Final Installment {Christmas Day}

Wow it seems like my Christmas recap has gone on forever. Two and a half hours befor 2007 and I'm trying to get my last post of the year in! Chrisrmas morning was a fairly easy going morning. We didn't have anywhere to be until noon. We headed over to my Aunt Carolyn's house for lunch with family and a game of dirty Santa. I should have taken more pictures, but here's one of Natalie at that gathering. She looks rather dazed and confused. :)

Once we finished there, we headed to John's Dad's house. I did several projects as gifts for them. For John's brothers Alan and Seth, I made scrapbook pages of their mom and framed them. John's mother passed away a year and a half ago from cancer. She loved Christmas so much and especially enjoyed decorating her tree. I remember one year she had her tree up before Halloween. She was a very special lady and we all miss her so much. The glare is bad on this picture but the phrases say, "gentle" and "I will never forget." I forgot to take a picture of Alan's but it was generally the same, just different pictures and a different color scheme.

I also made another mini bag scrapbook for Marilyn (good friend of John's dad). They had taken a trip to Hawaii in November, so I used some pictures from their trip. Here are a few of the pages. This isn't the whole book because some of the pictures I took of it were SO blurry.

We spent the rest of the day over there with John's family. Below is Natalie with her Pa Pa Wright and her cousin Taylor. Look at that tree! I don't know what mode I had my camera in but it really lit the tree up!

This concludes our days of Christmas. I hope all of you had a great Christmas. Happy New Year everyone!

The Third Day

My Christmas recap continues.. On Christmas Eve we have a large family gathering with my PawPaw's side of the family. He has 4 siblings.. so we gather with them and all their children and grandchildren and now even great-grandchildren that live in the area. Just trying to do a quick count in my head and I think there were 25 of us. This year we had two new additions, Natalie and my cousin Crista's 7 month old, Julia. The whole family was very excited to have babies around this year.

We always play Dirty Santa, which is usually quite an interesting time, specifically because we have this statue of a little old man squatting like he's on the pot with his pants down, that comes back every year. This statue has been around for 30 plus years. So there's always some anticipation and fun as the gifts are opened and everyone tries to avoid the little man.

For the gift that I took, I made a mini scrapbook out of paper bags. I got this idea from Telah after seeing the Christmas one she made for her daughter's teacher. Here's how it turned out. The pictures are blurry, but you get the general idea. This is 3 regular brown lunch sacks, folded in half and covered and then embelished.

Here are some various other pictures from the night.
My Aunt and Uncle on the Left.. My Grandparents on the right.

Table of cousins:

Julia and her Grandma Jan:

Andy Katie and Crista:

Look at all those desserts!

On the Second Day

On Saturday, we had Christmas with my parents and brother. This is a very close up of my parents. I had a blonde moment with this picture. We needed to take a picture of them for an ornament my mother had purchased. It is a blue snowflake with a really really small circle for the picture. I told them that only their faces would fit in the picture slot because it's so small... so this is the picture I took.

Yeah, I know.. I should have taken it from much farther away so that just their faces would fit the circle. It wasn't until we printed it out on my new Epson PictureMate that I realized what I'd done. Try fitting a 4x6 of their faces in a 1 inch circle.

I thought this was a really good picture of Natalie and her Grandmother. The tree looks really pretty in the background too. I think Natalie had more presents than anyone. Her grandparents are spoiling her rotten.

We tried to get a good family photo. This one turned out ok but for some reason we couldn't seem to get the lighting right, or the mode right or whatever. Natalie had also just learned a new trick. Grandma had taught her to smack her lips, so all her attention was focused on grandma instead of looking straight ahead at the numerous flashes.

Natalie is looking at my mom in every one of the pictures we took. Afterwards we all went out to a local Mexican place for dinner. John felt it was reminiscent of the movie A Christmas Story. Who goes out to eat on Christmas unless a pack of dogs eat the turkey? It was Mexican instead of Chinese though. What's Deck the Halls in Spanish? Fa la la la la.. la la.. la la

On the First day of Christmas

Where to begin? Christmas came and went in a flash for us. We had 4 days of family fun. Blogger won't let me load more than 4 or 5 pictures so I'm going to do my Christmas posts in installments. We started our festivities on Friday night the 22nd, where we gathered at my grandparents house which is built onto the back of my parents house. This is my cousin Katie and her husband Andy. They are expecting their first child in June.


