Amazingly enough, after the stress of finding out my house needed to be party ready by Tuesday I got one Christmas tree up and decorated along with my manger scene and other decorations downstairs. When Dale got home he and the kids put the big family tree up in the family room and it is now awaiting the lights. I left Dale and the kids to finish that task and Brooke was busily delegating to Connor and Liam. It is hilarious, no matter what we are doing she always has a plan for organization. She is her Mamma's girl!

Today Dale will take Brooke to school and stay with her through the first hour to help with SMART and then I'll go in to help in the library for an hour or so. Let me just say this, I now know that I did not miss my calling by not being a librarian. Re-shelving books is not really my idea of fun, but hey, someone has to do it! I have gotten re-acquainted with the Dewey Decimal system though. After that we'll put the lights on the tree (I'm contemplating whether to do colored or white) and we'll have it all ready to decorate when Brooke gets home from school.

Here's another LO I did while in Texas. This is such a great photo (my niece, Mallory took it) and the kit by Jomi is just beautiful! Credits here.

Well it's 11:45 and I'm just now sitting down to update my blog. Usually I get up b/f the kids in the morning and do a few things on the computer b/f I start my day but this morning I was so tired I slept until Brooke had to get up. Which means that I have been going non-stop since 7am. I dropped Brooke off at school and then rushed to the Y for my AquaFit class. It's my same perky, pregnant kick-boxing instructor that teaches it so it's a great workout. I'm always late b/c it's an 8:30 am class and I drop Brooke off at 8:15.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I laid out of my Thursday AquaFit class (I thought I needed a break) but I found out that my teacher taught one on Fridays as well so I decided I would just go to that one. Well, I was late as usual so I walked into the pool and there were about twenty 70 year olds. I was the youngest by about 25 years. Andrea (the teacher) said my eyes got about as big as saucers but I got my weights and went right on in. It was pretty funny actually! Let me say that I haven't skipped out on my Thursday class since then ;)

Dale called me this morning to tell me that we were having a staff gathering at our house next Tuesday evening. So, all my scrapping plans for this week/weekend have gone out the window. I'll be furiously cleaning and decorating my house (which is what really needed to be done anyway. So, I'll be posting no new LOs for a few days. It's a good thing I have several I made over Thanksgiving that I haven't posted yet ;) I took this picture last Feb and have actually used it in another LO but I love it so much I wanted to use it again. Credits here. This one is using several of Jomi's kits. Her designs are just fabulous - I can always come up with something good when I use them!

Well, it's off to starting the cleaning, laundry and decorating. Fun time :) I hear some crashing and banging in the kitchen - I better go see what's happening.

Wrapped with a bow

I tell you what, with all these Christmas kits I'll be getting caught up with all my Christmas photos in no time! Here's another page made with the Boyful Christmas Collab kit by Cori Gammon and ChereKaye. This is Liam's cousin Megan. I don't think she needs any presents for Christmas - only this little bundle of love :) Credits here.

Now onto today. Let's see....in a couple minutes I'll be going down to wrestle Brooke out of bed for school. That is my LEAST favorite part of the day. She is not a morning person and so every morning it takes forever to wake her up. I have to use a mix of tickling and threats. We have 12 long years of this, people. Then it's off to kickboxing with my 6 mos pregnant instructor who is perkier and in better shape than me and then lunch with a couple girlfriends to plan the gifts we are going to make for teachers this year. I'm so glad I have a friend who is crafty with paper and stamps. I DO NOT enjoy paper crafts ( I know, a great downfall on my part) but why do I need to be crafty when I have friends who are? Anyway, I wonder why I never get anything done around my house...I guess this is why.

Being on vacation is such a treat as far as scrapping goes because I don't have to feel guilty about the other 20 million things I should be doing. I didn't scrap as much as I thought I would though because we played Dominoes till all hours of the morning and I was too strung out on caffeine each day trying to make up for the lack of sleep ( two year olds don't sleep any later even though it's vacation :)

Here are a couple of LOs I did while I was away. This first one was taken at Megan's wedding in Destin. I could kick myself because I hardly took any pictures. I guess I was just too busy running around after my three little ones. This is one of the few pics that I have.
The journaling reads: June 2007: We were dressed up at the beach this particular evening for Megan’s rehearsal but you two couldn’t resist running and playing in the sand. So I took the opportunity to snap some pictures of you. Because of the demands of the wedding this is one of the few pictures I have.

