where women create

You must check out the Where Women Create blog right now {or click on the widget in my sidebar}! They are giving away fabulous prizes from the most talented artists, every day from December 1 through December 12. I am crossing my fingers that I win something...

snow white and the seven parties

It seems like every weekend lately the kiddies have gone to one or more birthday parties. Lots of fun, but keeps us busy. Especially with R playing hockey two times each weekend, Miss S's dancing and then all the other family stuff we try and cram into our weekends!

A couple weekends ago Miss S and I attended a Princess Party at my friend Cathy's house {Miss D, Miss S and the other Miss S all go to pre-school and dancing together, and we have play dates all the time} . It was so sweet - the girls were asked to dress as princesses, and were surprised by a special guest...

Cinderella! Or as Miss S kept telling everyone "a REAL Disney pwincess". Cinderella entertained the girls with magic tricks, balloon animals and face painting...

Here are some more photos taken when we got home...

While Miss S and I were playing princess, K and R were at Jill's place for Baby G's second birthday.

I think the kiddies have better social lives than I do...

daily december

How did December get here so quickly?

I always think I am going to be more ready than I am for the holiday season. I have finished most of my Christmas shopping {just need a few small things and teacher gifts}, have the outside of the house all decorated, and some of the inside.

I am excited to complete a December Daily album this year, a tradition started by Ali Edwards and copied by scrapbookers all over {you can read more about what it is here, and see her 2009 album here}.

I finished the cover of my album last week...

and filled it with the pages, all ready to go {most made last year and never used!}

I painted a 7gypsies chipboard album from my stash, with teal paint and then painted over it with crackle paint in the 'old paper' color. I distressed it with the distress ink in the same color and sanded away some of the paint. This was my first time using the crackle paint {in scrapbooking anyway - I have crackle painted an armoire}...

I am sure Renee is laughing at me for this, because I bought the distress products ages ago and haven't used them. I always say it is "too much technique for me" - I like to scrapbook the quick and easy way...but this was fun and didn't take long at all {other than waiting for the very thick paint to dry}!

During December I will post my daily photos and album pages. Stay tuned!

inside daily december

The inside pages of my Daily December album, ready and waiting to be filled with our memories of December 2009...

























I actually made most of these pages last year, but then did not have enough time to complete the album {last year was a crazy time - we were selling our house right before Christmas, so not a lot of extra decorating or scrapbooking got done}! So I am attempting this again.

If I had done the pages this year I think I would have used a different style of papers, etc. But because the idea of this album is to make documenting your holidays quick and easy, I am resisting the urge to re-do it!

Now all I have to do, during the busy holiday season, is snap a quick photo, print it out at home {on my handy dandy photo printer, a gift from K last Christmas}, stick the photos in the album and add a few small embellishments.

Happy December!

shout out

To my boy R.

Who, this past week, accepted an achievement award in front of his entire school for "being a great writer".

I was so proud. And so glad to be there to see him go up on stage.

{photos from a recent class field trip to Saunder's Farm that I went to with R}

I love to see R doing so well. And I love all the little notes and papers that I am finding around the house these days with his writing on them. He is turning into a fabulous writer and artist. He draws constantly and is always asking how to spell things so he can put descriptions with his pictures. I love to nurture this creativity in him by providing him with all the paper and craft supplies I can, to see what he will come up with next...

Go little man Go!

team jacob

Last night I saw The Twilight Saga: New Moon movie, and it confirmed for me, just as when I read the books, I am very much Team Jacob.

It also confirmed for me, however, that these movies are just not well done. The acting is cheesy and the vampire make-up is just as bad. But somehow it does not seem to matter. I still enjoyed myself. There is just something about this story that I really like.

So despite the over-the-top-soap-opera-ish teen drama, I had a great night out with girlfriends. Christine, Lee Ann {no Kelly this time sadly} and I saw the first movie as a group, so we went back for part two together. Jill & her sister and Jen joined us this time too. We had a nice dinner before the movie at O'Connors Irish Pub.

So, who are you?

Team Edward...

or Team Jacob?

Just curious.

everything i needed to know about being a girl...

I learned from Judy Blume.

I am reading this...

right now and am reminiscing about my childhood reading list.

Did you grow up reading Judy Blume too?