How to Train Your Dragon on Christmas...

Christmas was amazing.
Christmas Eve we went to my grandparents for the day, and then we went to the candlelight Christmas Eve service at church. We were up late that night getting ready for the big guy.
We had a great Christmas morning just me and Zoie. She woke me up early and came in my room shaking my arm. "Mom! He came!" So we went in the living room and she was so excited to see her new toys. She got a new Thomas train and track, a Crayon Maker, Silly Bands, ornaments for her own tree, a Tinker Bell charm bracelet, and other goodies in her stocking. We had set out some cookies the night before and Santa ate all but one bite. I guess he was full from eating so much the day before. He even left her a thank-you note.
Something happened that morning that I will never forget. While she was looking in her stocking, she started to cry. Confused, I asked her what was wrong. She said, "I was a good girl and he really did come. He brought all of these toys, just for ME." It was beautiful.



Christmas day was wonderful. We went over to my parents house and celebrated with them, as well as my sister and her fiance. We opened our presents from each other there. I had bought Zoie pretty much every single "How to Train Your Dragon" action figure within the Oklahoma City metro area and surrounding cities. I even bought her a HTTYD backpack to store them all. lol I gave her a ton of DVD's, the HTTYD Wii game, Toy Story 3 Yahtzee game, Tag books for the Tag Reader that my parents bought her, and clothes. She loved them all. She especially loved her HTTYD figures. She's a very big tomboy. By the end of Christmas, we were all professional dragon-trainers.
I got a new kitchen table--woo hoo!! It was awesome after using a card table and chairs for 2 1/2 years. Now Zoie won't fold herself up in the chairs anymore! I also got some slippers with rosettes on them from my sister, an external hard drive, houndstooth coat, a shop-vac, dinero and jammies. I am blessed. :)
After we opened presents, my grandparents and aunt came over for brunch. Mmmm... Belgium waffles. We watched one of Zoie's new movies, "Despicable Me", "Merry Madagascar" and then "The Christmas Story". We had a wonderful dinner too. It was truly a great day.
I hope you had a wonderful and blessed Christmas as well.
Here's to 2011 being just as wonderful!
-Lindsay

merry christmas.

Here is the card that I designed through Shutterfly. I. Love. It.

I hope that everyone has a very, Merry Christmas. I can't believe it is already Christmas time! It seems like just yesterday it was summer... where does the time go?

We took Zoie to visit Santa at the Colorband Photography food and toy drive. If you brought a bag of canned food, you were able to get photos taken with Santa in your own 20 minute session. We gathered a bag of food and also a bag of some of Zoie's gently used clothing to donate. Zoie LOVED seeing Santa. She sat and chatted with him for quite some time. They even played tic-tac-toe and she WON. (And no, you don't have to "let" her win either.) She told Santa she wanted a toy train, so I think that he will probably bring her a new Thomas to go with her existing track. I can't wait to see her eyes when she opens her presents from me. I think she will love them. She's really big into How To Train Your Dragon right now, so you can guess what most of her presents consist of. I also FINALLY tracked down the Crayola Crayon Maker. Do you know how hard that was to find? 10 Wal-Marts and 3 Targets later... sigh. The things we do for our kids. :)

Wishing you all a happy holidays from our little family to yours.

Love,

Lindsay & Zoie

Shutterfly Holiday Cards

I LOVE photo cards. I have used the the past couple of years and they are a great way to send a photo and personalized message to everyone on your holiday list, without your hand cramping from signing 100+ cards.

Shutterfly has some ADORABLE cards on their site, and you can personalize them for any holiday. I have had a hard time choosing my favorite, but here are three that I LOVE:

Kaleidoscope Noir Holiday Card

Chic Snowball Dots Holiday Card

I will be using the photo of me and Zoie from my blog header for our cards this year. Yes, I love it THAT much. :)

Right now, Shutterfly is offering its fans 50 FREE photo cards to blogging friends. I know, RIGHT?! If you want to get in on this sweet action, find out more here.

Happy Holidays!
<3 me.

Day-After-Thanksgiving idiots.

