So long November

I can't believe it's almost December. We've started pulling out Christmas decorations, the kids are watching Christmas movies, our Elf has arrived, I just got a VERY strong whiff of a pine-scented candle emanating from one of the decoration boxes, and yet, it looks very much like fall outside. In fact, I think it looks more "fall-ish" outside in early December than in early November. I mean, we've finally got color on all the leaves & there are more leaves on the ground than the kids could possibly count.

So now we're in the Christmas countdown. 25 days. Wow.

baby notes

In my previous post I talked about my baby albums for the kids. And the fact that I'm just now finishing up Abbie's March layout at the end of November.

How do I remember all those details?

I have kept a separate calendar for each child too; this is where I write everything as it happens, so that I can scrap it later. This way too, I can keep the journaling simple & chronicle what happened when.

It started with one of those gifts in the mail from Nestle Good Start Formula right before Brandon was born. It was a spiral bound blank calendar. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, since I had a baby book & an album started already.

And then I realized I could use it as a journal of everything that happened! And use it later to journal!

Brandon's was filled to the brim (hello, he's the first child). When I found out I was pregnant with Olivia, I made sure to sign up on the Good Start website for the free goodies again & got another.

Two years later, I signed up for the free stuff while pregnant with Abbie. Month after month went by & it was July, two weeks before her birth & I hadn't gotten a thing. I contacted Nestle only to find out that product had been discontinued, but that I was going to be getting lots of formula coupons! Not exactly the same, especially since I would be nursing.

So instead of pouting, I made my own calendar. I still need to get it bound & make a cover, but I'm happy just the same.

March

I have an album for each of my kids chronicling (is that a word? looks funny!) their first year. I got the idea from a Becky Higgins article in Creating Keepsakes back in like 2003. Way before kids! But I love her scrapbooking style & really liked her approach.

Each album starts with a title page (duh), then layout about their nursery, my pregnancy, our family tree (haven't done Abbie's yet), their birth, first visitors, and then one layout per month for the first year. I do an additional one for their first Christmas & also their birthday. Then on the last page I take an "end of your first year" photo on the night before their first birthday. It's a shot of their "end" :)

I like this approach to scrapbooking. It's simple and do-able.

the process, part 2

A little while back, I posted about my scrapbooking workflow. One month later, it's finally done!

I'm quite pleased with it, if i do say so myself! Everything except the background paper is from the Green Tangerine's September kit. I had a hard time coming up with colors to use, since the girls are in black. I didn't want a black layout for fall, and brown just didn't match. Next year, I'll know better when I dress them for the pumpkin patch :)

I also want to add something to my basic workflow: I do it in batches. I'll spend two to three weeks going thru photos & deciding on layouts, creating them in photoshop & getting the "bones" done. I'll get the photos printed all at once. Then I'll spend a week or two putting page kits together, figuring out what paper & embellishments I think I want to use. Lastly, I get together once a month to scrap with my girlfriends. This is when I put everything together.

Now, that's not to say I only scrap once a month; what I don't finish at scrappy hour comes home & I work on it from time to time. But I've found, FOR ME, that I work best with a deadline. And that deadline is scrappy hour. I also know that I hate dealing with parking at Costco, so I go as seldom as I can get away with. And by printing everything at once, I can get away with a once a month trip to Costco. And most importantly, I know that the more often I go to a scrapbook store, the more often I'll spend money there!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What I'm thankful for: three (relatively) healthy kids, a home, plenty of food in our pantry, stable jobs, a loving husband (even if I don't always give him the credit he deserves), two great parents, and a wonderful (local!) sister who babysits for me.

I could list more, I'm so thankful for all I've got!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're all decorated!

Well, not exactly...

I mentioned my cool Christmas letters last week, and my mom has been busy decorating. David put our fall decorations away last week for me (yay! Thank you!). So our family room was a bit bare.

Until Brandon decided to make me some "decorations". Bless his heart! He's only 4 1/2, so he made his first decoration out of Lego. Then he decided that Batman was a better theme for the holidays. Yippee!

