Scrappy Give-away

There is an awesome scrappy give-away on the blog Life with Lou here: http://lifeaslou.blogsome.com/2008/12/20/christmas-mini-album-pages-6-7-plus-150-give-a-way/ . If you want a chance to win $150 worth of Cosmo Cricket goodies, hurry and get in on the fun!

Date Night

Wow. Tim and I actually had a date night last night. We couldn't remember the last time we did that. One thing I do know is that we've had the gift card we used last night for the dinner for about 15 months, so I know it's been longer than that. We had a really nice dinner at a very posh restaurant just down the road. It was really cozy and nice. We'll definitely have to start getting out together more often.

Today, my BFF and I are going scrapping while the kids are at school. Our last day of "freedom" before Christmas break, so we're going to make the most of it. Not sure I have very inspiring pictures to work with right now, but any time with Lori is time well-spent.

Last year, we went to Lori's house for Chanukkah. It was really special to be able to celebrate the fourth night with them. This year, they are coming here on Christmas Eve. We will have our Christmas Eve tradition of opening one gift each and eating some Christmas cookies, while Lori is going to bring a Menorah so we can celebrate lighting the candle for the third night of Chanukkah. I'm really excited about celebrating both holidays together. It is a great opportunity for her son and my girls to better appreciate each other's culture. I did a page about it last year (below).

Notice the candles on the separate card. That picture was taken through special 3-D glasses that make points of light look like a Jewish star. How COOL is that?! Tim took a picture of our Christmas tree through those glasses and it turned out really neat. I'm looking forward to getting a picture of the Menorah and our tree this year.

I have to run and get Johanna off to school now. Have a great day!

Happy Birthday, Hanna!!

I'd say that Hanna's birthday today was a big success. Tim and I woke her up this morning singing Happy Birthday by the side of her bed. The "Birthday Fairy" had left 50 balloons on her bedroom floor. This is our family tradition and I think the girls look forward to it as much as the gifts and cake. Next, Johanna and I picked-up her cake and drinks for her birthday party at school. I walked her in to her classroom. The kids are always so proud when their parents come to school for any reason.

When Tim brought Johanna home, she opened the rest of her gifts. Next, we went to dinner with our dear friends Lori and Sam, who gave her even more presents! When we got home, Hanna played with her new things until Caitlin got home, when we could finally have cake. Hanna played some more and then it was off to bed. I have to say, she was wound-up really tight! :-)

One of the gifts Lori and Sam gave her was a felt craft to make a hat, scarf, and purse. Hanna was so excited, she made the hat already! Here's a pic of her in it...


Her cake this year was the head of a snowman. A picture of that is below.

So, as you can see, it was a full and fun day. It's hard to believe that Christmas is only a week away! Where does the time go?

Here's hoping that most of your holiday "chores" are complete so you can enjoy a restful and fun season. Thanks for visiting!

Things that I love...

I am sitting here working on a mini book that will be a stocking stuffer for Miss C. It's late and it's quiet, so I'm just sitting here working and thinking. I was listening to Johanna breathing and thinking that it is one of my favorite times of day and definitely something that I love. She's a sound sleeper, but she will occasionally talk in her sleep. She does snore when she has a cold or her allergies are acting up. She makes cute noises sometimes when she's dreaming. Just a few of the things I notice when I'm sitting here in the middle of the night.

I love watching football on Sundays with my husband. Even if our team isn't doing so well (which is most of the time), I just love that we have a little block of time we set aside to sit and watch football together. The days and the weeks get so hectic, I really cherish those moments. We'll put out some salsa and chips and relax. The kids are in and out, but mostly it's just us.

I loved watching my baby play out in the first snow of the season. There was only about 3/4", but she was playing like it was a foot of snow! LOL There wasn't enough snow, of course, for the traditional [1/2] igloo, so she made a snow nest for the birds and put cracker crumbs in it. So cute! Here's my "little blue angel."

I'm going to do a post like this at least once a month. I think it's good to stop and think about the things we love most in our life. Often, for me anyway, it is the very simplest of things.