Yes, we are idiots. My sister, her fiance' Josh and I all decided we were going to go shopping the day-after-Thanksgiving. What on earth were we thinking?
Thanksgiving day, we spread the newspaper ads all over my parents' living room floor. We price-matched, we swapped papers, we compared prices, we took notes and mapped out our traveling plans. It was exhausting. Especially after eating-- all. day. long.
We decided to go to Wal-Mart at a nearby, smaller town. When I was younger, it was the only place mom could find our Game Boys when they were popular. We got there around 11:50ish. They were "open" 24 hours, but the sale started at midnight. I had a list of things that I had wanted to try and get for Zoie, as well as myself.
At WM, there were already quite a few people standing around the aisles waiting for the midnight strike. My sister and Josh were going to get some Shark SteamMops that were on sale for $29. I headed back to the electronics to try and get Zoie's items.
However, they opened the cases early, so by the time I got there, most of the items were gone! I was able to get her the How to Train Your Dragon Wii game for $14.99 (regular 49.99), some DVDs for $2.99 and even a couple of Blu-Ray/DVD packs for super cheap. All-in-all, I bought about 10 DVDs, a Wii game, and a Shark Steam Mop, all for less than $90. I was sooo proud of myself. :)
We stopped at the WM closest to home on the way back just to see what they had. I grabbed some Tag Reader books for Z (mom and dad bought her the Tag Reading System for Christmas) and got them for 1/2 off (price matched Toys R Us).
We then headed up north, about 30 minutes away to go to Sears. They had a front-load washer and dryer that I wanted. Both for $599. Yes, BOTH. So we stop by Mickey D's (it is now a little after 1 am.) and grab a bite to snack on and then went to the mall. We pull up and look over, and who do we see? My PARENTS?! They were already in line!! WHAAAAA? They decided to get in the shopping spirit (for those of you who know my dad, he is NOT a shopper when it comes to shopping with us). They were in line at 1 am to help save a spot for me! Unfortunately, Sears didn't open until 4 am. So we waited. and Waited. and Waited. In the freezing cold. Like, FREEZING. We took turns going and sitting in the truck to un-thaw.

We were about number 20 in line. Around 3:30ish, the manager comes out and starts handing out vouchers for the popular items. They then ask who was here for the front-load washer and dryer set. They only had 4 available. HUH?? So of course, the first FOUR people in line wanted them. BUM MER. I was frustrated and upset. However, we stayed and I was at least able to get the garage door opener I wanted for half-off (Craftsman for $99).
We then left and headed to Academy, where my dad had found a gun-cabinet that he wanted that was an insanely great deal. We were supposed to go to Lowe's and a couple other places, but after not sleeping for almost 24 hours and stuffing my face all day long, I was beat. I even fell asleep in the truck when everyone else had gone into Academy. Yeah, I know-- party pooper. lol
But we had such a fun time hanging out in the freezing cold with my parents. I love them so much. They were willing to drive 30-45 minutes away at 1 o'clock in the morning to stand in below freezing temperature for me. For over three hours. I am so lucky. <3

Girl's Night Out

I've been in a crafty mood lately, so I was working on the following scrapbook page. I love the colors and how vibrant it turned out.

Girl's Night Out
Black Letter Stickers - American Crafts
Black Paper - Bazzill

Floral Background Paper - Prima "Sunset Bonfire"
Penants - Stripe - GCD Studios

Red Floral - Anna Griffin

Blue - GCD Studios

Black - GCD Studios

Teal - Webster's Pages - "Seaside Retreat"

Yellow - Recollections "Birdcage"

Dots, Stripe & Plaid Paper - Bella Blvd "Bits A Bella"

Clear Cuts Frame - Little Yellow Bicycle "Fresh Prints Clothesline"

Orange Trim - Making Memories Cheeky Trims "Emery"

Blue Paper - Paperwerx

Rub-On - Love Elsie "Josie"

Red/White Letters - AdornIt "Red Hot"

Orange Pearl Embellishments - Prima

Yellow Pearl Dots - Prima

Orange Butterfly - Jenni Bowlin Studios

Life, Laugh, Love Rub-On - Fancy Pants "Wildheart"

White Grid Paper - Scenic Route

Black Floss, Admit One Ticket - Misc.

I created this page awhile ago, but I don't think I ever posted it. I think I have the products written down somewhere, but I will have to see.

Thanks for looking!

