My Top 10 Photos of 2010

Now this one isn't even close to accurate! I took sooooooo many photos this year (like almost 10,000!) that it's super hard for me to come up with my actual top ten, so this is more like ten quick favorites. Hee!

This one of Audrey just kills me! That look of hers is just priceless! She was being such a turkey that day and this look was all, "But, you still love me, don't you!". Hee!

I took senior pics for the daughter of one of my dad's friends and this was my favorite from the group. It was 29 degrees out!

Ahhhh, Mr. Potato Head! I took a bunch of pics of Mickey's toys to create labels for his toy bins and this one turned out so great, I converted it to B&W and entered it in the fair...and it won!

I just adore this pic of Mickey and Audrey. I really want these two to be close and any photo that shows that, is a favorite of mine!

I love the expression on Mickey's face in this one and I love the light and the fact that it was taken while we were waiting at a local restaurant.

I love this pic of Granny, she didn't even realize I was taking it! Hee!

Another pic of my two little ones together! :)

My little turkeys at Halloween, I love how this photo turned out, the light is just awesome!

Hee! This one just cracks me up every time I see it. She is such a maniac!

And finally, a pic of Granny teaching Mickey how to crochet. Sigh, love this one too!

Well, that's it for my Top Ten posts! We're heading out to a party, I hope you all have a fabulous New Years!!! :)

My Top 10 Layouts of 2010

Hey all! These are my top 10 favorite layouts that I made in 2010. :) They are my favorites either because of the story, the design or the photo!

It's kind of fun to look back at these. It really helps me in defining my style a bit. I can tell that I enjoy scrapping with mainly one product line at a time and while I do have some little details here and there, I'm a fairly simple scrapper. I also show a bit of a preference to one pagers but I do love a good two pager every once in a while. And, I don't show much of a preference in the number of photos I scrap. I also don't have much of a preference in my backgrounds.

It also really shows that I'm a clean scrapper. Even the one layout in this collection that I inked, isn't super inky! Hee!

If you created a Top Ten blog post, link to it in the comments, I'd love to check it out! :)

December Daily-Day 30!

This morning, I went over to my friend's to see her new house. The plan was to bring the kids and we'd go for a walk but Mickey was a bit warm, Aud was nutso and it was below freezing! So, I went by myself and visited for a few hours. Her new house is great and I can't wait to go back with the kids. (Maybe I'll remember to take pics next time!)

After dinner, we took down Christmas! We did get one more pic of the kids in front of the tree first, though. :)

Here are the filled boxes waiting to head out to the garage. Putting Christmas decorations back in their bins is like 3-D Tetris! LOL!

And, the last two boxes in the living room. It looks so naked in there now! I did put the pictures of the kids back up on the mantle but it still feels so empty after all the Christmas stuff is gone.

See you guys tomorrow with my last post for my December Daily (can't believe I kept up!) and if we have time today I may get a Top 10 pic/layouts post up!

Happy New Year!!!

December Daily-Day 28!

Today, we hung out at home again and just watched it rain. It rained over an inch today! Andrew took the extra tables out to the shop and I scrapbooked. I also got to finish my book! It was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and my brother also got me The Girl Who Played with Fire but I'm trying to refrain from starting it now as I really should start taking down the trees.

Every year for New Years we go over to Andrew's friend's house and the guys wire fireworks to all our old trees and set them on fire. I know, it's totally insane but we all have a great time, especially the kids. Mickey goes nuts and he's been looking forward to it since Andrew told him about it last week.

Oh, and just in case you didn't believe me when I told you it was really rainy, here are some pics. The neighbor's creek is totally flooded!

And, there's a drain from the ditch in the road that feeds through our property. It got clogged with leaves so the neighbors had to come out and clear it and once they did, this mini fountain of water errupted in our back yard! I didn't get a pic until it had calmed down but you can still see it's got a bit of height if you look just to the left of the bush. I wanted to get a better shot but it was still raining. :)

So, no more laundry for us until this rain stops or else our septic field will back flow into our house. Granny will be thrilled because it means will be bugging her for a while. Ah, the joys of country living! :)

December Daily-Day 27!

Today, we just enjoyed having Andrew home. We lazed about the house and only put a few items away.

We also put Mickey's Christmas present from his Grandma Judy on his bed. She made him this cute quilt with all sorts of vehicles on it.

I started reading one of my books from my brother and got completely sucked in. I finally went to sleep at 2:00 am because I was literally too tired to read. Hee!

