Art

Thought I would do a separate post with all my scrappiness that I've not shared in a while.

Another of Alli's drawings. This girly has some serious talent!!

Some more pages that I've completed for Clay's NY album. Above are the pictures he took at Ground Zero & the new Freedom Tower.

The three layouts above are all pictures taken in Times Square.

And this last layout was done for our Design Team 'introductions' at Cookin' Up Creations. We were to scrap 'What I'm looking forward to/ what I hope to accomplish in the New Year'. I didn't have a picture of myself & my printer is running out of ink....so I ended up with this cr@ppy little print of the Carnival Cruise ship we will be sailing on in March. I figured it would have to do for the time being & it's only temporarily attached so I can replace it with a better photo later on. This is definitely something I'm looking forward to this coming year!!!

Finally!

Wow.....I've been so slack in my blogging! BUT....I have a some-what good excuse......our router died. At first we just thought something was up with the internet, but then figured out it was our poor old router we've had for a good while. So....from Christmas Day until just day-before-yesterday I've been without a computer. And I'm just now getting here to share Christmas pics & what-not. Below, is a picture I took of Clay's laptop......the kids fixed this screen-saver for him. It's kind of a little joke around here.....back on Clay's 43rd birthday, I think it was.....he made a slip & said something about turning 44 in a few days instead of 43. The kids thought that was hilarious....that he was thinking himself a year older than he really was going to be. So, from then on, everyone's always teasing him about being a year older than he really is.

One day last week.....I don't even remember WHICH day last week at this point, LOL!.....the kids made gingerbread cookies. If you happen to remember from last year, we ended up with several fun cookies...... a 'Jamie Hyneman' (Mythbusters) cookie is the one that really stands out for me. So this year Alli was determined that she was going to make a Taylor Swift cookie for Jon.......

...and not to be outdone, Jon made this lovely  Scotty McCreery cookie for Alli.

Our Christmas tree on Christmas morning.

Alli with one of her new Taylor Swift cds.

Well, I was trying to get a picture of Chris.....& Michael just HAD to stick his face in front of the camera. Such a ham!!

Chris' new computer drawing toy!

There are no words......Jon thinks Santa looks like he has his finger stuck up his nose. LOL!

REAL homemade honey from right here in Lovingston!

Charlie had enough Christmas & decided to take a little snooze in the middle of all the wrapping paper.

Clay looking through his NY album....not quite finished, but I wrapped it up anyway. I think he really liked it. He liked all the 'Googled' info I had looked up about everything. I'll continue to post the layouts as I finish them. I've managed to do a few more even since then.

Christmas evening at Maw's house.....Daniel dressed up like his little Elf friend. Doesn't he make the cutest little elf?!

Ummmm........Clay & his Bow Boobs. He made Sarah & I promise NOT to post this on Facebook.....but I never said I wouldn't share it here. Hee! Hee!

The other day, I was straightening up some of the Christmas clutter & stacked several boxes out on the back porch to be taken to the dump.......

For some reason I don't think the critters were ready to let them go. Charlie LOVED that chicken box from Sam's....it really did make a nice cozy little hidey-hole-house for him. Now Rocky....he wasn't too sure about being perched up on top there. Jon put him there so Alli could take his picture, but I think he was happier to get back on the ground again. They do look like they've got some little critter condo thing going on there, don't they?

Cruising right along.......

Yesterday was my Clay-Baby's birthday & we celebrated in our traditional manner..........the two of us went Christmas shopping & out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. One of the few times a year that we get to go out on a 'Date'. We had a really fun day & got quite a lot accomplished. But dinner was definitely the high-light. It was over supper that he told me about this........

In March, we will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary & WE WILL BE CRUISING TO THE BAHAMAS!! Oh my goodness....I'm so super excited! He's been planning this for a year now. What a sweetie. He said it couldn't be a total surprise because we will need to get pass-ports & shop, of course. But I love that he had planned it out to tell me over dinner last night. Still lots of details to work out & planning to do....but O.M.G.....I get so giddy every time I stop & think about it!

After dinner, we finished up our shopping......ran into 'Fluffy-Duffy' at Toys R Us & talked for a good 30 minutes. LOL! Starbucks was the last stop of the day......for a nice decaf coffee plus Clay kind of promised our 'Coffee-Girl' that we would bring her home a pumpkin spice latte.....one last Holiday Drink of the season. You would not believe how quiet it was in the place last night.......with NO LU students there. I think there might've been 5 other people in there besides us.....that was it. When we got home, Clay opened presents & we all shared some of his yummy-home-made-by-Ashley-cherry pie that she had baked for him while we were out. Cherry pie, coffee & watching 'Elf'......what a nice way to end a fantastic day!

Cookie Swap

The day started off with a visit to the dentist. Ashley finally got her braces off today!! She was so tickled! From there we headed straight on into town for our Homeschool Christmas cookie swap party at Maw's house.

Lots of yummy treats for sharing.

Sarah's cute little Grinch cookies.

Daniel, Alec, Jesse, Cori, Lora, Alli, Taylor & Anna

We always used to say that Anna was 'The choir director of life'.....everyone was singing Happy Birthday to Jesus!

 We had such a fun afternoon!! So glad that Donna & her kids were able to join us today. Hopefully it was the first of many homeschool parties ahead for her & her kids. ;-) God has blessed us with such amazing friends & family!

Christmas countdown

Just thought I'd take a minute & catch you up on what's been going on around here. We've been busy to say the least!

Christmas Snickerdoodles. Would love to say these were baked  for our Cookie Swap party we're having tomorrow at Maw's.....but these are long gone. LOL! Will have to bake some more this afternoon.

In between pans of cookies....I was working on my little crocheted candy cane ornaments. I'm hoping to make enough to share at our Cookie Swap.

 

On my scrapping message board...Cookin' Up Creations   we were talking about home-made gifts & so I took a few pictures yesterday afternoon of some of the goodies I've been working on this year. I know I posted before the altered desk calendars that I made for Ashley & her room-mates.....here's another one I did yesterday. So easy & fun to make!

How about a giant Hershey's bar.....spruced up with some scrappy-scraps.

This is called an 'Infinity Scarf'.....it's a Forever 21 knock-off.....& I found the idea on Pinterest. You can check out the pattern HERE.  It was super quick & easy to make!!

Another Infinity Scarf in mustard. Pardon the cr@ppy picture.....I got Alli to model the purple one, but I had to model this one & take a picture in my bedroom mirror.....kinda dark & never mind how well the scarf goes with my red Liberty shirt. LOL!

And just a little cuteness to brighten your day. Jon & Rocky kept trying to poke their faces in the picture when I was taking the ones of Alli with the cowl. So, I finally just gave in & took one of them so they'd leave me alone.

'Part-Time Pretties' Give-Away

Sheila  has several Christmas Pretties ready to go that she would like to give away!

Here is one embellishment "kit"

 

If you'd like a chance to win....check out the details HERE. And leave a comment there saying that I sent you!