-Lindsay

ladybugs

(products and details to come)

I'm a WiNNeR!

I love blogging. I love reading about people's lives and what they are up to. I love seeing different scrapbook creations and getting inspiration from amazing artists. I love reading about reviews and products people have tried and whether or not they recommend them. And I also love giveaways. Those are always fun. :)
I follow a few blogs that offer quite a few suggestions as far as savings, reviews and giveaways. I LOVE bargain shopping. Love. Love. Love. I am a coupon clipper and a lean-mean-savings-machine. Even my grandma said the other day, "You sure do find great deals, don't ya?" Yes, Grandma--I do.
The other day one of the blogs I follow had some great giveaways. I entered a few of them, including one for tickets to the Maroon 5 concert in Tulsa, OK. I checked back occasionally to see if they had announced the winner but I never saw it.
A couple days later, I just happened to check my "junk e-mail folder" because it showed a new message. It was from Jennifer and titled "Congrats from Life with the Lebedas". NOOOO WAY.
I was super nervous and excited to open the e-mail. And sure enough, I had won the Maroon 5 tickets!! I literally started squealing at work. I couldn't believe it!
I immediately emailed her back. She was waiting on the tickets to arrive to her from a 3rd party, but they informed her they had been shipped so she was just waiting to get them to give to me! I was super stoked!
So I just happened to Google.com search for their concert. My. Jaw. Dropped... They were playing with...
ONE REPUBLIC!!
My all time favorite band! I could NOT believe it. I had won tickets to see One Republic and Rob Thomas last year on the radio, and also won meet and greet for One Republic, where they proceeded to serenade me and my boss/friend, Andrea at lunch. We had a private concert with about 8 other people. It was UH-MAY-ZING. I was literally on cloud nine. It couldn't get any better than that!
But wait... YES IT COULD!
I asked Jennifer to FedEx the tickets to me. They arrived Monday and the concert was Tuesday. I was very happy I didn't have to drive to Tulsa to pick them up (a 2-hr. drive) although I would have if I needed. I just happened to look online to see where the seats were. It said section F4. My thoughts were, F seems to be higher up in the alphabet, so they were probably nosebleed seats since they were free. But hey, I'd take what I could get!! But then, I looked online. "F" meant FLOOR!!! AHH!! I had NEVER been on the floor at a concert before. And they were row A, seats 7 and 8!!
I asked my sister to go with me. I got off work a little early on Tuesday and after gassing up and grabbing some Chic-Fil-A, we headed on the road. I had to buy the latest Maroon 5 CD to listen on the way (I wasn't up-to-date on their latest and greatest). So with the Maroon 5 CD and my two One Republic CD's I already had, we were set. The two-hour drive wasn't too bad. Actually, it didn't take nearly that long. I have a heavy foot. :) My handy-dandy GPS, along with my MapQuest print-out (just to be safe this time!), we were able to get there a good hour before the concert was to start. I had never been to downtown Tulsa, so I wasn't that familiar with the area. We found the BOK Center pretty quickly though.

We drove around the BOK Center and everywhere we looked, people had signs saying "Parking $20". Ok, as I had mentioned before, I am a money-saver. I pinch pennies. I was NOT paying $20 for parking! So we drove past the BOK Center hoping to find a cheaper spot. I would WALK if I had to. :) We drove past the Sherriff's Office to the north of the building, and I realized I didn't quite feel comfortable parking near a gated area with barbed wire on the top. I decided to make my way back around the Sherriff's Office and head back to the BOK Center and hopefully we could at least find $10 parking or something.

We rounded the corner and I noticed a empty spot. I asked my sister, "Is that handicapped?" She said No, so I zoomed over and took it. Right in front of us, through the gate, were the bands' buses!

We were early, but we decided to go on inside. We stood in line so I could buy a couple of t-shirts. Then we decided to find out where our seats were. We went to the entrance and showed the lady our tickets. She told us they were floor seats and to head on down. We made our way down the stairs and got to the floor. They looked at our tickets again. I asked which row, and the nice gentleman told us to follow him. We started walking towards the stage. And we kept walking. Closer. and Closer. I glanced at my sister and smiled. He took us over to the front section and sat us down right smack-dab in the middle of the first row, with no seats in front of us! We were literally front and center! We visited with the mother and daughter duo that were sitting next to us. They had won tickets online too, but from a different site. They didn't know they were up front either.

