His name is Fletcher

Wow. Christmas is over. It comes and goes entirely too fast I think. But we really had a wonderful day and enjoyed ourselves this year - much more so than ever in the past. Perhaps it's because the boys are growing up yet the magic of Santa is still ever present or that we have our own traditions we've established and enjoy. In any case, I think I can safely say this was one of our best Christmases ever. I know Hoyte and I both thought so...and the boys too. They were completely overjoyed with what Santa and family gave them for Christmas, and initially this was Turner's favorite gift. Ya gotta love Batman! I was a bit afraid it might be a little like shades of Christmas past, but we survived getting only ONE costume somehow...perhaps it was because not long after Batman made his appearance, so did this...

Meet Fletcher! He's a chocolate and white lab/pointer mix that Santa rescued from the pound. He's the softest thing I've ever felt and oh-so-sweet (uh, except when he tries to use our arms as a chew toy!) He's the newest addition to our family and so far a very good boy ;) I joked with Hoyte that Santa must have lowered his bar on his BB&G list this year for him to be so generous to our clan! ;)

Hope your holiday was just as merry!

We wish you a Merry Christmas

I don't know about you, but wow have we been crazy with the holiday prep around here. Now that the big day has just about arrived, we've been settling back a bit, baking some treats for Santa and eagerly anticipating Christmas morning. My parents are meeting us a little later this afternoon to take the boys to see "The Chipmunk Movie" and then we'll spend some time opening a few presents and ultimately I imagine doing a little game playing. I'm really looking forward to the relaxed I (am I crazy thinking it'll be relaxed??!) evening and celebrating the true meaning of Christmas.

Here's hoping that Santa brings you all you wish for, that your holiday is spent with those you love and that 2008 is your best year yet.
Much Love,
K.

The View

...along the farms as I drove Carson to school yesterday morning. It was his last day before school was out for holiday vacation.



Doesn't it seem that even the Heavens were showing their colors in preparation for Christ's birthday? :)

The children were nestled..

OK, only one child here, but still, he was nestled! ;) This photo just melts me. I love this sweet boy, my oldest son, my big boy who will be a grown-up eight-year-old in just a few days. Yet this photo reminds me still just how little he is. Ah, this is the magic of Christmas... :)

On the twelfth day of Christmas...and the 13th...

or something like that!

On the *ahem* 14th? day of Christmas, Turner had Polar Express Day at school where they were even allowed to wear their pajamas to get in the spirit. In the first classroom, they had the story "Polar Express" read to them and they pretended to be on the train. Then they went to another classroom where they made several crafts (among which is the cutest beaded candy cane for our tree), then had cocoa and cookies in still another class. In the afternoon, all the kindy classes got together to watch the movie. Talk about magical! I'm so grateful that the school thinks it's just as important as I do to keep the magic alive for these children and will go to such lengths to do special things like this. Turner even came home with a reindeer sleigh bell. (Can you hear it?)

Last night was our time to write our letters to Santa. Being the crafty mama I am, I couldn't just let them write on a plain sheet of paper (oh no!), so I made up special "lists" for their letters and we spent some time under the Christmas tree jotting them down. It was so cool to see Turner join Ethan in actually being able to write a good portion of his list all on his own. They want everything from an XBox 360 to a dog apparently. I hope Santa is listening well! Only 10 more days to go!

Oh, and please let me share these few pictures of our gingerbread house...because, well...that house is no more. Apparently some teeny tiny raiders snagged all the candy off of it once it was built, and sadly, it now looks like more of a shack than a house! So here it is in all it's glory, before it had to be condemned. Now poor Santa can't go down that chimney. sigh. ;)

Have a wonderful weekend and may you get all your preparations done!

Day 11

And what a day it was.

