Toot for the New Year

With all the commotion of the holiday, I am just getting around to sharing some exciting news. I was chosen to be a member of the design team for the challenge blog, Scrapping the Music.

If you haven't checked it out yet, please do! Each week, a new song is posted for inspiration. Music always inspires me - whether it's the title or lyrics.

Let's see, what else...
Overall, Christmas was wonderful - my parents came and we had a wonderful time.
We all shed a few tears missing Fritzi. :0(
My poor sister and her family had an icky stomach virus in their household, so we weren't able to see them, which was of course a downer.

Here are a few pictures from our holiday:

All is calm...



Running down the stairs...



Wiiiiiiii!!!!!!




Pop giving Bren her annual crystal angel ornament:



Stocking stuffers:



Holiday hugs:



and some silliness in our traditional matching Christmas jammies:





Wishing you and yours a happy & healthy New Year!

Mod Squad Toot

I'm finally allowed to share my exciting news! I've been chosen to join the design team (aka "the Mod Squad") at Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs.
http://www.mosdinc.com/
Take a moment to go check out their beautiful acrylic and chipboard albums. I can't wait to get started!

A Sad Day

Well, today is the day we had to say goodbye to our sweet dog, Fritzi. She'd been steadily declining over the past several months and the time came to make the decision to be kind to her and end her struggle. Even though I know it was the right thing to do, I am just heartbroken. Our vet was wonderful and made the whole ordeal as peaceful as possible. I was able to stay with her until the end.
Anyone who's ever had a pet knows how painful this loss is.
Goodbye, sweet friend.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

We had a foot of snow fall the other day and there's a big Nor'easter coming in tonight. Looks like a white Christmas for sure!

I finally had some time to scrap last night, and oh, did it feel good!
Here is a page I made for this week's Scrapping the Music challenge:




Here's a page I made for Scrapper's Haven. It was fun to go from a frosty cold LO to a summer page with warm colors. I Heart the KI lace cardstock!

Random thought

So the other afternoon, I'm home with the two little guys and suddenly
Jimmy says, "Hey Mom, when I get my drivers license, I'm gonna smile like this for the picture!"

Where did this thought come from? I don't know. But it made me smile.

It's just a number, right?

So today was the day. I turned the big FOUR-O. It was low key, as far as birthdays go. Mike had to work tonight, so we celebrated last night and it was fun. Chocolate cake, yum.
I can't believe how time is simply flying by. My sister called to wish me happy birthday and said that she still remembered me going out on my first date. She threw sand at me for some reason after I was all fixed up in my purple dress. Gotta love little sisters, huh? I don't really remember the incident, but she did. (Yikes, is my memory going?) Anyway, it seems like that was just yesterday and inside, I'm still the same girl, maybe just a bit wiser.
Oh well, time marches on, and there's nothing to do but to enjoy each day for the gift that it is.

We decked the halls

As I expected, we had a snow day on Monday because our corner of the world was a sheet of ice. The kids and I decorated the tree. We put old fashioned Christmas carols on (the kids wanted to know who Bing Crosby was!)
They were so excited to remember which ornaments they had made and took great care to find just the right spot on the tree (even if it was on the same branch as another ornament).

And then they cut loose for this picture:


This is really more what trying to get a picture with five kids is like. But I wouldn't change it for the world....

This movie

is a holiday classic, in my opinion. I watched it this afternoon with the kids and we all laughed and laughed. The pink bunny suit scene is one of my favorites, as is poor Ralphie's visit to Santa. The kids thought Farcus got what he deserved when Ralphie beat the crud out of him and giggled with me as the father opened his leg lamp.

It's freezing rain here tonight, and I expect the kids to have a snow day tomorrow.
We baked cookies today, Snickerdoodles, to be exact. We'll probably bake again tomorrow too.

I had a run in with a stomach virus this week, so not a lot of scrappy time, but here is a page I did for Scrapper's Haven:


Poor Jimmy detested the snow that year.

If I were a rich girl...

I'd buy myself one of these Diva chairs from Mackenzie Childs. Isn't it just to die for? Pink and posh and oh so yummy. But sadly, $3,500 for a chair simply isn't practical. (SIGH)

Not much scrappy time the past few weeks, but I do have a few pages to share.
Here is a page I did for Scrapper's Haven - Colin is learning the hard lesson that kids can be mean to each other, especially if you won't go along with the crowd. So I made this page to let him know he's going to be okay.



Here's a page I made with the gorgeous fall line from Daisy D's. These two are such good buddies, it really fills my heart with joy.


Here's one of Jimmy - the pictures were taken this fall. I loved them all so I actually made a layout with NINE pictures! I think that's a first for me!