'Twas the Night before Christmas....

And we are ready!

Our elf on the shelf, buffalo left us a little note this morning when we got up that said:

Today is my last day here!

I'll fly home to Santa tonight

and whisper good thoughts in his ear...

about all the times you loved one another

and gave a helping hand to your mother!

You will be rewarded on Christmas Day

but Santa never forgets the bad things

you do and you say!

I need you to help me with a special task at hand

so Santa's reindeer will safely land.

Please mix up this snack for them to eat -

I know they will all think that was so sweet!

So nighty nite nite - I'll see you along the way!

And always remember to celebrate

the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day!

Love, Buffalo

He left us this little packet of Christmas Eve Reindeer Snack

It said:

This bag contains a special treat

for Santa's 8 reindeer

who are working hard on Christmas Eve

spreading North Pole Cheer.

This pack has been shipped to straight to you

from all of Santa's Elves

They keep the special reindeer food

year round on Santa's shelves.

The reindeer need your help, you see,

to fly Santa throught the night

to make the magic reindeer dust

Then sprinkle it under starlight!

*****

You must use the Magic Wand for mixing the ingredients - its magic gives the reindeer flight!

So we got to mixing!!!!

And then we "sprinkled it under the starlight"

and yes....little man is in his underwear

Cookies and milk are out for Santa

Stockings are hung.....

Merry Christmas!

Baby girl's ONE!

Our sweet baby girl is one!

She had so much fun at her party and enjoyed all of the attention being on her!

How fun is it to get girly PINK presents? We have never had that before!!!

Yes....that is a PINK Cadillac Escalade!!

One of my friends said "Pink looks really good in the Stargel house!"

Happy Birthday baby girl!

WOW

I've missed y'all -

been very, very sick and still not great.

One word of advice: Get your H1N1 vaccine!

A few things I've learned in these 7 days I've been in the bed:

I really CAN sleep 22 hours a day

Nyquil is the bomb

& My husband is AMAZING

But even though I'm not quite 100% -

I've got reason to celebrate!

This little sweet thang

turns one tomorrow!

We are so in love with her.

Can you tell?

Not so fun afterall!

We are big readers over here! As far as I'm concerned, you can never have too many books so they are all over our house! Every night we read two books to the boys - whatever two they want to pick out.

Well I'm always trying to think of fun new Christmas traditions to do with the kids and one of my friends does something I thought was really fun! She wraps all of their Christmas books that they've accumulated over the years and each night during the holiday season, they get to pick out one wrapped book to read - since it's wrapped in paper, they don't know which book they are getting, making it a fun Christmas surprise! Plus, they get to open a "present" every night and not read the same books over and over again (which mine tend to do!)

I thought this was a great idea for my boys! So I got all of their Christmas books out (which we store all together in the attic during the year) and wrapped them all in the same Christmas paper. Last night was the first night and I explained "this is going to be a fun new tradition! Mommy has wrapped all of your Christmas books up so you get a fun surprise each night when you open it to see which book you chose!" The oldest - who definitely is my most sensitive, perfectionist child starts whining "are you giving them away? But I want to read all of the books!" I tried to explain that we WILL read all of the books but this is just a fun way to do it!" He went to choose his first book and says "I chose the wrong one....I don't want this one" (I wish you could hear the whining in his voice) I say "That's what's fun about it! There is no wrong choice!!" He sulked but went on with his book selection. The second born could care less which book he gets! He just wants to open ALL of them on the first night!

Second night (tonight) and again the oldest is so nervous he is going to pick the wrong book!!! WHAT THE HECK! This was supposed to be fun!!!! Sure enough, he sees the book he's unwrapped and starts whining that he didn't want this book - So I told him to go pick out a regular book then since that is his "Christmas book" selection for the night - was that mean? Well he loses it! Temper tantrum that would blow any two year old AWAY and he's 5! Long story short - he couldn't even pull it together to read books - so I went into his room to talk to him and I apologized that wrapping the books wasn't fun for him. He says "it's always fun for little man because he always picks the right book but I always get the wrong book and that's not fun for me!" I couldn't believe it! I know everything in his little world has to be perfect - he's always indecisive when picking things out at the toy story, always worried if he'll choose the right thing and still will get home and regret the decision he'd made. I just couldn't believe that something so tiny that was supposed to be fun had caused all this drama!

