Scrappin' News
Well, it's Thursday and I'm back for my 2nd blog of the week! Don't get your hopes up though - I'm not sure I can keep this pace up ;) Well, there's alot going on in the scrapworld. Kristin CB has a new adorable kit called, Rugged for those, rough and tumbly boys in your life. Here is a preview of it. And as always you can find it at SweetShoppe. Also, be sure to stop by Kristin's blog periodically. There are going to be some really great downloads compliments of her CT. (Feb 2nd might be a good day to look) :)

As I mentioned yesterday I joined Dana's CT for a guest stint for a few months. Here is my first LO with her kit Dreamery available at Scrapbook Graphics. I've always loved this picture of Brooke - it shows her personality completely! She has always loved to dress up - even at two and three years old. She never would have made it back in medieval times as a princess because she has a mind of her own, but she sure does make a cute Modern Day Princess! Credits here.

Family Haps
Tonight a group of girls (well, 3 - does that count as a group?) from our MOMents group at church is getting together for dinner at Macaroni Grill. A dinner at a nice restaurant with adult conversation, no spills and messes is just what I need on this dreary, cold night. Now, before you think I'm a selfish mom, there is potato soup waiting in the crock-pot for Dad and kiddos. And then, I just might stop by the mall to do some sock shopping. Sock shopping, you say? Well, it is basically a good excuse to go by the mall, once again, with no kiddos in tow. Actually my boys are in desperate need of socks so I need to just make a stop by Children's Place. Of course, there are a few stores between the door and Children's Place. So, we'll see where my whims might take me :)

Hey - did you see that I'm a cup of "Plain Ole Joe" at the top of my blog? I'm not sure I like that. I wanted to be something fancy like a Cappuccino. I took this little "What Kind of Coffee Girl Are You Quiz" (you can too by clicking the link) but I'm not sure I agree with it. Those of you who know me, let me know what you think.

This weekend is shaping up to be another busy one. We are off to Pulaski, TN (the infamous town where the KKK took hold - I feel a little weird going there!) to Martin Methodist College. My BIL is being inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame there for his champion tennis playing eons ago :) My BIL is 50 so I get to tease him about being old, being that I'm a young chick of 34!! Anyway, that will be fun and I'll feel like a celebrity for an hour or two being that I'll be part of his entourage.

Well, you have a great weekend and I'll chat with you next week if not before.

It's Not Thursday...

And I'm updating my blog :) Well, I just had to share this picture from today. As I was catching up on email Connor and Liam were playing nicely together until I heard Liam squalling. Not a, "My brother is bugging me" fuss, but a full out squall so I ran out of the guest room and smack into Casper the Ghost aka Liam. Apparently the full bottle of baby powder didn't taste so good nor feel so good in his eyes. Needless to say, his room smelled very good being that it had a thick dusting of baby powder all over it. Oh, the things that little boys get into together.

One last thing before we move on. My brother sent me this link of my nephew, Cameron, singing, "God Bless America." It is pretty hilarious, so if you need a good laugh take a moment to watch it! Here's the link.

Scrappin' News
After an insanely busy weekend I finally sat down today and did a really quick LO from a template by Chrissy W over at Digital Candy. The kit I used is This Little Piggy by MandaBean. Credits are here. Speaking of MandaBean, my month as a guest for her comes to an end tomorrow. It was so much fun working with her. Her products are really great. However, since Manda's stint ends this month I'm going to be a three month guest for Dana Frantz over at Scrapbook Graphics. It's gonna be fun getting to know another designers. That is definitely one of the great parts of Creative Teams.

Well, as of late, it seems that I am becoming a once a week blogger. I guess I just don't have alot to say - or maybe just not a whole lot of time to say it. At any rate, I'll catch you up on what has been going on this week. Let's start with....

Scrappin' News
Kristin CB over at SweetShoppe has some adorable new kits. You've gotta check out, Just Lily, which she made for her daughter's 5th birthday. She asked each of her CT girls to make a page using the kit for a birthday album for Lily and then we made a quickpage from the LO. Kristin is giving all the quickpages away over at the SweetShoppe blog and it would make an ADORABLE album. So, go check it out!! Here is the page I made for Lily, and then my own page for Brooke from the quickpage.


