It has officially begun.

Before I begin, there is one more thing I am thankful for ... my inlaws! They are amazing; helpful beyond belief. They love to watch our girls and it is such a relief to know they are in safe hands and that we can leave for days on end without worry. An example of their wonderfulness: we traveled up to their place the day after Thanksgiving (Friday). Little Makaela had been fighting a bug for a few days but seemed well enough for the trip. Well, that night her cough sounded terrible. It was so bad that she could not sleep soundly all night. At 6:30 AM I awoke to her with a 104.2 fever and still a terrible cough. We took her all the way back home to the doctors and my inlaws drove Hannah down a few hours later. They spent the night with us. It is just so nice that they were willing to do that when the plan was to spend the weekend at their place.

Now, onto Christmas. Yes, given the fact that we were home the weekend following Thanksgiving, we took advantage and got the tree up. I love it! I love this holiday. Hannah was so excited! She keeps asking if she can decorate the tree and I have to tell her all the ornaments are on. Though I agree with her that it needs more and I will be keeping my eyes open for some deals as we're out and about these next couple of weeks.

11/26/09: Thankful for ...

... this amazingly beautiful family that God has blessed me with.

... for God.

... good food that will be sitting before me in just a few short hours.

... my dad and stepmom's warm and happy home that will be hosting this fun feast.

... doctors that are trying hard to cure my stepmom's evil cancer.

... for our troops both active and retired. Thank you!

... for freedom.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

11/25/09: Thankful for ...

... Dinners at the dinner table with my precious family.

11/24/09: Thankful for ...

... paper towels.

... bibs.

... those Swiffer mop pads.

... bleach.

... laundry detergent.

... dish soap.

... a washing machine and dryer.

Yes, it is one of those days. But I really am thankful for the above items and many many more.

Recent projects

Here's some quick glimpses of two baby albums I just gave to friends. I lieterally was taking photos of these things minutes before I threw them into the bag and ran off to give them away. Hence the poor photos.

This first album is for a baby due in 2 weeks. The gender of the baby is unknown so this is my version of gender neutral. "It" has an older brother so there's a special page in the album for a picture of the two of them. The base of the album is wood. I got it from a store called Ever After.

This album is for a sweet little girl named Eva who arrived back in September. Yes, I am terrible and it took me that long to get it off to her.

The neat thing was that these two albums were for two sisters.

Jaque, if you're reading this ... I am trying to get an album ready for Charlie. Unfortunately, I am not sure if it will come before Christmas.

11/23/09: Thankful for ...

... a big bath tub and hot water.

11/22/09: Thankful for ...

... pay day.

... friends about to have new babies.

... proof that my relationship with my husband is strong enough to overcome bumps in the road.

... a kitchen full of groceries so that I know I at least have options when that dreaded meal planning time of day rolls around.

... little girls that are just too cute and keep us laughing.

... the fact that my stepmom (who is battling a very serious case of melanoma) is responding to her intense chemotherapy treatments. And that she is so very strong. {praying the next scan in early December will show even better results}

11/21/09: Thankful for ...

... for the weekend.

... for a 4 year old who loves to read.

... for a husband who can hike Mt. Baldy.

... for a 1 1/2 year old who can be mad one minute and happy the next.

... for two kids who actually love brocolli.

11/20/09: Thankful for ...

... my scrappy friends who I will get to see this evening. Yay!

11/19/09: Thankful for ...

... this roof over our heads. Though it is a pain to keep clean, I love this house and feel fortunate that it gets to be the home where many wonderful family memories have been made and will be made.

Now I must go clean this house! Ugh!

11/18/09: Thankful for ...

... A job.

... A husband who is happy to watch his little girls while I have a nice evening out with a friend.

... A sister who can cover the hour and a half between when the sitter leaves and my husband gets home.

... The chance to see The Grinch Who Stole Christmas tonight.

11/17/09: Thankful for ...