In an attempt to change our Christmas theme, we asked how he could play with his toys if they were up on the mantel; he told us he would just play with his other toys until Christmas was over. I don't think he knows it's a month away.

I'm hoping that if I enlist his help when I pull my decorations out this weekend, he won't mind pulling his down. If not...well, we'll be celebrating a Batman Christmas here!

Christmas cards :)

I love making Christmas cards! I stamped mine for a while, only taking a break when Brandon was a baby. We had some adorable pics of him taken & the photographer offered this:

 

How could we resist?

Then last year I found some great digital cards at The Shabby Shoppe & downloaded them, tons for $4.95 (and I think they were on sale when I got them). My sister & I used them to make these:

This year, Kathy decided to purchase the new Christmas card line from the Shabby Shoppe. Today we put a couple of cards together, one for her & one for my parents.

Didn't they come out great?! (Sorry, I took Kathy's card out when I realized some of my readers might be on the receiving end....I might share it later.)

Now, you may notice that there is a big white area at the bottom. I have to let you in on a very cool not-so-secret: You can buy your Christmas cards from Costco for $14.99 for 50 (including envelopes). If you want the Costco predesigned cards, right?

Wrong!

If you are interested, you can browse "more holiday" cards and at the bottom you will find "custom template place your own holiday design here".

Oh yeah!

I had no idea this existed until my sister told me last week (when she found it by accident). Basically, as long as you have Photoshop or some other photo editing program you can create your own 6 x 7 1/2 inch card & paste it to their document! Woo-hoo! Way cheaper than printing your own 5x7 & purchasing envelopes (which, at least for me, is the pricey part). The reason there is a white space is that we created 6x6 cards (really 5x5 that we enlarged) so that my mom & sister can cut the bottom off & still use the Costco envelopes.

 I'm so giddy about it I had to share!

And, if you get the Costco coupon book, there is a $5 off of Christmas cards coupon right now. So $10 for 50 cards! It's an additional $5.99 for another 25 (again, with envelopes). So I need to get crackin' & figure out exactly how many I need; last year I was at 72 on my "official saved list". But I don't think I'll be sharing my card on here...at least not until AFTER I've sent it out!

She's a natural

Long before we had children, I made the comment to my mother-in-law that our poor children would the be the deprived cousins because we don't have a horse (and my sister-in-law does, as does her sister-in-law). Of course my MIL says, well, what if they want one? And, I, being the perfect (ahem, childless) parent said, too bad!

Fast forward a few years, and now Olivia is three & a half. She LOVES horses, so she finally got to ride my SIL's pony this last June. At that time, Nicole said to me, She's a natural on the horse, so balanced & not afraid, not like any of the other kids that I've had out riding.

The kids were back at their house in San Martin this last August when David & I went to my 15 year reunion. Again, Nicole was telling me how awesome Olivia was on Jazzie.

We just went down to visit David's sister & her family yesterday. Sadly Jazzie is up in heaven now (she was 27!). But Nicole has a new pony, Misty. Both Olivia & Brandon wanted to have a ride, so they got to go out & help groom her first. The bareback pad that they've used before was too big (Misty is what you picture when I say "pony", Jazzie was basically the size of a horse). So they got to use a real saddle. Again, Nicole is telling me how great Olivia is doing, & I got to see it too. She was up in the saddle, following directions perfectly, sitting back in the saddle, and not holding on to the saddle or reins at all! She was twisting in every which direction & leaning back down on Misty. I could see how comfortable & totally relaxed & trusting she was.

And all I could think was, how much are riding lessons going to cost me?!

so, how many days are in a week?

I'm sure I shared this layout already. It's the Month in Review add on for June from Green Tangerines Kit Club. Notice anything?

When I was putting it together, I could't figure out how come it ended up so narrow, and why the excess space was on the side, not across the top or bottom.

Hmmm....maybe because there are SEVEN days in a week, not six! Can you tell I usually scrap late at night? Nah ;-)

...15 years later

This last August my high school class had it's 15th year reunion...wow! Our first, thanks to Facebook. I finally got around to scrapping it last night at Scrappy Hour. All of the goodies are from the August Kit, which I knew I wanted to use from the moment I got the kit. I also knew in my head how I wanted to do my layout.