Cori Gammon has a really pretty kit called Be Mine for Valentines over at Shabby Pickle Designs. She is the guest for the month of January there. Here's a LO I did using that. It has some really cute elements in it so if you are looking for something for Valentine's, look no further!













Here's one more LO I did from a bunch of Jomi's kits which are available at The Digichick. All of Jomi's kits are simply elegant and they are so much fun to work with. I used probably 6 or 7 different kits and everything blends just seamlessly. You can find all the credits for the LOs here.









Family Haps and Other Ramblings
Quote of the Day: Today in the van after school I was asking Brooke about her day. She said, "Mommy, my lips really hurt [they are chapped] and Mrs. Barnhill gave me gasoline for them and even THAT didn't work!

Well, It looks like we are going to have a busy weekend. Tomorrow night I have Girl's Night which is a monthly get together at a different home with lots of food and game playing. It's always a treat to get out with my girlfriends. Saturday morning we have our Annual Summit Leadership Conference at church which Dale is leading. Saturday afternoon Connor has a birthday party and Saturday evening there are plans in the works to get together with some friends. Whew...I'm feeling fatigued already. Then it's onto Sunday. MOMents (our moms group at church which I lead) is having our annual fund raiser, Mom's Kitchen, Sunday night after church. We ask people to donate crock pots of soup and we provide dessert and drinks and then people leave donations for the food. Last year we made over $1,000 so we were very pleased. Thankfully, I'm not heading this up - I just have to be there to help Sunday from 3pm until everything is cleaned up.

Monday, Dale and Brooke goes back for a follow-up with the allergist. I'm hoping that he thinks everything is looking good. Liam just had is two year well-check and he is growing like a little weed. He went from the 20th percentile to the 40th percentile in weight and from the 40th to the 50th in height. His head circumference is in the 75th percentile which is no big surprise because his Daddy has a big head.

Well, that's about it. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back around next Thursday or maybe before :)

Snip, Snip, Snip

Family Haps and Other Ramblings
It's been a busy week. Well, that's my excuse at least for being MIA. Some of my blog stalkers (and you know who you are) keep complaining that I'm not keeping my blog updated. Well, my suggestion for you is to start your own blog ;) Actually, I'm glad there's at least one person who doesn't have to be prodded to see if I've made any updates to my blog!

Anyway, the week started of with a bang. Sunday afternoon I called Connor to get him dressed for Sunday night service and he didn't answer. I walked around upstairs for a while and finally wandered into the guest room. I heard some squirming going on under the bed about the same time that I spied this...

It felt a little like the scenario to me of God calling out to Adam and Eve in the Garden after they had eaten the apple. He called and called and finally they showed themselves. That's pretty much what happened Sunday - I called and called and finally Connor slunk out from under the bed. In case the pictures don't tell the whole story, Connor took a pair of scissors and snipped away at the threads holding the blinds together. Of course, he hasn't learned yet to do away with the physical evidence.
Scrappin' News
Well, as far as my resolution to participate in some scrapbooking challenges, I have been doing quite well! Of course, it's all thanks to Sweet Shoppe - they have tons of challenges going on all the time. It has really helped me to put some pages together quickly in the last few days! I think so far, my favorite as been the Cookie Decorating Challenge. They provide a template and then you get to decorate it however you want. My Forever Romance LO was done with the template from that challenge and it took me no time at all to whip it up!

One other challenge that I couldn't resist this week is over at Oscraps. Annie Manning of Paint the Moon Designs is giving away a gorgeous mini kit if you participate in the challenge. You basically have to use all the products in the kit with your favorite picture from 2007 (using it in some fashion twice in your LO). This is what I came up with...

I absolutely adore this photo of Dale and Brooke. It was taken at Megan's wedding this summer.
The journaling reads: This picture of Daddy serving communion to you makes my heart overflow! Oh how I want you to learn of your Heavenly Father's love for you through your Daddy's love for you. You are such a blessed little girl to have a Daddy who is also your Pastor. One day I believe you will understand the significance of this. As you grow, I pray that your relationship with your Daddy will always be as sweet and as full as it is in this moment. This moment where Daddy shares life fully with you. This moment in which he gives to you the holy sacrament of communion. Credits here.

