I'M ALIVE!!!

I have been so busy lately that I've neglected my blogging...shame on me! Let's see where do I begin. I was at Urgent Care on Father's Day due to severe vertigo. They thought I had an infection and put me on antibiotics, which did absolutely nothing for me. Come to find out my old eye doctor had prescribed me regular contacts for my astigmatism instead of contacts that correct an astigmatism. Having the wrong contacts was causing me to be off balance! It took me a few days to get used to the new contacts, but now I see everything clear and steady! Praise God!

Lately, I've been working so hard at keeping my house clean for showings, but we still haven't had any bites. Hopefully, it will sell soon. With Summer being here, I've had to keep the girls occupied, otherwise we'd all go nuts, so I've been going to the YMCA getting regular exercise and taking them to the pool. Our new Y here has a splash pad and a water park, so we've really been enjoying that. The girls are so tan now, they actually look like they have more Filipino in them!

Maddie has been enjoying her time off school and has been reading like a mad woman. She reads and reads and reads. There's no stopping her! Kynzie is learning new words and phrases. Her latest phrase is "Prolly later" (probably later). It's been quite a useful phrase! Everytime she wants to do something, if I say, "no", she'll say "prolly later" and I'll say "uh huh" and she's happy with that.

Hmmm, what else? Oh we had a little celebration here at my house on the 4th. It was a combo party, 3 birthdays in one (2 of my nephews and my niece) and a 4th of July party. We just played with the baby pool and the inflatable water slide outside, but the kids had a blast. Aaron and I have been going to a couples small group with my brother-in-law, sister-in-law and two other couples. We've been having a blast together and we look forward to our fellowship everytime. It's fun to talk with each other and learn from each other. We also went to a Marriage Seminar with Don and Jean McClure...the best seminar I've ever been too (not that I've been to a ton of them). Don is so funny and so engaging, I wanted the seminar to last forever. I highly recommend it to every couple that is offered the opportunity of attending his seminar. Worth every cent and every second.

I almost forgot, I GOT AN iPHONE!!!! I waited in line on Friday and got my iPhone. It's so cool and I just love it. I get to take the internet everywhere I go. The connection speed is pretty fast and I love the GPS function. Every day, I've been able to play with it a little bit more and find out it's coolness grows each time.

Well, there's my life in a nutshell. Pretty boring huh? We'll be driving back to Cali on August 9th hoping to arrive by August 12th so we can be back home to celebrate my dad's birthday with him. I'm so excited to be going home and being with my family. All of us are. Please keep the sale of our house in your prayers. Also, please pray that VBS this week goes smoothly. I'm in charge of the pre-schoolers (what was I thinking?). I'm quite nervous because I don't believe I'm that great with kids, so it will be interesting to see how the Lord handles this one.

Anywho, hopefully next time I blog it won't be 3 weeks from now! Thank you to all who e-mailed me to check on me...I AM ALIVE!!!

Kynzie's words

When Maddie was a baby she talked so soon. Her first word was "daddy" at 6 months old...clear as a bell and we have it on video. She moved on to full sentences by a year and a half and could hold a conversation with you. You didn't have to guess at what she was saying and everyone we met were always surprised.

Now we have Kynzie. She didn't say anything for about the first year and a half of her life. She used to just grunt. Now she's talking and talking and between my two girls I rarely get a moment of peace unless they're sleeping. Kynzie doesn't talk nearly as clear as Maddie did and I find myself having to translate for her all the time. I love that she doesn't talk too clearly because her words are so cute! Here are some examples:

sumpim = something
oars = yours
googrr = good girl
goomers = bloomers
et = yet
ogret = yogurt
ahden = again
sow = school
baby soup = bathing suit

I'm really going to have to keep a record of all these things becuase before I know it...they'll be clear as a bell too...just like Maddie's words.

And the winners are...

