Camryn's Birthday Journal

2:30 am - woke Mommy up to complain about the bandaid she put on my finger before bed. Really just wanted to get the party started early, but Mommy wasn't up to it.

7 am - Mommy woke me up and sang Happy Birthday. I think that song is hilarious!

8 am - 10 am - Watched Elmo's world, played the piano, and ran errands with Daddy. This day is starting out great!

10:30 am - Quick snooze on the way to see Mommy

11 am - Visit all of Mommy's friends at work. They asked me lots of questions - What's your name? Is today your birthday? How old are you? What color is your shirt? I knew the answer to all of them but decided to bury my head on Mommy's shoulder and whine. That's just how I roll.

12 pm - Had pizza for the first time at lunch. And all this time they've just been feeding me fruits and veggies? If there's pizza in the world, I'll never touch peas and carrots again.

1 pm - Get FOUR birthday cards in the mail and think I am hot stuff.

2 pm - Mommy comes homes early, and I am now wired because of no nap.

3 pm - Beg to have cookies for a snack and get them. This birthday thing is pretty cool.

4 pm - Get a phone call from Aunt Alison and strut around the house talking to her because someone called ME on the phone.

5 pm - Beg to have hot dogs for supper and get denied. But it's my biiiiirrrttthhhday! Also get a birthday call from Grammy which makes the hot dog denial a little better.

6 pm - Open a present from Mommy and Daddy - a Wonder Pets DVD. We sit down to watch an episode as a family and Mommy and Daddy reminisce about my birth at 6:23 pm.

7 pm - Reaching the cranky point because I've had no nap but get a birthday call from Mrs. Beth which smooths things over.

8 pm - More Wonder Pets and cuddling with Mommy. Not a bad day!

Happy Birthday, Camryn!

Today my baby is two years old. Two years have gone by much too quickly. I can't begin to find the words to describe how much her daddy and I love our little girl. We are so proud of how beautiful, smart, sweet, and funny she is, and we are so overwhelmed with love for her. She brings so much joy and happiness to each our days. I sometimes sit and just stare at her or sit and hold her and am just amazed that God chose to entrust us with such a precious gift. Happy Birthday to my sweet Camryn!

So Proud of Myself!

About a month or so ago, my sister and I were looking for birthday invitations online for Camryn's birthday party. She found some really cute ones that I decided I just had to have. We're doing a Sesame Street theme, and these invitation had a picture of Elmo with a vellum overlay, tied at the top with a raffia ribbon. I was excited until I started calculating the price and realized it was going to cost $120 for 10 invitations (and I needed 17!). Now, I like to splurge every now and then, but I just couldn't justify that! So, after being bummed about it for a while, I decided to make my own!

I found a Sesame Street picture online and took it to the UPS store to have it nicely printed:

Then printed the invitation on the vellum on a home computer:

Then put them together with some colorful raffia I found at Hobby Lobby:

I thought they turned out looking great, and I was pretty proud of myself!

The Winner and Good Deals!

Thanks to everyone for your song suggestions. Jason and I really enjoyed reading all of your iPod favorites. Out of all the suggestions, his personal favorite was Radar Love. Mine was Lucas with the Lid Off, although no one besides me and Lindsay probably remember that one ... and possibly Erin. Anyway, after some help with the drawing from my beautiful assistant . . .

. . . the winner is Michelle at Newsome Notes!!! Congratulations, Michelle!

Also, for all of you bargain hunters out there, here are a few good ones. First, Gymboree has their Baby Sale going on. $10 for clothing regularly priced $12.50 - $20.00 and $20 for clothing regularly priced $22.50 - $42.50. Plus, this is the time to earn Gymbucks! As an early birthday present, Camryn's Papa let "her" do some online Gymboree shopping, so "she" was way excited! Also, Staples has a major President's Day sale going on and has this Dell all-in-one for $49.98 after a mail in rebate. Plus, they have free one day shipping! Jason and I have been wanting an all-in-one for quite a while now, so we were really excited to get this one! I think the offer ends today, though, so you have to hurry!

100th Post

This is my 100th post! Yay for me! In honor of the 100th post, I thought it was time for a change in the layout. Since I stated in the previous post I don't like change, this was obviously very difficult for me! :) (Actually, not really - I was starting to think the old layout looked pretty boring.)

Also, in honor of the 100th post, I'm holding a contest! Jason got an iPod for Christmas. We've had a lot of fun picking out songs for him to download. When he first got it, we would flip through the music channels on the TV and find some great songs that way. It's funny what you remember when you listen to the '80's and '90's channels! So, here's what I would like you to do. What's your must-have iPod song? Leave a comment and let us know! Jason's not picky - he has everything from Bill Cosby stand-up to classic Boyz to Men (that was for me!), James Taylor, the Commodores, Chicago . . . you name it, it's probably there. In return for your response, I'll draw a name from everyone whose left a comment for the chance to win a container of Tastefully Simple Caramel Creme Latte Mix and a single serving of their Chai Tea. For as many times as you leave a comment, I'll enter your name into the drawing! Hope you play along!