Gingerbread houses

I finally got the pages done that I promised my mom. Here the kids are making a gingerbread house with her. It was alot of fun, but I liked our Halloween kit better. This one didn't come with a base or enough candy. The kids enjoyed it anyway.

Not much else is happening today. I need to go grocery shopping. We're going to be adventuring into dinners that include other types of beef besides ground beef. My husband's mom and dad got half a cow butchered for Christmas and sent us home with some. It's really nice. It's mostly ground beef but also some other various cuts. We had stew earlier this week. Yum. Tonight it's going to be cube steaks parmigiana. My husbands not a huge fan of red meat (just hamburger) but I think it'll be nice for us to all try some new things. He might decide he likes those things more than he thought.

I'm waiting for some things I ordered from Ebay. My mother in law lent me a book a few weeks back called "Coming Home" by Rosamunde Pilcher. I really enjoyed her style. It turns out the book was made into a movie with Kira Knightley and Peter O'Toole in it. I found it on Ebay (a four VHS set) and got it for $10. Then I ordered a few of her other books too. I hope they come soon--I need something to read (and watch, with the writer's strike)! Have a great weekend!

Page Credits: Winter's Peace kit by Kay Miller http://www.kaymillerdesigns.com/, Gingerbread man by Amanda Roberts (It's a FREEBIE!) http://www.designsthatrawk.blogspot.com/, Font: LJD Dear Santa www.scrapnfonts.com

On a creative roll

I was browsing some digiscrapping websites this morning and found a great hybrid project at http://www.oneofakindscrapz.com/blog. I had to go to Roberts to return something anyway, so I picked up a few things and made my own countdown to Christmas board. I love it!

I think my kids will really enjoy it. The numbers are Bazil Chips and I painted them, put the number chipboard stickers on them and put a magnet on the back of each. The magnets stick to washers that I glued onto the board.

I have a grouping of six clipboards on my kitchen wall that are undecorated and I keep 8x10 photos clipped onto them. It's great because they are so easy to change out. I just took one of those down and put this one in its place until Christmas is over.

I went with my friend to see a home they're building in Spanish Fork. It is soooo gorgeous. They actually have woods in their backyard. Just past that is a river. It reminded me of homes in St. Louis. My mom has a bunch of evergreens along the back of her yard and you can hear all of the birds singing in the morning. My dad has woods in his backyard and they see alot of deer. Good stuff. At least we have the beautiful mountains and lake to look at!

I'll try to post some kid pics tomorrow. I'm supposed to do a page for my mom with the pictures we took of her helping the kids with the gingerbread house. My goal is to get that done tonight or tomorrow. Have a great night!

Creative inspiration

I was browsing my friend Dannie's blog yesterday at http://www.danniesdesigns.typepad.com/ and caught the creative bug. I decided to make a set of cards for my kids' teachers like the set she did in her October section. Here is how they turned out:

I was pretty happy with them! The only trouble I ran into was that I found a small square box to decorate and hold the cards, but 3x3 cards are impossible to find! I visited four stores to no avail. I ended up using these card bases that I already had at home. I'll have to order some small cards from Dannie at some point so that I can use those little boxes I got. I ended up wrapping these with ribbon. There were four different designs but these two were the cutest.

Paper and rinestones and ribbons make me drool. It's just fun to make stuff. Have a happy Wednesday!

Great story!

I got this off of my friend's blog at http://www.momtomy5.blogspot.com/. Enjoy!

A POTTY STOP WITH A 3 YEAR OLD
A 3-year-old tells all from his mother's rest-room stall.

