Holiday Cards

Some of you already know this but, for those of you who don't, I have a little business on the side I call Polkadot Daisy. I do holiday photo cards, birth announcements, birthday and shower invitations etc. Since the holidays are fast approaching I thought I would post some of my designs to give you an idea of what I do. If there is a design you like I can add your pics and info to it but I especially like custom orders where you tell me what style and colors you like and I can design something new. Pricing for a 4x6 is $1.00 a piece and 5x7s are $1.50 a piece, both with a minimum order of 30 cards. If you are interested in getting pricing for cardstock invitations or glossy cardstock Christmas cards just let me know. The above pricing is for photo paper. The first Christmas card you see was ours from last year. I designed it as two separate glossy postcards and they were held together in the top corner by a snowflake-shaped brad. Here are some designs:
Thanks for looking!

There's no such thing as a chance meeting

Do you ever have those moments where you can instantly tell that God put you there? Sometimes it is for your benefit and sometimes it is to help others. Today was one of those days for me.
I take Hayden to gymnastics on Thursday mornings and, even though I have pulled her from school, something told me to keep taking her to "nastics". She has made a new friend in class this session and her name is Jaycee. This session has been going on for weeks and I have always noticed Jaycee's mom and little brother but, until last week, we had never spoken.
Last week I decided to sit near her and strike up a conversation. She was very nice and her little boy, Brock, who will soon be a year old, is completely adorable. We got onto to the subject of swine flu and about how scary it is for those of us with small children. I mentioned that Hayden has cystic fibrosis and that I had pulled her from school. She asked me some questions about Hayden and her story and we continued on with the normal chit chat until class was finished.
This morning at class I sat down behind her and joyfully announced I had gotten my new Ballard Designs catalog in the mail and that I had brought it along to look through during class. It never got opened.
She turned to me and instantly told me that Brock had been diagnosed with luekemia over the weekend. Tears welled up in my eyes immediately as I listened to her tell me that he had suddenly, just since last week, developed a pin-prick looking rash, blood blisters in his mouth, and bruises on his face that couldn't be explained. Within a weekend their life had changed.
She told me that she still came to class because they were trying to keep everything as normal as possible for Jaycee. Brock has already started blood transfusions and chemo and it is a lot for their family to get used to, especially a three-year-old little girl.
There was such strength in Vanessa. She talked about her faith and how it is getting them through. Some people would fall apart but here she was at Oklahoma Gold not even a week later, talking to me about it while she let her little girl jump on the trampolines and swing from the trapeze for some normalcy.
She looked at me and said, "I don't mean this to sound weird, like I'm glad Hayden has CF or anything, but I am so glad that you were here and that you have been in this position because you understand what I'm going through." She knew that I understood the pain you feel when a doctor tells you there is something wrong with your child-that I have felt that fear and have experienced that heartache. We talked about how we had both had an intuition during pregnancy that something wasn't quite right. We talked about prayer, and how you can't fully explain to someone who hasn't experienced it that you can actually feel the love and prayer surrounding your child and your family. How it can bring you an unexplicable calm in what is your hardest hour.
I don't know that Vanessa and I really have much in common. She said she used to be a high school math teacher. To say that math is a challenge for me would be a major understatement. But instantly we do have something in common. We are bonded by something we would never have chosen to be a part of but are making the best of.
I looked at her and told her something my mom told me after Hayden's diagnosis. "God chose you to be Brock's parents. He picked you to take care of His son because He knew you could do it. He knows your strength." "I know", she replied.
I know full well that everything in life is part of God's plan. With Hayden's CF it has been shown to me over and over again. In talking to Vanessa I can tell she knows it too.
Please pray for Brock. Thank you.

Catching Up!

Ok, let's see.....what has been going on since the last time I posted....Well, first off, Hayden had school pics at the end of last month. I made sure to take some with my camera before school. Since the background was in autumnal colors, I thought this shirt would be cute and I added (read: hot glued) the orange crocheted flower to an existing headband. I think she looked pretty cute but since the pictures were going to be after recess there's no telling what her hair looked like in the end.
I am going to NYC in a week and a day!!!! Yay! There's nothing more I really have to say about that one, I guess.

I decided to pull Haydie out of school until she can get her swine flu vaccine. I have already had her out about a week and I thought she was going to get vaccinated this week. Unfortunately, the first round of vaccines that were delivered this yesterdat are in nasal mist form. People with underlying conditions, like Hayden, can't do the mist and instead need to wait TWO MORE WEEKS for the injection. I'm still trying to figure out why, considering the people with underlying conditions were supposed to be the first to need and receive the shot, they first made a version that those people can't even have! Anyway, I absolutely hate it for her that she isn't getting to go to school. I'm also kind of missing my alone time a wee bit (understatement), but I am trying to come up with fun and creative things to do around here so she doesn't get bored and I don't go insane. :)

Yesterday we went to see "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". It was cute but I lost her about half-way through. It was her first time seeing a movie in the actual theatre so I didn't know how she would do. I also picked up a bunch of library books and I think I will probably switch them out every three days or so to keep it new.

I think this afternoon we will probably make some cookies together and then I'm sure I will precede to eat them all. I'm pretty gifted in cookie eating. I can take down two cookie sheets of No Bake cookies in no time. Not that I ever have.....just saying....;)

Something fun that we did this morning was a tissue paper art kit that I got at Best of Books for about $10. It was really easy for Hayden to do and she and I had a lot of fun with it. You peel off the paper bit by bit, scrunch up the tissue paper squares, and stick it to the shape. Here's some pics of the process and her masterpieces:

Ryan and I are chairing the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Breath of Life Gala again this year. We have LOTS of money still to raise in order to meet our goal. Ninety cents of every dollar donated to this foundation goes straight to medical research. I won't get on my soapbox right now but, the medical advances for CF are amazing right now. There is a drug in stage 3 clinical trials that will be life-changing for Hayden. She will be able to take three pills a day and do no other treatments! It will correct the underlying defect rather than just treating the symptoms. She should no longer even have a mucus problem on this drug. It will be almost as if she doesn't even have CF! We need this drug to make it but it takes funding!

There, that was a mini version of my speech :) The gala is November 13th. If anyone wants tickets or would like to donate just let me know!

Let's see, what else...I have a modeling job the next two nights at the Skirvin greeting people from 9 to midnight and a photo shoot tomorrow afternoon for The Oklahoman. I am going to be sooo tired! But hey, if they want to pay me a very nice hourly amount to stand there with a smile on my face and say "hi" to people, I'm all for that. I think I'm going to check out Mistletoe Market on Friday and then I'm doing Race for the Cure on Saturday morning. I'm sure I'll have some pics from that. We are walking in honor of my mom's best friend, Donna, who just recently found out that she had breast cancer. She is cancer-free now as they caught it in time.

I think that's all. I'm pretty sure this might have been my most exciting post yet. Or maybe not.

Dis-in-ey On Ice!!!

We took Hayden to "Dis-in-ey On Ice" (as she calls it) last night and she loooooved it. I was prepared for it to go the other way. I knew we could get down there and she could get scared, bored or tired but she was completely into it until the end. I especially expected her to get tired because she didn't take her usual nap. She came out of her room after thirty minutes telling me she was "just too pumped about Dis-in-ey On Ice to sleep". She dressed up as Ariel complete with purple eyeshadow, lipgloss and cheek glitter.

Here she is giving me a wink of excitment...

Aaaaannnd here she is not two minutes later passed out. That no nap thing will always catch up to you.

We, of course, had to blow some of our money on things like tinkerbell mugs and light-up whirlygig toys...

Oh, the excitment!

I swear that my pics of me as age a child show a resemblance. Right now she doesn't even look like she could be mine.

You can't come to the fair and not have a corndog! Oh and yes, Ryan and I threw down on a funnel cake during act two.

A few pics from the show. I couldn't get a good one of Ariel.

Ok, this is my absolute favorite pic from the evening. This was taken right as Tinkerbell was unveiled. While I'm sure that Ryan's reaction was really for Hayden's benefit, I like to think that he was every bit as excited to see that little tinker fairy as she was.

Fun times were had by all. Even if the corndogs were $7.

Getting my craft on...

