Christmas Cheer

I've started working with a new product designer over at Scrap Girls, making layouts for her when needed. It's been a lot of fun and I've had the chance to scrap a lot more often because of it. Her name is Pebbles Jones (I know, so cute, right?) and she's really sweet. I've had lots of fun with her products.

Here are some of the more recent layouts I've done. To find out what supplies I used, you can click on the image and you'll be taken to my gallery where the supplies are linked up.

Hope you like them! ;)

Holiday Motivation

How cute is this?

There is a website where you can create a personalized video from Santa for your child. I made one for Eli -- I think he's going to like it!

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guest/YY7QcQDw5eSVC-h1pPOGhg

I love the part where he tells Eli to make sure he's listening to his parents. I think I'm going to have to pull that one out and use it in the upcoming weeks before Christmas! :)

I bet you can't relate at all...

'Did you ever wish you could sometimes freeze frame a moment in your day, look at it and say "this is not my life"?'
-- Mrs. Doubtfire

Yeah, so here's a little story. This afternoon around 1:30, I decided to make my bed.

{Sidenote: I hope I didn't just ruin anyone's perception of my life by admitting that I don't make my bed every morning the minute I get up out of it. Actually, it's far more likely is that you knew that already.}

So I stripped the bed, and found the crumbly remnants of the dry cereal my kids were eating in my bed that morning. So I thought to myself, "Self, you need to vacuum those up before you make the bed because you'll kick yourself for it when you get in bed and it's all crumbly tonight."

Being all homemaker-y, I went to find the vacuum, where I had left it, still plugged in, in the guest room. But before I could get it out, I saw that I had left some books on the floor from when I was dusting earlier, so I decided those needed to be put away real quick. After I finished that, I noticed some toys and other odds and ends that needed to be put away, so I took them to their rightful places. One of which was some fabric that needed to go in my sewing room. I got to my sewing room, put the fabric away, and there were some clothes of the boys that needed to be taken downstairs to the laundry room. So of course, I did that, and found that the trash needed to be taken out. So I did that, and noticed some clean laundry that had to be taken upstairs to my room.

When I got to my room, I wanted to put the clothes away, but first I realized I needed to have a made bed to do it. (Don't ask me why, I always prefer putting my clothes away on a made bed. I know, I'm weird.)

So then the cycle completed because I saw the crumbs, remembered that I was supposed to be getting the vacuum, finally got it, and then came back to make the bed.

"This is not my life."

Put me out of my misery!

Ugh, I hate being sick. And normally I’m not, but these past couple of months I’ve just been bouncing from one infirmity to another. I’m not sure if it’s stress related or because I have kids that have to touch everything they come in contact with in the outside world, or maybe maybe my little antibodies are taking a holiday. Who knows. Whatever the reason, I’m getting really tired of dealing with it.

First it was bronchitis that lasted for a good two weeks. I finally went to the doctor and got on antibiotics, and started doing better. At the tail end of that, I must have caught some kind of cold from the kids that wreaked havoc on my sinuses. Every time I drove down the big hill to the freeway, my head would congest so much that I felt like I was deep-sea diving. And that lasted for a good 2 1/2 weeks before I could get my ears to pop!

Then just yesterday I woke up with either a 24-bug or food poisoning, I really don’t know which one. And I’ll spare you the gory details, but it was draining. I’m just eternally grateful for my mother-in-law who came and whisked my boys away for an overnight stay so that I could stay home and get some rest. Really, I don’t know what I would have done without her. I’m grateful to be the beneficiary of such kindness.

And now, it’s on to the rest of the day filled with preschool, meetings, planning for an upcoming church Christmas dinner, and lots of other things.

Maybe one of those things should include Lysol’ing the entire house. I’m pretty much at that point by now, haha.

Holiday Happenings

I hope you've all had a wonderful holiday this past week. We spent the day(s) with my husband's family, his parents, two sisters, brother-in-law, grandparents, and aunt. It was lots of fun! And of course, I was too busy chasing little ones around and making my mama's famous bakery rolls, so I got ZERO pictures of the festivities. Seriously, zero. I'm not proud. But for now, I'm glad I got to enjoy the holiday.

E and W loved having lots of playmates to entertain them, the hubby got some great Wii playing in, and we (the girls) even got to do some shopping that night! Who knew, Old Navy was open until 8pm! Those poor workers. But at least I got a nice new winter coat, so I'm happy.

There are so many things in my life that I'm thankful for right now. I'll only list a few so as not to bore you all, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share some. 

• my Savior, Jesus Christ
• my absolutely amazing little family
• modern medicine
• Sudoku
• Harry Potter Lego's
• dish gloves
• muddy buddies
• a cell phone that takes pictures
• digital scrapbooking supplies (so I don't have to mess with glue)
• really exceptional friends with whom I can pick up right where we left off, no matter how much time has gone by
• this great fall weather that has finally come to California!

Those are just a few of the things I've been thinking about lately. I'm SO SO SO blessed in my life, and I'm practicing acknowledging that and making a point to remember it.

And since I don't have any Thanksgiving photos to share, I'll share a recent layout instead. :) 

You can find links to the supplies I used here.

What I was doing Monday night

Do you want to know what my idea of a perfect evening is?

Well, at least when the hubby is out of town…

It’s putting together THIS:

while watching THIS:

Yeah. Perfection.

(And don’t worry, the hubs is home safe and sound now.)

And you’d better believe we’ll be going to see THIS on Friday night! I literally get goosebumps every time I watch the trailers. Every. Single. Time.

I love this giveaway

Check it out, there's a giveaway going on over at Impatiently Praying for Patience (don't you just love that title? It's the story of my life...but I digress) and the winner gets 5 prints from a cute little etsy shop called Winterberry Cottage.



I'm digging the Alice in Wonderland scheme. Although, since I don't actually have any girls, I may have to settle for the Spongebob one.

Oh, she doesn't have Spongebob?

Then this guy is a close second:


Hahaha, can't you see that framed in the bathroom?

LOVE.

Then maybe the hubby would shave more often. Hmmm....

Really, though, this one has got to be my favorite:


Okay, so this one really is my favorite:


I swear. :)

Not really, though, because it's actually this one:


I'm such a fickle creature.

Check it!

Our friends, Matt and Shayne, have the coolest little family. They’re always doing fun stuff, and they have awesome, creative parents. For Halloween, they made the best costumes for their kiddos and asked me to photograph them. I was so excited!

I was really impressed with their skillz, especially Corr’s.

Want to see how cute they looked? Check them out HERE.

I'm Amazed

I have a friend, Mandy, who is constantly amazing me. She has this ability to put into words the very things that I would love to say but don't know how. The way she places words within sentences draws you in and pulls your heart towards a direction you didn't know you wanted to go. And this post is no different. But then again, in a way it is. Because it really spoke to me, more so than any recent one.

I wondered why. Then I realized that it's because within this post, I could 100% relate to what she was saying. It wasn't just that part of it applied to me, or that I could imagine where she was coming from. It was because I had been right there in that exact situation and felt like she was talking about me. And I love that.

Obviously that isn't always the case with everything I read. So I was glad to have found something that spoke directly to my heart and put words there that I didn't know how to place myself.

So thank you, Mandy, for sharing your words and ideas. You make me want to be better, and that is truly the best compliment I could give.

A Treat for You!

Do you want to see the current cutest baby on the planet? (No, not one of mine...)

Click here to see who I've been photographing lately!

Here's a hint: