After the kids go to bed...

I have been scrapping! The girls have been going to bed pretty consistently now between 8:30 and 9:00 so I have been spending some time in my scrap room. We have so many great pictures of the girls and I have really enjoyed getting back into creating layouts again. Before now, I don't think I've made a layout in over a year! And the best part is I am actually using things I already have and have been holding onto for just that "special occasion." :)

The girls turn 3 months old on Saturday...it's hard to believe it's only been 3 months since these little sweethearts have taken over our hearts and lives! I truly love every minute of being a mommy - even when I get frustrated. I look back over pictures of when the girls were newborns and it already makes me sad that they aren't that little any more. Time really does fly when you have kids.

Well, I best get moving today. We're headed out of town at noon today for a very important meeting regarding the finalization of our adoption. If you think of it, please say a prayer for safe travels...we have to go clear over to Cedar Rapids...which will be the longest we have ever traveled with the girls.

Have a great day! :)

Sleep, sleep, GLORIOUS sleep!

The girls are finally starting to sleep longer at night which is a huge blessing for two very tired parents (especially the mama who is usually the one up with them). Last night, we put the girls to bed by 9:00 and I think that made a world of difference. Before that, they were being very fussy at night for about 2 hours before they went to bed. It was IMPOSSIBLE to do anything as both of us were needed to walk around and rock the girls. I had hoped to get a night with a couple hours to myself but that didn't happen. I'm hoping for it next week and maybe some time on Saturday. Glen and I have found if we have a major project we want to work on a Saturday that we need to split the day in shifts. It makes things so much more manageable.

Parenting is such trial and error, isn't it? You can read up, talk to other parents for advice, but when it all comes down to it...you have to do what works best for you. I am very thankful for all the great help we have. I try not to be Super Mom and do it all myself. It's definitely very humbling to say "Yes, I need you. When can you come over?" I had a really bad day on Wednesday. Starting at 5:00 a.m. both girls were hungry at EXACTLY the same time at EVERY feeding ALL day long. Nora and Lily also apparently had a discussion and decided that taking a shower was a luxury their mama would not have until daddy came home at 6:00. Looking back, it was all somewhat comical. Around 4:00 or so, I got the girls all set up in the hallway to the bathroom in their swing and vibrating chair, stripped down, started the shower and all heck broke loose! I threw on my robe and stayed in my robe until 6:00. When Glen got home, I took an extra long shower just because I could! :) And then the girls were fussy that night on top of it. I had Glen call his mom to come over in the morning, and I woke up with the attitude that today was a brand new day. And we had a much better day! I'm sure we will have rough days to come but it was a good learning experience for me. My attitude is definitely a choice!

Today, I thought I would share a photo of the girls' first 4th of July. We celebrated in my hometown. I was very bummed that we couldn't go to the parade because of the drizzle and cold but we did get to go uptown and walk around a little bit. We even missed the fireworks because it was so cold and mama was tired. But, I couldn't resist taking some photos of the girls in their super cute festive outfits! :)

So I've been a little busy...

being a mama to these two little sweethearts! My life has completely and utterly been turned upside down and I'm loving every minute of it. I have had to learn to completely readjust my time and priorities and it has been quite the challenge. Gone are the days where I can spend a couple hours leisurely on the computer. I'm lucky if I get a couple minutes to myself every day and you can bet I'm not on the computer. At any rate, I'm hoping to start blogging again because I really enjoy it but I'll probably only get a chance to do it once a week.

Nora Elizabeth and Lily Kathryn were born on May 1st and are now 11 weeks old. The picture at the top is their 2 month shot. I LOVE this photo! They look so alike to me but I can definitely tell them apart. Although last night was a little rough, the girls are starting to sleep longer at night which is a blessing! Thankfully, we have had a lot of great help which has made the transition to parenthood much easier. My mom and dad are thrilled to be grandparents so they visit about once a week whereas my in-laws now live just 5 minutes away and my mother-in-law has been over just about every day to help me. It's been so wonderful to have her close by so I can shower, make bottles, do laundry, run errands, etc. Oh yeah, and eat! :) Eating any meal is quite difficult with twins!

