Christmas Mantel

Here are some pics of our Christmas Mantel. I think my favorite thing this year is my new stockings. Since Carter was born we needed new stockings right so we all had matching ones? :)

**Do you love the can of pledge sitting in the window sill? :)**

I really wanted burlap stockings and thought I would have time to make some, but decided that I probably didn't and then I found these ones on Etsy and I absolutely loved them! Here is a close-up of each one - they are all a little different and I love it. You can also see the little tags I made for each one...I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. :)

I ordered the stockings from Turnbow Designs - I love them!

Linking up to Home Stories A to Z, Southern Hospitality and Ten June.

December...

I can't believe we are already full swing in December. Yesterday we took the boys on the Polar Express train ride. It was a lot of fun. The train went up to the North Pole and then Santa came on board and each kid was able to sit on Santa's lap. Blake asked Santa for a big tractor and a little tractor. Santa told him that he liked giving tractors to good little boys so Blake needed to be sure and be good. :) Too cute!

Last night I was able to work on my December Daily album a little bit. I have a pretty good start on my base pages, but I still hadn't done the album cover - it was kind of intimidating me and I'm not sure why...
So I finally just started tackling it. I painted it white and then embossed some silver snowflakes which didn't turn out the best, but they work. I made some fringe flowers from red paper and used some Christmas brads for the centers. I had a lot of fun working on it once I got going. :)

I'm not sure how Carter is getting so big, but it's happening. He's almost 7 months old and is in 12 month size clothes now and on the verge of crawling - he scoots all over.

Pretty handsome little guy if I do say so myself. :)
On a side note, I did make a batch of the laundry soap awhile ago and am loving it. I've given over 1/2 the batch away to people that wanted to try it so I'll probably be making more sometime in the next couple of months, but it's working great and soooo much cheaper!

Have a great Monday!

Weekend update

Well I didn't get to work on much of anything this weekend. :( My Grandma had a heart attack Friday evening as well as she has pneumonia. They've fixed the heart problem - they found a blockage when they did an angiogram and so they put a stint in, so now we just need to get her over the pneumonia.

I'm back to the hospital later this morning; prayers and happy thoughts sent Grandma's way would be appreciated. :)

Hope everyone has a great week!

December Daily

I'm so excited - my December Daily add-on kit from Studio Calico arrived yesterday in the mail! I'm working on gathering inspiration so hopefully this weekend I can work on it!!

Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend. Saturday we had friends over for dinner - they have a girl that is a month older than Blake and a girl a month younger than Carter so it's always fun to get together. Especially to see the older two playing together. :)

On Sunday, Carter was baptized at Church and then we had family over afterwards for pizza. I didn't get hardly any pictures and the ones I did get didn't turn out too good, but oh well - Mom got some so I'll need to print some of hers too. :)

Here is a picture of Carter with his god-parents - Auntie Kristen & Uncle Matt! :) Here's one of Carter sacked out on Daddy - it was a busy day for him! :)I love this picture too - I just had to share it! Blake is working on puzzles with Great-Grandma Nabel (her name in Mabel, but Blake calls her Grandma Nabel)!

Here are a couple of layouts I did awhile ago - bad pictures of them, but I love how they turned out.

The journaling reads: 10 Things I love about you 1. your infectious laugh 2. that you love snuggling at night at bedtime 3. your ability to make a mess within minutes 4. your love for your brother 5. your smile 6. that you correct me on my tractors 7. listening to you go through books & tell the stories 8. your persistence when you want candy 9. that you love coming to my scrap room with me 10. that you call M&M's chingaderas thanks to Grandpa.

Journaling reads: you love giving big smiles, especially to your big brother; you love having your diaper changed; you sleep through the night and have been for several months; you just started rolling over from you tummy to your back; you like your swing, but only if its on the highest speed; you are very loved by everyone

Well - I better go see if I can get any housework done - this evening I'm off to my first spinning class in years. :) Hopefully I survive! I've got lots on my to do list this week - I'm going to try making my own laundry detergent. I've started it, but its not done yet - we'll see how it goes! :)
Here's one last picture - my boys on halloween - we had one 'GIANT' pumpkin and a monkey. (Blake was not just a pumpkin he was a 'GIANT' pumpkin).

