Traditions

It has been ages since I actually finished a page and posted it here, but sometimes life just takes it's own course. The past few months have been busy. The girls have been enjoying school. Although it has taken a while for Ayden to get used to the idea that I leave her at playschool, but she is finally starting to it like. Now she actually is beginning to look forward to going every week, to see her friends.

I decided to participate in this month's challenge at Blush-n-Dusty, as it was about family traditions and I have lots of pictures to use from Christmas. The other part of the challenge was to use something from Blushbutter's newest mini kit, Softness.

Ayden loved helping to decorate the tree and enjoyed playing with the decorations, rearranging them almost daily as she played with her favorites. Now it's almost time to take it down, I'm sure she is going to miss it. We had a good but quiet Christmas. I think the best part of Christmas, really has got to be watching the children open their gifts. It is such a delight to see the expressions on their faces. It really makes all the preparations worthwhile.


Family Traditions digital kit credits: Softness Mini, Merry Christmas kit & Scratched & Creased Overlay 1 from Blushbutter
Fonts used: Westwood LET, Perpetua & Kayleigh

Raquel spent the New Year's weekend with her dad, so we have to go pick her up later today. The rest of us went out for Chinese food on New Years Eve and decided it might be a good tradition to start, instead of cooking at home that night. Ayden loved staying up to watch the countdown and it was fun to welcome in the new year with her.

I wish you all health, happiness, love and prosperity in the new year. May 2010 be a wonderful year. Happy New Years!

Expectation

It was the first day of spring last week, but you would never know it by looking out my windows. We have received at least a foot of fresh snow in the past few days, which kind of put me in a mood to scrap a few of my pictures from Christmas. I decided to take some classes at Digital Scrapbook Place to familiarize myself better with PSE 5 and finally completed the first lesson, (I should be on the last one). The lesson was mostly about learning how the various tools function and how to place things correctly. It was easy, I just haven't been able to concentrate on doing much scrapbooking the past few weeks and I think my computer was actually beginning to feel neglected.
Eyes Shinning with Expectation digital kit credits: A Vintage Season Album (page 1), A Vintage Season kit 1 and A Vintage Season kit 2 from Dusty Bear.
Fonts used: Palace Script MT & Papyrus.

It has been rather busy at our house. My mom & dad came down last weekend with 2 of my nieces and we had a lovely visit with them. My mom brought some supplies for doing manicures and all the girls had fun doing their nails. The older girls all enjoyed some time at the swimming pool as well. Ayden's swimming lessons are almost done, she has only 2 more left and then I will have to decided if I am going to register her for another session. Since she likes swimming so much, I probably will put her in again. Raquel's musher finished 13th place in the Iditarod, so she was fairly pleased. She has been sick and has missed some school but went back this morning. I managed to catch her cold, so I haven't been feeling all that well either. Hopefully we will both be feeling better soon. The temperatures are suppose to improve again soon, so all this snow should be melting which will be terrific. Hope your week is going well. Take care!

Memories

I think maybe my muse has taken off for a warmer climate, not that anyone could be blamed for that, with the cold temperatures we have been experiencing. It looks like we shall be getting some warmer weather just in time for Christmas, which will be nice, as we have friends coming to visit.

I finally got my page done for this month's challenge at Blush-n-Dusty. Vanessa has designed a beautiful mini kit, which you can obtain for free, if you participate in the challenge. The challenge was to do a page of your family, using one of several quotes and some items from the kit.

These are a couple pictures of my family. The picture from 1978 sure brought back a lot of memories. We often went to my Grandma's in the spring and the picture was taken at her house. (We had some fun trips with 5 kids in the car.) My mom did a lot of sewing then and she made the dresses my sisters and I are wearing in the picture. I remember, not too long after it was taken Carl, Sherri and I got our glasses. Now we all live in different places and it is not very often we get together. We had the other picture taken at mom & dad's anniversary last year. We've all changed a bit and certainly grown older.