At this point, I am a stay-at-home mom and enjoying it so much! Finances are definitely tight but we're trying to make it work. Daycare is so expensive, and I don't want to miss anything. We're making a lot of sacrifices personally but it's only so I can be with our girls. And with me being home we've found ways to save money on gas, food and entertainment. My only vice lately has been little girl clothes...holy cow, am I loving shopping for little girls! Most of our gifts were for the summer so I have started looking at 6-9 months stuff to get us through the fall and winter.

Milestone-wise, the girls are smiling as us which we LOVE! It's so fun to just sit and talk to my baby girls and watch them react to me. It's one of those things I never thought I would get to experience and I treasure those moments so much!

Well, I think that's a good update for today. We're celebrating our anniversary today (it's tomorrow) and going on a date. Harry Potter here we come!!!! (I am so pumped about this movie!) We have been married for 6 years now and it's hard to believe how fast the time has gone.

(By the way, I'm hoping to do some scrapping soon. We're trying to figure out our schedule so Glen and I each have one night a week to ourselves and I'm planning on spending my time scrapping. These little girls take the cutest pictures!)

Nesting!

No new pictures to share today but I wanted to update anyway. We had a VERY productive Easter weekend! We had our ducts cleaned out on Friday. This is something we've been meaning to do for awhile and decided to take a little tax return money and DO it! We've lived in our house 5 years and had no idea if the previous owners had ever cleaned the ducts. Our house was built in 1966. The duct company removed an 8 POUND bag of dirt and dust from our ducts! YUCK!!!! I'm so glad we got this done! Hopefully, it will help with allergies and keeping my house clean! While we were at it, we also had the carpets cleaned in every room except for my scrap room. The carpet should finally be dry so tonight when I get home from work, I'll be putting my house back together.

My mom and dad came for the weekend so we worked on a lot of little projects. I did some major purging, organizing and cleaning. I still have quite a bit to do in our basement but I feel so much better about what I did get accomplished! The babies' room is really close to being ready. I need to hang the curtains and that's about it. I don't have anything on the walls but I won't mess with that until they are here.

The b-mom is now 34 1/2 weeks! We're trying not to wait by the phone but it has me on edge every time it rings! :) We could get a call at any time although I am hoping that we'll get another weekend to work on things around the house!

I posted some new mini kits in my Etsy shop if you're looking for anything themed for family, wedding or Christmas photos! :)

Well, all for now. I better get some more done! Have a great Wednesday!

A little toot to share!

Wow! I was so surprised to learn I'll be guest designing for GCD Studios! Their paper collections are beautiful! I'm so thrilled for this opportunity!

We've accomplished quite a bit more since I last blogged. We found a great deal on a set of dressers at Homemaker's over the weekend and brought them home with us Sunday. I've been busy washing little girl clothes and putting them away. We registered at Babies "R" Us on Monday night. That was really fun! Ironically, it was my hubby who kept wanting to add clothes and toys to the registry. (I tried to stick to the basics). *wink* We're hoping to hit Target sometime soon and register there as well. Our big meeting is tonight with the birth mom and adoption agency. Last night I baked some chocolate chip cookies to go in a care package filled with some pampering fun for our birth mom. I'll put the rest of it together before we leave. I want her to know how much we care about her and are thinking about her the next few weeks. Maybe we'll get a better idea of how much longer it will be tonight too as I think she had a doctor appointment on Friday?!

Well, I best be getting busy. Much to do! I will say I am just itching for some creative time. I think it's been at least a month since I spent any time in my craft room and it's high time for me create! It's definitely a big stress reliever for me! :)

An exciting time in my life!

You're probably wondering where I went to?! Since my last post, I have been sick the majority of that time. I had a bad migraine for about 3 days and then got a bad cold. It went away for a week and I've been sick all this past week. I finally went to the doctor yesterday because I was coughing a lot, had tightness in my chest and a little shortness of breath. It's not bronchitis, thankfully, but I do have croup so I'm on steroids for the next week or so to help with the inflammation in my chest. This is definitely the worst time for me to be sick, but hopefully I will be over it by the time the babies arrive.