The concert quickly started, and the opening band was a group called Ry Cuming. The lead singer was Austrailian and had an amazing accent. They were really good.

Next came One Republic. I was soooo excited to see them! The nice man who seated us had to play security guard and make sure that everyone had tickets. He let us go up by the stage and take photos. It was so cool. I couldn't believe how close we were able to get. I had a blast singing all of the songs at the top of my lungs and rocking out. It rocked.

After they sang quite a few songs, Maroon 5 came out. I must admit, I am not a HUGE Maroon 5 fan. I do like some of their songs, but I don't have them memorized like I do those of One Republic. But once they started singing... oh... my... goodness! It was amazing! The lead singer has such a stage presence, and he danced and sang and it was incredible. I was crushin' hard. lol And I'm prettttttyyyy sure he was singing to me. I'm just sayin'. It seemed like it. ;)

So after the amazing concert was over, it was time to head back to the city. I knew it was going to be a long drive and I really needed some coffee!! (so did the drunk lady that had to be wheeled out on the stretcher-haha! Look in the photo above with the blue lights... see the lady on the left side with her hubby holding her up? Yep, that would be her!)
We walked to the car and there were people lined up along the gate in front of my car. We were getting in the car, when we heard screams. We looked up and there was the lead singer from Maroon 5! I grabbed my CD case, hoping to get a signature. However, he quickly got on the bus and we didn't see him again. We visited with the very nice bus driver who told us they "may" come back out, but then he quickly said that they weren't and they started backing up. We got in my car and followed the tour bus out of Tulsa.
All-in-all, it was a FABULOUS night. Thank you soooo much Jennifer for offering the tickets. We had so much fun and it was probably one of the best nights that I have had!

Pumpkin Patchin'...

Have you heard of Groupon? They have some AUH.MAY.ZING deals on there. The other day I found one for Flat Tire Burgers in Edmond, and you got $20 worth of food for only $8! So I bought 3 of them... $24 for $60 worth of food! The family had a nice dinner together one Friday night. It was great.
Last week there was a Groupon for the TG Farms Pumpkin Patch. You could get two admissions for only $8, a 53% savings. I went ahead and bought 4 sets. On Saturday, we all drove out to the patch.
I put in the address in my handy-dandy GPS. 1580 NW 32nd Street in Newcastle, to be exact. I entered it and hit Go! We headed down the road (Me, Chadd and Z) and my dad was following us (with my mom, sister and fiance' in tow). Dad drives, well, not so fast, so I told them I would just meet them there. Josh had his iPhone and could get them there. Shortly down the road, mom called and said Josh's directions told them to turn, but since I didn't turn they wanted me to wait for them. So I pulled over and waited. and waited. YAWN. and waited. lol Just kidding. They came up behind us and I got back on the road so they could follow. The GPS lady, (I don't have a name for mine), told us to exit and, "Turn Left. Turn Left." So we turned. And then we turned right when she told us to. The next thing we know, she's saying, "Arriving at destination." UHHHH... We were on a country road by a barn!!! I busted up laughing. I looked, and for some reason, when I entered NW in the GPS, it kept taking us SE! My dad, with his sense of humor, said he knew how to get there and to follow him. Apparently it takes us getting lost for him to put the pedal to the metal. haha About 10 minutes later, we arrived at the farm. Finally. :)

We had such a great time together. Zoie got to pet some animals at the petting zoo, we took a trip through the corn maze, road the hay ride and picked out pumpkins. After a long day's play and being covered in Oklahoma's wonderful red dirt, it was time to go.
Thanks for looking!
-Lindsay

c'est la vie

Hello my little blogger world! It has been a while since I stopped by to share my life and all that it entails. :)
It has been a very emotional and rough roller coaster the past couple of months--I will not lie. I never would have imagined in a million years I would be where we are, but it is what it is. Per my lawyer, I can't post any personals or specifics on here, but just know that Zoie and I are surviving and living each day to its fullest. As she would say, "Mommy and Zoie are a team" and we will be until the day I die... Message me for details.
But amidst all of the pain, heartache and tears...surprisingly enough, I am probably at one of the happiest points in my life. I can sleep at night knowing that I have done everything in my power to give my daughter a good life, one that she deserves. I am doing what I am supposed to be doing, and my job is to be a good mom. She told me the other night, after a long discussion, "Mommy, when I grow up, I want to be just like you." To hear those words out of your child's mouth, is such a blessing. I will cherish that moment until the day I die.

