Friday, November 27, 2009

Thanksgiving Pups

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Ginger

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Bruno

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Cesar

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Hobart

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Buddy

I was taking everyone’s pictures yesterday and somehow ended up taking all these pictures of the dogs too! They all did a pretty good job, but I have to say that Buddy was the hardest, he just didn’t want to sit still! Ginger, well she’s used to getting her picture taken, can you tell?

Thursday, November 26, 2009

So Thankful for This Family

Meme (my mom)

IMG_7921Papa (my dad) IMG_7923Jaron (my nephew)IMG_7967TT (my sister)IMG_7940Rachel  (my brothers girlfriend)

IMG_7945Zoe (my daughter)

IMG_7954  Tony (my husband)

IMG_7975 Landon (my son)

IMG_7979 Kyle (my brother)

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I am so blessed to have this wonderful family.

I love you all!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thanksgiving Place Cards

Zoe and I thought it would be cute to make place cards for the Thanksgiving table this year. So, Theresa, Zoe and I made cards today and they turned out really cute!

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I think they’ll look great on the table. I’m thinking I’ll write 1-5 on the inside so everyone can record what they’re thankful for…

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Sleepover(s)!

Tonight is sleepover night at our house. Landon is having a friend over for the first time and Zoe is having a friend over for the millionth time. It’s hard for me to believe that the first time Zoe had a sleepover she was only four but for Landon it has only just now become something he’s interested in!

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The boys have been going non-stop since the moment Landon’s buddy was dropped off. They are loud and crazy but they play really well together. They have played board games, video games and built elaborate mazes with Domino’s. They have wrestled and shown each other how many push-ups they can do. They have giggled over inside jokes, harassed the dog and plotted out some of what they want to do in the morning. Landon’s friend is an early riser (6am) so that should make our morning routine interesting…Landon likes to wake up at the crack of 8 or 9 these days, which for him is quite early! (He used to sleep until 10 and 11 on the weekends!)

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The girls have been having a great time as well, but they are quite different. They have been friends for so long and they enjoy the same things, so it’s very easy for them to be together. They have baked cookies (peanut butter with chocolate kiss centers), colored pages that they printed off the internet, giggled about old times and inside jokes and texted all of their other friends the entire time. They also played a little Trauma Center on the Wii tonight but got stuck on a level and haven’t gotten back on since!

Right now all is quiet in the house; the boys have gone to bed (but not to sleep) and the girls are upstairs doing who knows what…I’m guessing it’s prank call time.

I guess I better get to bed since it looks like I’ll be having an early morning!

Monday, November 23, 2009

MERRY

The kids sure do love wrapping the gifts they buy. Landon loves going crazy with the tape and uses at least 2 or 3 different papers on each package while Zoe has learned the “real” way to wrap and just enjoys taking care of her own gifts.

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Sunday, November 22, 2009

Decking the Halls

We were able to get the rest of our Christmas decorating done today, and Tony and I even had a glass of wine to celebrate! Getting all that stuff up takes a lot of work!

Here’s a few pictures of our work:

Tony hanging the lights:

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A new decoration this year:

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Landon helping set up the tree. When he came in from playing outside and saw me putting the tree together he was pretty mad at me for starting without him! Luckily I hadn’t gotten very far though, so he got over it!

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Zoe, modeling decorating the tree:

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Saturday, November 21, 2009

It’s Beginning To Look…

A lot like Christmas! We spent the majority of our day cleaning out the garage, taking things to Good Will and the dump, and then putting up some of our Christmas stuff. We’ve still got to get the lights up outside and put up the tree then we’ll be done! I was so in the moment I forgot to get pictures, but I just remembered tonight something funny Landon said to me the other day…

Landon: “Mom, now maybe you will use the X-box sometimes.”

Me: “Why?”

Landon: “Cuz’ now you can get on facebook on it!”

I’m thinking maybe I’m spending too much time on facebook, and that he is pretty observant.

I may just have to check it out though!

Friday, November 20, 2009

Thankful Turkey

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That’s Landon’s little turkey from school. Cute, huh? Being in third grade means you still get to make cute holiday items…I dread the end of that.

His smile’s just a little fake, but I made him stop playing his new favorite game so I could get a picture of him with his turkey, and since he did what I asked I let him get away with this “hurry up mom” look.

