PAY IT FORWARD WINNERS!

Okay, the lucky winners are:

Amanada Rand (you need to email me at abbiehigginson@hotmail.com and give me your address)
Destri Bufmack
Cammy Peterson

Now you need to copy the "pay it forward" rules and put it on your own blogs. Remember...be nice with your handmade gifts from me! I mean well!

What happened to spring?

Uggh! I was soo bummed this morning when I opened my blinds. I thought we were only supposed to get rain! Just when all of my snow had melted and I was getting so excited for spring, I wake up to 3 new inches of snow!

PAY IT FORWARD

The Rules:

#1 Be one of the first bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which entitles you to a handmade item from me.

#2 Winners: you must post this challenge on your own blog, meaning that you'll "pay it forward" creating a handmade item for the first 3 commenters on your blog post.

#3 The gift can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means that you are willing to maintain your blog until you have recieved your gift and you have made and shipped your gifts. Remember, it's the spirit and thought that counts!

#4 When you have recieved your gift, feel free to blog about it on your own blog. If you're not one of the first three commenters, you can still play along. Start your own Pay It Forward chain on your own blog.

I'll post the winners when I recieve them! Good Luck!! (and don't be too hard on me about my gift)

Look out Martha Stewart!

My kids needed a Valentine box for all their Valentines because they are having parties at school tomorrow. I LOVE making Valentine boxes. I used to love to get an old shoe box when I was a kid and cover it with tin foil and then put hearts all over it. I have helped my kids make similar one to that in the past, but this year, we tried a mail box!

They turned out sooo cute! My kids put their own names on them and pieced all the paper together and tied the ribbons on. I cut the paper for the mailbox it's self and glued it together.

I realize that this box may be just a little girly for Jens, but his class is having a whole bunch of contests tomorrow. One of the contests is to see who could get the most hearts on their box. He better win! What with all the hearts on the paper and then if you look close, the ribbon along the bottom is covered in tiny hearts.

Girls weekend in Arizona!

Jamie, Kristin and I went to see Allison in Arizona this past weekend. We had an absolute ball!!! We went swimming in Allison's clubhouse pools. (there are 4 of them complete with waterslides) and we pretty much had the whole thing to ourselves. (most Arizonaions thought it was way too cold to venture out into the swimming pool)

Me, Jamie, Allison & Kristin at the Cheesecake Factory. We went and ate dinner there, then we went shopping at the mall for a couple of hours. After we were done shopping, we were ready for our dessert, so we came BACK to Cheesecake Factory for some cheesecake!

On our second day there we went and got our makeup done, did some more shopping and then went out to this great resturant called City Hall. Jeff and Sam have both been there and have said how nice it is. So when Alli said that it was her favorite place and wanted to go there, I jumped right on it!

When Alli made the reservations, she told them that it was my birthday....(not even close) so they gave me a big piece of b-day cake - complete with a lite candle! (are we cheap 18 year olds or what?)

But look how cute this cake was! They had written "Happy Birthday Abbie" so cute!

Afterwards, in keeping up with our 18 year old selves, we did a little spying on "someone's" former boyfriend. That was fun! I know I know, grow up. (not yet) :)

Then when the spying was over, we went back to Alli's house and sat outside around her fire pit.

We had an absolute blast!!! The only thing that could have possibly made this trip better would have been to have all of our high school friends be able to make it!

In the end, to sum up this trip, we stayed up every night until 2 or 3am laughing hysterically (because you get slap happy and EVERYTHING is hilarious)

We ate at great resturants

And we did tons of shopping! So much so that Krust could'nt even fit her stuff in her suitcase. Jamie and I totally had to stuff our suitcases with our stuff AND Kristins too! We had to do some major rearranging at the airport when we landed and Kristin ended up carrying the rest of her goods home in a black garbage bag.

Thanks for the GREAT weekend girls! And thanks Mark and Alli for the hospitality! I can't wait to do it again!!!

Superbowl Weekend Part 2

The night before the Superbowl the guys got to go to Jim McMahon's party. They saw lots of pro players like Paul Crauss, Troy Aikman, Richard Daley (pro golfer). Jeff was in Heaven!

Here are a couple of pictues of signed footballs and helmet that Jeff got.

Okay, I mentioned that they went jet skiiing in the ocean,...well, they eventually made their way up a river. They saw a alligator in the water! Then the river got too shallow to drive the jet skis up, so they had to get off and push them through in order to continue up the river. They were a little freaked out to get in the water. By the time they came back, the tide had come in and they could drive through it.

Jeff pushing his way through.

Alec...

and Glen.

My dad went on this trip with them and for some reason, he is not in one single picture! Not one on Jeff's camera and not one on his own camera even! My dad said that the guys were driving 70 miles an hour on the jet skiis and he was just hanging on for dear life, hoping to live one more day. I guess his hands were too busy trying to live and he didn't bother to get a picture of himself!

The Superbowl

Jeff had the amazing opportuinity to go to the superbowl this year. Each year, past superbowl players get to come to the Superbowl and just have a fun week basically. Because my oldest brother Glen's company has a health and fit line, a lot of them were interested. He was asked to speak at the banquet. Glen is a sports fan, just not a HUGE sport's fan. Well Jeff is a SUPER GIANT HUGE sports fan. He knows every player in every sport and every record that has been set, so seeing as how Jeff knows everyone, Glen asked him to speak in his place. He went with my dad, Glen, my nephew Alec, and 2 co-workers. They went out a couple of days ahead of time and went jet skiing in the ocean and went golfing with a bunch of Hall of Fame players. Here is Jeff picured with Barry Sanders.

Glen with Barry Sanders. (with the signed jersey Glen bought)

Jeff - Phil - Glen

Mike Holmgren taking his place to announce for NBC

Tony Dungee getting ready to announce

Glen, Alce, Jeff and Adam

Arizona taking the field
Pittsburg taking the field.

Half time (my little sister in law jessica actually asked who bruce springstein was! does that make me old, or has she just had her head in the sand?)

Can you believe the comeback that AZ had just to loose right at the end?! I told Jeff that it really wasn't fair that he not only has been able to go to the World Series and now the Superbowl...No fair! He said, "It's the dues that are owed to me because I am married to you". He thinks that he's funny. (and he's the only one who thinks that way.)

Is it time for a lift?

Okay, so those of you who know my little Caden know that he can do and say some pretty -- off the wall things. He's my only one who has been kicked out of sunbeams for swearing at the teacher too much that day -- literally, my 3 year old was sent home from church! He can find any mole or facial hair on ANY womans face and point it out, he'll tell you that your fat, ugly, have bad breath, etc. So this story is no surpirse.

I had just got out of the shower and was still naked in my bathroom when Cade came walking in. He stopped, looked at me and then said, "I wish I had boobs like you mom." ??? I said," You do?" He said, "Yeah, I want LONG ones like you!"

Is it time for a lift??? Does anyone know any good plastic surgeons?