Or so I thought.

A day or two ago my friend Brenda posted this layout, using our friend Kristen's sketch of this layout. I really liked the sketch, but didn't give it much thought initially. As I was cropping my photos though, I kept seeing her sketch in my head. So...needless to say, I used it too!

Altered Letters

I got into scrapbooking because I loved to tell stories about my photos and design layouts. Heck, I was the editor in chief of my high school newspaper. The artistic side is fun too, but that's definitely not how I got into the whole thing.

But lately I've been really feeling this creative itch. Maybe because now, thanks to the internet & countless blogs, I've been getting inspired by everyone else's creative endeavors.

So I got this idea when I was putting out my fall decorations, that are pretty lacking & really don't do much past Halloween (so yes, my "Halloween" decorations were up until this afternoon!). I thought, why not use up my old scrapbook paper by getting some letters at Michaels or Joanns & altering them. So not me!

I decided that I wanted to spell out NOEL & JOY. Michaels didn't have any Os when I went two weeks ago, so I got my letters at Joanns for $2.99 a piece (and yes, of course I used whatever coupons I could!). Unfortunately Joanns didn't have an N that wasn't half smooshed in. So I thought I'd use an N from Michaels...they are not the same. So I found one at another Joanns.

Two days ago I painted them red. Basic red acrylic that I had sitting around & had barely enough of!

Today I traced & cut my paper & Mod Podged it on. Well, actually, Olivia did the gluing on for me. I *love* how crafty she is! We already have so much fun...she wanted to cut the letters out for me since she knows how to do that at school now, she just needs scissors that aren't sharp. Maybe next time!

 And the best part, I used up some old Basic Grey Blitzen paper I bought probably 4 years ago! Well, I didn't use it up, but I put a pretty decent dent in it. I could totally see myself making more of these for other seasons. So easy. And I'm pretty proud of myself right now.

The Jingle Bell Dress

Many years ago my mom made my sister & I reindeer jumpsuits. They were navy blue quilted pindot with cute a cute little reindeer face on the front. Unfortunately, my mom loaned them out to a friend & never got them back.

Fortunately, she still had the pattern, which she wisely bought in multiple sizes.

Two years ago she made Olivia her own reindeer jumper. Olivia dubbed it the Jingle Bell dress & wore it every chance she got! She would cry if it wasn't in her closet. I think she wore it all the way until February when I packed it away because I was sick of it (and wanted it to be wearable the next year).

Last year Olivia was a little bit bigger, but the dress still fit, as a tunic top (which is what I was hoping for). One of my favorite outfits on her, and again she wore that dress until I put it away. Because I wanted it for Abbie, I probably put it away sooner than I could have; when she saw it in Abbie's bin of clothes in July she wanted to wear it!

Now, it's Abbie's turn. She seems equally smitten by the Jingle Bells. She saw it in her closet today & practically leapt out of my arms trying to get it.

(Yes, Olivia is pushing Abbie in a doll stroller. I have pictures of her & Brandon doing the same thing two years ago, up & down our hallways. Fun times.)

Bikes

the little bike (now Olivia's) pre-paint job

A few weeks ago our neighbor was out cleaning out his garage with his kids. They are 8 & 5. And they had a couple of old bikes & scooters. So they gave them to us.Yay!

The scooters only come in one size, and we got a boy one & girl one. Perfect! We also got an awesome tricycle for Abbie, complete with a seatbelt & handle so we can push it. Woo-hoo! We used this for Halloween.

The bikes, on the other hand....well...Our neighbors have an 8 year old daughter & 5 year old son. Needless to say, the bigger (Brandon) bike was Strawberry Shortcake. And both had tires that needed some fixing. So, as if getting bikes from our neighbors wasn't awesome enough, we brought the kids to Walmart & let them pick out spray paint! Brandon's bike is now green, and Olivia's will be purple (as soon as she gets off of it long enough for us to paint it. She also got to pick out a bell for it. And we told both they would get to pick out stickers to decorate them if they'd like as well.

