Snow and no camera...

OK, so I am sitting at my desk {Jerry's desk} looking out the window-cuz I am pretty lucky and have a good view of the out-of-doors- and right now, at almost 5pm on Thursday, it is one of those REALLY pretty snows. The kind with really big flakes that sometimes the flakes, they get lost on their way down and are kinda floating around, resisting their journey to the ground. Flakes so big they look like a group that got together on the way down... Really pretty.

And. I have no camera to take a picture. Cuz the H9 I mentioned below. It ISN'T awesome in low light after all, and I took it back. But the only way they wouldn't charge me a restocking fee is if I got another camera... Well, I decided to get an SLR. Best Buy on the other hand decided not to carry any more than 4 SLR's. Great. So I got the Nikon D40... cuz it wasn't much more than the H9. I had a sneaking feeling though, that this was not what I was going to want. So I did some research (AGAIN), and come to find out the D40 is limited to the kind of lenses I can get, cuz of the lack of a lens drive on this model. SO I took it, box unopened. {wink} and got a refund.

SO I go everywhere online looking for the BEST deal. (Thanks Dad... I am now the cheapest girl I know. :) ) I decide on the Canon Rebel XTi... but I am NOT paying Best Buys price. (I tried to get them to give me a discount-but they rather see me walk out then give me the 15% off... buh bye. Online I go.)

ANYWAY, I found the best price though a seller on Amazon. Then I find that same seller on Ebay. THEN I find someone with one in Davenport (via ebay) that is selling theirs with 3 lenses for like a STEAL, and so there it is. As soon as the refund from Best Buy clears, I am getting my XTi... I will be using an SLR.

I just hope I am smart enough to figure it out! :)

AND I have a S85 coming to replace my Sony, cuz I love it, cuz it's small, and cuz it was $46 on ebay too...

Gotta love ebay.

Meantime-no picture of the beautiful snow coming down right now. {sigh}

I have to admit. This year we have had some of the prettiest snows. Thanks God!

Catwalk baby!!!

OK-so the link will only last 'til Sunday, but if ya miss it, I'll direct you to the LO...

Scrap in Style TV designers pick their favorites from the gallery each week. This particular week they said they were going to pick the catwalk not just from just anything from the gallery, but specifically things using Ashley Wren's "Rainbow Sushi" line/collection. I just happened to have this line of product, so off I went to create! I did a couple things I liked from the collection. I posted, and one of my projects got picked as a fav. :) It's my second time being picked! Cool!
Thanks Adrienne!
Catwalk here:

http://www.scrapinstyletv.com/portfolio/catwalk.php

If past the date of it's showing, here is the project picked in my portfolio! Stop by and leave a comment! And check out the other LO I did using a transparency! It was fun too! :)

http://www.scrapinstyletv.com/portfolio/view_layout.php?layout_id=66333&user_id=3240

If you haven't joined Scrap in Style TV, you should!! :)
LOTS of inspiration!!

Yummy Vintage find!

(if you came for the sneak peek... look below :) )

I found these AWESOME cards on ebay! OK, they are so cool with
their vintage patina!

I can't wait to scrap the 3 of {hearts} with my 3 kiddos!

Memories Complete Sneak Peak...

OK-so Candi beat me to the punch! :P

I am still letting it sink in! Who knew that a casual comment made at CHA summer 2007 would prompt me to seek out some design work-that eventually {I still can't believe it is real!} resulted
in the completion of my first design work-not designing with product, but actually designing the product itself! I am fortunate to say that Memories Complete took a chance on a rookie, who in turn sucked in another rookie (sorry Candi!! ;) ) and the result? Some pretty cute product!!!

And all in mere weeks!! {wiping brow} :)

If you have seen it before-(dang Candi's quick! LOL!) sorry-but just in case there is someone that hasn't seen it yet, here it is!

Please feel free to comment and leave feedback!

The company decided upon the line themes and colors, we took off from there!
Thanks Memories Complete!! We hope everyone likes it!!

