some Sunday night shows.  It was a nice, relaxing way to wrap up the weekend.

 

She's A Kindergartner!

This week Lauryn began a new and exciting chapter in her life.  She started kindergarten!  She had been counting down the days until she went back to school and got to ride the bus.  Tuesday was her first day and she loved it!  I had to make her "first day of school sign" like I did for her two years of preschool and I always ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, to put on the sign.  The first year her response was, "Everything!"  Last year it was, "Everything and a police officer."  This year it was the Tooth Fairy. :)  She was the first one on the bus and she didn't seem nervous at all.  I didn't think I was either but as soon as the bus pulled away, I completely lost it.  Seeing my little girl on that great big bus was tough!  We met her at school though to see her into her classroom for that first day, and of course, to take pictures.  Leaving the school wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  Instead of sitting at home all day, waiting and wondering, Lucas and I visited with Cheryl and Malachi.  It helped a ton to hang out with them.  When it was time for Lauryn to come home, Lucas, Cloz'r and I sat outside to wait for the bus.  Lloyd pulled in after a few minutes because he wanted to be here to hear all about her first day, too.  The bus was quite late, as I was told it probably would be, but when she got here she was still all smiles and a lot of excitement over her first day.  She kept saying, over and over, "Kindergarten is AWESOME!"  She's eating breakfast and lunch at school, she's making friends in class and on the bus, and she loves her teacher.  I couldn't be happier about all of this!  It's sad to think my sweet girl is already in kindergarten but she's smart and she's ready.

 



[caption id="attachment_5103" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Daddy and Lucas came out to watch Lauryn get on the bus for the first time too![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5104" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Look at my big girl! On the bus ready to go to kindergarten.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5105" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Look closely. In the second window behind the driver my sweet girl is peeking out. I fell apart about two seconds after this photo was taken. :p[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5106" align="aligncenter" width="224"] A sign outside of the classroom, welcoming the students.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5107" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Super excited about her cubby.[/caption]

Labor Day Weekend

It's been too long since I've updated my blog!   We had a fun weekend with family and friends!  It started Friday night, when Lauryn and I met up with Kristin, Nikki, Cheryl and Alan, and all the kids to watch the twilight parade.  This is our third year going and even though it's not a very long parade, I love to see all the floats and people decked out in glow necklaces, bracelets, glasses, etc.  This years theme was Christmas.  Not my favorite but since they didn't play tons of music, it wasn't too bad. :)  On Saturday we took the kids down to the fair.  We met up with the Hughes clan and rode a bunch of rides.  Lucas had a good time riding the kiddie rides and Lauryn rode some of the bigger rides with me.  Just as we were deciding it was time to head home, the skies opened up and poured!  We got drenched but it was still fun.  :)  After we got home and all got dry clothes on, my mom came over and she and I headed to pick up my brother, Jayson.  We came back and grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner.  We had a great evening, sitting on the deck and visiting.  Sunday we decided to go to the museum.  It's been ages since I've been through the main part of the museum.  I've taken the kids to the Exploration Lab a few times so it was nice to see go through all of it and see the history of my little town.  We ended it at the Exploration Lab so the kids could play for a bit.  My mom came back over and we grilled steaks, had a yummy, cheesy macaroni salad my mom made, and finished it with a delicious Butterfinger pudding.  After dinner was cleaned up, we played in the yard for a bit and then headed downtown for the fireworks.  We had the same spot as last year and there was plenty of room for Cheryl, Alan, the boys, and their friends to join us.  It was another great show, as it is every year.  We went back home, got the kids in bed and visited on the deck again for a bit.  Monday morning started with my crock pot breakfast.  We got ready and headed back downtown for the parade.  We met up again with Cheryl, Alan and the kids and watched the parade.  The kids had a great time and got quite a bit of candy.  After the parade I took my brother back home then we relaxed for the rest of the day.

[caption id="attachment_5086" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Gone fishin'[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5087" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Selling produce to Uncle Jay[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5088" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Sizing up the dinosaur footprint[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5089" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Trying so hard to reach the Chinese lanterns that kept flying overhead[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5092" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Ready and waiting[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5093" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Lauryn and Smokey the Bear[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5096" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I thought this was the coolest float. A little of our towns history added with the leg lamp from "A Christmas Story"[/caption]

 

 

So, This Happened

Every morning I wake up to hearing Lucas getting out of bed and saying, "Dood morning, Mama.  I'm awake!"  This morning was no different.  I heard him say my name so I got out of bed and headed to his room.  When I got there, though, he wasn't just waiting by the door.  He was sitting on the changing table, covered head to toe (and everywhere in between) in lotion.  "Dood morning, Mama!"  He had climbed the table, reached over to the basket on his dresser and decided to help himself to some lotion.  The funny thing is, as I was headed to bed last night, after I checked in on him and was stepping over the baby gate in his doorway, I was wondering how long we'd need to have that up.  We never used a baby gate in Lauryn's doorway because as soon as she woke up, she came right into our room and woke me up.  She never wandered around or got into anything.  Lucas, however, has had a gate since the day he could get out of his bed.  I knew he'd be into everything possible, if he had access to the house while we were sleeping.  Apparently I need to make sure the things on his dresser are put away every night now, so this doesn't happen again:

 



You know how grandparents joke about hoping their grandchildren give their parents the same troubles that their parents gave to them?  Yeah, well I didn't do anything like this when I was little.  I was a sweet, shy little girl who didn't do a lot of naughty stuff at all (so I'm told).  Lucas seems to have a little bit of my aunt and my brothers in him.  All of whom know exactly why I say that! ;)  After getting him into the tub, washing all the lotion off of him and getting him dressed, I let out a big sigh as we were leaving his room.  He looked at me and said, "Just laugh about it, Mama."  Stinker!