This next LO was done for the monthly Scrapper's Guide Premier tutorial gallery. Every month Linda Sattgast sends a tutorial on how to design something and this month it was designing ribbons. We use the tutorial and then make a LO using that month's kit that is also provided with the Premier membership. So, I'm proud to say that the ribbons on this page are my creation :) This picture was taken Oct. 2006 one our now annual visit to Gentry's Farm.

Credits for both LOs here.

Thanksgiving Fun with Family

We're back from Thanksgiving but I'm not ready for Thanksgiving to be over yet :( We had such a great time in Texas with my mom and stepdad and my sister and her family and of course Aunt Buni - oh, and I better not forget Jen Jones! We had one long week of just being together and pretty much living on top of each other. But that's okay - every once in a while you just need to submerse yourself in family and friend ;)

Jen drove with me to Texas on Friday - Dale had to be at church on Sunday so he flew in on Monday. So Jen and I started out on Friday about 5 pm and from the start the trip was doomed...we went the long way through town during rush hour and then we had several never-ending potty breaks. By 10pm when we got to Memphis (it should have taken us 3 hours - not 5) I'd had enough so we stopped at a hotel. I thought things couldn't get any worse but the next morning we once again took a wrong turn and by 4 pm when we rolled into Longview we were on the verge of being comatose. I thought Jen was going to run for the nearest airport and fly home...but she didn't!

Thankfully the rest of the week was just laid back and fun. We scrapped, made cards (well, Jen did) played lots of Dominoes and ate way too much food! In spin class this morning I was feeling the effects of all the rest and relaxation - my body was not happy with me! Another perk was that we got to see my Uncle Dave and Aunt Susan and their family. They drove over from San Antonio where Dave is stationed so we spent Friday afternoon and evening with them. It was so great for our families to catch up and to just be together! We do not get to see them nearly often enough and so when we do it is quite a treat.

Now we're back and Brooke is wondering why the whole neighborhood is decorated for Christmas and our house isn't. So, I've got to get unpacked, the house cleaned and ready to put the tree up on Friday.

Frazzled....WHO ME??

So I'm feeling a little frazzled today. About 3:30 am Connor walks over to Dale's side of the bed and whispers, "Daddy, my have to go pee,pee." So I go into the bathroom with him to make sure he makes it in time. He was pretty desperate. And of course, my eyes were as wide as they could be after with all the things I have to do today running through my head. I have MOMents tomorrow (it's our version of MOPS group (Mothers of Preschoolers) and up until now I've been quite organized with everything. Well, it dawned on me that the book I took to church last night to copy cookie jar recipe tags is MIA. I did not bring it home and I have no idea where I put it. Of course, it has the cookie jar recipe instructions along with the ingredient list of things that I was supposed to pick up at Costco this morning. So, needless to say, I'm a little panicked.

Then after I got up and went to right my "to do" list down so that I could go to sleep I start thinking of the conversation I had with my "blog stalking" friend last night at church. She thinks she stalks my blog b/c she visits it more than once a day. Hey, I'm flattered even if she only visits to link to all the other sites I have listed! Anyway, she is interested in digiscrapping and so of course I was thinking of all the stuff she needs to know about that.

As if that weren't enough we are leaving for TX tomorrow to go to my moms for Thanksgiving and while we are there we will be having Christmas. Well, I'm not prepared for the little Christmas time even though I'm the one that suggested it. Of course my sister who always buys the perfect gifts is 100% prepared. I should really hire her to be my personal shopper because she always has the most clever ideas when it comes to gifts. Me, I overthink it way too much and end up with something that is just hohum compared to hers. I'm not jealous or anything, I'm just saying... ;) Of course, I'm always happy to be the recipient of her gifts. So, of course she has found the perfect little something for my husband who is difficult to buy for because he just doesn't ask for alot and she has found something for our stepdad who is impossible to buy for - what do you buy someone who has everything? Of course, I have nothing for her husband or for my stepdad. I'll be calling her AGAIN today for ideas!

Here's a LO I did for the Stand Up and Scrap contest. The question was, "If you could have one dream come true, what would it be?" That was a really difficult question because I just don't think about that kind of thing very much. I'm much more of a practical, day to day person and if you can't have something why think about it? :) So, it took me severals days to cipher on it and this is what I came up with...

