Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year and my top 10

As today is the last day of 2008 I want to wish everyone a very happy, healthy and safe new year! A special shout out goes to my mom who after today is retiring! We love you mom!

There is a thread at Studio Calico to post your favorite 10 layouts from 2008 on your blog. Heather challenged me to do it so here are mine in no particular order. If you listed yours, link me up. I would love to see them!

























Sunday, December 28, 2008

A good time was had by all.

We had a great Christmas! The boys were just ecstatic with their gifts this year! Santa did a great job and did not disappoint. Here they are modeling the new football jerseys Uncle Tony gave to them this year. Zachary's is Dwight Freeney of the Colts and Connor's is Ladanian Tomlinson of the Chargers. Santa brought them the new Nerf game for the Wii along with Rockband 2 for PS3. Zachary's big gift was an ipod Nano and docking station.
Connor got the Star Wars Clone Trooper helmet he has been coveting along with the clone trooper blaster and the Clone Wars video game for Wii. Are you sensing a trend? They also received lots of gifts from Grandma and Grandpa including Cavalier and Ohio State jerseys and lots of games. All in all, they made out like bandits.

As usual, our Christmas was filled with great food and lots of cookies! Too many cookies! Eddie's mom is arriving tomorrow and will be here for New Years. Last time she was here we had 2 feet of snow. I don't think that she will be that lucky this time.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

5 days and counting....

until Christmas. Are you ready? I just have to wrap a few things and I am done! Speaking of done, yesterday was our last day of school. Yippee! No alarm clock for 2 weeks!

Zachary's basketball season is in full swing and here is shot from one of last weeks games. This was a tournament. They made it into the championship game but lost to a very tough team. That would be my kid in blue in the middle of all those guys.
We also attended Zachary's Christmas band recital last week. He is in the 5th grade beginner band and plays the trumpet. I wish I could share a photo of him playing the trumpet but they all were sitting down and had the stands in front of them so you could not see any one's face. He did get up to introduce one of the three songs they performed.

The weather sure feels like Christmas in Ohio. It has been cold and snowy. My parents and brother arrive on Tuesday for the holiday and the kids couldn't be more excited! Hope you have a great weekend!


Sunday, December 14, 2008

This is for my dad and brother.

You know you've been a bad blogger when the two people who tease you about having a blog are complaining I haven't updated in a while! It has been a crazy month and it seems like it was just Thanksgiving and now we are 11 days from Christmas!



Wanted to post some layouts I did with the November All Moments Remembers kit. Better late than never, right? As always, the kit was packed with goodies. I am really going to miss these kits! The pic is not the best on this first layout but wanted to use it anyway. You would think Disney photographers would do a better job. I will say the lighting was horrible inside the castle.




This is from this past Thanksgiving. OA Weathervane was perfect for this!

Ooops, sorry! I had to remove this LO for publication. It will be back soon!




Stay tuned for more with this awesome kit. Just to let everyone know even though AMR won't be doing monthly kits anymore they still will continue the message board and online store. There is a big one year anniversary crop January 9-10. Lots of fun things planned with lots of RAKS! Check the message board for details!



Just one more week of school left for me and the boys and then we are on Christmas break! Yay! Zachary's basketball season is in full swing and the team is doing really well. Our weekends will be full of Bball until February. He is also performing in the band Christmas concert Tuesday night. Connor is busy with Cub Scouts and will start basketball in January.



I hope everyone has a great week! Now I must go wrap something.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

I've been tagged!

I have been tagged by my friend Debbie!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial We always forgot to water our real tree!
3. When do you put up the tree? Thanksgiving weekend.
4. When do you take the tree down? January 1st
5. Do you like eggnog? Not at all!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Barbie Townhouse
7. Hardest person to buy for? My dad
8. Easiest person to buy for? My mom
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, under the tree
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Ugly sweater
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Christmas Vacation
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Early November
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Eggplant Parmigiana
16. Lights on the tree? yes...tons, all clear
17. Favorite Christmas song? All I want for Christmas by Mariah Carey
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home....
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither. We have a vintage Santa.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? the crowds
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Red, green and gold
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Our traditional Italian feast!
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Nothing, I like to give, not receive.
26. Who is most likely to respond to this? I hope everyone!!