New subject... two of our dearest scrapping buddies are moving to Columbus today. We have scrapped with them almost every weekend since early spring this year. They are going to be closer to family and we certainly understand that, but boy are we going to miss them!!

At the scrapbook store yesterday we didn't spend a lot of time scrapping. Instead we did some crafty things. The main project involved some candles, a lot of glitter, a Cricut, and a heat gun. What a glittery mess I was when we finished! I am so happy with the end result, though. Below is a picture of two of the candles I made, which now reside proudly on my mantle.

Not something I'll be doing frequently, but when I want to create a really special look or personalized gift, this is a very cost-effective and fun way to go. BTW, I got this idea from Erin's blog on the Creating Keepsakes Web site. She provide a great tutorial on how to do this here: http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/content/view/18191/60/ .

Thanks for stopping by!

Nobody's home, so it must be Monday!

I am so losing track of the time! I know I'm way behind on my blog posts. I have been busy creating, though. I made four pages on Saturday, one yesterday, and two in my daily journal this weekend. Not too bad.

Last week, we did a photo shoot with the girls. I got the idea for the shot in one of the online galleries and thought it was just too STINKIN' CUTE (that was for Ed - lol). Below is the page I made with my favorite shots.

And Saturday, we got our first snow of the season. It was more annoying than beautiful but, of course, Miss J loved being out in it. Sunday, she made a snow angel in the yard. I can tell I'm going to have way too much fun with the flocking this winter. I titled the layout "Snow Angel" and flocked the word Angel. I used Super Glue to adhere the letters, so wherever I could see the glue, I put some flocking. I *LOVE* this effect!

I guess that's about it for now. I have a mound of laundry to fold that is, quite honestly, terrifying. So, I'd better get to it. I hope your day is wonderful!

Mission Accomplished

It's official -- I'm finished with the hardest part of the holidays. My shopping is complete and everything is wrapped! Now I can shop for fun (maybe), do lots of baking, scrapping, and visiting with friends. Yes!! I used to be able to get everything done by Thanksgiving, but I'll take December 2 any day.

This year, I went a little bit of a different direction with gift wrapping. I decided to get some plain brown paper (the kind they use for shipping) and then wrap the brown packages with beautiful ribbons. So, that's what I did! Johanna's ribbons are bright green and pink... like the bows on the tree, and Caitlin's are a very sophisticated color and pattern of peacock blues and gold. That will make it a lot easier to tell the packages apart on Christmas morning. Here's an example of a few of the packages amongst the mess this afternoon.

The best part is, FedEx gave me the brown paper for FREE!

I am also on schedule with my December Daily Journal -- days 1 & 2 are complete. Day 1 is about our tree and day 2 is about the gift wrapping today. Filling the pre-made book is proving to be pretty easy. Some adjustments, but nothing major. When I didn't have enough room for the photo I wanted and journaling about the tree, I printed the picture, journaled on the back of it and then laminated it with the Xyron Laminating Sheets -- SO quick and easy! I punched my holes and dropped it in as an additional page. Turned out great!

Completing my shopping and wrapping took up the bulk of my day. Tim brought home a little sushi tonight, which was a nice surprise and then we hunkered down to watch a movie. It was a really nice day.

Thanks for visiting!

Making a list, checking it twice...

I'm working through my "To Do" list little by little. The house is now decorated for the holidays. Today, I will also be wrapping the girls' presents. Another check. I've taken some pictures of the upstairs but the downstairs will have to come later (hopefully today).

I have decided that HGTV is costing me a lot of time and/or money. I can sit down to watch one show and want to try half the stuff I see them do -- stuff I could very well live without. A couple of the decorating ideas came from HGTV just this weekend.

Next on the list is wrapping presents... today. I'm going to use that as my entry for the December Daily journal. I'm so excited about starting that today!!

Then there are the less glamorous or fun things. I have laundry to do, a dishwasher to empty, and glass table tops that are screaming to be wiped down. Oh, the joys of being a SAHM.

Have a great day!!