We had a week long visit from Glen's parents. They bought a condo in West Des Moines and will be moving up here the end of April/first part of May. We're very excited to have them just 10 minutes away and it will be wonderful to have their help with the girls.

I have decided to resign from Rusty Pickle's design team as well. It was a fun two years on the team! I really learned a lot, made some great projects and developed friendships that I will treasure forever. I will never forget my Amazing Race experience, that's for sure. The two weeks were crazy and very sleep deprived but I know I did some of my best work. Rusty Pickle has another Amazing Race planned and more information is on the RP blog.

Other than being sick, we have been focusing the majority of our time getting ready for our babies! The photo above is what we chose for bedding in the nursery. We painted the walls a light brown color and I wanted very feminine, shabby bedding to go in the room. What we found is perfect and just what I was looking for! We now have one crib all set up and are holding off on the 2nd crib for a little while. We're going to keep them in one crib until they start wiggling around more. I also have a bassinet that has been in our family for over 50 years. My mom, aunts, uncles, sisters and cousins have all slept in that bassinet. We have also bought our double stroller, car seats and a glider rocker and ottoman. I still really want to find a dresser and changing table sooner rather than later so I can get some clothes washed up and put away. We have a few other little things to buy before they arrive. We have had to buy the necessities because we're not having baby showers until after the girls are here. Our friends have been so generous by letting us borrow pack n' plays, exersaucers, bouncy seats, swings, etc. We're still working through names but won't be announcing what we have chosen until they arrive! That's all part of the fun! :)

We have several things you can be praying about over the next few weeks:
1) Please pray for the health and emotional well being of our birth mother.
2) Please pray for a safe delivery and healthy babies!
3) Please pray that we would both get/stay healthy and also for our emotions! (This is all very overwhelming!)
4) Please pray God would provide remaining finances we need to finalize the adoption.
5) Please pray that Glen and I would be able to spend some quality time together before the girls arrive.
6) Please pray for our next meeting with the birth mother and adoption agency to go over the hospital plan and openness after placement. We meet this Wednesday evening.

Thanks for your prayers! I'll try to update again soon! :)

Treasured Scrapbooking March Card Kit Reveal

Life has been so, so crazy the past few weeks that my blog has just taken a back burner to everything else going in my world. Here are my cards created with the March Card Kit at Treasured Scrapbooking. This is also my last kit as part of the team. I had to make a tough decision to resign from the team. The countdown is on for the arrival of our twins and I have much to do to prepare. I also resigned from the Cardalicious team. I would show you my last card but it was picked up for publication. I do have another card to share from a previous week that I haven't posted yet but I will do that another day.

I've been doing a lot of cleaning, organizing and purging around my house. Yep, I'm officially nesting! I've hit up a few garage sales and had some luck finding a few outfits. I have also bought a few little outfits for the girls. Target clearance is seriously awesome! We bought the bedding and curtains for the girls' room and it's all painted. We're working on putting in new outlets. I've been trying to clean my house using flylady.net and it's been wonderful! It is very, very likely that the twins will arrive in 3-4 weeks. Our birth mom had another ultrasound yesterday and things are looking good. She's only 30 weeks but measuring at 37 weeks. She did have a few contractions a couple weeks ago and stopped those with medication. The babies are still really small 3 lbs. 1 oz. and 3 lbs 2 oz. Please pray that they still in her tummy for a while longer. We're ferverntly praying that they are strong and healthy even though I'm sure they will be in the hospital for a while.

I've been really sick the past few days with some sort of cold/flu virus. I just ache from my head to my toes and spent most of the day in bed yesterday. I'm feeling a little better today but am hoping to be back to my old self soon.

Enjoy your day! :)

Etsy Special!

I have much to update you on regarding the Adoption Celebration and new projects but until my next post...I'm running a special in my etsy shop. (Thank you for the sales, by the way)! From now until all the cards are gone (there are 26 left), you can choose ANY 7 cards for just $20 (including first class shipping)!!!! That's less than $3.00 per card! To purchase your cards, just visit my etsy shop http://jillcornell.etsy.com and e-mail the names of the cards you want - cornellgj@yahoo.com. I'll send you a paypal invoice to pay for them. It's first come, first serve! And, remember all proceeds from card sales go to adoption costs!