I am tagging anyone who would like to play along!

It sure it looking like Christmas as Ohio is seeing it first snowfall of the year! It is only 30 degrees!

Monday, November 10, 2008

A layout and a discovery!

Friday night Nicole and I went to Archiver's to crop. I managed to get three layouts done which is quite an accomplishment for me since I am such a slow scrapper. I got a lot of my fall photos scrapped including our trip to the pumpkin patch. I am lovin' Collage Press Jackson's Lodge! It was perfect for these photos of my boys.
Like so many of you, I love pumpkin spice lattes. The other day, while grocery shopping I found this bottle of goodness! Coffemate Pumpkin Spice creamer. It is delicious and it almost tastes like the real thing. If only I had whip cream in the house I would feel like I was at Starbucks! While searching their website I discovered a myriad of seasonal flavors including peppermint mocha. What? Oh yes...peppermint mocha. It will be mine! Woke up to a few flurries today. I am in complete denial about winter. My boys on the other hand were stoked! Go out and get some Coffemate. You will be so glad you did!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

An organized Christmas?

Is there such a thing? Well this year I am going to try. I found this great site, Organized Christmas and it is jam packed with tips on how to keep organized this holiday season.

One idea they suggest is to make a holiday planner. I decided to give it a whirl. I used a 7 Gypsies mini album that I have had for years but never used. I used some Scenic Route Sonoma, Collage Press Camden and some Making Memories Noteworthy for the cover, along with some Making Memories Christmas wordfetti from my stash.

Here's a close-up view. The numbers are American Crafts.
I still have more work to do on the inside pages of the planner but wanted to show you some of the pocket planner forms you can download free from their site. This one is for gift ideas but they have many more to choose from. You can find them here.

This was a really fun project and it came together quickly! I hope you will give it a try.
Don't forget to get out and vote today!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Trick or Treat.

A good time was had by all this Halloween! If you can't tell, Connor was Indiana Jones and Zachary was...well I don't know what he was exactly but he was calling himself scary Petyon Manning. As usual, my boys couldn't be more different. Zachary loves all things gross and scary for Halloween and Connor does not. In fact, it down right scares him. Both of them managed to bring home quite the assortment of goodies that will surely send them into sugar shock for the next couple of weeks.
We played our last flag football game this morning. We won, 29-6 and that got us 5th place. The boys played so well and really seemed to gel. To bad it was their last game. Connor played center and linebacker all season. Our coaches decided today to give the kids who really never carry the ball a chance to do so. This was Connor's chance. Tears filled my eyes with pride as I saw him run 40 yards for a touchdown! He was ecstatic! He also had a great day on defense stopping the other team on the 1 yard line on fourth down.
A few posts ago, I mentioned that one of my layouts was going to be featured in an online magazine. Well, the November issue of Scrapstreet.com Magazine came out today and you can see my layout here. This was my first time seeing this magazine and I must say it is full of great inspiration. You need to check it out! Thanks Stacey!
Some sad news to report. All Moments Remembered is going to stop selling monthly kits. You can read about it on Heather's blog. I am sad but also looking forward to new things to come. I so enjoyed my time on the AMR DT and working with Heather and Debbie! There will still be a November and December kit so I will still have a bit a work to share!
Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Fall Favorites

Football and pumpkins are two of my favorite things about fall. I mentioned in my last post that we had a weekend of football and pumpkin patches. I just wanted to share some photos I took.

Saturday morning Connor had flag football. Round one of the playoffs. He is such a tough little guy. All summer long Connor and Zachary played football in our backyard with lots of boys in our neighborhood. All the boys, except for a few were older than Connor and I think that really helped him this year in flag. He was not afraid to block kids that were much bigger than him. Would you look at the look on his face. He plays the game with intensity. We ended up losing the game but we do get to play on Saturday for third place.
On Sunday, we made our annual visit to the pumpkin patch. We went back to Grobe Farms since we had such a great time there last year. They had tons of pumpkins! As usual, Zachary found his first and Connor can never decide. Zachary helped him and I think they both came home with the perfect pumpkins!

The fall weather has come to Ohio. The high today is a brisk 49 degrees. I have to say that I am loving the cool temps! It is breezy so our backyard is full of leaves. You know what that means? The boys said after school they are going to make big piles of leaves and jump in them. I will be there with my camera for sure!

Monday, October 20, 2008

October All Moments Remembered kit.

Wanted to share my layouts using the October All Moments Remembered kit. I really loved the new Collage Press papers and all the Prima! Don't forget to check out the rest of the DT's layouts including our guest designer, Amanda Probst here!


Yep, that is me on my 21st birthday with my mom. Hard to believe that was 20 years ago!
We had a busy weekend with football and pumpkin patches! Yesterday, Eddie and I celebrated our 17th anniversary! Can you believe that! Happy Monday everyone!

Friday, October 17, 2008

Sneaking in at the last minute.

Here are some sneaks of the All Moments Remembered October kit. The full Design Team reveal will be tomorrow on the new AMR Blog. Also, Amanda Probst, our guest designer this month will have a little something on her blog tomorrow. You might want to check it out!


Monday, October 13, 2008

A good time was had by all!

Yesterday was Connor's eight birthday party. We had it at Game Day which is an indoor football/soccer field for kids and adults and they just so happen to have birthday parties there too. We invited Connor's entire flag football team plus a few other friends from school and our neighborhood. Needless to say, they had a great time! He got some great gifts! Lots of legos, gift cards and football attire! Go BUCKS!
Here is a pic of the boys on the field during their game. After pizza they switched to kick ball.
I am happy to say that after two losses their flag team won their third game on Saturday. We came in third place and next weekend starts the playoffs. Hard to believe the season is almost over but don't worry, Zachary's basketball sign ups are Tuesday!

Lastly, wanted to share a layout of Connor on his first day of school this year. I just love this October Afternoon paper and finally got around to using it. Have a great week everyone!

Friday, October 10, 2008

I love teacher workdays!

Most schools in our area are closed today for a teacher work day. Yipppee! Gotta love a day off! For our school at least it is a freebie day so even the teachers get to enjoy the day including preschool! Shhh, don't tell the parents! LOL!

Here is what we have on tap for today:
  • Flu shots for the boys
  • Haircuts for the boys
  • need to buy the goody bags for Connor's party
  • fill said goody bags
  • take the boys to lunch ( I feel bad they have to get shots on their day off)
  • Maybe a trip to the pumpkin patch

We are gearing up for Connor's 8th birthday party on Sunday. It is at an indoor football field where they can play football, soccer, dodge ball and kickball to their hearts content! It should be a blast. I will share pics for sure.

I got a bit of happy mail this week! I was contacted by an online magazine requesting to use one of my layouts for a monthly column on journaling! Boy, this made my day as this particular layout is one of my favorites! I will share the link when the issue comes out in November!

So, what manufacturer should you design for? Take this quiz and find out! Cyndi56 posted it on the AMR MB and we are having fun with it. Mine said KI Memories.

Don't forget that tomorrow is All Moments Remembered online crop from 4pm-12am est. As always there will be challenges, prizes and lots of fun. Our guest designer this month is Amanda Probst from Creating Keepsakes and she will be joining us on the boards to chat it up! Hope to see you there! Have a great weekend!

Saturday, October 4, 2008

All Moments Remembered October Kit

Take a look at this! It's the yummy October kit, Indian Summer from All Moments Remembered! And yes, that is new Collage Press Jackson! How cool is that! And just look at all the embellies you get in the main kit. Isn't that Maya Road chipboard owl mini the cutest?
The add-on, Fireflies is just as gorgeous! I am in love with those Jenni Bowlin mini bingo cards!
If you would like to see a list of the contents for the main and add-on go here! It just so happens to be the new AMR blog! Look for cool things to come from the DT including our projects with the kits debuting on October 11! And don't forget to join us on the message board for our online crop on October 11 4-12am est. as well. We always have tons of fun, challenges and prizes! Hope to see you there.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Back to normal

Last week was a bit hectic. Normally I only work at the preschool three days a week but was asked to cover for another teacher on my days off. To say I am not used to that schedule is an understatement! I am back to my regular schedule this week and boy I am glad!