In a very scientific and random drawing, conducted by my 2.5 yo, the winners are Kari George and Kisha Johnson! Congrats ladies! Thanks for playing!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yay! Today is my 31st Birthday! It's been a great day so far and I've only been awake for about an hour. I've been wanting an iPhone for sometime now and this morning my hubby gave me a picture of an iPhone. I thought he was playing a joke on me because he has been completely against me getting one since I first mentioned wanting one. He then tells me that I am getting an iPhone and that I could either get one today or wait until July 11th to get the new one coming out. I'm definitely waiting for the new one to come out since it's got way more features and is less expensive! I'm so excited.

Normally, Aaron gives the girls cereal for breakfast. Since it's now Summer, they don't get up in time to see him before he leaves for work. When Kynzie got up, she asked if her daddy was still here and I told her no. Then she was all worried that she wasn't going to get any cereal for breakfast. I assured her that I could get her cereal and she was fine with that. We get downstairs and she sees a bag of Cheetos from yesterday and asks if she could have Cheetos. I told her, "No you may not have Cheetos for breakfast." She paused and looked at me and said, "May I please have lunch?". I was laughing so hard. I had to call Aaron and share the funny story with him...he quite enjoyed it.

It's been so busy and hectic for the past couple of weeks. Maddie had her Kindergarten graduation last Thursday (I'll post pics later) and then we had some parties to attend. We got her SAT scores and she did unbelievably well. The test says that she has the listening skills of a 6th grader...so now I have proof that she does hear me, it's just a matter of her obeying!

We signed up for the local YMCA yesterday. It's literally around the corner from our house and it's brand new. It has a splash pad, family pool and a waterpark! Since gas is so expensive, we decided to go ahead an sign up since it's so close by. We went yesterday for the first time and had a blast. The girls can't wait to go back today.

Lastly, since it's my birthday I 'd like to give out some blog candy. I'm going to give to two random people one of these two prizes: a scrapbook embellishment goodie bag or a custom hair bow. You'll be given one entry for every post you put on my blog and another entry for mentioning my blog or bizzybows.com on your blog. Happy posting!

***I forgot to mention that this contest will end on until Friday, June 13th at noon (CST).***

Our Memorial Day Weekend

We had a lot to do for Memorial Day weekend. Kynzie spent the night at gramma's on Friday night. Maddie was supposed to go, but she was being disobedient and disrespectful so she lost that privelage for the day. We went to my friend Kat's baby shower on Saturday. It was a lot of fun to meet her parents, who flew in from Puerto Rico. Maddie had fun because Kat has a doggie named Mya that Maddie played with for most of the time. We had to leave a tad bit early because we go to Saturday night service.

On Sunday we just hung out at the house then we went to a neighborhood block party a few houses down the street. It was fun to see some neighbors and meet new neighbors. They had a kiddie pool out for the little kiddies and the big kiddies went next door because one of the neighbors has a pool. They also brought out a ping pong table and most of the guys played on that. There were so many kids and it was fun getting to know each other better and having all the kids play together. Maddie and Kynzie took off with their grammy again that night, so Aaron and I decided to watch Indiana Jones. It wasn't the greatest movie, but I did enjoy it. I just love Harrison Ford. We got home a little late, but we got to sleep in the next day so it was great!

On Monday we had to do a lot of shopping and cleaning because people were coming to see the house on Wednesday and I have an all day crop here at the house on Saturday. So we had to do some grocery shopping and what not to get prepared. When the girls came home Monday evening from a day with Grammy, Kynzie looked as though she got into a boxing match with someone. So after her shower, we got this picture of her:

Do you see how her right eye is almost shut? She had an allergic reaction to a mosquito bite. She got 5 big bites on her face. I felt so bad. Everywhere I went people would ask her if she got an owie on her eye and I'd tell them she got bitten on her eye. I should've said...if you think that's bad, you should see the other kid! LOL!

I ended up having to take her to the doctor's on Tuesday because Maddie was rough-housing Kynzie on Friday and popped Kynzie's elbow out of socket and then it was reinjured two more times. It's nothing serious, it's called Nursemaid's Elbow. We just have to try to make sure not to pull on that arm or hand to hard because now that it's been popped out once, it's very easy to pop it out. The doctor said it would take about 3 weeks to heal.