I thought this “Thankful Thoughts” paper was really cute too.

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It’s a little hard to read here, but this is what he wrote:

I’m thankful for many different things. For example, I am thankful for my mom and dad and sister because they love me and take care of me and some people do not have a mom or dad. I am also greatful for my dog because she plays with me rope. Another thang I am thankful for is food and water because some people do not have food or water so they can die. So I have a lot to be thankful for.

I left his few spelling mistakes in there becasue I know before long he won’t be making those mistakes…and it is him as he is now.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Christmas Eve 2008

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We spend every Christmas Eve with Mema and Umpa. We usually go over around 2:30 or so, so that we can hang out, open gifts, have dinner and play with whatever games/toys the kids might get and still get home at a reasonable hour. We’ve been doing this for years, and every year my kids are as excited about Christmas Eve as they are Christmas morning!

Last year I guess I was the only one who took pictures because there wasn’t a single one with me in it! I liked that I got at least one individual shot of each person though, so that made this an easy page to make. I wish the color of the page looked more like it does in real life…it’s much more green and less blah.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Viola Practice

Landon is still really enjoying playing his viola. He likes the class, and so far doesn’t complain about practicing. They just started working with the bow this week, but he’s still not very comfortable with it. I guess he’ll get used to it, but for now, he’s still plucking! :)

Here is a video of him practicing this afternoon. His winter concert is coming up next month, so he is getting a little excited about performing in front of an audience.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

One Proud Mom!

Today is report card day for us, and WOW my kids are awesome!  Both of them made the honor roll, and this is Landon’s first year with “real” grades, so he was extremely proud of himself.

When we read his grades out to him, he was BEAMING…I mean, all you could see was braces! He was really excited about his grades, and we had promised him at the beginning of the school year that if he did well on his report card we would let him get a game card for doing well. We don’t typically do anything special for good reports, we expect the kids to do their best, but for this one time, we allowed a treat.

Zoe continues to impress us with her grades, and this marking period was no exception. She is taking some pretty intense classes and she manages them very well. I’m not exactly sure how she keeps up with all of it, but she does, and she is just super smart and dedicated. We knew what her report card was going to look like last week since they brought home grade sheets, so she decided that for her good grades she wanted to go to a sleepover at her friends house with a few other girls.

Here are their cards, not the best scan, but they both got all A’s and B’s and Zoe’s GPA is a whopping 4.13!!! I mean seriously!

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Monday, November 16, 2009

Magical

I am trying to get into the spirit of the season, and I figured there was no better way than scrapping some pages of last years Christmas.

I always feel like Thanksgiving is here way too fast, and after that Christmas comes and goes in a blink. It is my favorite time of year though, so I’m really looking forward to all the festivities. I love all the family time we have and the rush to find great gifts and the crafting time I squeeze in…it all amounts to fun for me!

Here is a page about last years Christmas morning:

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I’ve been changing a bunch of pictures from color to black and white so that I can use whatever paper I want with them. It sure makes it easier to scrap all these pictures together!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Mema’s Day

We have had some gorgeous weather this weekend…and it’s even better after four straight days of rain! Today takes the cake though, since it’s about 72 out and just as sunny as if it were spring! The kids just can’t believe their luck, and Landon’s been playing outside for a good part of the day.

Since he’s been happy playing, and Zoe’s been working on homework I’ve had some time (and mojo!) to scrap today. This particular page is one I made last week but never got around to posting….so here it is!

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I wanted to make a quick layout using the picture I took of the kids and Mema on her birthday. I just thought the picture turned out great!

Now, back to more scrapping!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Future Shopping

Not much to post about today…not that we haven’t been busy, it’s just been a kind of boring and mundane type of busy.

I did happen to come across these videos though, and thought they were definitely blog worthy. Sometimes internet surfing turns up some pretty awesome stuff!

And, I’ll have plenty of money to do that shopping after I buy one of these cars…

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Making Soap (Layout)

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Here is the page I made using the photo’s from when Zoe and I took the glycerin soap class. The journaling is behind the photo’s on a tag, but mostly just tells about our experience.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Go Thunder!

Landon’s soccer team  (Thunder) wrapped up their season this past weekend, so I have just a few shots to share today. His team was brand new and they didn’t really do so well, but I think Landon did learn a few new things, and I’m hoping that he’ll enjoy playing an indoor season with the same boys. (Landon is in the blue jersey!)