Some of my favorite things about the line?
-the nested circle stickers are for journaling! I can't wait to interlock these circles for some interesting journaling options-or used plain-circles are just too fun on a page!
-label stickers... so many creative things you can do with a label sticker! And ours are in fun colors!
-the fonts... hand made originals!
-the "dingbats"-a new way to use a dingbat! In sticker form! A fun addition to our letters!
-the doodles. Thanks to the Bamboo {Candi just couldn't resist this tool! I am grateful!}
-the big photo corners on the cardstock die sheets! FUN!

A night out.

You just never know where the day will take you!

I work at a LSS, but it is so much more than sales!

Our customers-it's like "Cheers" I always say!

Well, one of the "regulars", Rena Jo Posey gave myself and Kelly a wonderful gift!
They were not going to use their Circa 21 theater tickets, so she offered them to us!!
Opening night of "The Buddy Holly Story"!!
What a treat!
The bands played live, and the performance was WONDERFUL!
And the food was good too!
It was Kelly, myself, Alicia (Scrapaganza's card designer-and my dear friend) and our friend Anne (who will NEVER scrapbook-but appreciates our gifts.)
THANK YOU Rena Jo, for your gift!



After the show, we went to go see my {beautiful} husband play in his new cover band, Madison Ivy.
How was I the lucky one who got to marry this wonderful man! I love you Jer!

A layout I "love"...

Everywhere in scrapbooking, it's about love. So when given the assignment to do "love" layouts,
I came across this picture. It's about love too.

My kids saw their Dad playing this day, probably the first time that they could remember. They has seen him once at a going away party for Cousin Terry, but Cora wasn't here yet, and Gabriel was just too young to remember. AND it was very casual that day. Jerry wasn't dressed the part of anything-his hair wasn't down.

The kids just stared. The just took it in. Awe. Admiration. Excitement. And love.

There was Daddy who they love so, doing this cool thing. Wow.


I have a copy of this on my wall too...
It was time I scrapped it.

Friends, Fellowship, Fun and the sun Falling

I love my moms group! I am so fortunate! We learn and grow with each other, and I am always amazed at the blessings! I learn from those that are so different than myself, and I find that more times than not, we are all so much alike!

After Moms 4 Moms, I "stole" Annie, while Alicia "stole" some girl time! It was a fun day!

And at the end of it, I took my first sunset shots on my new camera!

(too many pictures, has to be another slide show!!)

A NEW Camera!

I plan on getting a SLR... someday. For now, I got myself the Sony H9. Huge zoom, it does an awesome job in low light situations, and I just love it! It is an upgrade from my Sonny S85 (which I very much miss! I am still thinking about picking one up for a back-up off of ebay)
ANYWAY, here are some shoots I have taken since I got my new camera! YAY!
(And with this, I am ALMOST caught up!!)

Is this some zoom, or WHAT! SOOOO cool! (A visitor to one of our trees)

My little Missy... (Miss Scarlet, Miss Cora... whichever-they all work!)

My big man!! He is growing sooooo fast!
Something about this picture makes my heart happy... I love my kids!

(Not bad for a SLR-like camera!)

Catchin' up!!

OK-to catch up... and keep it in order (I still hope to do a "Blurb" book someday!)
Please scroll down to the beginning of the last post! Then it'll be "in order"!

I promise to keep up!!
_____________________________________________________________

New Years Eve!!
Unlike Christmas, we had a low key New Years Eve with our friend Anne coming over for dinner!It was fun! I baked a cake, that then got stuck in the pans (I SWEAR I used oil!!) But determined to have dessert on New Year's Eve, we "salvaged" the cake. ("I can't spread the frosting on this cake! It is falling apart!!" I said. "Put the frosting in the microwave" Anne replied. OHHHHH, I thought!
We saw a scrapbooking page...
"Friends don't let friends bake drunk!" OK, so I wasn't drunk, but the cake made it look like I must have been! LOL!



We finally got a picture in front of the tree as a family this year! For some reason, we missed it last year! The big shocker for me, is that we never went to go see Santa and get a picture with him!!! WOW! Major Mom ball dropping there! This is the first year I did take them!! Yikes!

I had to include a few snow pictures! I will try to have more single pictures-but I can't help but share LOTS of photos, especially for those who visit that don't get to see the kids very much!
But this particular snow day-it was SO beautiful! It snowed for HOURS! I had to get a few shots in!