So awesome!

Brown Sugar Glazed Sweet Potato Wedges

Let me first say, I don't like Sweet Potatoes. Or yams. Period. Not baked, not in a pie (well, I've never tried that), not canned, not fresh, not in that nasty sounding Thanksgiving dish smothered in marshmallows & brown sugar.

So when Brandon was a baby, my mom came upon this recipe & made it. Try it, you'll like it, she said. Ummm, no I'm not because no I won't (there comes a point in your life when you realize there are certain foods you just plain old don't like).

Brandon, on the other hand, being 10 months old & open to eating anything we would let him, devoured these yams. And I will admit, they smell AMAZING. Like fall.

Okay, I'll make them. And I'll try them. And they came out beautifully, and my house smelled wonderful. And then I took a bite and said, Gah! They taste like sweet potatoes! (Okay, don't ask what I thought they'd taste like. Maybe more like they smell. And I certainly expected a better texture.)

So why am I sharing this recipe, you ask? First of all, I'm the only weirdo I know that can't stand yams. And everyone I know who's had these, loves them. Including Abbie & Olivia (Brandon seems to take after me!).

Well, I made them again today for Abbie. And my house smells like fall! I pulled them out of the oven and thought, they look amazing. And they're not all mushy looking this time (see my note below). I'll try one. And I liked it!

****

Brown Sugar Glazed Sweet Potato Wedges

1/4 c butter
3/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 cinnamon stick
4 lbs sweet potatoes or yams

Peel & cut potatoes into wedges. Melt butter in a small saucepan & sugar thru ginger, stirring well. Add cinnamon stick & simmer for 5 minutes, stirring. Toss with potatoes.

Place potatoes on a jellyroll pan (you need the edges so that the sticky sauce doesn't drip into your oven) coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400 for 40 minutes, stirring halfway.

Best served immediately, but they can be reheated under the broiler.

***Note: Pull potatoes from the sauce so there isn't too much liquid on the pan or you will have a sticky pan that takes forever to clean. Also the sauce will make the wedges "boil" instead of bake so they will get kind of mushy.You can then freeze the remaining sauce &; use it again!

Mama's Garden

Last spring I tore this layout out of Creating Keepsakes.

Besides the overall design, I love how she printed so many pictures on a 5x7 with s brief title on the side. I set it aside in my "to do" pile, not exactly sure when or how I was going to use it.

Then I started going thru my photos & realized I had a bunch of my daughter water plants at my parents' house. They're all very similar, but as any parent knows, each is different. So instead of trying to narrow it down, or do one big layout that everyone else looks at like I used nine of the same photo, I did this layout

I simply made a quick template in photoshop & used a clipping mask so I didn't have to crop my photos first. I put my pictures on it and then moved them around until I liked what I saw. So easy!

all it took was one photo

To make it all worth it!

{this}

After taking this picture & altering it in photoshop, I've been dying to do a layout with it.

I bought paper, I searched thru what I had. I decided upon some cute Fancy Pants paper. Then it sat. And sat. And sat.

I just couldn't get inspired. I knew I could do something, I just didn't know what.

I searched online for sketch ideas for what seemed forever.

And then I came back to this layout. I love the colors, and the photo. I saved it for that reason. And then I made it work with what I had.

Thank you Brenda for another great idea!

Family pictures

I'm so excited that I can share some!

We had these taken at Loomis Basin Park a couple of weeks ago, by Marjorie Dolley Photography. Didn't she do a great job? I can't wait to see the rest!

Boys....

Are truly a different breed.

I grew up with one sister. We played dolls. We played house. We played poor (more on that some other time).

We didn't spit.

I don't know how moms of more than one boy do it. God bless them.

It started when Brandon was big enough to stand up in his crib. I'll never forget walking in on the hardwood floor & slipping in his spit. He was SO proud. I was SO pregnant.

We haven't had too much of a problem until recently. He's 4 1/2, so at *that* age.

