Little bit of catch-up!

Don't want to forget the important things!! :)

Cora had her "seasonal" program. (Don't EVEN get me started about that one.)
Sure to avoid any holiday conflict if it is at the beginning of November.

Jerry had the camera, and did a good job...
That's her on the bottom left... recognize those PJ's Kim? :)
Their owls! :)

My weekend away was wonderful!
You can't go to one of these conferences and not be "filled up"!
The music always lifts me up!
Chonda Pierce was HILARIOUS!
The speakers all had such INCREDIBLE stories to share of trial and hardship, and the love and provisions of God!
And these ladies are the BEST! :)
It was the 1st grades reward day for the food drive (they got to wear hats and have McDonald's happy meals at lunch!) the same day that Gavin's class preformed at Chapel.
*Note:
Gavin, though wearing this sign after the play, is no longer so "unarmed". He has informed me that he has asked Jesus to forgive him and save him and to live in his heart... "last year"! Huh?? He said he prayed for that in his bed one night. I asked him why he didn't tell me.
Leave it to Gavin:
"Cuz you didn't ask."
Duh mom.

I am blessed as much as they are by their school.

Hug a teacher today. Cuz they deserve it!

I Made the Top Ten!!

Not bad, since there were 87 to choose from!!
Thanks Cassie!!
(Click the image to see the all the Faith Blog Top Picks for Top 10 Creations!)I want to thank everyone who came by to visit!
What an outpouring of kindness and faith!

I could spend days on layouts or cards inspired by this "hop"!
I am truly glad I participated!!

Scrapbook News & Review Friends of Faith Blog Hop!!

(Sorry if this is your 74th time reading/seeing below-if you are the "hop" just scroll down for my layouts and the next participant!!)

Welcome to Scrapbook News and Review Magazine's A Faith Perspective Thankful for Friends Faith Blog Hop. Today, we're out in force on the internet -- showing our faith and giving the glory to God. United, we stand as Christian paper crafters and blog owners to make a presence on the internet for all to see. We're celebrating the theme of friends and we're happy to share our projects with you based on the verse: "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. " Ecc4:9-10a If you're just joining in on the fun, you can find the start of the train here: http://www.scrapbooknewsandreview.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=100783. First, we would like to take a moment to thank our generous co-sponsors: Layers of Color Stamps, Gina K Designs Stamps and Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps. Together with Scrapbook News and Review Magazine, these companies have donated some wonderful prizes for today’s blog hop. Prizes? Oh, yeah! There will be three lucky grand prize winners for today’s event. To enter, simply hop to the blogs of all of the participating staff members of Scrapbook News and Review Magazine, take note of the staff member’s name, and leave a comment on their posts. Then send us an email at games@scrapbooknewsandreview.com listing each of the staff members who participated in today’s hop. It’s that easy. All entries must be received by Monday, November 16, 2009 at 12 noon, EST and three winners will be randomly chosen to win. What are the prizes? One $100 gift certificate from Layers of Color Stamps AND a 6 month subscription to Scrapbook News and Review Magazine. One basket of goodies -- four stamp sets from Gina K Designs and a 6 month subscription to Scrapbook News and Review Magazine. One set of digital stamps from Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps and a 3 month subscription to Scrapbook News and Review Magazine. In addition, every participating staff member of Scrapbook News and Review Magazine will offer a free one-month subscription to the magazine to one of their lucky visitors by simply leaving a comment on their blog. That's a lot of chances to win, so let’s get to the Hop! My Favorite Faith Related Layouts... There are so many ways to incorporate our faith into scrapbooking... Include a prayer: Scrap one of your favorite verses: Or document a verse that helped you though a hard time or trail: Thanks for stoppin' by!! Add yourself as a follower! I am giving away a RAK SOON (followers are included in all drawings!) The next stop on this blog hop is: http://gratefulheart-carin.blogspot.com/

Thank you to the generous sponsors!! Layers of Color Stamps: http://www.layersofcolor.com Gina K Designs Stamps: http://ginakdesigns.com Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps: http://www.sweetnsassy.com

"R" Family sitting... (cuz "H" was taken! LOL!)

Thanks Rita!!

Hope you enjoy!!

Gorgeous family!!
So fun!!
(Click slide for larger and varied viewing.)

Don't ya think??

"H" family photo shoot proofs!

ONE of these days I will get my photography blog goin'... in the meantime, this is it! :)

Thanks Stephanie, for your patience! Wanted to get it just right!
(Click slide for larger and varied viewing.)

Aren't they a beautiful family??