Journaling:
My Dear Sister,
I was recently asked the question, “If you could have one dream come true, what would it be?” I really don’t fancy myself a dreamer, but, it suddenly came to me. It wasn’t a dream job, a dream house, or a dreamy husband. It was this...if I could have one dream come true it would be to live near you. When I was sixteen years old you moved away and for the past eighteen years we’ve lived miles apart only seeing each other once or twice a year. I’ve already missed your kids’ growing up but how I wish you could be here to see mine as they grow. I wish we could meet at Starbucks or go the movies. I wish we could see each other at church and eat dinner together during the week. I wish we could share clothes, aerobic classes and friends. I wish we could spend the nitty-gritty, run-of-the-mill days together. I wish...I wish... But, even if this dream never becomes reality I will always be thankful for you, my sister, no matter the distance that separates us.

Credits here.

100% Fine

It's kind of funny but for some reason I never scrap page of my sweet husband. Well, today I did because I had this awesome kit by Jomi van Bekkum called Groovy Love and it just inspired me. I came across these pics today and new EXACTLY what I was going to use to scrap them.

These pics were taken back in August during our church's softball league. Dale is on the "old guys" league but they outplayed the spring chickens this year. I was very proud of him. Can you believe a 38 year old still has moves? :)

The journaling says: It’s been a long time since you played high school and college baseball, but you still have what it takes. When I watch you play I’m so glad that you are mine, mine, mine.... all mine! So, baby, even if you think your reflexes are a little slow and your arm isn’t quite the gun it used to be just remember that when I watch you play all I see is the 100% fine man that you are.

Cookies for Santa

Here's another Christmas layout for you. This time I used Cori Gammon's Funky Christmas kit and I think it is so cute! I love the non-traditional, fun papers - especially for fun things like decorating cookies. The journaling says: "We made cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. Only the Santa who lives at our house would want to eat them because we spread the icing with our fingers, licking after each spread, and then we decorated them with sprinkles. We had to lick our fingers some more to get the sprinkles to stick to the icing. I’m not sure who got more sugar, us or Santa." Credits here.

Baby Brooke

I'm trying to get caught up on the kits I'm using from Jenny Binder so I went way back in my photo file and pulled a few pics of Brooke. I can't believe how awful the quality is. We had a camcorder that also was supposed to be a digital camera. Well, it wasn't. I wish I would have figured that out b/f we had babies. It's quite depressing actually, but oh well. Credits here.

Santa Secrets

It's not even Thanksgiving and I'm already doing Christmas LOs. But, all the Christmas kits are coming out so I have to get the pages done to post in the galleries. Here's one of Brooke from last year that I did with two of Cori Gammon's Christmas kits - Classic Christmas and Homespun Holiday.

Last year we had one of the men from church, Bill Jones, come to our staff Christmas party and hand out gifts to the kids. He starts growing out his hair in the late summer and then he dyes it around Christmas time. He definitely makes a pretty believable Santa!

Credits here.

Adorable

Here's a LO I did of Brooke today. The other afternoon during Connor's soccer practice she spent probably 30 minutes rolling in the grass, crawling like a lion, picking flowers and singing. She was completely off in her own little world and it made me wish that sometimes I could be just like that - doing my own thing and not concerned one bit about what others would think. However, I think someone would call the loony police to come pick me up if they saw me crawling through a field of grass :)

By the way, this kit is from the new designer, Jomi van Bekkum that I'm creating for. I love it!

Credits here.

Sweet Baby Connor

I am very behind in my scrapbooking. But as Cathy Zielske says, who would ever want to be caught up? You wouldn't have anything left to scrapbook. Well, the fact still remains that I'm behind and I still have not done a baby book for my 3 1/2 year old, Connor. So I did a page today. It's called baby steps. Not, the page - the process. I'm one of those who gets very overwhelmed by "projects" so I have to take it one LO at a time. Since I do have a whole baby book to do for Connor and then for Liam I'm going to keep it pretty simple. Well, I say that now - we'll see how it goes.

Credits here.

I'm being published!

Well, my work is anyway. This is a first for me so I'm feeling a little ecstatic about it. The best part is that I get paid for it. Maybe this addiction is worth my time after all :) One of my layouts of Connor is being published in the April/May 2008 issue of Digital Scrapbook Magazine. They sure aren't procrastinators, are they?