Wednesday we were at Nordstroms doing a return. I had all three kids with me, none of whom wanted to be there. I was doing my best to entice them with looking at toys at Target if they were good. My mom was with me (come on, I'm not that crazy to bring 3 under 5 to Nordstroms by myself!). She was working it too.

Brandon was standing in front of a mirror that a lady was trying to use. We asked him to move, reminded him of toys at Target, blah blah blah. He moved. Yay! I thought. Then he turned to this lady and spit at her.

I wanted to crawl under the carpet. Thankfully she was the grandmother to young children & laughed it off. I was horrified!

Needless to say, we didn't make it to Target!

Christmas wish list

A year or two ago I pulled an idea out of Creating Keepsakes magazine for a cute Christmas layout. The woman included a picture of all her kids, and then three individual pics with their Christmas wishes written below. For whatever reason I didn't do it last year, but I plan on doing it this year.

So the other day my older two went to my mom's house when I went to work (my youngest was home sick with my husband). Since she just had the big kids, my mom decided to do something fun: make Christmas lists! Yay!

She printed up some cute paper from the computer..."scratch" paper with a picture of Santa as the header. Then she helped them cut pictures out of all of the Christmas catalogs/ads that she's gotten so far. They glued them to paper, and then she put them in sheet protectors tied with ribbon. It took most of the afternoon (they're 3 1/2 & 4 1/2), but they had a great time & love to show their "Christmas books" to everyone. And even better, I know exactly what they want for Christmas.

Not only can I do that cute layout, but I can keep their first "layouts" too!

whoops!

A friend of mine alerted me to nablopomo on her blog. Basically post every day for the month of November to get in the habit. Sounds good to me.

Except when I hit "publish post" at 11:30pm instead of delaying it until the next day.

Dork.

Oh well, it made for three posts yesterday :) At least one was for a contest...

That's what happens when your sick 15 month old wakes you up at 3am with a fever.

yeah

Do you have any of those layouts that you could just look at over & over again? I know I have a few that I wish I could redo, over & over again, LOL! But here's one I just could look at forever

It's from when Brandon was almost 16 months old. The same age that Abbie is right now. Wow. He was so cute in David's ball cap, something Abbie keeps doing right now! I need to get a picture of her in it before it's too late.

Mosh Posh Blog Party

There's a blog party going on! Mosh Posh is having a blog party here, on their blog. I haven't gotten any of their kits, but they sure look nice :) And I love the ideas in their gallery!

Happy Halloween!

I love my LSS, Green Tangerines! I love coming up with my own layouts, but sometimes I love it when someone else has done the work for me, too. They have a kit of the week there, and usually it's pretty cute.

Last week I was drooling over what was left of the BoBunny Boo Crew line, and not sure what I wanted to do with it, other than some kind of paper piecing thing. Then I saw what the kit of the week was and thought, okay, something like that! Well, of course by the time I got back over there the paper I wanted was gone. But the kit was adorable! And stress free :)

So here's my adaption (okay, all I did was add my photos). But it's still mine ;-)

Then & Now

I got my first camera for Christmas in 2nd grade. I was 7 1/2. We got the pictures back & I put them in my first photo album. Sadly, I no longer have any of those prints. (Note to self: don't give the kids old stuff to go thru in their 20s, they won't value it then & just toss it.)

By middle school I had started grouping pictures together, cutting them down a bit, and writing notes on the margins of my magnetic photo albums. I kept this up thru high school & early college.

Once in college, I joined Alpha Phi & was initiated to the practice of making covered photo albums for your Lil Sis. Then you could decorate the pages with stickers & write with paint pens on the magnetic pages! And cut the photos so they were cute! I thought I'd found my calling!

I kept that up all thru college, even making my college boyfriend an album. I loved it! Just after I graduated I found out you could also buy cute stationary at Michaels or Beverlys & add that to your photo album.

And then I discovered "scrapbooking"!

That was sometime in 1999. Wow, just typing that & realizing that was ten years ago is crazy! I don't have any of those original layouts scanned into my computer (darn!). But I've got the last few years. I thought I'd share my Apple Hill layouts from the last few years.

2002 (Can you tell we didn't have any kids yet?)