We always have a really good fun time, with lots of laughs. The gift choices with this bunch is a hoot. This year my aunt and uncle managed to find a Dollar Tree gift card for my mom. My mom is the Dollar Tree queen, so it was a perfect chioce. My grandparents received these signs. My grandmother's reads, "Laundry Room- Drop Your Pants Here" and my grandfather's says, "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day.. teach a man to fish and you'll have bait in your refrigerator." All of us "kids" got plenty of dead Presidents (money) wrapped in the traditional deoderant boxes. One thing you have to know about this family is that boxes lie. :) Always open the box to see what's really inside.

Natalie was rather oblivious to the whole ordeal. She just sat taking everything in.
And I had to include this goofy picture of my brother. I think he was demonstrating how to aim and shoot at a deer.

Quick post: Bumbo!

I have so much to post and lots of pictures to share, but no time at the moment. I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Here's Natalie sitting in her chair that she got from Uncle Alan and Kelli. Isn't it cool?

Say Cheese

I'm gonna try to do an Update post later on tonight. But for now I just wanted to post a couple of pictures from today. I took Natalie to portrait innovations to have her picture taken. She was so serious and content, we had a hard time getting her to smile. Great thing about this place is they take lots of shots, so even though she was so serious looking: we did get some good ones. At least she wasn't crying right? More later..

Over the River and through the woods

I love this picture of Natalie. I used it for one of her baby's 1st Christmas ornaments.

Tomorrow we travel to Tennessee to visit with John's Grandma Wolfe and Aunts, Uncles and cousins. Sadly, John has to work tomorrow so he has to miss the trip. I really wish he could go, but that's just the way the schedule fell. We only see this side of the family once a year at Christmas, so I'm looking forward to it.

I made a mini-album for Grandma Wolfe. Even though she hasn't recieved it yet, since we are going up there tomorrow, I think it's safe to post pictures of it. I'm not sure how often she may visit this site, but I'm thinking she won't before tomorrow afternoon. All I did for this album was cut 12x12 bazill cardstock in half and then fold to make a 6x6 book.











I had a little trouble finding the best adhesive to use for holding the cardstock together. I've got to find something better than the small tape runners at WalMart. I hope it doesn't fall apart.

Edited to add:The lower case stamps on the front cover are a set by MSE. The BABY on front is Technique Tuesday. The phrases inside the book are printed out on vellum. I'll have to look at what font I used.. don't remember off the top of by head. And then all other stamping (swirls, flowers, etc) is Autumn Leaves stamps.

Great Deals and Christmas projects

Christmas is only 1 and a half weeks away! I've had several projects/Christmas gifts on my to-do list. Tuesday Natalie and I went out and spent the day at Telah's. I got one of the main projects done and it turned out so good. I will share pictures of the different things I've done, but since a lot of my family reads the blog, the pictures will have to wait til after they've opened the gifts. :)

I don't know how many of you scrappers shop at Hobby Lobby, but they often have really good sales. I'm actually afraid to add up the total amount I've spent there in the last month. Well yesterday I dropped by there to pick up two specific things. Of course I ended up buying more than those two things but I had to share this ribbon I got. Both boxes are Christmas ribbon marked 50% off. However look at that box of the bright colors! The only one in the set that's limited to Christmas is the one that says 'Cool Yule'. The rest will be perfect girly colors for scappin Natalie's pictures.

Speaking of that little booger.. she's been giving us a fit the last 24 hours. She cat napped yesterday so she was very over tired last night. She had herself so worked up crying screaming she wouldn't eat or go to sleep. I finally got her to sleep a little after 11pm last night. Any tips to getting her to sleep more than 15-20 minutes at a time during the day?? She's so pitiful when she's over tired. I don't know why she doesn't realize she'd feel better if she'd just take her naps. :)

Taylor and Martha!

I started blogging in August, so because it's the off season my blog readers have yet to see my addiction to American Idol.