Ok, well this has gone on long enough, but one last great thing. Maddie had Awards Chapel on Wednesday and she got the Top Phonics Award and All Year All 'A's Honor Roll. We are so proud of her!

I'm a mess!

If you listen to Christian radio, you probably heard the news of the death of Maria, Steven Curtis Chapman's 5 year old daughter. He wrote this beautiful song, "Cinderella"...here are the lyrics:

She spins and she sways

To whatever song plays

Without a care in the world

And I’m sitting here wearing

The weight of the world on my shoulders

It’s been a long dayAnd there’s still work to do

She’s pulling at me saying, “Dad I need you

There’s a ball at the castle and I’ve been invited

And I need to practice my dancin’

Oh please, Daddy please”

So I will dance with Cinderella

While she is here in my arms

‘Cause I know something the prince never knew

Oh, I will dance with Cinderella

I don’t want to miss even one song

‘Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight

And she’ll be gone …

She says he’s a nice guy

And I’d be impressed

She wants to know if I approve of the dress

She says, “Dad the prom is just one week away

And I need to practice my dancin’Oh please, Daddy please”

So I will dance with Cinderella

While she is here in my arms

‘Cause I know something the prince never knew

Oh, I will dance with Cinderella

I don’t want to miss even one song

‘Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight

And she’ll be gone, she will be gone…

Well, she came home today

With a ring on her hand

Just glowing and telling us

All they had planned

She says, “Dad the wedding’s still six months away

But I need to practice my dancin’

Oh please, Daddy please”

So I will dance with Cinderella

While she is here in my arms

‘Cause I know something the prince never knew

Oh, I will dance with Cinderella

I don’t want to miss even one song

‘Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight

And she’ll be gone

I just downloaded the song to my iPod and I can't stop crying. It's so tragic and so sad. If you don't know what happened. Their family was celebrating the engagement of their eldest daughter and the high school graduation of their oldest son. Maria, who turned 5 just 10 days ago, was struck by one of her older brothers in their driveway. He didn't see the little girl. So now amongst all the celebration they must now bury their 5 year old angel.

Please take a moment to pray for their family. This tragic story really makes you take a step back and appreciate what you have. To read a little bit more about this family, please visit www.stevencurtischapman.com I'm going to go hug my little Cinderellas.

Mother's Day Pics

We had a great Mother's Day. Aaron actually started Mother's Day for me on Saturday and it lasted through Sunday. He gave me some time alone so I could work on my bow projects (and so he could go Mother's Day shopping). We went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and had some yummy country style dishes. Then we hand lunner with the rest of the fam at BJs.

The girls each gave me a Willow Tree Angel. Kynzie gave me one holding a heart and Maddie gave me the Angel of Friendship (she's hugging a puppy). Aaron also got me Popcap Arcade for XBOX 360 and 27 Dresses on DVD. I was very happy.


I also gave Maddie her very own pair of Princess Flop Flops on Mother's Day. She was so happy. Here are some pics!

This is a picture of Kynzie being silly. She decided to put on this headband and tuck her dress into her bloomers. Too funny. She looks like she's about to work out!

Flop Flops

I'm adding a new line to my website...they're called "Flop Flops" (this is what Kynzie calls Flip Flops). Here is my first pair. I made a prototype today and I've already got 5 orders! It's hard to tell with out little feet in them, but these are Kynzie size Flop Flops (toddler 8/9). Whatcha think?

Oh wait...I know they don't match, but she HAD to have them on. Here's a pic with her wearing them!

Fun in the sun...and still very busy

A couple weeks ago, we bought an inflatable pool for the girls from Target. We put it up (it took almost an hour to inflate the whole thing) and let the girls play for a while. We had BLTs on sourdough bread and had a nice leasurely Sunday afternoon. We ended up not liking the pool because the slide was really not safe...so now we're deflating it and returning it to Target.