By Shannon Popkin

My little guy, Cade, is quite a talker. He loves to communicate and does it quite well. He talks to people constantly, whether we're in the library, the grocery store or at a drive-thru window. People often comment on how clearly he speaks for a just-turned-3-year-old. And you never have to ask him to turn up the volume. It's always fully cranked. There've been several embarrassing times that I've wished the meaning of his words would have been masked by a not-so-audible voice, but never have I wished this more than last week at Costco.Halfway, through our shopping trip, nature called, so I took Cade with me into therest-room.If you'd been one of the ladies in the rest-room that evening, this is what you would have heard coming from the second to the last stall:Mommy, are you gonna go potty? Oh! Why are you putting toiwet paper on the potty, Mommy? Oh! You gonna sit down on da toiwet paper now? Mommy, what are you doing? Mommy, are you gonna go stinkies on the potty?' At this point I started mentally counting how many women had been in the bathroom when I walked in. Several stalls were full ... 4? 5? Maybe we could wait until they all left before I had to make mydebut out of this stall and reveal my identity.Cade continued, 'Mommy, you ARE going stinkies aren't you? Oh, dats a good girl, Mommy! Are you gonna get some candy for going stinkies on the potty? Let me see doze stinkies, Mommy! Oh .. Mommy! I'm trying to see in dere. Oh! I see dem. Dat is a very good girl, Mommy. You are gonna get some candy!'I heard a few faint chuckles coming from the stalls on either side ofme. Where is a screaming newborn when you need her? Good grief. This was really getting embarrassing. I was definitely waiting a long time before exiting. Trying to divert him, I said, 'Why don't you look in Mommy's purse and see if you can find some candy we'll both have some!' ' No, I'm trying to see doze more stinkies. Oh! Mommy!' He started to gag at this point. 'Uh oh, Mommy. I fink I'm gonna frow up. Mommy, doze stinkies are making me frow up!! Dat is so gross!!' As the gags became louder, so did the chuckles outside my stall. quickly flushed the toilet in hopes of changing the subject. I began to reason with myself: OK. There are four other toilets. If I count four flushes, I can be reasonably assured that those who overheard this embarrassing monologue will be long gone. 'Mommy! Would you get off the potty, now? I want you to be done going stinkies! Get up! Get up!' He grunted as he tried to pull me off. Now I could hear full-blown laughter. I bent down to count the feet outside my door. 'Oh, are you wooking under dere, Mommy? You wooking under da door? What were you wooking at, Mommy? You wooking at the wady's feet?' More laughter. I stood inside the locked door and tried to assess the situation. 'Mommy, it's time to wash our hands, now. We have to go out now, Mommy.' He started pounding on the door. 'Mommy, don't you want to wash your hands? I want to go out!!' I saw that my 'wait 'em out' plan was unraveling. I sheepishly opened the door, and found standing outside my stall, twenty to thirty ladies crowded around the stall, all smiling and starting to applaud. My first thought was complete embarrassment, then I thought, 'Where's the fine print on the 'motherhood contract' where I signed away every bit of my dignity and privacy?' But as my little boy gave me a big, cheeky grin while he rubbed bubbly soap between his chubby little hands, I thought, I'd sign it all away again, just to be known as Mommy to this little fellow.

(Shannon Popkin is a freelance writer and mother of three. She lives with her family in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she no longer uses public restrooms)

Christmas Morning (kind of)

The kids had a great time opening presents this morning. And the adults, too! I got two great t-shirts from Target in red and charcoal grey. I also got a Lia Sophia necklace and a Littlest Pet Shop skunk (I love Littlest Pet Shop!). My husband got pajama pants and beef jerky. He was happy. My son got a Kid Concoction kit and is busy concocting in the kitchen. My middle daughter got a Disney Fairies set with books, a kaleidoscope/picure viewer thing, and a little my-pod with classical music on it. My youngest got an Island Princess doll.

Mr. Whiskers is still here. We posted some "kitten found" pictures on the mailboxes in the neighborhood last night. I think we'll keep him if he isn't claimed. He's so cute. Our dog licks him and the kitten rubs up against the dog. So sweet.

Here are some pictures from our festivities yesterday.

Page credits: Wildflower Holiday kit http://www.weedsandwildflowersdesign.com/, CK Journaling font http://www.scrapnfonts.com/, Postage stamp frames by Katie Pertiet http://www.designerdigitals.com/, center frame (glitter effect added) from Festival Kit http://www.blogger.com/www.shabbyprincess.com

Yummy!

