After a long day of work, it was so nice to come home to a BIG box full of goodies. After a solid week of rainy days, this box certainly brought some sunshine into my home! After opening up to see what Diane sent me, my first thoughts were, "Do we know each other?". Checking her return address again, I know I have never had the pleasure of meeting anyone from Alabama. So, as I took each item out of the box, I began wondering how she could have selected such nice items just for me! In this fat box were the following items which she creatively tied our swap theme into: *A baggie full of green candy (yum) and green berry rush Hawaiian punch, and green Mojito Crystal Light (Diane, I immediately unwrapped the caramel apple lollipop!) : ) *A bag of Million Dollar Buttermint Creams. It held 20 pieces when I got it, but I think it's half full now! Can you tell I like candy? : ) *A bag of 40 flavors gourmet jelly beans - love these! *A pack of Strawberry Fields Tic Tacs. *A deck of cards with a beautiful floral design. *A large bag of Wint O Green LifeSavers. *A green expandable vase - perfect for my desk at work! *Village Naturals Therapy Mineral Bath Soak for Aches & Pains Relief with a Delicate Bath Pouf... such a nice thought! *Mandarin Orange Spice Herbal Tea - (I drink tea everyday!) *A darling 2013 Monthly planner with a floral design. *A Home Finance Bill Organizer. The cover and every page sports beautiful photographs of flowers and nature. *The Haul Helper. My husband tried to confiscate this one, but I told him hands off! I relented then when I saw his face of disappointment and said he could borrow it - once in awhile. *"Lift Your Spirits" wall calendar, which includes a small monthly planner. So colorful with lots of words of inspiration. *A little yellow canary that I think may be either a wall vase for rooting a plant or a decorative item to put in a planter to keep it moist. Diane, can you let me know? *A pack of "Dutchman Pipe Vine" seeds! I always wanted to grow these and Diane says I can grow them inside the house and outside, so I am looking forward to starting them. Thanks a million Diane for your creativity, thoughtfulness and generosity!

I just had a baby shower for my daughter. We passed around ribbon and each guest cut one as long as they thought they needed to go around my daughter's tummy. Was fun to actually measure them and we saved the pieces of ribbon that they cut. Each person signed their piece of ribbon too and we saved them for her babybook! I made some premade scrapbooking pages that would include pieces of advice from each person attending. When I sent out the invites, I included the small cards for them to think of something to write to the baby or my daughter...advice for them! Something that my daughter and her daughter can look over whenever they want. A great way to include the guests/friends into her baby scrapbook! I bought some "babies" made out of blankets and sleepers on Ebay and they were adorable. The theme was Sugar and Spice, everything nice.....and it was worked into the menu.....lots of sweet(small cakes, molded mints, etc) and even some spicey appetizers! And almost everything was PINK! Just was fun! And of course...........LOTS of pictures! Just a wonderful memory made.......and expressions of support for my daughter! I hope you had fun.......and that YOU had time to enjoy it all! Julie

Chiming in about mobility issues! You never know when they might strike, and they're no respecter of age. We have absolutely loved having the first floor master, since I sometimes have a very tough time with stairs. (I'm only 36 but I have had chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia for 13 years.) The garage is a tuck-under which in some ways has been a drag (the stairs; putting a dumbwaiter in for groceries etc. was on the "someday" list) but in others has been wonderful, mostly because you can't even see the two-car garage from the front of the house! Thus we have the practical aspects of having the garage space with the aesthetics of not having an automotive eyesore glommed onto the house. :-) Almost none of the houses I have looked at to buy this time round have had a first floor master bedroom, forget a suite; when we were looking last time (with a bigger budget and lower prices) there were few houses with first floor masters and this was the only one with a first floor master suite. It seemed very luxurious! Most of what we have to select from this time are tiny 1-1/2 story 3/1 Capes with the bathroom and all the bedrooms upstairs which is not that practical for us. If I were in a bad flare-up I would be confined upstairs like the crazy aunt in an old novel! Surprisingly few of the houses in our price range (an admittedly scant supply, what we can afford doesn't buy you much here) are single-story, which would be most practical - I would be expecting to see some 50s ranches but haven't seen one in a couple of months. I think the way our saltbox Cape is designed WRT bedrooms IS very sensible, even though little else about the design is. :-) There is a small master suite on the first floor (which is basically divided into four parts: kitchen, living and dining rooms, and the master suite, with a small one-story annex off the kitchen containing the laundry room and a powder room) and three bedrooms and a bathroom surrounding a small landing on the second floor. Basically the kids have their own private "zone", as there is no reason for nonfamily to go upstairs, so maybe there wouldn't be so many arguments about not-so-neat rooms. :-) The house is small enough that there isn't any problem hearing someone upstairs from downstairs and one would certainly not have ANY difficulty hearing a baby cry (at least any baby I've ever tended!), maybe this is a problem with the huge new houses but you wouldn't need a baby monitor here unless you jump at every sniffle. Most of the folks I know with kids want to get away from them from time to time and have some privacy - I know I would be super uncomfortable getting romantic with my spouse knowing one of the kids was on the other side of the wall! - politically incorrect as it is these days. It's also very practical to have a first floor master suite if an aging parent moves in with the family; the parents can take one of the upstairs bedrooms, even if maybe they have to live without an ensuite bath (man, we're spoiled these days, aren't we? ;-)), so that the elder can remain on one level and be close to the family "action" of kitchen and living room instead of isolated by stairs they have a hard time negotiating. devorah, why have a yard with a "family" house anymore? *cynic mode on* Most kids don't seem to play outside anymore, except at their organized activities like soccer. They stay in with their computers and their Playstations and their iPods, where they're "safer". Before we bought this house in 2004 we rented a house in a "family" subdivision of 50 or so houses, where there was an absolute mob of gradeschool-aged children at the bus stop every morning but there was only one yard where you EVER saw kids playing outside. We would walk our dog around the loop and not see a soul under 30 outside. c9pilot, I managed to sneak out of the house when I lived with my folks in an 800sf single-floor bungalow - they weren't very smart to give me the bedroom with the windows that opened onto the porch! LOL But their bedroom was right next to mine, they were literally sleeping 10 feet away. I think if a teen is truly determined s/he'll find a way to get out and misbehave no matter how the house is designed, unless it's practically a fortress!

Sorry for your loss. if you cannot find them you can make them useself. you will need to buy the papers and stickers. this sites has some poems that may help but you may also want to write your own poems . if cannot find what you looking for you may want to google it. good luck. Here is a link that might be useful: Baby Scrapbook Poems