Christmas is always a blast! Wehave our traditions. The kids can't go out into the family room until they come get us. I get eh camera, and head in so I am ready for their entry. USUALLY their Santa gift is out of the packaging and on the hearth. But this year Santa wrapped his presents. They get one present from Santa, and two from us (three total-if it's good enough for Jesus...) and their stockings, of course! They get so much from the Grandparents too, they are hardly deprived! They sit in their places (each has their own spot) and we distribute presents (Gavin helps, seeing as he is the oldest-though Gabriel has helped now too) and we take turns-everyone opens one, but at the same time. The kids anyway. I am too busy taking pictures! After a wonderful morning playing with all the new stiff (there is the stuff from Grandma Sue from the night before too!) We head off to Grandpa Don's and Grandma Dinah's for more family fun! As usual, we are horribly blessed! We always get too much, and have a wonderful time!

Oh MY GOSH!!

(scroll down to the end for "chronological order")

Christmas Eve!
We had a blast! Jerry's parents come over, with about 16 relatives! There was a lot of food, a lot of wine, and a lot of fun! Grandma Sue and Grandpa Jerry came over before everyone else to unwrap presents. After everyone got there and ate, we played games! This family is SERIOUS about their games! I laughed SO hard! The last of the family left after midnight, and we still had to get ready for Christmas morning! I love this tradition we have started! This is the second year that all of Jerry's family has come for Christmas Eve, and I look forward to it next year!!

The last days of school before Christmas,
there were parties in each room. Bad Mommy forgot the camera on Gavin's party day (I was in charge of the game and craft, and got flustered! LOL!)
But Gabriel's party was fun too... They made Reindeer out of bananas and pretzels and chocolate chips (Thanks Angie!) and played Christmas bingo (they yelled out "Jesus" instead of "Bingo"" It was very fun!) Cora got to join Gabriel's class, since I was helping with this party too, and she doesn't have preschool until the afternoon! Fun for all!

Gavin gets the WOW award for Trustworthiness!
We are so proud! With so many boys in his class, it has been a challenge to keep everyone "in line" let's say! It is very tempting. He got the reward because he can be trusted to behave when he goes to other classes-and behaves as Mrs. Ellinger asks of him when she is not with their class (which isn't as easy as it sounds-it would be more fun to wrestle! LOL! ) He was so proud! It was so sweet to see! He takes the WOW award very seriously, and couldn't wait to see if he had won! :) (I couldn't resist the newpaper slide!)

Heritage Christan School Christmas Program:
Gavin was so dang cute this year too!
We are so proud of him! He did a wonderful job!
We just love our little school!
The music teacher did a fantastic job with the kids!
Afterwards we got pictures by the tree on stage (second year of our tradition)
There is that love hate thing with the camera again! Ugh!
Then Alicia's mom (here from California) couldn't help herself, and helped with serving the punch afterwards! Thank you! It was a festive night-many blessings!!

Scrapaganza's Christmas party!
We had a great time. Food, laughter, an ornament exchange (more laughter)...

Had to add this last ice picture... the sun coming though the ice on the trees was stunning!

More ice, more beauty!!

The first ice storm... so beautiful!

I don't care what everyone says-if it is cold, there might as well be snow! I love snow! I get all excited when it starts to snow! I love being "snowed in"! (I am also grateful to have a wonderful neighbor that is willing to help dig us out with is little plow!) I love how excited the kids get when it snows! Here are pictures of Gavin that I took during our first significant snow!

Gabriel (3 day a week preschool) was a crow in the their class chapel performance!
How cute are they!! They did a great job! Mrs. Schadel is SO wonderful!! I included that blurred picture-I am sure that is what it must feel like some days-a blur! Thank you Mrs. Schadel!!! We love you!

Now keep in mind, I for the all of December, was borrowing my friend Alicia's camera (Thanks Alicia!!) and even thought I am UBER grateful to her for her kindness (VERY) I have a love/hate relationship with her camera! Love, because I had a camera that are darn computer would read the USB, hate, because that thing HATES low light, and it is hard not to get a indoor or lower light picture without blur. I was SO spoiled with my SOny S85, that took GREAT pictures in low light!
ANYWAY, the quality of my picture taking doesn't reemurge until I get my new Sony H9! (In Janurary!)