Here are pics of the girls enjoying it for the one time:

We also didn't think it would be too water bill friendly. It took a lot of water to fill it just a little and we can't leave it out because we're selling the house. We've decided we're just going to join the new YMCA that opened up down the street. It has a waterpark and everything and it's really close.

At the end of this month I'm having a National Scrapbook Month event at my house. Planning for that has been stressful because I have to spend most of my time filling bow orders, but after that event, I will no longer be organizing that group in order to prepare for our move back to CA. We still haven't had an offer, but the realtor said things are picking up so hopefully soon!

Been So Busy

It's been a little while since I've blogged on here. I've been pretty busy. In addition to being mommy and wifey, I was working on getting my Bizzy Bows website up and running, filling tons of bow orders (still not done), participating in a bow swap, gathering stuff together for my all day crop at the end of the month, and trying to keep the house clean in the meantime.

My bow business is really growing. I've sold more than 50 bows in a week and half's time (that's a lot of time and a lot of work for little old me). It's so much fun though...I can't complain. I love to make these hair accessory creations. I do miss Kynzie though. I feel like I don't sit and play with her as much as I normally do...so that's my plan for the day. Today is my off day...I just officially decided that.

Maddie is taking her Kindergarten graduation pictures today. I can't believe she only has a little over month of school left. Her first year of school just flew by and she's grown so much from it. She's reading like a pro and I'm so proud of her.

We still haven't had an offer on the house, but we're ok. We know God has a plan and we're excited to see how that will unfold. He's always taken care of us.

Anyhow...time for me to go enjoy Kynzie. I hope you find joy and blessings for the rest of your day (and always)!

Finally...it's up!

I finally switched my website hosting service and got a great template for my Bizzy Bows e-Store. I'm so excited. Please take a moment to check it out and tell me what you think!

www.bizzybows.com

The Worst 2 Hours of My Life

***Update - Please read to the bottom of this post for a brief update.***

So yesterday was the first day I decided to take a break from making bows. I was just going to kick back with Kynzie, work on some web devlopment for my new site and catch up on some TV. My morning was the same ol' same ol', after getting home from dropping Maddie off at school, I was loading the dishwasher from the morning dishes and then checking e-mail, feeding Kynzie and myself, etc. So I get Kynize down for her nap (at around noon), make myself a little lunch and sit down to watch TV. Phone rings. The Caller ID says, "Central Showing". Since I didn't want it to keep ringing I answered it and hung up right away. A couple seconds later it rings again with the same caller ID, so I answer it. It was a realtor wanting to show my house in 2 hours to a prospective buyer. TWO HOURS!!! My house was trashed (well trashed in my eyes).

This was the first time we had kinda let the house get messy since we first put it up for sale. I had bow stuff everywhere dried up glue from my hot glue gun all over my granite counters and ribbon fragments everywhere. There was laundry in a huge pile in my room that needed to be attended to and the kids left a bunch of little things laying around.

I have never worked so hard to get a house spic and span in two hours in my life. I was sweating so much I wasn't sure if I was actually sweating or crying from head to toe. I just kept praying that I would get it done in time.

Fortunately, Kynzie was asleep during my cleaning rampage (and her room was fine so I didn't need to do anything in there except fix her bed when I got her up). So I got to clean uninterrupted. I not only cleaned and straightened out all of our almost 3600 sf home, I also straightened out the backyard some and was able to get the gardener to come out and mow and edge the lawn before the buyers came.

Please pray that the buyers liked our home and are wanting to purchase our home. The sooner the better for us.

***Update***

We just got another call today because another prospective buyer wants to look at our house! This is amazing because there are a total of 6 homes on my street that are up for sale and none of them have had a bite yet! Please pray that we sell to someone soon!***

I'm having so much fun!

I love creating with this double ruffle ribbon. Check out my latest creation. Just looks so Summery to me (is that a word?).

Drum Roll Please.....

And the winner of my "Happy Tax Day!" RAK Custom Bow Giveaway is.....