Ok, so I've even been bad at keeping up with my photo a day for December, but I'm really trying. Darn those holidays for getting in the way of me preparing for the holidays! ;) Today's picture is the boys with Santa. I absolutely ADORE this Santa and we make a point to visit him every year at a local mall. He's very good with kids, the boys never are afraid of him (a big accomplishment for any Santa around my boys) and he looks so darn authentic.

Our visit was a bit of a spur of the moment trip as Turner had had a really rough day visiting the allergist and getting his scratch tests done. Bless him, he was such a trooper but it was so hard....so hard that I was crying too I felt so badly for him. Thankfully I think we've got a good, clear course of action to keep those allergins at bay and keep him healthier year-round. What a blessing! Since we had to make a trip into town anyway, I thought a Santa visit might be just what would cheer him up, and judging by his smile, I think it worked :) I only hope Santa can fit all they want on his sleigh. It might be a tight fit this year!

Hmmm. Only 13 more shopping days til Christmas (we celebrate mostly on Christmas Eve). Are you all ready or scurrying to get it done like me??!

P.S. The adorable vintage frame on the Santa picture is by Rhonna Farrer and is available here. So cute!

The Magic lives on :)

It's that magical time of year again. I think the boys look forward to the Christmas Squirrel almost as much as a visit TO Santa (note I didn't say FROM Santa!) This is a little tradition started by my husband the year my youngest son was born and it's quickly become a family favorite. My sister-in-laws do this for their kids, my best friend has said she's going to do it for her newborn daughter and the word is spreading! ;) For those of you not familiar with our own little strange tradition, here's a brief re-telling of the Squirrel's story:

"As it goes, this legend tells of a little squirrel that lives in the Christmas trees of all the good little boys and girls. This squirrel is a magical squirrel, of course, and his tail is red and white striped like a candy cane. Every morning from the time the tree is up and decorated in the house until Christmas morning, the Christmas Squirrel will leave a candy cane somewhere in the tree for the children to find."

Have a magical day :)

December already??

Sigh. I can't believe it's already here. I know it comes the same time every year, but darn it, the years seem shorter the older I get. So. That once again leaves me in a rush for Christmas and holiday preparations (made even more rushed by sick kiddos and a tummy-bugged husband). I had the best of intentions to do a little scrappy journal of December with Ali (tried to do one with Shimelle last year and have an 8-page album for my efforts!) and apparently I'm not going to have much luck once again. Dang that time for getting away from me! So I decided to compromise and at least do a December in pictures. Then if I ever catch up I can get an album done in no time (at least that's what I keep telling myself!).

In an attempt to at least get the pictures up to speed so I don't feel behind even there, here we go with a quick recap:
December 1st we put up our Christmas tree (by we, I totally mean me while the boys ran around behind me and Hoyte tried to regain his strength from said tummy bug), put the wreaths on the doors and windows and generally tried to get into the spirit. For the first time in a long time we got an artificial tree (trying to help alleviate some allergic situations in the house) and it really is beautiful! I love that it's prelit and don't have to string lights! YAY! Even better is that for the first year, ALL the boys understand that the tree is to look at so miraculously, ornaments have finally migrated to the BOTTOM of the tree. Ahem.

On December 2nd, Hoyte brought the boys home a little $10 tree from Target (love it) and Ethan and Carson (mainly Ethan) worked on an old-fashioned paper chain made from some of my left-over scrappy holiday papers. It turned out so cute and Ethan is very proud of it. It now resides on the tree in it's new home in our Game room (aka the old nursery!).

And finally today, Turner, Carson and I made some Gingersnap cookies. They were both really excited about it until they tasted them. Turner made a face, said "YUCK!" and the cookie immediately ended up in the trash. I don't think Carson was a fan but he at lesat finished his. Oh well, can't please them all! Tomorrow might just be Gingerbread House creating. I think that might go over a bit better. I'll let you know!

A Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving

Ah! It seems I have the power to forsee the future! It wasn't a week ago that I predicted a little Pilgrim would be coming to visit my house and here he is! Pretty cute, huh? :)

As we head out of town on one of the busiest travel days of the year (insert big SIGH) here, I wanted to take a minute to wish each one of you a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to spending some extended time with the biggest blessings in my life and hope that you all get to do the same. Stay safe.

Introducing TWO SCOOPS from BasicGrey!

This line is such a versatile one - it's yummy, sherbet-inspired color palette really lends itself to all types of layouts from birthday to Valentines to Wedding or anything in between.



For me, though, it's the adorable embellishment stickers that come with the collection pack that really makes the line. For this fun layout (please click on image to see it larger) about my cousin's daughter and my son, I used one of the largest stickers in the pack - the flower to encircle my photo. I love how it added just the fun touch I was looking for.

And just you wait - it gets better....this line will also have some gorgeous stamps, a rub-on book with such super-cute phrases, amd much more! This line will be shipping soon to a store near you, so be watching. I bet you can't stop and just Two Scoops! ;)

Lunch with Friends

Today Carson and I had the pleasure of meeting my friend Shannon's new son, Eli. Eli is an adorable towhead blonde with big blue eyes and boundless energy. He was recently adopted from the Ukraine and Shan and I thought it would be fun to get the boys together and give Eli some interaction with another kiddo his age outside his typical classroom setting. (Not to mention I've been dying to meet Eli since he came home! :))

We really had a great time and considering that neither of them had naps, the boys were extremely good! We had a nice lunch where the boys got to know each other (and played a few rounds of Monkey See, Monkey Do), we headed to the Capital Building and took a little tour (mostly to use the potty!) then went outside to play and take some pictures on the gorgeous grounds like the good scrapbooking mamas we are. We did a quick runthrough of our LSS, Memories ala Mode, and their new Creative Cafe before heading back home.

It was such a fun day and I'm making Shannon commit to it not being so long before we do it again. And Shan? This last picture is for you! Love seeing you so happy :)

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

came to MY town! It's been wild around here as ABC and the EHM crew arrived just a week ago today. Everyone in the city - including me - seemed to be fascinated with the program, the construction, TY (hee!), but most especially, the family.

The beneficiary of this gorgeous $2 Million home was Patrick Hughes, a 19-year-old University of Louisville student and his family. Patrick was born without eyes and his arms and legs don't fully extend, so he gets around by wheelchair - and his home wasn't wheelchair accessible, inside or out. He's such an inspiring young man and he's got an amazing gift for music. He plays the piano beautifully and because his father wanted Patrick to live life as "normally" as possible, Patrick attends college and even marches in the band.

You might ask how he could do a thing like that - and the answer lies with Patrick's dad. Patrick's dad attends classes with him - AND when it comes time for band practice and performances, it is his dad that does the marching as he pushes Patrick's wheelchair with him. They are such a testimony to love and it just poors out of them and I think everyone in the city experienced it this week.

I wanted so badly to be a part of something so amazing. Hoyte, Carson and I headed down, rode the buses to the site and just experienced a once in a lifetime event. Due to bad weather, they postponed the reveal for a full 4 hours so we were unable to stay, but during our time there we managed to "sorta" see TY! (see pic!), saw the famous bus, the phenominal house, the mayor of the city and many enthusiastic people who were there for the same reason we were! :)
P.S. I just wanted to add that this episode will air in Febuary on ABC and apparently will be the Season FINALE! (How cool is that??!)

10 little, 9 little...

8 little Indians...
7 little,
6 little,
5 little Indians...
4 little,
3 little,
2 little Indians...

1 little Indian Boy!

Boy, how I love Kindergarten class projects! This is the sight that greeted me as Turner ran off the bus this afternoon! (I'm betting a Pilgrim will greet me next week!) ;)
P.S. His Indian name? "He who likes Dogs" How true, how true!

Fall Weekend

Besides a season-ending banquet for some rowdy football champions, it was a quiet one around here, though we did manage to get outside for a little bit. Looking at all this color, it's no wonder fall is my favorite season :)

We are the CHAMPIONS!!!