December Daily-Day 26

Since Andrew has the rest of the year off, we pretty much just hung out the first half of the day. At about 2:00, Andrew met up with his friend who now lives in Dubai.

The kids and I headed out to my friends house at 4:00 and hung out there for a couple hours. I totally forgot to take pictures because Miss Thing turned into Miss Cling! Seriously, she normally clings at first and then warms up enough to play with the other kids. Not today.

After that, we zipped into Goodwill and I let Mickey pick out a toy to make up for yesterday. He picked a yellow monster truck. I got a couple books and a cool teal shelf for my scrap room. I'll get pics of both tomorrow.

Tomorrow will probably consist of putting our house back together from Christmas dinner. :)

December Daily-Day 25 (Christmas!)

Here's our Christmas Day!
Aud wakes up, I try to get her back to sleep. A few minutes later and she's up for good. We wake up Mickey to open stockings & presents. Santa got both Andrew & I gloves for working in the garden. :)
After presents, we get the kids ready, get ourselves ready, load up presents and make up a fruit tray to take to my mom's.
At mom's we have brunch at 10:00 with my uncle, brother and grandma. Then, more present opening. The kids had a blast!
Back home at about 2:00 and I get the turkey into the oven at about 2:15. We put the kiddos down for a nap and get the house ready. We figured at the most we'd need 29 chairs and so some table moving was necessary.
Just before 4:00, our first guests arrive for Christmas dinner with Andrew's side of the family. We talk, eat, talk, open presents, talk, eat some more, talk and play dominos until after 10:00! Great times and only one little snafu. Little Man and Miss Thing were excluded from the present exchange due to their young ages and so they didn't have any presents to open. Miss Thing was cool with it, aka, she didn't have a clue but Little Man was in tears. Andrew consoled him and I offered to give him back his Lincoln Logs that he'd gotten taken away recently for refusing to clean his room. That's all it took to get him back in happy mode. That, and playing with his beloved cousins. :)

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a great Holiday season!!! :)

December Daily-Christmas Eve!!!

Today was wonderful! I got to sleep in (thanks, hon!) then Andrew and Mickey headed out to Fred Meyer to get my stocking stuffers. Hee!



Andrew and I cleaned up and prepared everything for dinner. We had ham, peas, biscuits, baby red potatoes, and salad. Then, we opened presents.



The kiddos went nuts! Mickey, especially loved opening presents. He helped everyone!



Audrey figured out real quickly that the best way to get her presents opened (when her brother wasn't helping her) was to take them over to her grandpa and say "help" and then follow it up with a sweet little "peas". Worked every time! ;)



Mickey opened a present from his Uncle Cody and got super excited telling us how much he loved it. In the next breath, he asked, "What is it?". LOL!!!

Mickey got a Spiderman Toy, a heros coloring book with some game/learning cards, and a set of cars from the movie Cars from his Uncle Cody. He got a dog Pillow Pet, a Berenstain Bears book and a Percy train set from his Papa Maow(grandpa).

Audrey got a Tinkerbell sleeping bag, a Little Monster book and a unicorn Pillow Pet from Papa Maow. She got two coloring books with crayons, a toy camera and a My Pal Violet toy from her Uncle Cody. (Gotta get this info down somewhere so we can get thank yous done!)

Mickey and Aud also got new p.j.'s to wear tonight!

I've got to get to bed at a decent hour tonight, so I won't be adding pics to this post until tomorrow night. We have to be at my Mom's at 10:00 am and before we leave here we have to open stockings, open family presents, cut up fruit for the fruit platter, load up presents and get everyone ready!

I hope you had a great Christmas Eve and an even better Christmas! :)

December Daily-Day 23! (Christmas Eve Eve!!!)

Busy day today! We did a lot of cleaning, I hit the store one last time (I hope!), made Christmas goodies and wrapped the last few presents!

Andrew went out with his best friend who just came back from Dubai and so I gave the kids a bath, then we read How the Grinch Stole Christmas and I tucked them in.

Now, I'm debating going to bed (I'm exhausted!) or staying up and washing the dishes for the big Christmas dinner. :)

December Daily-Day 22!

Yep, it's almost 2:30 am on the 23rd but I'm counting it towards the 22nd. :)

I woke up early today to get a head start on finishing up those darn calendars so I could wrap all the presents.

Miss Thing decided that opening a tub of teal glitter paint and pouring about a third of it on our carpet was a good idea and that my time would be better spent scrubbing and blotting said carpet.