I ate so much yesterday I thought I would pop! Nothing a little nap on the sofa didn't cure! We are having a great time. Nanna and I went shopping Wednesday night and did some Christmas shopping. We are having an early Christmas with her on Saturday morning. The kids are so excited! We will be putting up the tree today and decorating a gingerbread house with the kids.
We are off to Ikea and Seagull Book this morning. Nanna has never seen an Ikea before. Let's hope it's not too crazy crowded.
I have to share our gross story from the drive home last night. We were driving up the freeway when traffic came to a halt. We were just sitting there looking out the windows when we see an suv pull onto the shoulder. Then a truck comes hauling down the shoulder and almost runs right into him! We all said "Oh my gosh!" Luckily the truck swerved around the suv. Right then, the suv's door opens and some guy sticks his head out the door and starts puking. We all saw it. It was sick.
We have a stray kitty at our house. We're going to put up some flyers in the neighborhood to see if he belongs to anyone around here. I have mixed feelings right now about keeping him. He's a pain at nighttime (probably because he's so little) but he wakes us up at night and we end up taking him into the laundry room. He gets along with the dog though and the kids adore him. But, there's the issue of the litter box and where to keep it. Oh, I don't know what I want to do!
I'll post some pics tonight after we do our decorating.

Have a Happy Day!

Here's something to make you all laugh today--a picture of Chris Farley reincarnated (I got this in an e-mail)

We are Thankful

Tonight we had Family Home Evening. My cute daughter always reminds me that we need to do it. We read "The Story of Thanksgiving" and then passed our "Thankerchief". We say "Thankercheif, thankerchief, around you go. Where you stop, nobody knows. But when you do, someone must say, something they're thankful for today." Haidyn said she was thankful for Cinderella. Haylee was thankful for her brother, sister, our house, and food to eat. Kyle was thankful for his job. Harrison was thankful for dollies, and then started cracking up. We decided Smuckers was thankful to have such a loving family. I was thankful that Nanna is coming soon! We have so much to be thankful for that this only touches the tip of the iceberg. We are truly blessed!

Thanksgiving dinner is going to be soooo yummy! I am taking a sweet potato casserole. My dad and stepmom got the recipe on a vacation once and it is sooo tasty. I'm also making my berry pretzel salad that I've done for about four years now. It was more perfect when I could still find cranberry jello, but raspberry will have to do this year.

Last night was so fun! We got Chili's take out and watched the Holiday. I highly recommend Chili's fajita explosion salad with chipotle ranch dressing. YUM!

Back in Business

My internet was down for the past few days. Major bummer. I use it so much. I look up a recipe here, look up a word there, entertain myself reading about whatever. Anyway, the repairman came tonight. YAY! He said a couple of the screws on our dish had blown loose in the last windstorm. Doesn't bode well for our roof, huh? He thinks maybe because it was built in the winter that the wood had moisture in it when the shingles were laid. We'll have to look into that. But he was able to get us receiving from a new tower which gives us a lot more power.

I've been getting the house ready for Christmas. I know it's a bit early, but my mom is coming on Wednesday for a visit and we're having an early Christmas together. I can't wait!

Friday was "dress up as a literary character" day at the kids' school. I didn't even think about it until Friday morning. My middle daughter was Cinderella and we whipped up a quick Harry Potter get-up for my son. We just gave him a pair of round frames and a lightening bolt on his forehead. It was cute.

Tonight I'm going out with the girls. So fun! We're just getting some chinese food and hanging out. Last night my husband went to a friend's house to watch guy movies, so now I get to go.

I got tagged--how exciting!

Yay, another way to avoid the housework for a bit! My 5 Little Monkeys at www.momtomy5.blogspot.com tagged me to play this little game. Here is how it goes:

There are a few rules one must follow to play the game. When tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post the rules before your list, and list eight random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to eight other people.

Eight random things about me......hmmmm.......

1. My favorite show, currently, is the Office.
2. I only had three boyfriends during college (51/2 years of it!) and their names all started with K. This included my totally awesome husband Kyle. The day I found him was the best day of my life.
3. I can't go to sleep without covers on even if it is sweltering hot.
4. I was a waitress at a Chinese food restaurant for 5 years during college. I still have dreams (nightmares maybe?) about working there. Chinese food is still my favorite.
5. When I was tiny I ate some old cookies that my dad had thrown out of his bicycle bag. They were covered in ants and I ate them anyway.
6. My older brother calls me TJ. (My middle name is Joy)
7. I hate those commercials that call Redwood Road "Road Redwood". I want to totally punch the TV every time I hear one of those.
8. When I was little I hated girl toys. I didn't want dolls, just stuffed animals. I used to tell my family that someday I was going to marry a dog!

I wish I knew 8 blogs to tag, but I'm new to this whole thing. So, I'll just tag the poor souls who I know have a blog!

"Tag, you're it!"

1. www.kariperry.blogspot.com
2. www.cassandjord.blogspot.com

Urrrrrg!

