Thankful

I am thankful. I am blessed. Here is our Thanksgiving:
Kent & Seth helping with the meal (whew, got a little tight in the kitchen but their help was much appreciated!)

Tessa loved the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade:

So thankful for Dad and that he joined us for our Thanksgivng meal:

And I'm thankful that Tessa helped Kent get up the leaves in the back for a couple of hours on Friday!

Life isn't perfect... there are health issues and everyday stresses in our lives, but we are truly blessed in more ways than I can count... and I do thank God everyday for those blessings.

Merry December Days mini...

Okay, so I have to fess up... I often "combine" projects, challenges, etc. Otherwise, I might never get anything done! So for December, I am combining my December Daily and Merry Days albums into one. Here are some pictures of what I have so far:








For my "cover" I used a lot of things from the Scrapbook Circle December kit (not the acrylic album... had it in my stash). And in the last photo for Dec. 24 and 25, I used a couple of great stamps from Unity (love these stamps)!

Scrapbook Circle December Kit - so FUN!

I've started creating with the Scrapbook Circle December kit and it is so much fun! Filled with festive papers from Prima, Heidi Swapp, October Afternoon and BoBunny, as well as Kaiser Pearls, Stickles and the fabulous Prima tape, well, let's just say it is divine! Here are two very different layouts I have done using the kit. The first is of our Christmas card Photo Shoot and all items are from the kit except the buttons and the black "2008".
This second layout was inspired by a challenge at Willow Traders (WWW#4) and I did add some black cardstock, some bling for the Scrapbook Circle Oct. kit, the Thickers, and an antique button I had. I painted the cardstock border with Stickles and "faked" my stitching. This kit is so versatile with traditional holiday colors as well as lots of pink! So much you can do with it! And lots more I plan to do with mine, so stay tuned!

Stories In Hand

Jessica Sprague's free class, Stories In Hand, is simply terrific! She has put so much thought and planning into this class. It is something I hope to use often to prompt my families' stories. I did my binder a little differently, since I had already decorated my little American Crafts album for a class I took at Scrap Etc. in April (it was a great class by Gretchen M. but not an album I felt compelled to complete, so I repurposed my little album... thank you Gretchen!). I haven't done much writing of my stories yet... or even "snorkling" for ideas (I started a bit late due to our trip to the beach)... but I will! And I can't wait to take some of Jessica's digi classes once I get PSE (hopefully for Christmas)!

My best gift ever...

So, Cathy Z's blog contest got me searching photobucket for this layout I did a while ago about the song Kent wrote me as a surprise gift our very first Christmas together. Still need to get that transferred from the cassette to a CD - wouldn't want to lose this precious gift one day when the old stereo dies and we no longer have a cassette player (yes, we are a bit behind... dh does have a portable MP3 player and we only listen to CDs now, but still have a few cassettes in our possession!). Of course, this layout was about a material type of gift... there are obviously many "non-material" gifts that would be higher on my list, but here I was thinking of a present-type gift.

As we approach this season of gratitude and gift-giving, please take the time to make your gifts count... and the best ones do not have to be expensive... the best presents truly are the ones from our hearts. But I won't send the Wii back if someone wants to get me one, lol!

Bad Girls Christmas Workshop

Doesn't this look fabulous?



Wendy and her designers are incredibly talented, so I cannot wait to see what will be created in this free workshop! I'm really just a "lurker" over at Bad Girls every now and then, but I am always amazed at the talent and creativity in the galleries. Can't wait to check it out and play along!

Where I've been...

The beach in November turned out to be wonderful. Lots of sunshine, heated pools & lazy rivers, a cool resort with a terrific game room (Seth now loves playing pool... Tessa's trying to learn PingPong), go cart racing, sand digging, and low enough humidity that my hair did not frizz! Who could ask for a better mini-vacation?

Foliage photos

The leaves are peaking here in our part of NC this week and they are distractingly beautiful! It's hard to keep my eyes on the roads when I am driving! Here are some photos I took this morning:







I am so thankful for God's "paintbrush" this time of the year!

Nostalgic...

As I get older, I often find myself doing somewhat unusual things. Like running back out to the car to get my camera to snap a few photos of these old post office mail boxes. When I saw them, I was immediately taken back to my childhood trips to the post office with my Nanny or great Aunt Madge. They got their mail in boxes like these for years before getting a mail box in front of their home. So I was thrilled to find these at the little country post office where I bought my Christmas stamps. So cool. Oh, and I'm not that old... at least not as old as my dear hubby who is the same age as our newly elected President. Wow, our generation is now in charge. So, I guess I am old enought to feel nostalgic.

Gift Idea

I love scrapbooking, stamping, & crafting... big surprise to any of you reading my blog, right? HaHa... anyway, the truth is, there is not enough time for me to do every creative thing I'd like to do... that's why I love doing these type of "scrapbooks/albums" as gifts. A quick way anyone can record and preserve their memories. I posted these pictures on the Scrapbook Circle blog earlier this week because I used items from the wonderful November kit for the header/journaling pages. The little album is from Hobby Lobby (they have lots and they are a bargain at $6.99!). But for those 5 blog readers who only come here to my little corner of the bloggin' world, here are the pics again:

History

On this Election Day, November 4, 2008, history will be made. I'm not sure when the results will be official: tomorrow, a week or a month from now, but this election will be historic. They all are, really. We are so blessed to live in the USA... where we have a voice and a vote. It's hard to believe that 100 years ago, I would not have been able to vote.

I hope you prayed and voted today. I voted last week. And I have to admit, as much as I feel privileged to vote, I will be glad to an end of all the phone calls, media ads, junk mail, etc. And I will continue to pray for our President, Vice President, and other officials, whomever they may be. Lord, may America bless you!

Unablia, wuper, phout...

Okay, there is no way I can commit to blogging every single day in November, like some of my online bloggin' friends are going to do. But, I can try to do better and maybe blog every other day? So for today, I'm sharing some of my favorite "blog security words" (or "blords") that I've been jotting down. Some of them could make fun and interesting words, don't you think? Here are a few of my favs and my own personal definition that I have "assigned" to them, lol:

Unablia: the inablility to blog or create everyday, even when the desire exists

Wuper: Super WET fun, like in this silly photo of my kids (layout to come later):

Nozore: a night of uninterrupted sleep; the condition where a spouse's snoring or a child's bad dream have not pre-empted a full night of rest.

Pente: a position in which one finds that they have gotten stuck and are unable to free themselves from such predicament (as illustrated by my son here).

So now I have a little challenge for you. Here are a few other "blords" I have jotted down. Take one or two and define them. Or find a few of your own and share them with me. I think we should start our own little dictionary and who knows, maybe we'll discover a new word! I mean, hey, my son swears he made up "ginormous" (he was saying it a long time before I ever heard it on TV or saw it in the print media, lol)! Share your "blords" with me and maybe I'll choose one especially good "blordsmith" to receive a little RAK from me!

zoincel

phout

dogisti

hester

(Oh, and if there is already a name for these "blords", please share it with me so I can correct my post. I'm pretty out of the loop technilogically (no facebooking here), so it's quite possible I've missed this somewhere.) Have a great first Monday in November!

Welcome November!

Lots of fun last night... they love going to our church's Fall Spectacular for games, candy, pony rides, rockwall climbing, hot dogs and cotton candy! And then around the block for Trick-or-Treating. This photo doesn't really show off their costumes at their best, but it does seem to encompass the weekend. Hello November!