We are in the midst of flag football season around here. Our team is doing great! We are 2-1 and the boys are learning and more importantly having fun. I wish I had some pics to share but I suck at taking sports photos so most of them didn't turn out. I will try again next Saturday!

Wanted to share a layout that I did a while ago and never got to post. It is about my two BFF's Nicole and Erika. I was thrilled when it was requested my Memory Makers for their idea book, Fabulous Friendships. I love that stamp and that American Crafts paper that the flowers are cut from it one of my all time favs!

Also, I wanted to thank everyone for their kind words and prayers for both of my friend's families. It means so much. Have a great week!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

It's been a rough week.

Yesterday, a good friend was laid to rest. I got to know Aleida Franklin through Studio Calico and All Moments Remembered message boards. She was beautiful, encouraging and always knew how to make you smile. Last Friday on her way to work she died in a fatal car crash. She leaves behind a husband and two small children. My heart aches for them but I know that she is in heaven with God scrappin' to the music.

Last Sunday, NE Ohio was experiencing the remnants of Hurricane Ike and took the life of my friends little boy. He was riding his bike, on his way home and a branch of a tree in front of his house fell on him. He was 12. I just don't know how they can bear this?

Please, pray for these families. They need it so much. And one more thing, please tell your loved ones just how much you love them everyday. You just never know.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Happy Wednesday!

It is back to work for me at the preschool. I am really loving it and the kids so much! I also like having a four day weekend.



Just wanted to share some Chatterbox projects made with mostly Eclectique. I love this fresh and funky line! This is a layout of Connor. Just love that toothless smile.



This is a mini I made of Zachary. It is 10 things about him at 10 years old. If you would like to see the all the pages you can check it out here.



Make sure to check out Heather's blog today. She is supposed to reveal another surprise!



We sure have been getting some relief from last weeks heatwave. It is feeling like fall is just around the corner. Have a great day!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

A lazy Saturday.

And that's okay. After the busy week we had we could sure use one. It is raining which to me is the perfect weather for scrapping. If you are in the mood to scrap too check out the online crop today at All Moments Remembered. It is from 4pm-12pm est and will be full of challenges and prizes from AMR. I am hosting from 5pm-7pm and I would love it if you joined us!

Well I made it through the first week of preschool! The children in my class are wonderful! So sweet and smart! I love working with kids this age. They are too young to know how to talk back. LOL!

I was tagged with this blog award by my BFF Nicole Harper and Amber ( a new friend I am getting to know through the AMR MB)recently and wanted to say a big thank you to both of them! I love both of their blogs too!

I am nominating these 7 people to receive this award too!

Here are the rules:

(1) The winner can put the logo on their blog.

(2) Link the person you received your award from.

(3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

(4) Put links of those on yours.

(5) Leave a message on the blogs you’ve nominated.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

All Moments Remembered September Kit

Had so much fun creating these layouts with Summer Dresses (Main kit) and Patio Lanterns (Add-on kit) from All Moments Remembered. Lots of new Heather Bailey goodness including paper, rub-ons, chipboard and stamps! Let's not forget the Prima too! You can get a full look at the kit contents here and see what our guest designers, Beth Johnson and Chris Hertel did with the kit as well as Heather and Debbie. Don't forget, the AMR online crop is this Saturday, September 6 from 4pm-12am est! Lots of challenges and prizes and Beth and Chris will be chatting too! I am your hostess with the mostess from 5pm-7pm and have some cool challenges to share! Come on over and say hi!

The fabulously talented and new MM Master Vee Jennings is giving away an AMR September kit on her blog. Make sure you go and visit and leave a comment for your chance to win!





We had a pretty quiet weekend. We went to see our local High school football game Friday night and Nicole and Erika came over Saturday night to scrapbook. Always a fun time with those two! Sunday and Monday were spent hanging out at home listening to the sounds of the entire neighborhood playing in my backyard! Have a great week!