Zoie and I have also been having a blast, too. We took a road trip with the family to the Oklahom State Aquarium in Jenks. We had a blast and enjoyed a great dinner at Los Cabos and walked the riverwalk afterwards. I can honestly say that I enjoy spending time with my family.

Thanks for looking. More posts to come soon!

xoxo.

Photo Shoot Layout

I made this layout of some of the photos from Zoie's photo shoot. I loved the red, black, white and the green grass, so I incorporated that theme throughout. I will upload better photos and the materials I used later. :)

Thanks for looking! Happy Saturday!

-Lindsay

First Day of Pre-K

Monday was the first day of Pre-K for Zoie.

Over the weekend we took a trip to the mall to find the perfect backpack to start her year. Unfortunately since we waited until the day before, the choices were limited. We went with the stylish rainbow pack from Baby Gap. (I found the butterfly travel tag at Tar-jay).

I decided to do a little clothes shopping while we were there, and I found the adorable blue shirt she wore at The Children's Place. It was on the clearance rack, hanging by its little lonesome. I asked how much it was since it said it was $19.50. She went to check. I thought maybe someone had stuck it there and it wasn't really on clearance. To my surprise, she came back and said, "2.99." Really? Bag it up, please! :)

Photo Shoots.

A couple weeks ago I had won a half-priced photo shoot from a friend on Facebook. I went to school with her husband, and I didn't really know Lisa but I loved her photos.
I used the shoot for Zoie's 4th birthday pictures. Below are a few of them. They turned out great!

My baby girl looked so grown up! My favorite is the top one on the bridge. Love it!
I also won ANOTHER photo shoot from a friend from high school. She moved to Alabama after high school, so we keep up with each other via Myspace, and now Facebook. She had a contest for a free photo shoot, and I entered. Random.org picked me again!! I was super excited. She was going to be in town for our 10 year high school reunion this past weekend (I didn't go, unfortunately.) Since she was in town, we met up on Sunday night.
It was raining Sunday night, so we met up and searched for the perfect spots to take the pics. It sprinkled off and on, and I knew my hair would be a fright. My hair+humidity=Disaster. However, it didn't turn out to be that bad. We were able to snap a few shots in a doorway, on a bridge and by the riverwalk.

She posted a "sneak peek" on her Facebook fan page. LOVE. IT. I can't WAIT to see the rest of them!!!

Thank you Lisa and Dana for taking such wonderful photos!!!! :)
Thanks for looking!
Lindsay

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Four years ago today, my life was completely changed... for the better. Four years ago I found out what it was like to love someone unconditionally with every breath of my being, even before meeting them. Four years ago I felt emotions I had never felt before, all at the same time. Four years ago I was scared to death of making the wrong choices and it affecting someone else forever. Four years ago, I fell in love with the most beautiful angel God could have given me. Four years ago, I became a mommy to this pretty little girl:
And I thank God every day for allowing me the priviledge of being her mommy. So here's to you, Zoie Sharae, one of the sweetest, funniest, silliest, most loving girls in the whole wide world. I love you more than life itself, and I am so happy that I am your mommy.

"Love you forever, like you for always. As long as I'm living... my baby you'll be."
"I love you right up to the moon... and back."

Happy 4th Birthday Zoie Sharae. I can't wait to see what fun things our future has in store.

Love,
Mommy

A little bit of this and a little bit of that....

Can you believe summer is almost officially here? It has been a crazy past couple of months, and it already feels like summer. I am not too excited about how quickly the months are passing me by. I have not had enough time outside in the sun!