Happy Shopping! :)

My Etsy Shop

I spent some time last night and this morning loading 40 of my hand crafted cards into my etsy shop. Please stop by and check it out! All of the proceeds from my cards will go towards our adoption costs. The link and a preview are on the side of my blog.

Have a great day! :)

Life is busy

I took a brief hiatus from my blog to mourn the loss of my Grandma Kathryn. I had a very, very close relationship with her and will miss her very much. Her visitation and funeral were last week so I spent a lot of time with my family. I lived just 5 minutes from my grandma and grandpa growing up so much time was spent with them on their farm. I think we saw them at least once a week and talked on the phone at least every other day while I still lived at home. Grandma and Grandpa made a point of coming to all of our school activities. For a long time, my sisters and I were the only grandchildren. I was 15 when my oldest cousin was born. He and his brothers live in Marshalltown so we were still the closest proximity to grandma and grandpa. I know what I experienced with my grandparents was very rare. It will be very important to me to have my own children spend a lot of time with their grandparents. Grandma spent the last two weeks of her life in hospice care at a nursing home. She was very, very sick with cancer and I'm so thankful she is no longer sufferring. I have many treasured memories of my last few visits with her and I was able to share with her that she was going to be a great-grandma. Our twin girls would have been her first great-grandchildren. I know I will have many difficult moments to come but now I'm busy preparing for our upcoming fundraiser this Sunday and getting ready for two baby girls to join our lives!

I'll have more projects to come soon! :)

Treasured Scrapbooking February Card Kit Reveal

It's a fun, bright card kit this month at Treasured Scrapbooking! I have so much fun creating cards from Leslie's kits and always have so much product left over from the 4 cards I make. This kit could also be used for layouts and other projects but always includes instructions for the 4 cards I create.

All for now...more to come soon! :)

Praise God! :)

This photo was taken about 10 minutes after we found out we were chosen by a birth mom to be the adoptive parents of TWIN GIRLS! To read more about our exciting news, please visit our adoption blog here: Beauty From Ashes.

Our dear friends are hosting a spaghetti dinner and silent auction fundraiser for us on Sunday, March 1st at our church. We feel incredibly blessed to have our family and friends support our adoption process as we must give our adoption agency $15,000 at the time of placement. We applied for grants and are receiving a $2,500 grant from a ministry called LifeSong for Orphans. We must fundraise at least $2,500 to match the amount given by them. More information about the fundraiser and our adoption costs are on the other blog.

Thanks for sharing in our excitement! :)

Baby gift ideas

Today I want to share a baby gift idea using Rusty Pickle's Lucky line and chipboard. I've been trying to make baby gifts for my friends for several reasons. I love to do it and it means a lot to them that I spent time on it. (I usually try to do something with the baby's name.) Also, when you're on a tight budget it just makes sense to create with what you already have and then buy a little something extra to go along with the gift.

In a few days I'm going to share a new blog that will focus solely on our adoption process and create adoption awareness. A few of our dear friends are planning an event for us and I'll share information on that too. We're so blessed to have their support as we have spent the last five years on this journey.

More soon! :)

Cardalicious 12

This week's Cardalicious challenge calls for orange letter stickers and three patterned papers. My card uses patterned papers from Basic Grey and Crate Paper while the letter stickers are chipboard stickers from Basic Grey. I had a lot of fun just playing with some supplies.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about difficult things and about my priorities. It's been really good for me to look at my life and the things in it and how I spend my time. I can see the next few months are going to be life changing and while it's scary and new, I just want to be productive and compassionate. I know I'm being vague but I don't want to share much else right now.

I have been so sick the past few days and am finally starting to feel a little better today. Thank goodness for Tylenol Cold PM! :)

Enjoy your day! :)

Think warm...

I'm trying to picture a white, sandy beach and the sun hot on my face but all the snow outside my window is not helping things. :) Here's a new Rusty Pickle card using the Island Summer line. I love the bright colors and fun images on these patterned papers.