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

How bad is it that this year I didn't really get out a lot of the Halloween decorations - I have the fall decorations out, but now the Halloween ones...that's not like me. I'm already getting ready for Christmas though - how scary is that...

I made two of these frames - one for my Mom & Dad and another for Eric's parents. They were a lot of fun actually and Blake helped me some.

It's a really bad picture - but I snapped it really fast as I was running out the door with it to deliver. :) I got the idea off of Pinterest (I am officially addicted by the way) Here's the original that I pinned.

I bought two $0.97 frames from Walmart and painted them green. I hot-glued wiggly eyes all over it. Added some ribbon and cut out 'eek' with my Cricut and we were good to go.
It was a great in-expensive gift that I think I'll maybe make one for myself for next year. It would've been better to give them the frame with the boys in the Halloween costumes, but the costumes weren't ready in time.

I should have pics up soon of a cute pumpkin and his cute little monkey. :)

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween!

12 Things Before 2012

I don't remember where I read this, but someone had posted 12 things they wanted to do before 2012...a pre-resolution. :) I decided that I'd better take up on this - we'll see how I do...

12 Things To Do Before 2012

1. Get Christmas shopping done before Dec. 15th

2. Make/Keep up a December Daily Album (I'm on my way - I ordered the kit from Studio Calico this morning)!!!

3. Clip and actual remember to use coupons

4. At least make an attempt to start remodeling the basement

5. Take boys to the Hood River Train for the Polar Express ride

6. Plan a couple of mini-vacation's for next year

7. Back-up all my pictures - I've been really bad!

8. Start posting on the blog regularly so later I can go back! :)

9. Exercise more regularly/frequently - start training for 1/2 marathon (?)

10. Plan menus weekly

11. Visit Grandparent's more often - all sets of them! :)

12. Finish organizing Grandpa & Grandma's old pictures & make CD's for everybody

Ok - now that I've put them out there I'll have to be accountable for them right?

This is one of my favorite pictures lately...how cute are my boys?

This was taken at the Wooden Shoe Pumpkin Fest - Eric's cousin knitted Carter a pumpkin hat and it is stinkin' adorable!

Oh & I have actually been getting some projects done that I've pinned on Pinterest! I'll post it here shortly, but I made my parents & Eric's parents a frame for Halloween with the above picture in it. It's stinkin' cute!

I scored!

I went to pick-up the mail the other day and my June Studio Calico kit came. Yippee!! I ordered one of the add-on kits so I was pretty excited. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to whip it out and get to working on some projects.

Yesterday, Carter was laying on his activity mat and Blake decided that he wanted to lay next to him. I bet they laid together for over 15 minutes which is quite unusual for Blake to stay like that for that long.

It's so fun to see them together - I can't wait to see what trouble they get into when they're older. :)

Today, my wonderful sister-in-law tagged along with me while I shopped for some shorts for Blake. The boy didn't have any that fit him...
I got some really good deals - for $100 I got...

Blake
-6 pairs of shorts
-3 sets of pajamas (2 have shorts & pants)
-3 shirts

Carter
-2 shirts
-6 onesies
-1 pair of overalls
-1 pair of shorts

I thought I did pretty good. I also earned a $25 Gymbuck at Gymboree!! :)

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week...I'm working on putting together my 'Home Management Notebook' - I got the idea from Honey We're Home and I'm really excited about it!

Jackie

Memory Game

I was finally able to finish a game that I had started making for Blake a week or so ago last night. I got the idea from Liz Kartchner. She created it with pictures of family, which I would like to do as well, but I decided to try it out with numbers first.

I used the Fancy Pants - To the Moon patterned paper (which I absolutely love). The Cricut worked great to cut out the circles and the numbers. It was a pretty fun little project to put together!

Well I'm going to get outside and enjoy this sunshine we're having before its gone in a few days!
Have a great weekend!

Carter Allen

Carter Allen arrived May 11th ... what do you know on his due date. Eric says he knew his Daddy likes to be on time and not late like I so often am. :)

He weighed 8 lbs. 1 oz. when he was born. I took him in last week for his 2 week check-up and he weighed 9 lbs. 3 oz. I'm telling you the boy loves to eat!

It amazes me how much he looks like Blake sometimes.

Here is a picture of my 3 boys :) Love them dearly!!