Here are a few things that have been going on in la vida loca de Lindsay (Lindsay's crazy life). :)

I had a garage sale on June 5th. It went really well. I was able to get rid of a LOT of baby clothes and toys that were just taking up space in my garage. We had a crazy hail storm in Oklahoma a couple weeks before, and one of the topics on the radio was, "Why were all of the nice vehicles parked outside and not in the garage during the hail storm? What do YOU have in the garage keeping you from parking your car?" My answer-- garage sale stuff. Ugh. So therefore, I decided to get rid of everything I didn't need! It was hard to part with some of the baby items. I think it is always tough on moms when that happens. But I made almost $500, which was much needed. All-in-all it was a great day. We braved the 100 degree temps and sat in the hot garage. The ice cream man couldn't have come at a better time!

That night, I took Stephen out to dinner for his birthday. We were going to pick the usual, Buffalo Wild Wings, but I decided it was time for a change. The previous weekend we had eaten there two nights in a row, so change sounded really good.

We decided upon Texas Roadhouse. I hadn't been there in quite some time, and I knew it was affordable and good. Plus I knew I could find something that little miss Zoie would eat.

We had a great dinner. Zoie had fun eating peanuts and throwing the shells on the floor (this grosses me out. I don't see how it is sanitary, even though they clean it nightly. I prefer to leave my shells on my plate, thanks). The service was so-so, but for the most part it was a great experience. Then... it all went downhill.

The waitress brought the bill, and I took it. It was my treat for the birthday boy. I placed my Discover card in the black holder, and the waitress grabbed it as she passed by quickly. However, she also quickly returned to the table holding out my card.

"I'm sorry, your card was declined."

Me: "What? Are you serious?"

Confused, I pull out my debit card (that I never use unless someone doesn't take Discover) and hand it to her. I immediately grab my phone to call the credit card company. I get them on the phone and we head to the car to get away from the loud music in the restaurant.

Me: "Hi, yes... I tried to use my credit card for dinner and they said it was declined. Do you know why?"

Operator: "Yes, let me get you over to fraud prevention. It looks like someone has fraudulently accessed your card."

...Transfer...

Me: "They just told me someone fraudulently used my card?!"

Operator 2: "Yes, it looks like someone out of California was able to verify your personal information and called to request a pin change. We will need to close out your account for your protection."

Sooo... after lots of tears over my identity being stolen, and lots of questions to friends, I found out that someone had hacked into the POS Software that was used by Buffalo Wild Wings and stole everyone's credit/debit card numbers that were stored (apparently their software stored everyone's info from previous purchases). They then proceeded to make duplicate cards with the stolen numbers and sold them. The manager verified this, and his response when I contacted him was, "Yeah, it happened at other places around here. Stop by next time you are in..." Like it was no big deal! Grr... I'm totally boycotting them for awhile.
My card was used in California at a One West bank ATM and they made a $500 withdrawal and maxed out my credit card. My sister, the same night I found out mine had been compromised, had someone make charges at Wal-Mart and Meijer in Ohio, on two seperate occasions, totalling four transactions that cleaned out her bank account. All-in-all, I had over 20 people that I knew have this happen to them. It is all Buffalo Wild Wings nationwide, as well as some other restaurants like Ted's Escondido and Alvarado's.

I had to wait a week for my new card to arrive. I also had to file a police report. The Detective I spoke with informed me this has gone all the way to Brazil, and often times, the drug cartel use this method to fund their system. Joy. From speaking with my friends, they were able to make off with tens of thousands of dollars from all of our accounts combined. And that is just the people I know... and I don't know THAT many people! :)

I am still trying to get the fraudulent charges removed, but hopefully now it is straightened out. I am so hesitant about using my card anywhere. I've been using cash on everything, and I hate carrying cash. It really makes you realize how quickly your personal information can be compromised. Because not only did they steal my credit card number, they did some research and were able to track down my social security number (you have to have at least the last 4 to access my account), my last 4 of my credit card, and my mailing zip code. Scary stuff.

But on a good note... :)

Zoie's birthday party with her friends was last Saturday morning. It went great! I really loved the theme: Ladybugs. I found a lady who made the cutest cake (thanks Alisha for referring, and thanks, Jamie, for your talent!!) I had her party for her friends at ABC Stay N Play in Yukon. It is a little room set up with a castle, slides, and wall-to-wall toys and games. It is a child's dream world! About 14 of her friends came, and the party went really well. Everyone had a great time.
More birthday photos to come...

That's it for now though. I will post more later. :)

Thanks for looking!

-Lindsay