Dec. Dailies?

No, definitely December weekly's for me! Okay...let's see what all has gone on since last week. The boys had their Christmas concert on Tuesday. Well, I guess I should say Matthew had his concert on Tuesday. For the first time in 3 years their concert was on the same night and lo and behold Shane started not feeling good on Monday. I knew if I sent him to school I would probably be going and picking him up early, so he stayed home, which meant he got to watch the concert instead of being in it. I don't think it bothered him a bit! The concert was really good this year. They hardly ever sing traditional Christmas songs -and I wish they would - but the songs they did sing were really nice. I tried to get a picture of Shane and Matthew in front of the Christmas tree and these were the best I could get. Shane was not in a picture taking mood and Matthew kept trying not to blink which made him have crazy big eyes. Maybe we'll try the picture thing again before the big day.

This is the weekend that Abby doen't get to come home. She has a final in her political science class tomorrow afternoon. At least she is done with the semester on Wednesday. She told me tonight that finals hadn't been nearly as stressful as she thought they would be. That's a good thing! She always worries and stresses so much more than is needed! It will be so nice to have her home with us for a few weeks!

AWDML - On the 11th day of Christmas....

Todays tutorial over at AWDML was how to make paper bows. These are so quick and easy and fun to make! You could make up a bunch of these - not only for Christmas but for birthdays or any other occasion and have them ready to be added to your packages.

Here's a link to their site. Go on over and check out the great sales they have going on!http://memorylane.typepad.com/design_team_blog/

Origami Tree - AWDML 12 Days of Christmas - Day 6

The 12 days of Christmas is going on right now over at http://memorylane.typepad.com/design_team_blog/. The design team posts a tutorial each of the 12 days for you to try. Today's tutorial was how to make an origami tree. I knew the minute I saw it that I had to try it. It was really easy, (once I got the hang of it!) and I really like the way it turned out. I plan on making several of these to send out for Christmas!

Making cookies

I just love the holidays! It makes me - and the kids - really want to get in and bake. Scott had seen a recipe in the newspaper for chocolate sugar cookies that he thought sounded good, so Saturday afternoon we decided to make them and try them out. Matthew and Abby were ready and willing to help. We were all so eager to see what they were going to taste like. Well it's just a good thing that we tried these out before we took them someplace for the first time. I don't know if we did something wrong or what, but these cookies weren't that good! Matthew said the dough didn't even taste that good!! And everybody knows - if the dough doesn't taste good, the cookie doesn't taste good! Shane wasn't too sure about them either. We caught him licking a cookie and even taking a little bite off of one and then put them back on the plate. Yikes! I don't know if we'll try these cookies out again or not.

December dailies

So, I have challenged myself. I have heard of something scrapbookers do and have decided to tweak it to suit me! Here's what they do - they make a layout for every single day in December. Now being the slow scrapper I am, I knew that wasn't going to happen, so I thought I would at least try to post my happenings on my blog and maybe one day be able to make the layouts. Well, I also know that posting every day is not going to happen for me (seeing as how it's the 2nd of Dec. already!) so I am going to try to post at least weekly and if I get more than that done, then it's just bonus! At least it should be fun to go back and see what's gone on this month. Here goes...

Today is Wednesday, the 2nd of Dec. The weather decided to turn good and wintery today. The temperature started falling and even though they took snow flurries out of the forecast it decided snow anyway. It just snowed for a couple of hours and didn't stick to the ground at all, but it was still fun to see it snow for the first time this season. The boys were so excited and Shane started singing Frosty and Getting Ready For Christmas and kept asking, "Do you like the snow?" He loves to watch it fall! With the boys Christmas concert at school next week, I am slowly starting to get in the holiday spirit. It even got me in the mood for more snow... did I just say that?!

Matthew told me today that his plastic/recycled robot was in the top 5 for a chance to win a Radio Shack gc or a Wal- Mart gc. He didn't wind up winning a gift card, but I thought top 5 was pretty darn cool. Especially since he had been sick and missed most of the time they had to work on it - he had to do his in one class period. He also told me that it was going to be on display for their fine arts show next week. I can't wait to get a picture of him with his bot! (I've got the perfect paper for it!)

Gotta go for now. I have Christmas cards to make for a card swap. I thought they needed to be mailed out by the 5th, turns out they were supposed to be mailed yesterday. Oops! Will work on them tonight and hopefully remember to take pictures before I mail them out!

Secret Santa goodies

I joined in on the secret santa fun over at MSW this year. I really like the way they do it. You go to A Walk Down Memory Lane's website and make a wishlist. Then whoever has your name shops from your list - so you know you're gonna love what you get - and then the store sends it out so you don't know who your secret santa is until the day of the reveal. My secret santa was so good to me, getting me almost everything that was on my list. I got some great Bella Blvd. papers and stickers that I can't wait to use for a layout about our camping trip this summer and I also got some Scenic Route papers before they are gone for good! I can't wait to get in and work with them. I'll be sure to post when I get anything done.

Okay - not sure why this posted 2 of the same picture - and not knowing much about blogging I guess it will have to stay here!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I cannot believe that today is Thanksgiving. Before you know it it will be Christmas and then the start of another new year. This year since Mom has not been feeling well, all of us girls and Aunt Kay got together and made dinner for Mom and Dad. It is always such a blessing when we all get together and just enjoy each others company. This year we have so much to be thankful for, Scott is back to work after being laid off for the last 9 months. Shane is doing well in school thanks to an aide who is truly heaven sent. Mom is slowly starting to feel better after spending more than a week in the hospital with diverticulitis. Abby is over half way through her first semester of college and doing great. Matthew is turning into a fine young man. It is so fun to see his sense of humor and his personality more and more. I get to work with 2 of my sisters a few days a week. I am so thankful to have such a wonderful family.

Notecard holder and notecards

I saw a tutorial over at A Walk Down Memory Lane's design team blog that I just had to try. It was a tutorial on how to make this cute little notecard holder and notecards. I wanted to do something that I could give to Abby and I had the perfect paper for it in my stash. So I started last night at about 10 and had it completely done by 11. It was really easy and fun to do. I have a lot of ideas for more of these to make and can't wait to get started. I may play around with the size and try to make it a little bit bigger. This set of cards is 3.75 by 3.50. I want to try one that is a little bigger. Will post it when I get it done.

Ah - the fun you can have...

with a 75 cent moustache! Saturday afternoon while Matthew was at his friends birthday party we decided to go to town and grab a bite to eat. Shane wanted to "gather round the good stuff" so we headed to Pizza Hut. It had been forever since we had actually gone in and ate at the restaurant, and we had a lot of time to kill, so we ate in. When we got ready to go we seen they had moustaches in one of the quarter machines. I talked Abby into getting one with the condition that I got to take pictures of her and the boys when they tried it on. We got such a kick out of the way everybody looked with them on. Shane, I think kind of liked it after he got used to it and it fit Matthew's mouth perfectly. I guess we know now what the boys will look like if they decide to have a moustache in a few years!! Good times. Good times.

Here's a turkey card for turkey day!

The holidays are fast approaching! I cannot believe that next Thursday is Thanksgiving! Time is going so fast. Gail over at HSS posted a paper piecing challenge a couple of weeks ago and this is what I came up with. Once I got the turkey made I couldn't decide if I wanted to make him into a card or use him on a layout. I finally decided he was so easy to make I could always make another one for a layout.