So I told him tomorrow night if he has to unwrap every single book to find the right one then that's what we'll do!

Anyone have any other fun traditions they'd like to share?

Packing & Unpacking!

We're packing up the Fall decorations!

Christmas is on the WAY!!!!!

Black Friday!

Black Friday Savings on Sweet Pea Designs! Click on the Noteworthy Logo on the side bar and enter coupon code "black friday" to receive an additional 10% off of these already GREAT SAVINGS!

News around here!

Do you remember the first time you rode your bike with NO training wheels? I really don't but I can only imagine that feeling in knowing you are now the coolest kid around! Daddy decided to take off Numero Uno's training wheels and was planning to run behind him of course, but Numero Uno TOOK OFF like he had been riding a bike forever! Here is our fun video of the coolest kid on the block (and please notice the little "ham" that has to make an appearance!)

And this precious thing is doing so much better - without giving you too much detail, they switched her formula to soy so I don't really know what that means especially since we are about to start on whole milk? Whatever it means...it's working!

Stay Tuned for some fun Thanksgiving posts!

Missed y'all!

Sorry i've been M.I.A. lately but for the past 13 days we have been dealing with diarrhea from my baby girl. It's been going on for so long now (13 days) that we have pretty much ruled out a stomach bug! We have now tested for C-Diff, E-coli, rotavirus, giardia and other parasites I can't pronounce. We've added probiotics to her bottles to no avail. We haven't changed any of her diet so we don't think it's allergies....anyway, after 13 days of this (and me calling the pediatrician's office at least twice a day!) they have decided to put her on an antibiotic that only stays in the intestines? I don't know - I'm just glad they are doing SOMETHING! The stool samples (sorry i just said stool) aren't conclusive yet so we are still waiting to hear on those. She takes this antibiotic for 3 days and if it doesn't do the trick, then we'll be headed to a GI doc. Please pray for that post not to occur. Thanks!

I caught this picture of Little Man who NEVER just crashes - he is full speed all day long! As i took this picture I just thought to myself "now that is how I feel right about now"

missed y'all!

Tis the Season!

Tis the season to be jolly! Christmas is around the corner! I know you all know Darby from Fly through our Window....If you don't - you are HIGHLY missing out and it's not too late to start enjoying her fun blog!

Anyway, she is doing a virtual shopping trip/Christmas list down her sidebar of advertisers and Noteworthy is one of them!

Plus, she has got some great, great companies like Smitten & Co. who carry this precious shirt that I WILL be purchasing for baby girl....I'm wondering could she have too many Christmas outfits?

And Molly Caroline Designs has precious, precious stuff where I need to STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER!!!!

Just look at all of their fun Christmas designs!!!!! I want to buy baby girl one for each day of the month! I know....I have a problem!

AND...each advertiser is offering special discounts so definitely go check it out!

I'm off to count baby girl's Christmas outfits before I get out of control.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from our Goblins to yours!!!!

A few of my favorite "Fall" things...

I'm loving this Fall weather (although the cold rain today put me in a complete funk where I wanted to stay under a blanket all day!)

I love the color of the trees (pic of my backyard tree coming soon!), the chill in the air and all the oranges and browns everywhere.



These are a few of my favorite things this Fall:

International Delight's Pumpkin Pie Spice Creamer




I actually get excited about getting out of bed (more so than normal!) to come down and get my cup of coffee with this yummy creamer! You can even print a coupon for it here!

Dunkin Donuts Pumpkin Muffin

I'm also LOVING the Pumpkin muffin from Dunkin Donuts and would want one every morning if it wasn't 560 CALORIES!!!!! But it's only here for a short while so enjoy while you can!!!

Aunt Sadie's Autumn Leaves Candle

Read the description and you'll see why I like it:

A symphony from nature: winds gusting while dropped leaves dance. And inside all is calm as Aunt Dot’s pumpkin pie cools. Pumpkin Scented Candle. An Aunt Sadie’s Favorite.

It makes my entire house smell delicious!

LOVING when these two share:

....it's so rare I had to catch it on camera!

And last but not least....LOVING the anticipation of dressing this cutie up for Halloween. And no, she will not be a pirate but something VERY GIRLY!

Imagine that!

What are you guys loving this Fall?