But I have to let you guys know Taylor Hicks is going to be on Martha today! Woo Hoo! Soul Patrol! His album came out yesterday too! Have a rockin' day everyone!

A Fun Time Was Had By All

There is so much to blog about tonight. Seems we've had a busy few days. First let me start by saying a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my long time friend Telah. She turned the big three-o on Saturday. Her and her husband had an out of town outing planned, so we used that opportunity to throw her a surprise party. When she arrived home on Saturday, she had a houseful of people waiting. I think she was very surprised!

This picture was taken as they were driving up the driveway. Thank goodness she seemed very happy to see all of us!

Our circle of friends is blessed with lots of little ones. Here are some other pictures from her party of all the momma's and young babies. This is just a small sample of the kids. :) They are in abundance of all ages!

<---- Kim and Lilly

Amy And Audrey ---->

----> Crista and Julia

<-------Heather and Parker

Today we took Natalie for her 2 month checkup. I was really anxious to see how much she weighed. It just seems she is growing so fast. She weighed in at 9lbs 3oz. I was guessing she was around 8, so I was off a pound. She's still been wearing newborn size clothing but I had to change her this morning because the outfit I put on her at first was too small. Looks like we'll be moving up a size! She had a series of shots today and some tylenol to help with the side effects. Between those two things she has been groggy and sleepy most of today.

I also made a run to Hobby Lobby today and purchased just a few things to make the ornament for this year. As mentioned in a previous post I wanted to start a tradistion of making one every year and eventually I wan it to be something Natalie and I do together. Here is the finished product. I ended up using an idea I got from Telah and took and old cd and decorated it. I thought it turned out pretty cute.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

O Christmas Tree

It took me 3 days but I finally got the tree up. My picture turned out very blurry and I can see some holes I need to fix, but at least it's up. I want to start a tradition of making an ornament every year for/with Natalie. Obviously I'll be making it for her for the next several years but I want it to eventually be something we do together. If anybody has any ideas for this or knows of a place where I can get a kit for something like this, please let me know.

Our good friend Jeff gave Natalie her 1st two ornaments. They are from the Hallmark collection and so cute! Such a great addition to the tree. Thanks Jeff!




Natalie turned 2 months today. I called this place about making an appointment to have her picture taken and the soonest they could schedule me was December 21st. However they do take walk ins so I took my chances and went down there this afternoon. But no luck.. they wouldn't even let me "walk in" they are so busy. So we went ahead and made an appointment for the 21st. They print the pictures in store, so from what I understand we'll get them back that day. Talk about just in time for Christmas..


Ok.. I've been tagged today by Heather.
A - Available or single: Very unavailable.
B - Best Friend: My husband of course and then my long time friend Telah.
C - Cake or Pie: Both.. I love Birthday cake and Apple Pie
D - Drink of choice: It changes. Currently it's Gatorade RAIN Tangerine flavored.
E - Essential Item you use everyday: my laptop
F - Favorite color: Pink
G - Gummy Bears or worms: Bears
H - Hometown: Born and raised in Huntsville, AL
I - Indulgence: Krispy Kreme donuts or Caramel Sudae from McDonalds. Although I'm dying to try the Peppermint Candy Kisses that Jolene has been talking about.
J - January or February: February
K - Kids & Names: yes…one beautiful baby girl. Natalie
L - Life is Incomplete Without? My faith, my family, and my friends
M - Marriage Date: October 2nd 1999
N - Number of Siblings: I have one brother thats 3 years younger than me.
O - Oranges or Apples: Oranges
P - Phobias or Fears: Losing my husband and/or my daughter
Q - Fave Quote: Thomas Edison...."A lot of people miss opportunities because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work....."
R - Reason to Smile: My family, my many blessings
S - Season: Summer
T - Tag 3 or 4 people: Most of the blogs I read have already been tagged!
U - Unknown Fact about Me: I actually like doing laundry. LOL
V - Vegetable You Don't Like: Cauliflower. I can stand it raw but cooked is another story
W - Worst Habit: Picking the split ends of my hair.
X - Xrays: Several, but most recently, my teeth
Y - Your Fave Food: Chicken Cordon Bleu
Z - Zodiac Sign: Scorpio