Warning: Proud Mama post coming!

It was at the high school. There were official refs. Faces were painted. There were even cheerleaders! It was the Peewee Tackle Football Championship game and we were fired up! We were to play the "Green Team", the Commonwealth Dragons, a team undefeated all season and the ONLY team we had lost to all season...twice.

In the first few minutes of the game, Ethan scored not ONE, but TWO touchdowns (I hardly have a voice today just so you know :)) making the score 12-0, but the Green team came back and answered with 2 TD's of their own. Not to mention that they got their 2-point conversions (what we do instead of extra point kicks), so the score was 12-16. Let me tell you, that Green team is GOOD! They played their hearts out but our little ol' Blue Team had the eye of the Tiger!

We blocked the Dragons on the 5-yard line with just a few minutes to go and held them there as they turned over the ball. When we got our chance, we were on 4th down and getting no where. On 4th down, the quarterback handed off the ball to Ethan and he made an amazing play (proud mama coming in here again!) to get the ball down to the 2 yard line where a teammate was able to run it in. The score was then 18-16. We managed to hold the Green team the rest of the 2 minutes of play to clinch the division title. Daddy was so proud he ran onto the field immediately to give our boy a hug. If you think the smile on E's face is huge, you should have seen Hoyte's!

I while I'm thinking of it, I just wanted to give a shout out to the boys' coaches - Jason Armstrong and Josh Collins - and our assistant coach, Taylor, for all their hard work and dedication this season. You three went above and beyond anything we could have expected and it was you that made this season what it was for all of us. Thank you so much!

Already??!

Apparenly it's already time to start the Christmas Season in our town. Today was the annual Festival of Lights and although the thought of it almost made me want to hurl, we went down to see what it was all about.

And we really had a great time. The fun thing about a small town is that you always see people you know and run into people you hadn't seen in ages. Children were dancing on the courthouse steps, carriage rides were given, High School Musical was being performed by the high school, all the businesses were holding Open Houses and there was food galore. What more could you want? But seriously. Christmas the first weekend of November?? Blech.

Later today (or tomorrow if you go ahead and "Fall Back"), we play our Division Championship on the High School football field. And believe me, that's a huge deal to a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds (and even their parents!) :) I even got window paint to dress up the car and some noise makers to be a little bit obnoxious! So proud of my little man and his team - they've worked so hard this season! GO LEGENDS! I'll update tomorrow with the results!

Thanks so much to all for the birthday wishes! It really meant alot to me and I would have posted about it a bit, but well...I'm getting old sadly and hate to face that. Plus my day took a bit of a backseat to Miss Lydian Jane this year. And I'm so ok with that. :D

And one more thing - if you have a chance, come on over to Rhubarb Roots (LOVE that name) tonight at 9:00 EST/8:00 CST. I'm doing a little chat with the ladies there and I've love to have you stop by! :)

It's TIME!!!

Oh how I've always wanted to say that myself but when you go in with three scheduled c-sections, it just doesn't have the same impact. But yay, I finally get to say it this time for my best friend!! I can't believe it but it looks like my baby niece is on her way - I got the email from Daddy Rob at 4:00 am (Good girl for waiting until Halloween was over) that they were heading to the hospital!!!! I should have known after talking to the Mommy-2-Be that it was imminent as she was just a little grumpy and out of sorts. So now I'm doing the traditional pacing of the floor waiting for more news. It's quite the cure for the Halloween hangover, I must say.

So if you wouldn't mind offering up some prayers and positive thoughts for my dearest friend and the birth of this long awaited baby girl, I'd certainly appreciate it and I know they would, too.