2006

2007

2008

2009

The background is all the same color; I always have the worst time with my scanner & I'm not sure why it makes the colors all wonky. And I have no idea how to fix it (nor do I feel like taking the time right now!). I'm very happy with how it came out! I used a bunch of fun stuff from Green Tangerine's September Kit.

Pumpkin Pancakes

A while back I mentioned making pancakes in fall shapes with my cookie cutters. A tip I'd read about in on of my magazines, rather than buying pancake molds. A fine idea, except the pancakes kind of stick in the more intricate shapes. I don't know if it's any better/different with the actual molds.

This morning I made them again, this time with hearts, pumpkins, and leaves. I don't recommend the leaves! They came out nicely, but were a pain to clean afterwards. I only made a few today, because it takes longer & I had four hungry beasts waiting on me :)

But regardless of what they looked like, they sure were yummy!

I used Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pancake mix. Yum! I prefer my mom's recipe for pumpkin waffles, but these were just as tasty. The main difference I noticed is that the mix makes very thin waffles. Tasted good, but thin. The pancakes were nice, & honestly I've never made my mom's pumpkin waffles into pancakes, but you could.

Mom's Pumpkin Pancakes

2 cups Bisquick (light works fine)
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp oil

Mix & pour into your waffle maker. This batter is a bit thicker than regular waffle batter, but cooks up about the same.

Shoes

And why Abbie keeps outgrowing them...

Her first pair of shoes was an adorable pair of Robeez I got last fall to keep her feet warm. She was 3 months old & fit nicely into a 0-6 month size. She outgrew them 3 months later & went into a 6-12 month size.

Then spring came along & I got her some cute white sandal style Robeez. Still a 6-12 month size, and she was 9 months old. Everything was fine & dandy until she started walking.

We noticed that her toes were squished up against the top of her shoes on her birthday, so I put Olivia's old Stride Rites on her. They were a size 3 1/2. That was JULY 14. They left marks on her feet.

So we brought her to Nordstroms during their anniversary sale to be sized. She measured 4 1/2. Fives fit great so we bought her 5 1/2 so they'd fit thru fall.

Ha!

Did I mention that this was in JULY. Of 2009. Just over three months ago.

Mid September, about two months after we bought her shoes, we noticed Abbie no longer wanted to wear them. At this point it's important to note that Abbie is obsessed with shoes. She wants to wear them all the time & insists that everyone else does too. If you're barefoot, she'll go find shoes, any shoes, & try to put them on you. So it was odd that she didn't want to wear them. We pushed on her toes & realized that we were actually pushing on her toes.

Back to Nordstroms we went, and lo & behold, in TWO months time, Abbie was now measuring a full 6. Up a size & a half in 8 weeks. Of course we then bought 6 1/2 so they'd fit thru the rest of the fall.

That was six weeks ago.

For the past few days Abbie hasn't wanted to wear her cute pink Stride Rites. Hmmm....I also noticed that her size 6 hand-m-downs from Olivia were snug on her bare feet. Hmmmm...

This morning I pulled out the insole from the Stride Rites. They're meant to be used to check shoe sizing. Sure enough, her toes go past the end.

Holy Cow Abbie!

Her feet have grown at least 2 1/2 sizes in three months! Fortunately her black Mary Janes we got for Halloween are a size 7. I was hoping to get her feet sized & possibly return them for a 7 1/2 (at least!), but they have a scuff on the toe.

Did I mention she's not even 16 months old yet?

Abbie

I love that you can't tell she has a diaper rash from hell & a stuffy nose. She looks so peaceful & snuggled up!

custom butt paste

He he!

Abbie is the princess of diaper rash. Poor thing has had a pink tush since the day she was born. We've tried almost everything. Butt paste, desitin, aquaphor, corn starch. She does not like "real" baby powder with talc (neither do I, because of the talc, but was in a pinch one day).

Lately it's been really bad, like to where you have to remind yourself that it's better to get a clean diaper on her than to sit in the funk even though you know it's torture to change her.