The Sacrificial Reindeer

Family Haps and Other Ramblings
Monday morning Dale had to serve on jury duty. Brooke asked him what that was and so he had to explain to her a little of our legal system. Of course he used me as an example explaining that if mommy embezzled money (yes, he explained that term as well) that I would have to go to court and the company that I stole from would also go to the same court in front of a judge and jury to decide what my punishment would be. After this long explanation she thought for a minute and this is how the rest of the conversation went...

Brooke: "Why don't they just kill an animal.?"
Dale: "Kill and animal?"
Brooke: Yeah, like a sheep, a goat or a reindeer."

It seems like we might be getting the Old and New Testament mixed up a little (were their reindeers at the birth of Christ?) Anyway, we're glad to know that she is able to apply what she is learning in Sunday School to our legal system.

Brooke and Connor started gymnastics again today (this is Brooke's 2nd year - Connor's 1st time). I was very surprised when I went in to pick them up because the teacher told me that Brooke was ready to be promoted to the Advanced Pre-Recreational class. Apparently her cartwheels are outstanding :) Brooke hasn't taken gymnastics since last spring so I thought she would be a little behind the others.
Scrappin' News
Here are a couple LOs I've been working on the last few days. I've decided since making my first Shutterfly book that I want to try to get back to do more two pagers - I like the way it looks to have one background paper across the two page spread. I may not always do one theme on the two pages but I will at least use the same background paper to give it some unity. The first page is done with a kit by Kristin CB and Paula Duncan called Thumpety, Thump, Thump. It is such a nice mix of beautiful papers and elements along with a few kiddie things like the snowman and a really cute snowman snowglobe.

The page below is just a big mishmash (is that a word?) from a bunch of designers. Credits for both pages can be found here...

Well, I received a sweet little email today from my friend JennyG letting me know that my Honey Bee page (you can see it in the previous post) was chosen as a Gallery Standout Page this week over at The Sweet Shoppe blog. That made my day :)

Oh, How the Mighty Have Fallen

Family Haps and Other Ramblings
Yesterday afternoon I was doing some cleaning downstairs while my three little ones were upsairs. I heard a little tinkling and then a whoosh and then Brooke was hollering for me to come upstairs. And this is what I beheld as I rounded the corner. Apparently, Thumper was under the tree and for some reason Brooke was worried that he might get hurt under there - how, I don't know. So, she dived under to rescue him and the rest, as we say, is history! So, instead of procrastinating a few more days I guess I'll be taking the tree down, - well, it's already down - undecorating it and storing it!









Scrappin News
Well, as far as my New Year's resolutions go...I've been doing pretty good with all my scrapping ones :) Here are a few LOs I've done in the last few days. Here are the credits for all three.





Well, on another note, my friend and protegee :) Jenny G. has finally posted a few of her LOs at DST. Jenny started digiscrapping back in October and has just taken off with it. Most people - ahem, you know who you are - just haven't gotten off the ground even with my stellar tutelage :) Anyway, go on over and leave some love in jennyg's gallery!

Happy New Year

Well, 2007 has come and gone...how time flies. Each year I am amazed how much more quickly time seems to be passing. I wish that I could just slow our life down a little. I know that before long I'll be looking back remembering the sweet moments when my children were little. I try to keep this in mind as they are wreaking havoc on the house. I know that SOME DAY I'm going to look back and wish that I once again had them underfoot. By the way, that's one of my New Year's Resolutions - to really enjoy the little things every day with my children. I look back at this year and the events that took place:

1) Megan, our niece who was only twelve when I met her, graduated from college and then was married in Destin in June.
2) Mallory, her sister who was eight when I came into the family, graduated from highschool
2) Brooke started kindergarten
3) I went to my mother's new home in Texas for the first time at Thanksgiving

These were all major, life events that just a few years ago weren't really even on my radar and now they have passed. I'm wondering, what will this year hold? Only time can tell.

Well, in my last post I said I would share some New Year's resolutions and I've only mentioned one so here are a few more. I'll share my scrapping ones for now...

1)To participate in one challenge a week
2) To complete an album entitled, "An Encyclopedia of a Normal Life" which will be a snapshot album of me.
3) To learn a new scrap technique each month from either a magazine, book or Scrapper's Guide.
4) To complete an ABC album for the grandparents
5) To have enough pages by Dec to print a 2008 Family Album.

So, those are mine folks. What are your resolutions?