AHHHHH!!! QUICK! GRAB IT!!! TODAY ONLY!!

Updated OK, so I posted this late... Sorry-just pointing out what you missed! LOL!

Don't let this deal pass you by!!!

The Imaginisce I-Top is today's Scrapbook Steal!!!

The punches ALONE are usually almost this much!
The only thing you might have to pick up is small brad daddies, and the small punch at some point-and to tell ya the truth, I use the large and medium the most anyway!!

GO!!!! THIS IS THE DEAL TO GRAB!! :)

(Don't miss the the cute project where someone made brads with candy bar wrappers! HELLO! TOO CUTE!!)

You have NO idea!!! (Thank you Imaginisce!!)

The TORTURE!!!! LITERALLY found out about my being selected for the Imaginisce Design Team RIGHT when I was RUNNING to go meet the girls to leave to go to "Extraordinary Women"!!!

I could see all your fabulous comments on my phone, but I couldn't respond!!!!!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

I am SO THRILLED to be a part of this team!!!

The funniest part of it was that I had checked my email on the 5th (the blog entry said the designers would be notified "before" the 5th) and was resigned to the idea I hadn't been picked. SO I went to the blog to see who made it (on the 6th), and it hadn't been posted, and it was about noon. That's strange, I thought. Then I thought-nah, there is no way-but maybe I'll check my spam folder ONE MORE TIME!! And there is was!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!

So I called Utah, just to MAKE SURE I hadn't now been thrown out!! :)

SO nice!!! My experience already is the BEST!!!

I can't wait to get home and check out all the blogs and to say "hi" to everyone!!!

EXCITED doesn't cover!!

Go become a fan of Imaginisce on Facebook!!

Follow me... there will be a RAK soon! Add me on Facebook for another chance!

PS-Sylvia, if your reading this-I got mail for YOU when I get home too!!!

Thank you everyone for the nice greeting!!! Your the best!! I am out of town until Monday, and be online more then!!

In the meantime, be blessed!!

A little bit of scrapping...

I actually scrapped something. I can't seem to get any of my assighments done, so what is a girl to do but just scrap something for no good reason other than she likes the paper...

That's ok, right? Maybe this will work for something else too... that would be a bonus! :)

Fancy Pants came into Scrapaganza. I love the boy line SO much!!
So I sat down last night and did this...

OH, and also-Scrapbook Trends finally got to Scrapaganza... and I am in this months issue! YAY!
Come by the store and check it out!
Well I am headed here this weekend! Alicia and her planning! I have a feeling I am going to regret not just being home during this Indian summer that they say is coming this weekend. That us usually how it works for me. I have plans, I wish I was somewhere else. {sigh}

I am sure it will be a blessing.

Boo!

What a great weekend!

The kids just had a fantastic time! There was candy involved. LOTS of candy. They were thrilled!
These pictures were not edited AT ALL! The light at dusk or close to can be SO yummy!
I love my 50mm lens. It does magical things with this light!Prince Caspian, a Princess and Sir Peter (Narnia).
It was fun to trick or treat in our own neighborhood. We use to live on a main road. No trick or treating. We would always trick or treat in friends neighborhoods. This was nice.
But I'm getting ahead of myself! Above were the costumes for October 31st... and book character day at school... but the night BEFORE, when we went with Alicia and family to Eldridge to trick or treat... They didn't want to wear their costumes for this year... they dug in their costume/dress up bins (the boys anyway) and we ended up with a pj wearing ghost with flames (hmmm) and a ninja.

It was VERY windy!
In honor of the weekend, I played with some software silly effects! Kinda funny!
Kelly and Beth went to see Wicked. Twice. So let's think Wizard of Oz, not the "scary" witch stuff. :)
I hope you had a safe holiday, full of fun and free of evil! :)

I LOVE my I-Top!!!

Seriously!

I got the I-Top this last week!!
I will say, I was willing to be critical, if need be.
I can be honest even though...
OK, so yes, I applied to their Design Team.
But I SWEAR! I LOVE it!!

I went to a crop this last weekend... a fundraiser.
It was a great crop. LOTS of food. LOTS of junk food.
Maybe that isn't so good.
But there is SOMETHING about crops.
It is a time warp. Seriously.
I sat down, and about 10 minutes later (12 hours), it was time to go!