He's such a good baby and we love him so much! Blake loves showing him off wherever we go or to anyone who comes to the house!

Where does the time go?

I have no idea where the time is going. We've been so busy around here its ridiculous. I really have gotten a lot of scrapbooking done - while we were camping I finished almost all of my CKC projects. Right now I'm working on some paper bag mini albums for the Grandma's for Mother's Day.

I have 2 weeks left until my due date, but the doctor keeps telling me any day now. I'm physically ready to be done with the pregnancy, but I'm not actually ready - his room isn't ready and I have several projects I'd like to get done first.

Blake continues to amaze me - he's so funny! How is it that my baby can:

- Sing his ABC's (he runs some of the letters together, but its so cute)

- Count to 10
- Wants to help with everything - folding laundry, unloading the dishwasher, etc.

- Does not want me to carry him - he wants to walk by himself everywhere
- Talk in complete sentences

- Do something that makes me irritated and then have me laughing so hard I'm crying immediately after

He has a new obsession with pop-a-wheelies (except he calls them pop-a-wee-wees). I'll walk into his room and all of his tractors will be tipped up doing wheelies. We gave him a trike for his birthday and he is constantly doing 'side pop-a-wee-wees' with it.

I love how he mispronounces some words (I actually kind of miss it when he learns how to say the correct word).

- Granola Bar = Nub A Bar

- Fertilizer Spreader = Spreaderizer
(He used to call a combine a 'bundy').

He loves motorcycles - on our last trip to the sand, Eric took him out on the 4-wheeler and he loved the hills (going up and down).

I love this picture of Eric & Blake - my two boys...I can't wait to meet my third boy in a couple of weeks (hopefully sooner)!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!
Jackie

Weekend!

I really do have some pictures to post of projects and of family stuff, but I've been busy getting ready for the Creating Keepsakes Convention today. This week has been quite the week...Blake was sick and then I've been having problems with my sciatic (sp?) nerve (happened when I was pregnant with Blake, but man alive I forgot how painful it was).

Hopefully after this weekend I'll have some fun pictures to post of the convention as well. I signed up for a lot of classes this year...I figured that way I wouldn't spend as much at the vendor faire and being about 33 weeks pregnant I didn't need to be on my feet a ton (I have a tendency to get cankles if I'm up for too long).

Hope you have a great weekend as well!

We had snow...I promise

We woke up this morning to snow! And I was in such a hurry to get out of the house that I wasn't able to take any pictures of it! I had a doctors appointment in Salem to have a 3D ultrasound done of our bun in the oven and I wanted to leave early to allow extra time to get there. (Funny thing is with Blake when we went to have an ultrasound it had also snowed that day)! We just got home from the doctors appointment and some errands and of course the snow is gone. :(

Funny story though: Last night I went into Blake's room (he'd been playing in there for awhile) and he had gotten into the container of bag balm (don't judge me - I know its for cows, but it honestly is the best diaper rash cream we've tried yet) anyway he had it all over his clothes, in his hair, all over his toys (he was washing them so he says). And that stuff does not clean easily. He got a bath last night and his hair is still greasy today!

Well that's it for now...I have a couple of cards I need to get made so hopefully I'll have some pics to post soon!

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Christmas Card

Yeah - I got my first Christmas card for next year done! Sketchy Thursdays teamed with Jingle Belles for a card challenge.

Here's my take on the challenge:

Supplies: White cardstock, patterned paper - Basic Grey Figgy Pudding

While I was down in the scraproom I thought I'd better get a card going for my parents' wedding anniversary that's this week, so I used the same sketch.

Supplies: White Cardstock, Patterned paper - Close to my Heart, Pearls/Flowers (unknown)

Thanks for stopping by!

Scrappiness

Here is a layout I did today for the Sketchy Thursday's sketch last week. I've been trying to get caught up on some old pictures that haven't been scrapped yet as well as work on some current pictures. These pictures are from August 2005 - I know I'm way behind!

This second page I had done a couple of weeks ago, but never got posted. I love this picture of Eric & Blake. Blake insists on wearing his hats backwards about 90% of the time - I have no idea where he got it because Eric hardly ever wears a hat backwards.