I've got a bit of a cold now but I am so happy it didn't get too bad. This week just hasn't been the best. My family received some bad news about my grandma and I've been having a really hard time dealing with it. She's very, very sick and it's so difficult to see her condition deteriorate. I love my grandma dearly and feel so blessed that I was able to grow up with her right there all the time. My grandma and grandpa have ALWAYS been there for me and my sisters. They came to all of our activities; whether it was a softball game or a Christmas concert, they were there. We probably went out to their house at least once a week when we were kids. I have so many fond memories of spending time with them. My grandma is a great cook and I learned a lot about cooking and baking from her. There are 7 girls in my family (grandma, my mom and two aunts, and me and my sisters) and we've done a lot of "girl" things together. I only get home about once a month now but I make a point to see my grandparents each time.

I better get busy today! Enjoy your weekend! :)

A few more Christmas projects...

Okay, I'm more than ready to be done creating Christmas projects for a while so I wanted to share a few that I created last month and hadn't blogged about yet. The little mitten ornament and heart wall hanging were made with Rusty Pickle's Snowflakes & Mittens line while the gift bag uses Pink Paislee that I got in a kit from A Kiss on the Chic. Speaking of kits, I'm not a regular subscriber to any kits at the moment as I found that it's better for me to shop around and buy only the ones I really want. I did have a sub to Scarlet Lime for quite a while but had to let that one go. I probably won't buy anything until the new CHA stuff starts hitting the shelves.

I'm feeling a little bit better today. I ended up staying home from work yesterday because as I was getting dressed I got sick all of a sudden. I was okay the rest of the day but just felt really out of it. It was weird how it came on so suddenly.

Well, all for today! :)

More from Upsy Daisy Designs

I decided to share two cards today that showcase the other new Upsy Daisy Designs lines called Man About Town and Unwritten. The colors in Man About Town are gorgeous and Unwritten is very elegant.

I'm feeling pretty bad today as I've had a sore throat come on as of yesterday. I'm hoping I make it through the day okay. It's pretty difficult to be on the radio with a sore throat so I've been drinking plenty of tea and hoping this won't last too long.

Well, that's all I've got to share today. Have a good one! :)

Cardalicious 11

It's time for another challenge at Cardalicious! Here's my take on the challenge to create a card with a journaling tag/label and using the colors orange and green. I love the bright, fun colors in Rusty Pickle's Candyland line and it looks great with the black and white striped ribbon from SEI.

I've had a really busy week since I last blogged. My birthday was last Thursday - thanks so much for all the birthday wishes. We did some painting on Saturday and then I had a few girlfriends over to scrap that night. I went home to see my grandparents on Sunday and then to the eye dr. on Monday. I came home Monday afternoon with a horrible headache so I spent much of the night on the couch last night. When I get headaches they are pretty debilitating. I must have been feeling pretty awful because I overslept this morning and need to get headed into work.

I have plenty of new projects to share with you - just need to stay on top of blogging! :)

Have a great day!

New from Upsy Daisy Designs

I LOVE this time of year as all the sneak peeks of new lines for winter CHA are making their way online. I'm on a bit of a spending freeze on my scrapping supplies so I'll have to choose wisely on what new collections I would like to have. I've been scrapping for over 5 years now and I think I've got my buying down to a science now so I don't buy things I'll won't use. I will admit I'm somewhat of a paper hoarder as I'll buy the most gorgeous papers and refuse to cut into them because I'm saving them for "something special". HA!

My card for today uses Upsy Daisy Designs' new line called Circle of Friends. I used my Cricut for the brackets and label and a Jenni Bowlin butterfly as a template. I really love the colors in this line! Be sure to swing by Upsy Daisy's blog for CHA giveaways all week and stop by their booth if you make it to CHA!

Glen and I are super excited for Lost to start tonight. Other than American Idol that's THE show we watch together.

Have a great day! :)

Cardalicious 10

Happy Monday to you all! Here's my take on this week's challenge at Cardalicious to use a circle, a flower and something sparkly! I used Rusty Pickle's Princess Bride collection to make this sympathy card, my Storybook Cricut cartridge to create the circle and flower and some Kaiser Craft pearls for my something sparkly.

This weekend just flew by. My sisters were here to help me paint a room in our house and then we went to see Twilight (it was my 3rd time - it just gets better every time!). I've got a lot to do today too so all for now.

:)