Nicole from Back At The Ranch! Congratulations Nicole! I'll be in contact with you soon. Thank you everyone for playing along and congratulations for surving Tax Day!

One More Day!!!

There's only one more day for my "Happy Tax Day!" RAK giveaway. So comment away to increase your chances of winnning. If you don't know anything about this giveaway, please read the post entitled "Happy Tax Day!". Here's another little Bizzy Bug Clippie I made over the weekend. My girls are loving these clippies!

Bizzy Bug Clippies & Princess Clippies

Tinkerbell Clippie (approx 2.25" tall)

Jasmine Clippie (approx. 2.75" tall)

Aurora/Sleeping Beauty Clippie (approx 2.75" tall)

Ariel/Little Mermaid Clippie (approx 2.25" tall)

Here's a pick of my Bizzy Butterfly Clip. The wing span is approx. 3" and it is a little over 2 1/4" long. The eyes are made of genuine Swarovski Crystals!

Here's the Bizzy Bumble Bee. It measures approximately 1" wide by 2" and includes some Swarovski bling!






Here's my Angel Fish Clippie. The body of the fish measures approximately 1" x 1". Like the Bizzy Butterfly, the eye is a genuine Swarovski Crystal.

My Cupcake Line

Here are some of my Cupcake Bows. Don't forget, you can win one of these...check out the info on how to win on my "Happy Tax Day" post below!







Red Velvet Cupcake Bow (approx 5" wide)











Blueberry Cupcake (approx. 5" wide)














Sprinkles Cupcake (approx 5" wide)








Chocolate Strawberry Cupcake Bow (approx 5"wide).











Strawberry Cupcake Bow (approx. 5" wide)

Happy Tax Day!

For some of you this is a bad day (i.e.. you owe the gov some money), for others this is a great day...big refund! We're getting a refund due to the joys of homeownership! To help give you a little pick-me-up or to celebrate your tax refund with you, I'm doing a RAK. One lucky winner will receive a custom bow of your choice in any color or color combo you want! Even if you don't have a little girl, I'm sure you know of a little girl you can give this to. They make great gifts! Here's how you can win, you will get one entry for the following:

1) Commenting on my blog (if you don't have a blog, you need to leave a way for me to get in contact with you in case you win). You'll get one entry for every comment.

2) Linking me to your blog or commenting about my blog on your blog (comment me on this blog to let me know you've linked me or posted about me, then you'll get two entries).

3) Contest ends a week from today, Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at noon.

Good Luck!

To help you start thinking of what kind of bow color combo you'd like, here are a few samples of bows I've made (the picture above is my Yellow Cupcake Bow).

This is my Lots of Love Bow (approx. 4.5" wide):


Here's my Bubble Gum Ice Cream Bow (approx 4.5" wide):

Here's a single solid color Boutique Bow in Papaya (approx. 7" wide):

One last sample for you, this is the bow I made for Maddie to match her Easter dress (approx 6: wide):

Bunch of Bitty Bows

Here's a pic of the latest Bitty Bows I've made. They measure approx 2.75" wide. They're perfect for a baby girl's hair. Like all of my alligator clip backed bows, they are all lined to help prevent slipping. I also heat seal them to prevent fraying. The colors I used are (clockwise from top): Blue, Sarsaparilla, Old rose, Robin's Egg Blue, Dusty Rose, Rose Pink, White, and Red.

The bow in the middle is the Pink & White Layered Double Ruffle bow I posted last week.

Here's a close up of the blue bow.

I'm gonna be an aunt...again!

My brother called me at 11:30 last night to let me know they are adding to their family. My SIL is pregnant with their third child which will be due in Nov/Dec. I'm so excited that I will be back in CA by then to meet my new niece/nephew.

Time To Relax

Well, Aaron and I had some time to ourselves this weekend...without kids! Maddie and Kynzie spent the night with their Gramma on Saturday and came back today at dinner time. So what did we do, you ask? A lot of nothing. Man we're getting old and boring!

We all went to church on Saturday evening and had dinner together. After dinner the girls took off and Aaron and I decided at the last minute to run to Blockbuster. We watched "Dan In Real Life". It was a cute and funny movie. Then we called it a night.

