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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

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!

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!