Merry Christmas!

Here is our Christmas card!  If you are on our Christmas list, you'll get one-if not, you can send me your address! : )

I use this software all the time (my Digital Studio-and it's unbelievably priced at $40 right now-like less than half!!), and since I was going to make a photo picture/card, I started working on this, then just printed it as pictures at Wal-Mart!  I totally didn't plan to make my own card, but by the time I found all the cute words and pulled the pictures I was thinking about using (I was even going to sepia all of them-but liked the color!), I was done.
I actually got it finished on Thursday night!  I put the order in, but they won't be done till December 2 or so.  I'll get a text when they are ready.  I need to work on the envelopes for now!

But decorating? Nope, haven't started.  I can only do one thing at a time! : )  Be impressed with my cards! heehee

Don't forget to shop Cyber Monday!  Sales are crazy-even lots of free shipping! : )  100 items on the American Girl website are on sale, up to 50% off-that's somewhere I can't shop locally!  Except she keeps changing her Christmas List...  I'll have to have them write letters to Santa, that way they're mailed and gone-No more changes!


I hope you shop, shop, shop and help our economy! (but don't hurt yours!)  and could the housing market please pick up?  I need my house value to go back up near what I paid. : )

Our Haunted House

Golly, golly gumdrops-what fun!  I used to not like Halloween that much, but with the candy (umm-chocolate)-it sure gets sweet. : )  We are so busy (needless to say!).  After the Hoedown, my mind has moved on!
We went to Boingo Bounce with some friends on Friday!  It is a new bouncy place-and it's so nice, clean, and cool (lots of leopard, zebra, and NeW toys!)-we loved it!

It's kind of hidden away, but big enough inside, and the party rooms are soo cute!  The best is the big one (of course!), and we checked out party prices-we may just need to have Ethan's birthday there! :)
Ethan got started right away-he couldn't wait!  I took socks too, but had trouble keeping up with him.  He was going so quickly from one bouncy to the next-I was having trouble balancing!  His center of gravity is so low, he doesn't seem to have any trouble (that..or the fact that he's in better shape..).

Here he is as he takes a *teensy* break in the under five kids' play area:

 

(Sorry, this is my phone, so they aren't so clear!)  Then he went up the Tidal Wave..(which was pretty tough to climb-straight up, on air!):

And he came down sooo fast!

 

There was this great little play area for kids under five (but bouncy)-it was a Barnyard!  There were barrels to climb through, a tiny slide, a dog and horse (that they tried to ride!), and learning "walls" with lots of velcro words and numbers to match-sooo cute! : )

 

Then, it was time to go-we had to get some work done!  We headed to Panera for macaroni and cheese (if you haven't had it, try it-it's aMaZiNg!!) and apples, and Ethan wanted to eat outside.  I left my phone in the van, but I SO wanted to take pictures of him outside munching his apple, fighting off a fly.  I restrained myself, and just enjoyed the moment. : )

Then he went with Gigi and Papa for a while to go check out garage sales!  I'd given him a small $4 to spend-and he spent it fast!  He got a baby walker/car, like we had and gave away (and has enjoyed the heck out of!), a pirate hat and spyglass, and a water gun (and a small round soap for free).  He got to swing at someone's house, and shop-he was happy!  I went to the school, made copies, then worked at the church for a little bit, then picked him back up.  He was trying to talk them into a new bike-poor kid only has a tricycle, bike, ride-on motorcycle and tractor..he's so neglected.  

We had dinner at Mom's-yum-veggies!-and then on the way home...we hit a deer.  It wasn't as bad as I'd thought-but it dented my door with its antlers, and probably its teeth.  We pulled over immediately) since I was partially freaking out-there was some wet (saliva?), but no blood.  It really wasn't bad, but it'll have to be repaired (never good).  And Clay scratched the other side again, so Poor Van. : (

Then Mary Claire had a friend spend the night, and Saturday she was off to a Red Cross program, "Masters of Disaster"-she really learned a lot, and had fun!  She told me all about our emergency supply kit (that we need to assemble..), and tornadoes, and where they happen, and myths vs. truth-she was full of answers!

Clay had an awesome birthday party at Fast Lane-he got to play Laser Tag, eat pizza, and bowl-he loved it!  Then Ches took Clay and Ethan to see Alpha and Omega.  We worked on Clay's invitations for his birthday (have to plan early-he has a Thanksgiving birthday, and his friends are always out of town, so we have it in early November..which is next week!).  He's having a movie party again, this time for the release of Megamind:

 

Yes, I crafted this on My Digital Studio! : )  I ordered them to be printed at Wal-Mart in Fayetteville, and then forgot envelopes.  We went to Target, then Hobby Lobby for envelopes and stickers.  I can't just do it the easy way-I like it Just Right!  We found the cutest spaceship/boys stickers and dark blue envelopes.  He had made a list for me before they went to the movie, so I got to work.  I had them ready by 4, but we drove around looking for the latest Saturday pickup location, but kept missing it.  I guess they'll go out on Monday.