Sunday morning Aaron washed his truck right away, while I got the house picked up. We then took off to do our weekly Grocery Game shopping, but this week we really didn't get much stuff. We also had lunch at Chili's. I decided to have the Express Lunch Soup and Salad...bad idea. First I tried the Chicken Enchilada soup...it was ok, but not really that great. Then I switched to Broccoli Cheese soup...it was horrible. It tasted like melted imitation cheese. I love Broccoli cheese soup, so I was highly disappointed. I did have a couple glass fulls of Strawberry Lemonade.

We also checked out the local YMCA and we're deciding on joining. It's a brand new YMCA and has a waterpark, and the best part is that it's literally down the street from our subdivision, but it's super expensive. We'll see. I'm trying to figure out ways to beat the heat here in Houston, without driving super far.

Other than that we didn't do much else. I made some more bitty bows and dinner, but now the kids are in bed and I'm kicking myself in the butt for not taking advantage of the time we had without them. Oh well...such is life!

My First Double Ruffle Bitty Bow

A friend of mine wanted me to make her a double ruffle bow for her 3 month old daughter, but she wanted a small one. So I tried my hand at it today and it came out so cute! I'm so happy that I've figured out how to work with this double ruffle ribbon. Now they are my favorite kind of bows.

That's how you know...

he loves you! Stupid "Enchanted"! Kynzie loves this movie so we watch it all the time. The songs get stuck in my head. I do love the movie too, but not as much as her. I love that Amy Adams holds her hands out like the Disney princesses do in the movies. It's such a cute movie. I think it's great that she actually sings the songs too.

When I first saw Enchanted I couldn't figure out why Amy Adams looked so familiar. Then it hit me...she was the candy striper in Catch Me If You Can. I loved that movie.

Anyhow, Enchanted really made me a fan of Amy Adams. I think she did a wonderful job in it. This is the first movie that Kynzie will actually sit through! Hmmm, maybe I'll get to play with some stuff in my craft room!

Go Daddy

So I'm finally trying to update my BizzyBows.com website since I've practically done nothing with it since I bought the domain, but the GoDaddy.com site is so slow. It's driving me insane! Now I remember why I didn't get to far when I first started out. I purchased the Website Tonight package, but it's not as user friendly as this site is.

Hopefully I'll get it fully up and running soon.

Check it out at http://www.bizzybows.com/

Good Sunday!

We've started going to Saturday night service and we've really enjoyed it. It works out great for us because it's way less crowded than second service on Sundays. It feels much more laid back, which we really like. The girls Sunday school classrooms aren't packed full and they enjoy that as well.

This is a pic of the house before we planted.

Before church on Saturday, we went to Houston Garden Center and bought a bunch of flowers and plants to color up our flower beds in the front yard. Aaron wanted to hire someone to do it, but I wanted to make it a family project. We got up early (well early for a weekend) and got to work on the front yard. It was such a beautiful day. There was shade in the front and the weather was perfect. We planted mostly white and red flowers (impatience and petunias) along with some day lilies.

This is a picture of the house after we planted.

Maddie dug, fertilized and planted most of the flower beds. I pre-positioned all the flowers and plants, but she did such a great job. She just got right in there with her bare hands and all. I was so proud of her.

Here's the flower bed on the right.

Here's the flower bed on the left.

Here's the red and white Impatience we planted. We also planted Petunias.
Here's some pretty green and white leafy plants.

Maddie picked out all of our Day Lillies.

I don't know what these pretty purple flowers are, but the builder planted them.

We finished around 11:20 and left the house by 11:30 to do the Grocery Game. We got some really great deals as usual. We got home by 1:30. I fed the girls and Aaron put them down for a nap by 2:30. We got them up at 5:30 and after Aaron's mom showed up, we headed of to Aaron's softball game. We had left over catfish (re-fried, which made it extra crunchy...yummy) and asparagus.

All in all it was a good Sunday!