I'm having trouble arranging my photos and text the way I want them to appear in my posts. I've actually already written this post once, but I'm starting over again. One of my pictures in the last post disappeared as I was moving it around and then the "add photo" button wouldn't work. Frustrating!

Anyway, the kids loved the Goonies. We also watched Rat Race a couple of times. We just had to edit out a couple of scenes. It will be nice when the kids are old enough that we can all play games together on Sundays. My son is old enough, but when the girls try to play too we all end up frustrated. I'm going to kill you with cuteness today. I took a picture of the girls in their matching church dresses yesterday. The hug was totally their idea.

Cute, huh? Well, I figured out why I was having problems. The "add photo" window was open behind the window I was working on. So I couldn't open it because it was already open, I just couldn't see it. Duh! My son will not want to be left out so I'm also putting up a great picture of him.Doesn't he look old in this picture? He loves pajamas. He's always asking to look at the pajamas whenever we're shopping for clothes.

All of my kids are at school right now, even DD#2. DD#1 will be home soon with her buddy Luke that I babysit. I had him all last week so his mom is taking DD#1 over to their house to play for the afternoon. So, I get a lot of time to myself today. I'll go get DD#2 at 12 but she'll have a nap this afternoon. I'm not to excited about what I have to do, though. That's why I'm playing on the computer instead! When I'm done here I have to clean and fold laundry. Yay!

Here's a link to a funny video for you. The song at the beginning is great. The rest is lame. But, you've definitely got to hear the song. It'll make you laugh! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IR5HWr9IIw

Saturday at Home

We ended up just eating out at McDonalds last night, which was due to the fact that I never found my way to the store yesterday for the new week's worth of groceries. I spent most of the evening reading a book that my mother-in-law lent me. It's called "Coming Home" by somebody Pilcher. I'm really enjoying it. Nothing like a good book for relaxing in the evening.

Today we splurged and had lunch at Wingers. Yummy. We also picked up the movie "Goonies" for my son because it occurred to me the other day how much he will love it. I can't wait to watch it with him tonight. Between now and then I have to scoop doggy doo, clean out the car, and straighten the house which was clean just yesterday (you couldn't tell if you saw it now!)

Last night something about religion came up and my son said "Do some people believe in Simon?" It took me a bit to figure out that he actually meant Satan. Pretty funny. I told him that yes, unfortunately some people do (I think he was asking if some people follow Satan). Kids are so fun to listen to.

For those of you interested in digital scrapbooking, I posted my favorite designers' websites in the sidebar for you all. I also just placed an order for prints from a place called http://www.scrapbookpictures.com/ . The 8x8s I order for our albums are 1.99, they are on photo paper, and there is a flat rate shipping fee of 2.00. It's the best place I have found so far.

You've got to check out these adorable photos I took of DD#2 the other day. We were going to take her over to the school to get her picture taken and I figured I'd get some shots of her before we left just in case it didn't work out so well at the school. She ended up doing really well for the photographer but I think I actually like these pictures better. Layout credits: Weeds & Wildflowers Seeing Stars kit, frames and tags http://www.blogger.com/www.designerdigitals.com Katie Pertiet, Gettin' Edgy torn edges http://www.blogger.com/www.sophiasarducci.com

Autumn Activities

Our sweet little DD#1 gave a presentation at school today. I was so proud of her. She taught the class how to make a Harvest Snack mix. She explained how to add the Honey Nut Cereal, honey roasted nuts, m&m's and candy corn. She mixed it up and said "now you have a snack mix to share with your friends!" We gave all of the kids a little cup of it. So cute. I took pictures but am now discovering that the memory card wasn't in the camera so I don't know how to get it off of the camera and onto the computer. I'll have to search for the cord amongst all of out others. Bummer. I'll include another great picture instead so that I can get the hang of this.

The kids decorated a gingerbread haunted house this year. During the first 10 minutes or so, I was thinking "what was I thinking?". Then it started getting fun. The side you see on this layout is the girl's side. My son decorated the other one. I've already bought one for Christmas that we'll get out in a month or so. He already has his side planned out.

I think this blog will be a lot of fun and I'm excited that I'll have a way to journal as well as share my life with my friends and family that don't get to see me everyday. My husband will be home any minute to head out to dinner so I'll call it a night and write some more tomorrow..

Layout credits:http://www.kaymillerdesigns.com/