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Monday, November 9, 2009

Sad Day

Yesterday my Aunt Marty lost her battle with pancreatic cancer. I’m not exactly sure of the date of the official diagnosis but I remember it  wasn’t that long ago…only about 5 months, give or take a few weeks.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any specific memories of my aunt that don’t also involve a bunch of other family. Since we were a military family, we moved a lot and didn’t get to grow up amongst our cousins, aunts and uncles…but when we did go back, it was great!

The only thing is, I never got to know everyone individually…sometimes I only really got to know bits and pieces of each person. I knew who my aunts and uncles were, who their children were, and sometimes that’s as far as it got. Then, of course, I have some really close cousins…one’s I hung out with most when we visited and still keep up with even now as adults.

I don’t really know where I’m going with this post or what to say…

I guess I just want to document that although I didn’t know my aunt well, she still has a special place in my heart. I want to acknowledge that she was important to me, just because she was my mothers sister and a part of my family’s history.

She will be missed.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Happy Birthday Mema!

I just wanted to post a quick Happy Birthday to my mother-in-law. She is one super lady and we are really lucky to have her in our lives!

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Saturday, November 7, 2009

Mother’s Day layout

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We went to visit my Mom for Mother’s Day this year and we were all outside watching the kids skateboard, so I asked Tony to take some pictures of us together.

I guess we were all being goofy (imagine that!) and really this is the best one he got of us. Unfortunately, I’ve got my tongue sticking out, but other than that it’s an okay picture! The other pictures  were worse, with people’s eyes closed, tongues out, or moving around!

Friday, November 6, 2009

Ribbit

Another page down…

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Landon said another funny yesterday…

We were eating dinner and he was telling us about some things he added to his Christmas list. He said “Mom, there is a little motorcycle in the paper I was looking at, and it didn’t have any age on it, so it must be rated E!” (For you non-gamer types, E is a rating on video games and means the game is good for Everyone.)

I swear our life revolves around everything electronic these days! When I’m sorting mail, I’m always thinking “keep” or “delete”…it’s so weird! Landon rates toys by video game ratings, and not only do we write OMG, we actually say OMG! I can only see things going down hill from here!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

SWIM

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Another page using that paper I love! These are pictures of the kids enjoying themselves before the 4th of July festivities started. They had a great time, but boy was that water cold!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Clowns

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My whole family was able to make it up to our house for our annual crab feast, and afterwards we all decided to hop in he car and head to Bruster’s for ice cream. There was a lot of clowning around going on in the backseat, so I had to get a few pictures…they turned out great, and you can see how silly they all are!

Monday, November 2, 2009

I Am Them

I heard about this on the radio yesterday, and it had me really laughing! Make sure you listen to the whole thing, it's only a little over a minute long.

Sakura

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I really like this picture of the 7 of us when we went out to dinner at Sakura to celebrate my sister’s 29th birthday. I had no idea how I was going to scrap it though, because it was so dark inside and there was this ugly wall paper on the wall, and we were all clashing…then I figured I’d just turn the picture black and white and wa-la, it all came together!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

For Sale

It sure has been a busy weekend. Halloween is busy enough, but to then also have people coming to look at the house all weekend…whoa! It’s really kind of a pain to have to leave for hours at a time so realtor’s can show the house, but I suppose there really isn’t any other way. Guess we should just get over it…

Landon keeps thinking that we are going to have to just move out suddenly; he keeps asking me “do you think we’re going to have to move out tomorrow?”  So today I tried to explain to him that even if we were to get a bid on the house today it would be at least 30 days from now before we had to move out. He said “Oh, I bet I know why, because that way you can love your house for a little longer before  you leave it.” I thought that was really cute, and I know he is really anxious about us moving. Change is just not his thing.

It did make me think about all the great times we’ve had living here, and how it will be like another chapter of our lives we are closing. We got to choose our lot, pick out carpet and cabinet colors for the first time, Landon was born a month after moving in, Zoe learned how to ride her bike up and down these streets, we bought our dog Ginger…I could go on and on, and it does make me a bit sentimental.

I will admit though, that I am really looking forward to the next chapter, I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us!

April Fools Pranks

The two little kids made me laugh yesterday morning.  I was upstairs getting things ready for school when I heard them talking about how ...