I have been hunched over either my gluegun or sewing machine for the past two days. Man, when I get in a mood to do crafty stuff I basically do nothing else. My husband had to go get Hot 'N Ready pizzas tonight so he could have something to eat for dinner. Anyway, here was yesterday's project. It is a wreath inspired by the one I saw here. I wanted one that looked Fall-ish and would work for both September and November (I have a different one for Halloween). Wreaths like this are soooo expensive! Even when they are half price at Hobby Lobby they are still around $35. So I bought a green foam ring and a bunch of individual twigs, berries, pumpkins, feathers, etc. in HL's seasonal floral isle. They were half price this week so they were anywhere from $1-$1.50 a piece. Instead of the heavy (more expensive) gold letters they sell, I got one of the flat, plain, wooden ones back in the craft dept. They are around $2 and I just painted it cream and dry brushed it with gold craft paint. After hot-gluing all my floral pieces I tied ribbon through the letter and the wreath and voila! It was done. Here it is:Satisfied with that, I moved on to sewing. Walmart has their girls plain, long-sleeved shirts out right now in all the colors, but for now I just bought a black one and a white one to get started on my projects. I made the first one to say "Preschool Rocks" and I cut the letters out of lots of different fabrics. You definitely want to use fusible webbing on projects like this. It helps hold your letters in place while you stich them. I added a star to the back up by the collar. For the white one I did a cross, again with a detail on the back.
I also made an owl applique out of a few different fabrics but I need to get a chocolate brown shirt to put it on. I have lots of ideas still so I'm sure I'll be posting more!

My Little Soccer Player!

Hayden had her first soccer practice last night with "Coach Dan" through the YMCA! She looked so stinkin' cute!
I, of course, had to add pink in the outfit, er, uniform somehow! When they first got there Coach Dan had everyone sit down to decided their team name. Hayden offered up "The Giraffes" for her choice. My guess is this was because we had been to the zoo earlier that morning but I could be wrong. Another kid said "The Bus" should be the team name and Hayden's friend Karson said he liked "The Dinosaurs". I don't know if asking a bunch of three-year-olds was really the best decision but kuddos to him for trying. I still don't know what they came up with for the official name. Here's their huddle:Ryan and I were actually really impressed with how well she stayed with the ball and and far she could kick it! We were proud parents.Way to go Haydie!

A post about the man in my life...

My husband, Ryan, has started running again. Now I don't mean jogging along every now and then. I mean every other day (at least), six to eight miles, in very professional looking Nike gear. Oh, and have I mentioned that he does this shirtless and he is now almost the same size as me? Ryan ran track all the way through high school and still holds a record at Tulsa University where he was their golden boy. Since being married and having a kid, life kinda got in the way of him running. Well, he decided he wanted to get back in shape and he got after it. With only six months of training he is totally kicking butt at weekend races, usually winning his age group. Well, his Memorial alumni race was this past weekend. All the high schoolers run to determine their placement on either varsity or JV and quite a few alumni show to race as well. So basically, Ryan, age 35, was trying to beat a huge group of seventeen-year-olds along with alumni that have graduated in the past few years so I don't think they should even count as alumni. There were a few other guys his age but not many. Here are some pics:

Here's the starting line. Yeah, I can't find him.

Aaaaannnnnnddddd, here's my husband's body. Here's him crossing the finish line. Oh how I wish it were closer so his facial expression was bigger. I'm pretty sure that you would hear "Chariots of Fire" playing in your head just like me.Chatting it up with some other VERY RECENT alumni:And here he is giving Hayden his medal. That's right. I said medal. Out of those basquillion teenagers my husband came in 9th overall. WAY TO GO, HUBBY! I am very proud of you. But listen, if your weight comes within 10 pounds of mine we're going to have to talk.

Ok, Ryan story number 2: So, I have a had a rough couple of days. I am doing much better so I won't go into any details but my sweet hubster came home last night with ...

and...and last but certainly not least (in fact, it may be the most important)...There were actually three chocolate bars last night. I honestly have no idea what could have happened to the other two so quickly.

So I got to go to bed last night eating milk chocolate and catching up on if Bradley Cooper is dating Jen or Renee, what drama is going on with the Gosselins and checking out who was on the worst dressed list this week. It was heaven.

Babe, you're the best. I'm a lucky gal.