Now am I too selfish to wish she'd hold out until just past midnight tonight to be born on her Auntie's birthday??? ;)

(Ann Marie, I love you and am so excited and proud for you. You give that baby girl kisses from her auntie as soon as you can, ok? Oh....and I'm still holding on to Marina Renee for you! ;) XOXO, YR)

UPDATED:
At 6:30 am the word was she was at 5cm...and doing nicely.
at 11:00 am my text msg read "VERY CLOSE!"
At 1:30 pm Baby girl made her appearance!! Six pounds, 19 3/4" and perfectly healthy! (Thank you, God!) Mama and Baby are doing wonderfully (it was a natural birth) and by all accounts, she's gorgeous. Still no name, but we're working on it!
At 11:00 pm She has a name :)


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Sweet Lydian Jane!

It's the Great Pumpkin...

Charlie Brown!! Had to interupt regular blog posting to announce that my favorite holiday show is on tonight at 8 Eastern! Find yourself a "sincere" patch and tune in to The Peanuts Gang!

(Btw, for those wondering...WE WON!!! It wasn't pretty and it was done in overtime but it was still won! The Championship game will be played on Sunday! GO LEGENDS! :))

Meet Jack.

Ok, so I knocked off his nose as I was putting on the finishing touches, but at least the kids don't seem to mind! All in all, I think he's just scary enough!

I actually scrapped these pictures for the recent BHG call for Make it Yours pages. This one was lifted from Yvonne Wunderlich - loved her original and had such a fun time doing mine.

(And Susan...you totally have me hooked on making these cute little frames for my pics - love them! :))

This week is crazy with football playoffs tomorrow and then Halloween, but I'll update more when I can! Happy Monday!

Scrappy News :)

Just a little something I am excited to share - Creative Escape 2008

Also, if anyone is interested I'll be doing a chat tonight at Scrap Shotz at 9:00 pm Eastern in their "Online Classes and Crops" forum. I'd love it if anyone wanted to stop by and say hi!

Halloween Preview

We're getting ready for Halloween a bit early this year.

Yes, this was the scene around my house the other day. Because you know, what good is getting a rockin' cool Ninja Costume like your big brothers if you can't try it on?

Oh, and just so you know...
what makes it rockin' cool (besides those scary skulls!) are those fierce ninja swords.

Obviously. ;))

Still Trying...

(desperately) to keep up with things. It's been an incredibly busy weekend with a football game, fall festival and a pumpkin patch visit that today is my "ketchup day"...you know catch up on laundry, dishes, yardwork, paperwork, photo editing, viewing Grey's that got bumped due to our stormy weather (the important stuff). The upside is that I'll finally have a clean house and photos to share. I do try and be a silver lining kinda girl.

Anyhow, here are some pics from a recent trip to the apple orchard. It was in late September but so flaming hot, all we could do was pick our apples and go. And the boys were agreeable to it only because Daddy promised them he'd make an apple pie with their pickings. Yes, I said Daddy. I'm *so* not a baker. So several pounds of apples later and a couple gallons of water in sweat, we had completed our visit. I wish I had a picture of the pie to show you because I knew you wouldn't believe me. But it was impressive, trust me! ;)

Finally we get a cold snap this past week and it's actually starting to feel like fall which is my all-time favorite season. I love the colors, the crisp air, the activities. It's so gorgeous here that we've been spending every minute outdoors. So we met up with my parents after Ethan's football game for a little fall festival yeserday that included pony rides, firetrucks, bluegrass music and more. The boys loved riding on the firetruck - but it was only a close 2nd to the pony. :)

And lastly because my friend, Shannon, mentioned that she loved to go to the pumpkin patch in the evening when the sun was setting, I lugged all the boys there around 6:00 pm. Shannon said she loved it because there were no crowds and the lighting was spectacular. She was sooooo right. Loved these shots I managed to get of the boys - so much so I'm going to drag them back there tonight so I can try some fun techniques. Thank goodness they're willing participants when it comes to getting dirty in the patch. But please note, I did not promise them a pumpkin pie!

Happy Fall, y'all!