Not much else to catch up on that I can think of now. We've been so busy I don't know where the time goes. I had to go in for a follow-up glucose test because my first one came back high and it was awful! Thankfully it came back normal so no gestational diabetes for me! :) Blake is cracking us up every day more and more - he is such a hoot! I almost forget what life was like before we had him - it must have been pretty uneventful. :)

Have a great day!

Valentine's Day Card

Hi Everyone,

I was able to finish the Valentine's day cards yesterday and mailed them off today. One thing to check off the To-Do List. It's a very simple card, but lately I've been into the simple things! :)

Blake has been so funny lately - I told Eric that I think he's going to be the class clown. He's such a ham. His new thing now is that everything has to 'pop a wee-wee' instead of (pop a wheelie). I went into his room the other day and all of his tractors (and the boy has a lot of tractors) were all tipped up on their back wheels - when he saw me he got all excited and started yelling 'pop a wee-wee, pop a wee-wee'. It was the funniest thing ever.

I was able to get two scrap pages done the other day, but I haven't had a chance to take pictures of them yet-will do that soon.

The Karen Russell photography class I'm taking started today so I'm off to read my lessons for this week. I've read the first lesson and I have 4 more to go. :) I'm loving it!
Have a great week!

Look what came

Today was my day to get all my errands ran...didn't quite get them all done, but most of them.
One of the stops was the post office and look what came today -

It's the binder for Karen Russell's online photography class I'm taking that starts next week! Yippee! (Last week I also got the 50mm lens in the mail that I bought from B&H Photo so I'm all ready to go!)

I enrolled Blake in the Indoor Park this morning also - we didn't stay too long, but he really liked it and didn't want to leave! I'm excited to have that outlet for him to run around and wear off some energy! :)

Funny story: Last night I heard Blake in our room - when I went in there he had dumped this little bowl where Eric & I put all of our change onto the floor and was taking the coins into his room and putting them in his piggy bank. It was hilarious! I told him that was Mommy & Daddy's money and he informed me that it was his. He looked at me and said "Blake needs money too" How can you not smile at that?

My little boy

Blake cracks me up everyday - he can be so challenging at times, but he is such a sweet boy that even when he's being a pill you can't help but smile.

He loves reading so I snuck some pics today while he was 'reading' in his chair

Tonight Eric and I were sitting in the living room and Blake comes running through into the dining room carrying a case of his wipes. Eric said "Blake what are you doing?" but he didn't answer so I got up and looked and he was cleaning up some milk he had spilled. By the time I grabbed my camera he had cleaned up all the milk, but it was the cutest thing ever seeing him laying on the floor wiping up his milk.
That's all I have for today - I did have an OB appointment today and I gained another 3 lbs. - doctor said it was okay though because that makes it 11 lbs. total. (This sounds bad, but I wish I'd get a little bigger soon-I'm right at the point that I feel huge, but I think when people look at me they question whether I'm pregnant or just have a big belly).
Hope everyone had a great Martin Luther King Jr. Day - I'm off to move laundry and bed! :) (Staying up until 10:30 last night trying to get a certain boy to sleep has not had a positive effect on my energy today).
Jackie

Yipee!

Quick post because I'm so excited I can't contain myself!! Eric just gave me the okay to take Karen Russell's online photography workshop. I'm just auditing it, but I'm still stoked about it! It starts January 31st and I can't hardly wait! Now to get caught up on everything else before it starts... You're never really 'caught up' though are you?
Hope everyone has a great weekend - I'm off to bed...if I can sleep!

New Year

I'm not sure where all the time goes, but my hope for this year is to be a lot better about blogging. I want to record all of the little things in my life so when I look back (and when I'm scrapping) I have some of the details that I may not have otherwise recorded. So if I say it out loud I'm hoping that I'll hold myself a little more accountable! :)

Lots has happened since I last blogged...too much to write, but here's a quick recap...

*We're going to have another boy - due May 15th!

*We now have a little kitty that Blake totes around everywhere (sorry about the bad pic, but it gives the idea)!

*Blake is talking like crazy - he repeats almost everything (good and bad) and is trying to put words together into his own sentences too.

I haven't been doing a lot of scrapping, but I recently was reading a book I'd bought awhile ago by Becky Higgins about scrapping family history especially old photographs and it really got me in the mood on a couple of projects I've been wanting to do. We'll see how far I get on that this year! :)

I hope everyone had a great holiday season!
Jackie