AND I didn't take any pictures!
But I got 4 layouts done. Pretty lame for 12 hours, huh?
Not to say I didn't wander about a lot...
Raffles, a garage sale, vendors... there was a lot to do!!! :)

Back to the I-Top.
It is easy. REALLY easy!
The reason I even bought it?
It makes big brads. Not that I won't ever make the smallest brad (I did today), but I tend towards bigger embellishments. Or at least bigger brads. Most of time. ANYWAY, again. It was SO simple!!
I see grabbing for this in the future MANY times!!
Yes, this is College Press. No, I didn't apply to their DT.

I did this one recently.
Though I like this... it makes me wish I would just go ahead and learn to sew! It could use some sewing. :)

And are the layouts for my Christmas Layouts Class at Scrapaganza!
Giving "simple" a try! And I used a Cricut! Geez!


Using American Crafts-YUMMY! And lots of I-Top action! OK, so admittedly, I caught on to CENTERING the images in the brad after the first couple of brads for the "Joy" layout!
Learning curse is really only about paying attention. {sigh}
The punches for the I-Top=MUST have!!
LOVE the whole system.
The large head for the large brads is a separate buy.
Again, there are punches too. MUST have!
AND, ingenious Imagininsce made brad making die cut shape brad paper tablets (does that make any sense?), so all you have to do is pop them out and make a brad! HELLO! :)

Anyway-hats off Imaginisce! Great job with this tool!!!!
If I were you, I would just get the bundle and be done!! :)

Happy brad making!

Continued...

So much for "tomorrow"... dang!!

OK, so where was I?
How about a little more about Cora's birthday?
Cora is 7... (huh??)
We adopted Cora when she was 2.

This is Cora then (she had just turned 2 when we met her in Ukraine)
This is Cora now...

I would love to say it has all been bluebirds and rainbows-but that's not life.
I have grown, and struggled as a mother. Even as a Christian. I came to BE Christian, in the whole-hearted sense, because of this child. God is always in charge. (Darn it!)
But there has been a LOT of joy... and many blessings. Our family wouldn't be the same without Cora in it!

Five years. Five years right now we were in Ukraine doing one of the hardest things of our lives.
Five years ago I was missing my boys so much it physically hurt.

Five years ago, our lives were changed forever.
There are days I cry, "I can't do it." And God makes it clear many times-"No, but I can."
Take the wheel... I'm all for it.
(Looking at these last pictures from 5 years ago, makes me miss my little house in the country a bit-but NOT the green couch! LOL!)

OK, back to the update...

It snowed already (hard!)...
I was at work.
Kelly was my snow-bunny model. Somehow this didn't make it onto the store blog... hmmmm.

...had an impromptu photo shoot with Cora (the one above was part of that)
The light was so yummy! This one isn't edited at all... I like the fall glow to the setting sun on the fields...
I know there are a lot of fun things I could do with affects-and probably will the future. It isn't perfect, but it was fun!
My kids headed to the sailing club this weekend for sailing-pumpkin retrieving game!

They were WAY intrigued by the sailing boat going in...
and then getting to go out and sail...
Here they all are-all the (local) cousins. Quite the motley crew!
Cora and Daddy (and Grandma Dinah and Arra) went out on the committee boat.
They had to collect 9 pumpkins, and they had numbers-they had to add to 26.
They couldn't get any closer than 25-but had a great time, and got a FANTASTIC prize!
They each got a $15 gift card from Toys R Us-you would have thought they had a free ride to college! LOL!

I couldn't help but get a couple fun shots of Cora in her Halloween outfit.
It was a gorgeous day on the river...
And for goodness sakes a layout!
I got this vintage card at Willow in Dubuque. They had many.
Gabriel is 5 months younger then his sister, which means he'll always be the baby.
I really am loving the newest Cosmo Cricket! It has been my favorite of their releases!
The boyfriends line is fabulous!
And to tease the Holland Family just a bit (so they know there is some good stuff in their shoot-I think they were concerned, seeing as we had SO much running around after their active (adorable) 18 month old!! :) )
Don't worry Hardaway Family... some teasing coming your way soon! :)

Playing catch up!!

OK... so it has been over a month since an update of activities!

Seriously-where does the time go!

But I want to try some new things on my blog, so let's play catch up and go from there!!
("Click" to check out the full sized version...)

Food...

facepainting... (and YES I am claiming these!! I can paint faces! :) Who knew.)

and football...


... a birthday... (Happy {cough} 31st birthday Kelly!)

...an apple orchard w/friends...


...and rain...
...and mud!


A trip to the "junk" store...


...playing with the neighbors...


...lots of reading...


...pinwheels and kites...



...friends and school...


...another birthday and a brand new bike...




...and a Wii!!!!


I have more...

...even a layout!

How about tomorrow. :)