... a 4 year old daughter who has a forgiving heart. Long story short .. I woke up late which made for a chaotic morning trying to get her ready for school in time. She doesn't yet understand running late, nor does she understand needing to hurry and I pretty much lost it on her when she spent 10 minutes in the bathroom apparently doing nothing. But we hugged it out and she had a great day at school and doesn't even remember the incident this morning.

11/16/09: Thankful for ...

... for people like Jessica Sprague who offer free digital scrapbooking classes. Free registration for Holidays in Hand ends TODAY! Go here to sign up. Trust me, even if you think or swear you will never be a digital scrapbooker, there's something to be taken from this class. I ALWAYS learn something valuable (most often how to better edit a photo). She's a great instructor with very detailed and easy to follow videos.

11/15/09: Thankful for ...

... good friends. And the fact that we can get together and watch our kids play for hours on end. That the kids are sad when it's time for everyone to go home. Thanks to Sal and Cynthia and Diego for coming to play today!

11/14/09: Thankful for ...

... this little girl who, when upon seing her I said, "Whoa! Lookin pretty cool there girl!", responded, "No Mommy. I'm only a princess!" Yes you are my special girl. I am so thankful you make me laugh and that you can find yourself beautiful despite the purple socks for gloves, the flower for a wand, the baseball jammies underneath the dress, and the bedhead hair pressed between your face and the arm of your sunglasses. I love you so much!!!!

11/13/09: Thankful for ...

... for a little 1 1/2 year old who asks for hugs and is stringing short sentences together such as "thank you mommy" and "all right mommy."

11/12/09: Today I am thankful for ...

... a healthy family.

A little More Fall Fun

Man you would think I was being paid to promote SEI's October kit, but I swear I am not. I guess I am just really inspired by it. These colors or so so so me! Here's one of two thank you cards I made using the kit. In case anyone is curious, the paper line is called Sophia.

More Fall Fun

As promised in the last post, here's another project I made using my October SEI kit I recently received. I have really been trying to focus on feeling more thankful. I would also like to instill this message in my children. Therefore I thought a nice, little wall hanging was in order. This was so fun to make. And very easy to do. Just cover some chipboard pieces with patterned paper, punch holes with the Crop-a-dile, then embellish away.

Would you like to win this?

I know I would. I adore Prima products! And the colors just make me so happy!!!!! Head on over to Prima's blog to figure out how you could win this.

Have a great rest of your weekend.

Fall Fun

Well I got into the Halloween spirit late so I am trying to make up for it by getting into the Thanksiving/Autumn spirit early. And boy have I been having fun. A while back I signed up for SEI's kit club. I have chosen to skip many months but thought I would allow the October kit to be mailed to me and I am so thankful I did. Get it? Thankful? It is full of wonderful papers - great patterns, great textures - and some nice, clean simple embellishments.

A few days ago I found these on Kim Hesson's blog. Are they not the cutest ever?! I checked her Etsy shop but she didn't seem to have these in stock so I began mulling things over in my head. I resorted to having my husband cut some pumpkin shapes out of plywood until I remembered that years ago I had purchased some wooded pumkins that were meant to be finished and have strings of Christmas lights shoved into the many small holes pre-drilled into them. (side note: this idea is really cute and I have had some in my front yard in years past).

So I busted out my wooden pumpkins and painted the edges with some cream colored acrylin paint. Then I cut some of the SEI patterned paper to eventually cover each side of the pumkin. I then cut strips of various patterned papers and overlayed them on my full paper piece. Once I liked the layout, I inked everything in Vintage Photo Distrss Ink by Ranger and then adhered the strips to my full pumkin piece. I ran the thing through my sewing machine and then adhered the piece to the wooden pumpkin. I am so pleased! They really add a nice warm touch to my home.





This last picture is the reverse side of the pumpkins.

Unfortunately I need about 25 more of these puppies to really make my home feel like Thanksgiving is on the way. Our home decor is really lacking! In the next couple of days I will post another fun project I did with the SEI October kit.

Happy Friday!