Family Memories digital kit credits: from Blushbutter Family Memories, Fairy Kisses in Blue Mega Kit, Easter Basket and Victorian Heritage Replica Scrap Kit.
Fonts used: Aubrey & Delitsch Antiqua.

We have had a couple of busy weeks cleaning and baking for Christmas. Both Raquel and Ayden have been a lot of help with keeping things clean. Ayden loves making cookies with me. I think, if you need to develop some patience, you should try baking with a 2 year old. Some of the cookies look interesting, but we had fun and I'm sure they will taste terrific. Raquel is off at her dad's for a few days and will be back tomorrow, to spend the rest of the holidays at home. Ayden was so thrilled today, as she got a big girl bed. Now we just have to see if she will sleep in it. I think tonight, it will be time to help Santa get ready and I will have to spend some time wrapping a few presents. Watching my girls open them up and seeing the excitement in their eyes has got to be one of the things I enjoy most about Christmas.

May the spirit of the holiday season remain with you through the coming year!

Enchantment

New fallen snow certainly looks beautiful, we had some more this week, so it really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Snow certainly does make the world an enchanting and magical looking place. The girls think it is awesome and just love playing in it. I took these pictures after our first real snowfall about a month ago. The quote reads: "The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found." - J.B. Priestly.

Enchantment digital kit credits: Snow Flakes Winter kit from Blushbutter.
Fonts used: Lily UPC & Old English Text MT.

I did the page below for a quick page exchange at Blush-n-Dusty this month. I had a hard time deciding which way I liked it the most, so I decided to use it both ways. This is another page for my children's heritage album. This is my mom and her older sister, taken when my mom was about 3 months old. This is the earliest picture I have of my Aunt Joyce, I think she looks so cute in her pigtails.

Sisters 1950 digital kit credits: Snow Flakes Winter kit from Blushbutter.
Fonts used: Microsoft Ya Hei & Viner Hand ITC.

We have our Christmas tree up and it looks terrific! We all had fun putting on the decorations, although we did end up with a LOT of decorations on it. Ayden is really enjoying it and loves to have the lights on all the time. Ayden can't quite say Merry Christmas, but her version sounds pretty cute. Raquel has been enjoying the Christmas crafts and hot chocolate that they are having every day at school this month. She is looking forward to Christmas holidays and is eagerly waiting for Santa Claus to get here. Her list has been checked over and over, with last minute revisions being made. I've been busy trying to get my Christmas cards in the mail and I think later this week, Ayden and I will have to go and do a little shopping.

Have a great week!

LOs from Christmas 2006

Wow, time does fly by way too fast. We have been busy running around with some appointments and a bit of Christmas shopping. The temperature is finally warming up, after a rather chilly week last week. But so far we only have about 4 inches of snow.

I haven't gotten a lot of scrapbooking done, with all the running around. Below is a tag I made through my PSP group, RDB Graphics, (all the materials were supplied with the tutorial). It was fun playing with the animation.


I made the LO below for the December challenge, being held by blush-n-dusty's group. Got me more in the Christmas mood. Such fun memories.

This is a LO of Christmas morning 2006, Ayden's "First Christmas". Raquel helped Ayden open up her stocking. Then Raquel got to be "Santa", as she helped pass out gifts. Ayden was mostly interested in the bows and the paper, but we all had lots of fun. I'm sure this year will be a little more exciting. We haven't put up a tree yet, as we usually get a real one. We have been discussing getting an artificial one this year. Christmas is fast approaching, so I'm sure we will be deciding soon.

"First Christmas" LO Credits: A Vintage 1 & 2 by Dustybear found here

http://www.dustybear.com/shoppe/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=76&zenid=7vmec7gcpjkp3s2404o7fducu7

Challenge Freebie

Scrappy Expressions http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ScrappyExpressions/

Corner tube from my PSP group http://byudragon.com/

Another busy day tomorrow, as Ayden & I are off to the accountant's office. Maybe we will do a little more Christmas shopping if there is time. Later this week we hope to start some Christmas baking. Yummy, and with that thought I'm off to sleep.