A Little Bit More

I've done a few more paintings.  I'm really enjoying myself and still can't believe I'm even capable of doing this!  Who knew?  :)

[caption id="attachment_5054" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Flutterby Butterfly[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_5056" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Mermaid deep in the ocean[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5057" align="aligncenter" width="224"] A cross my cousin asked me to do.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5058" align="aligncenter" width="224"] A peacock feather for my aunts peacock themed office.[/caption]

Having Fun With It

I'm still very much into painting and I'm having such a good time with it.  It's becoming a nightly wind-down ritual for me.  It's so relaxing to do and I love the feeling I get when I stand back and look at the finished project.  Here are the latest paintings I've done:

[caption id="attachment_5042" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Dandelions[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5043" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Little girl on a tree swing[/caption]

I've even traded on of my paintings for a family photo session!  I've been wanting to get one done, as we've never had professional photos taken as a family.  My friend, Jodi, who did an amazing job with Lucas's pictures, offered a trade for one of my paintings.  Such a great deal!  I've recently received emails about north Carolina photographers, and I'm sure they're great, but why far away when you've got friends so close to home with amazing photography skills?  We're going to wait until the fall to get them done and I'm so excited!

 

 

 

Her Very First Meal

Lauryn has been talking about helping more with meals and wanting to do more cooking.  She's always helped me in the kitchen with measuring, stirring, etc. but now she wants to do more by herself.  We talked it over and decided tonight, for her first meal on her own, she'd make taco salad and bean dip.  It was hard for me to stand back and let her do it, and she did ask for a little help here and there, but she listened when I explained why things had to be done a certain way, she was very careful and she did a great job!  From making the meal and setting the table to putting leftovers away and cleaning up, she really did great and she loved doing it on her own.  When I mentioned her cleaning up after, because when Mama makes a meal, Mama has to clean up, she thought it was great that she was going to do that, too!  I told her that if she'd like, we could make one meal a week that was a "Lauryn Meal" meaning she'd do it all on her own.  She was thrilled!  I love that she's showing so much interest in the kitchen and I love how well she listened and got right into what she was doing.  I'm looking forward to more "Lauryn Meals." :)

 

[caption id="attachment_5024" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Browning the burger[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_5025" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Stirring in the seasonings[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5026" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Cutting the lettuce[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5027" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Setting the table[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5029" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Lauryn approved[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5033" align="aligncenter" width="210"] Mama approved[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5031" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Helping clean up[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5032" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Drawing pictures of her recipe[/caption]

A New Interest

Since going to those Wine & Canvas classes, I've had an urge to paint more.  I found it to be so relaxing and I love to mix colors together to make different shades of the original color.  Below are the pictures I've done.

These three are a lot of fun to do!  After making the first one (greens), my friend Jodi asked me to do a purple one for her.  I loved how that turned out.  I went on to do the blue one and still might make more with different colors.  It's fun to see how different each one turns out.

I was curious to see if I could repeat the Wine & Canvas painting, without an instructor to show me step-by-step.  The flowers still have a bit of purple but I made them a little darker this time around.  This is an 8x10 version of the original one I did.

 



 

I saw a tutorial a few days ago on how to do dandelions.  I decided to give it a try and this was the outcome.  I'm not completely happy with it, but I did learn about using different colors to show where the light is coming from, and I'm planning on trying it again one of these days.

The birds on a branch is one of my favorites.  I love playing around with different shades of colors and this was a great picture for that.

 



I've been busy finding different paintings to try and I picked up a couple of books from the library to help me learn new techniques.  I would love to be able to really go at this on my own.  I feel like, even though I am doing these my way and changing colors, they aren't my own.  I have a lot to learn with all of this and I hope to paint picture that are completely, 100% original someday.  I'm having fun trying things out until I get there, though.  :)

Wine & Canvas Part 2

After going to the Wine & Canvas class with Cary, I couldn't wait to do it again!  After talking with my friend Cheryl, we picked out another one and told a few friends about it.  Cheryl, her friend, Jennifer, and I signed up for the Black, White and Red class at San Chez Bistro.  We had a fantastic time!  We had a couple of sangria's, yummy food, and lots of laughter.  Anyone who knows me, knows I don't like red, so I got some blue paint on my palette and mixed up my own purple for the flowers.  I absolutely love how the color turned out.  I think I have a new addiction!  I absolutely loved the whole experience and hope to do it again soon!  I just wish I had the talent to do my own, original pictures.  Here's how the  night went:

The original.

 

[caption id="attachment_4996" align="aligncenter" width="300"] My colors.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4997" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Getting started on the background.[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_4999" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Adding the flowers.[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_5003" align="aligncenter" width="300"] On to the stems.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5005" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Finished product.[/caption]