bon anniversaire

Nine wonderful years married.

How fast another year went by!

A layout I did recently of K and I {so rare for me to scrapbook something other than the kiddies} but so fitting on our anniversary...

And look at the sweet little gift my Mom stitched for us, for our anniversary...

She knows how much I love the Eiffel Tower {and it's also perfect because we went to France on our honeymoon shortly after we were married}.

We are doing something special for our anniversary.

I'll let you know what, in a later post.

But this other gift from my parents...

gives a pretty good clue.
So exciting. Oui?

fabric fat book swap

I finished my fabric fat book pages recently, that I am swapping with some girlfriends. We didn't really have a lot of rules for our swap {or at least any that I remember following, if we did} other than they were to be 8" high by 9" wide to allow for binding the book on the left side} ...


The theme was "a touch of whimsy"...

I wanted my pages to be kind of messy and put together in a child-like way {which also conveniently disguises the fact that I obviously cannot remember how to sew in a straight line...}

I used some vintage children's book pages, sheet music and bingo markers...

Home is where the green felt heart is...

and every painted blue cloud has a silver lining...

And cherry prints and pom-pom fringe are just whimsy at it's best...aren't they?

Renee and Stephanie have already posted photos of their fabric pages on thier blogs {click on their names to check them out} and Mellisa and Katie were in the swap too. All the pages are so wonderful and whimsical...just like the ladies that created them. Now I just need to create a cover to house my pages {and I will post the completed book soon}. Thanks girls!

the stockings were hung...

by the chimney with care...

{these are the stockings I cross-stitched for the four of us}

In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there...

{R with his hot chocolate mustache}

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve. As soon as K finished working for the day, we went to Jill's to share their Christmas Eve traditional Tourtiere dinner with her and her family. After dinner, Miss S and I, and Jill and her daughter, attended a Christmas Eve mass {while the boys stayed back to put Baby G to bed, and watch a Christmas movie}.

Miss S enjoyed all the singing and sitting up by the alter with the other children, {however, I had several small panic attacks each time she inched closer and closer to the wreath - she had asked me if she could blow out the advent candles - she must have thought it was like a birthday cake...}. Miss S also kept saying to me "light the PINK candle"...

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugarplums danced in their heads...

And K had visions of this, in our new entertainment armoire

for the family room in the new house...so he went ahead and ordered it on Christmas Eve in the Pre-Boxing Week sale!