So this afternoon we were at Toys R Us, trying to get ideas for Christmas, when I realized I had to change her. On a changing table at TRU. Great. She wiggles & levitates, and I could see her falling right off the table in the bathroom (she didn't). But she did make that poor old lady in there check out what I was doing as she walked out!

Anyhow...her skin is so delicate that it's broken down & bloody. I called the doctor & was able to get right in. Fortunately, it's not infected, but he prescribed a custom, compounded diaper cream for her. Fortunately I was able to get it at Raleys, after being sent there from Target since they didn't have the supplies to make it. It only took two hours...I just hope it works!

Palm Springs

David's dad & stepmom moved to Palm Springs right after Brandon was born. After having visited down there twice, I can honestly say they couldn't have picked a better place to move, except maybe Hawaii or Florida. But then we couldn't afford to visit very often!

We've stayed at the Indian Wells Resort & LOVE it! Basically we go & play in the pool the entire time we're there. We did also visit David's step mom & grandma (the kids only great grandma).

For this layout, I finally got to use a layout design from Becky Higgins that I'd torn out quite a few years ago. Turns out my friend Brenda used the same layout recently too! I also got to use more of my goodies from the May Kit from Green Tangerines, as well as some fun Cosmo Cricket Snorkel stuff.

Christmas stuff already?

Um, yeah. It's in 37 days if my math is correct. Wait. It's in 52 days? Oh whatever. It's coming sooner than later! My husband must think I'm a goof for stressing about it being in 37 days!

So have you started on your holiday projects? Last year I got this cool advent calendar kit from Green Tangerines, designed by my friend Brenda. I wasn't able to get it done in time for last year so I need to hustle & get it done for this year. I finally got my spray paint for the background tin, so I just need to get that done & then I can finish. I'm not sure what pictures I'll put on it this year, so that might be blank for the time being. And I think I might keep the backs of each blank. I love how Brenda put cool things on the backs of each, but with school & everything else going on, I don't want to commit to something we can't necessarily do.

And I keep trying to think of other fun things to include around the house. I wish I could list them all right now, but I really ought to be doing some other things right now! So I'm getting distracted!

An "almost" day...

We had a great day. Today we filled up our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child at MOPS. Came home, had a good lunch. Then I took Brandon to speech. He did great.

After speech he convinced me to take him to the park that's right there. I had to go to the grocery store, but it could wait. He played on the playground, testing what his magnetic Bakugan would stick to. Then he headed for the monkey bars. Cool, I was thinking, he can do this. Almost.

He got about three bars out & still had his feet firmly planted on the steps. Then he kicked out & was swinging. To the next bar. And then he wasn't. I saw him fall, land on his arm & scream! Fortunately he hurt his bottom and his ego. Thought we had our first broken arm. Almost...

Off to the grocery store & then home. Abbie & Olivia wanted me so I sat with them while David unloaded the groceries. Olivia decided to go play with her beads (she got a bag of beads to string instead of candy from someone--thank you!). And then I heard those most dreaded words: Mommy, I have a bead stuck in my nose.

Seriously? At least it was only 4:40. Usually things like this happen after 5, you know? I said to David, where's the phone to call the doctor as I walked to Olivia. I was hoping she could "snort" it out, even though she was currently digging for/pushing it further in. And she got it out. Phew.

***

So I leave you with this awesome desktop layout. I discovered Shabby Princess a couple of years ago from someone else's blog. She posts a monthly themed desktop for you to download...for free! Yippee! I love that the left side is very open for all those desktop icons. And it keeps my desktop fresh, & full of pictures. I can change them monthly.

Almost One.

I love this picture of Abbie. It's so sassy, so "I'm not supposed to be playing with Olivia's toys". So Abbie.

I got it one afternoon when she'd sneaked into the playroom & started playing with the My Little Pony carousel. She likes the music. Oddly, Olivia didn't care. And I got this great picture!

I changed it to black & white because they were WAY too many colors in it, including the ugly mauve of the walls in the playroom (we didn't paint it, and it's not too high on the "to paint" list).

I scrapped it using goodies from the July GTKC, plus some other fun stuff I had from October Afternoon.