Sigh. So much for waking up early. Oh, and no photo of this because I was waaaaaay too mad. I'll probably take a pic of the container tomorrow but today it just wasn't happening. The funny thing is, the last time I did a December Daily, Mickey got into my orange paint and well, you get the picture.

So, here's today's pic. My little wrapping session!

I got everything wrapped and just have a gift card and some cash gifts to take care of. Yay!!!! Go, me!!! (No, seriously. Me, go to bed!) LOL! Night all!

December Daily-Day 21!

Yikes! It's getting so close to Christmas!

Today involved a lot of cleaning up after the dog. Sigh. He's really old and recently had a seizure so it's not a surprise but it is a little frustrating when I'm trying to get stuff done.

Then, Aud got into and ruined the brown sugar (she was chewing on the two bags I bought yesterday and they got wet inside) and so she got a time out in her room. After two minutes, I went to get her and she was sacked out half in and half out of her closet.

So, instead of yucky dog pee/puke pictures or yummy Christmas treats we have Miss Thing sleeping on her stuffed dog. :D

Oh, and I've been working on those darn calendars! I'm hoping to get them to the point of adding pics tonight. We'll see!

~last minute update...the pics are in! I'll be adding the numbers to the dates tomorrow and then, they may just get some embellishing, too!

December Daily-Day 20! (Whoops!)

Ooops! I forgot to post this one yesterday! I upload my pics on my desktop throughout the day and then write up my post on my laptop at night. I went to a couple stores last night and completely forgot to finish this when I got back. :)

Today (or, yesterday actually) I set up another Christmas craft for the kiddos. We made snowmen out of paper plates.

Here is Little Man attaching his snowman's head to the body with a pipe cleaner. He did a really good job with his!

Here are their completed projects. Miss Thing's is on the left. She did a better job placing her eyes than I did drawing her "x's"! Her coal buttons she thought looked better as a belt. She picked out her pipe cleaner scarf and I put it on for her. Little Man did his all by himself!

They are now hanging in our living room on a bare wall that really needed something. The kids loved these and they were super easy. Little Man even helped me with the set up. He punched out all the black circles and made sure we had the right amount.

December Daily-Days 18 & 19!

I pretty much knew a while ago that I wouldn't be blogging yesterday. It was Andrew's company party. They rented out the bowling alley in his hometown, so I figured it was a given that we'd go out afterward. And, we did! :D

Anyway, Saturday morning, Little Man had his doctor's appointment. The poor little guy has a double ear infection! :( He was really good at the doctor's so to make up for us not even realizing how sick he was, we got a donut at Fred Meyer while we waited for his prescription. I got a great pic with my phone but the darn thing won't send it to my e-mail. ARGH!

That evening, we went to Andrew's company party. These are my styling bowling shoes! Pretty rockin', huh? LOL!

Here I am rockin' the bowling shoes and feeling rather like Bozo the Clown with my skinny jeans and big feet! Hee!

Afterwards we went to Mac's Place and hung out for hours! It was so much fun. Andrew and I never get out anymore together, without the kids.

He works with a bunch of cool people, including my step-brother. It was so much fun! I even had a couple of drinks, one at the alley and a Guinness at Mac's. Oh, my sweet Guinness, how I've missed you! Hee!

Today was pretty much a nap day. Aud had her normal nap and I took one while she was sleeping. I woke when she did and we went out to the living room to see Andrew & Mickey asleep! I was going to get a shot of that but when I put Miss Thing down, she hollered and woke the boys up.

So, instead I'm sharing with you another shot of my scrap room. I've been working on the calendars for the folks this evening and late into the night. It's still a hot mess but at least I have a little bit of work space showing. ;)

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to get a ton done but we'll see what the kids think about that. I really need to get my meal plans ready for this weekend. We're hosting my dad and brother for Christmas Eve, then we're headed to my mom's for a Christmas brunch and then we're hosting Christmas dinner for Andrew's side.

Anyone got any good ideas for a make ahead brunch dish? :)

December Daily-Day 17!

We hand delivered my grandma's Christmas card today.

Aud loves her great-grandma and climbed up on her as soon as she sat down. Mickey was all about Granny's puzzles. Granny is known for her puzzles and always has one out on her dining table for the grown ups and a few special puzzles for her great-grandkids.