Happy Fall Y'all!

When you are a family of five with the fifth being a "little one" and by little, I mean under 12 months - it doesn't matter if four out of the five want to stay out late or go do something after bedtime....the fifth usually can't hang.

But last night we loaded up our three goblins and went to eat at one of my favorite restaurants

If you don't recognize the canoe BAR, then you haven't been there. It's Swallow at the Hollow and it's unbelievable barbecue - think awesome chopped pork, homemade mac and cheese and butternut squash that's to die for. Anyway, I digress!

Friday night we had big plans to walk Canton street and see the fun scarecrows. Downtown historic Roswell has organizations, schools and local businesses decorate them and place them along the streets. Our plans didn't work out so well friday night when Numero Uno got sick so we took them Saturday night!

So after our delicious dinner, we walked Canton Street with the kiddos and saw some fun scarecrows! We didn't see many because it was FREEZING and we were worried about baby girl!

The sign says "Always a party on Canton Street"

I loved this one for a Hair Salon - Hilites anyone? YES ME PLEASE!

The grays are coming in way too fast!

Are you wondering what Little Man is wearing? It was so cold and he had no coat so I put a shirt of mine on him that just happened to be in the car!

If near the Roswell/Alpharetta area, you should really check out the scarecrows!

Happy Fall Y'all!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Most of you know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and everyone is finding ways to give back.

One of the stationery lines I carry (Polka Dot Pear) has a complete Pink Ribbon line which you can check out here. For the most part, each design comes in notecards, enclosure cards, round labels, square labels and notepads. I've picked a few of my favorites for the blog!

For the friend raising money for the Breast Cancer 3-Day

For the mother of three who is a survivor

for the teenager who wants to honor someone

For the grandmother who still believes in writing thank you'sFor the family who's been dealing with this horrible disease

During the month of October, when you place your order with me, I will take 20% off each order from the pink ribbon line so you can use that money and give back however you wish!

Big news for Noteworthy!

Many of you know I have a stationery business selling everything from wedding invitations to calling cards but what you may not know is how expensive advertising is! For my little small business endeavor, a small 1/4 ad in a magazine would be astronomical. Plus, does anyone else feel like all the magazines are going out of business?

I predict computers are the new magazines - as much as I LOVE to get my fresh magazine in the mail...I think it's eventually going to end. I may be wrong - it's just a prediction.

BUT....it's one reason why I've decided to take my advertising online!!! So hop on over to Darby's blog click on the Noteworthy ad and check it out!

To celebrate this exciting new venture, take 20% off your order at checkout by entering the coupon code Darby (this is on top of the already 15% off holiday cards plus free return address AND the already 25% enclosure cards and stickers!) Now THAT'S A DEAL!!!!!

Spread the word! Because we ALL know that word of mouth is the absolute BEST advertising!

My Tri Guy....

"My guy" signed up to participate in a half Ironman over a year ago and this weekend, he completed it! I have not one ounce of desire in my body to do something like this...we are very very different!

Let me tell you a little bit about myself so you'll understand how different my husband and I are...

• I HATE to exercise! I always feel great when it's done but I dread getting started!
  
• I sleep ALOT! When people ask me what my hobbies are, that's the first thing that comes to mind. I'm a big napper and LOVE to sleep in....any chance I get!
  
• Discipline and perserverance...not my strong points
  
• I can talk to anybody - it's one of personality traits - friends growing up always said I could talk to a brick wall and they are right!

He's the complete opposite of these things - he is such a disciplined person in everything he does. Anything he sets his mind to, he succeeds! He's so strong (physically and mentally).

He's not a napper and he's up and at 'em in the morning. He can't imagine sleeping until noon - he never did that as a teenager (me on the other hand.....). He has no interest in laying around all day (even with football on) "There is too much to do"

He makes me so proud to be his wife and everyday I'm just so proud of him as a person!!! He would be someone that amazed me even if I didn't know him.



He's very quiet and reserved....he thinks before he speaks. He's level headed - not easily angered - patient. (no this has no meaning to the post but yes...I'm the opposite of that!)

I don't know anything about triathlons but supposedly you work yourself up to an Ironman - you do a sprint, then olympic distance, then a half ironman, then the full ironman. He just jumped right in and did the Half!!!

Can you tell we are proud of him????