Then, "The Gran" got out her Christmas chicken and sent Mickey to go get the Aflac duck. The chicken lights up, walks and plays music, the duck goes, "aflac, Aflac, AFLAC!!!" Aud's at the stage where she's enthralled and a little scared. Mickey just loves them both.

After our visit, Gran suggested we go out to lunch so we got to spend even more time with her. It was a pretty darn good day.

Oh, except for the fact that Mickey's ears are bugging him again. I called this afternoon and they're going to see him in the morning. Wish us luck!

December Daily-Day 16!

Today was a big day, Mickey's preschool class had their Christmas party and Christmas program! Audrey and I went into school with him today to help out. I loved getting to see what Mickey does in school everyday, what his favorite activities are and how well he plays with his classmates. His teacher said that his class was really uncommon because the whole group always winds up in the same room playing together.

His classmates loved Audrey! One girl especially considered Aud her own personal doll. LOL! Sometimes, Miss Thing was cool with that and other times, not so much. (She found this dry erase board and some cool grease crayons (?) and loved it!)

The program was fun and funny. Mickey (who has been singing these songs around the house constantly) refused to sing a word! He shook his jingle bells, did the clapping and the stomping but wouldn't sing. Then, when the teacher suggested they all gather round the big chair (that Santa would later sit in) he yelled, "Okay, let's do that!". I and the rest of the crowd laughed. I guess they noticed he hadn't sung either. :)

Santa did show up and not surprisingly at all, Mickey refused to sit on his lap. He did end up taking a candy cane from him and getting a stuffed bear from his teacher. He also couldn't give Santa an example of what he wanted for Christmas.

Anyway, the day wiped me out (it's hard tracking down 22 four year olds to finish up the craft project that I was in charge of and keep an eye on Miss Thing) so I wound up falling asleep on the bed while I was waiting for all the pics I took to upload. I woke up when I heard Aud throwing a tantrum. Andrew was home and making dinner and Mickey was sitting at the counter, asleep! Apparently, the day wore him out, too! Hee!

Oh, and I finally started addressing my Christmas cards! I've got 40 done and now I need to get a few more addresses and some more stamps. Oh, and probably put my return address on them too. See why addressing these things is my least favorite holiday chore? Hee!

Preschool Crafts & AWDML Featured Manufacturer!

Okay, remember the cute crayons Mickey and I made yesterday?

They needed some cute packaging to dress them up a bit and so that they'd survive the trip home! LOL!

I dug out some of last year's My Mind's Eye Christmas Line, a few punches and my new Just Rite Stamps and this is what I came up with.

Mickey punched big circles out of the patterned paper with the largest punch, then he inked up the stamp for me to stamp on the cardstock and I punched those out. I folded them all in half and he did the stapling while I held the biggest circle in place. Then, we glued the second layer on top of that.

I think they turned out adorably and I'm hoping the kids like them!

Here are the gift wrap caddies I was telling you about yesterday. I saw the idea for them on a craft blog called 1825. Super cute aren't they? I gussied them up with Jillibean Soup paper and those Just Rite Stamps.

How cool is this ribbon dispenser?

Here's a top view so you can see all the goodies I stuffed it with. There are bows, tape, curling ribbon, tissue paper, tags, scissors and pens.

I really hope his teachers like them. They are really great with him and deserve something awesome. :)

Okay, now for some AWDML craftiness! The second Featured Manufacturer is Just Rite Stamps, and I'm sooooo glad it is! I mean, did you see the stuff I did with them above? They are soooo handy!

Here's the completed Day 1 of my December Daily album. I've only done one page because I've got the sticker book from The Girl's Paperie on it's way to me and I want to use it for most of the book. But, I also wanted to test out the Just Rite Stamp as my journaling spot and I love it! I love how the date looks and it's just the right amount of space to keep this album from being to much work me right now. Love that!

Remember this mini album I was making for my folks for Christmas? Since we got Mickey's school pic, I got started on it. I'm using the Just Rite Stamps to show the date and each grandchild's name.

These are two of my nephews. Trust me, they are super adorable! Super sweet, too. They were here over the summer and my kids adored them and the boys were sooooo good to their little cousins. Super kids!

And, finally, I made some Christmas tags with the Just Rite Stamp. I used Baker's Twine (LOVE!!!!) and Crate Paper's Snow Day line.

Anyway, there it all is, the bulk of my Christmas crafting lately. What have you been making?

ps-If you have any questions about how to make any of this, feel free to e-mail me or ask in the comments. :)