We also had dinner at Olive Garden, had a bad waiter (yes, we would still go back, but they gave us a gift card!), but the food is always wonderful.  We had to ask a few times for mints-I don't understand that.  When you frequent a place, you kinda get used to some things like chocolate!  This is my girl-she dressed up to match me: white denim jacket, pink scarf-she was so cute, I had to take a picture:

Then we came home (late!) (Booed our neighbors-gave them lots of treats and toys, a Boo! sign and instructions for booing other friends secretly), and the kids had been crying and fussing to go to a Haunted House.  It was soo rainy, and I didn't want to walk in mud or get all wet.  We agreed to make them a haunted house here!  First, we set it up for Mary Claire and Ethan.  Ches, Clay and I got all ready-Ches was a ghost, ran the red-eyed battery-powered dinosaur with red eyes, and grabbed legs (we all had at least two jobs!), I dripped blood (water) on them, rubbed spiders (hairbrush) on them, and touched them with rubber gloves, and Clay was a ghost, made noise, touched them, and made scary noises.  They laughed, freaked out, and loved it!  Then, again, then Mary Claire and Ethan made us one!  They were even funnier!  Ethan made a water (blood) puddle for us to walk in (yes.), and they had touching, screaming, "boos!", spider webs, crunchy styrofoam shredded on the floor..ahh, fun!

Then we settled down, and watched a movie we saw at the theater before Ethan was born: Monster House.  It was pretty good, and we had snack together-the kids went to bed late!

I finally finished all the girl scout bags for tomorrow's patch ceremony!  They are so cute-the girls will be excited to get them-they all earned about 6-8 patches!  And I love the cute ones: the science one with the beaker, the one with the building blocks..so sweet!  The three caring bears.  It's kinda what you get for all your work-and soo adorable.

I better get some rest-there's more tomorrow!  I have to finish getting Clay's class Halloween party ready-I'm planning some luminaries (as long as the teacher okays them!) and some "body parts".  Clay thought up most of the ideas-always the best!  There are peeled grapes that feel like eyeballs..cooked spaghetti for brains..dried apricots for ears almonds for teeth..etc.  He found one of my Marc Brown books that had quite a list!  I need to make the foods...  Let me know if you think of any more! : )

Home!

We are finally home, and thankful to be here!
It was a long drive in from Dayton, Ohio, but thanks to lots of Red Boxes, we made it!  (I LOVE those!)  We stopped for dinner at Red Lobster-and had to snap a few pictures, the last of our vacation.  Bittersweet.

Two cutie boys-glad I caught those two lobsters!

And then we headed to dinner..Clay chose crab legs-that boy loves seafood! (it proves just because you don't like something, doesn't mean your kids won't!)  We let him be adventurous-and he likes nearly everything!

And then Mary Claire wanted to smile for the camera-and she's always darling:

And then she wanted to take my picture (and we'd been on the road all day-so I put Ethan in front of me..):

Look at our messy table!  Ick.  And then we had to get back on the road.  Here are the three sweet kiddos outside-ready to get back to their movies (while I was scrapbooking!):

I

I know I told you this before, but I love, love, love My Digital Studio-I have already scrapbooked our entire trip.  No, I am not kidding.  I did it as we went, and on the way home in the car.  It's all on the computer, I just have to get it printed.  Wanna see a couple pages??

This is my first page of the album, so a compilation:

This is one of the beach pages:

And this is one of the New York pages:

I actually have 29 pages all together!  And yes, they are done.  This could revolutionize my scrapbooking intentions.  I mean well, but I never get them done.  I can even add little things after I get them back, like our Museum badges, maps, and little ticket stubs.  I'm excited to have something accomplished!  I just have to find somewhere to print them now...

Conditioned to Wash

My hairstylist told me last week to try to not wash my hair with shampoo every other time in the summer-just to use conditioner and scrub my scalp.  His wife had been doing it, and her hair looked great!  So..I tried it.  It looks great right after you dry it, but later on...not so much.  Ick.  I'm NOT into dirty hair, and it doesn't look clean, so you can bet I won't try it again!  I mean, you are going through the motions, scrubbing, rinsing, drying, styling...so don't I want the fulll *clean* effect?  The answer is: Yes.  Don't try this at home (unless your hair is really dry-maybe in winter?)

I am addicted to something new (surprise!).  It is digital scrapbooking software by Stampin' Up! called My Digital Studio.  It is SUper Cool! and I figured out how to use it (Even Better!).  It is so much easier than my fancy-schmancy Photoshop Elements (which I still don't really know how to use).  After a bunch more learning...I figured out to save a page as a .jpg so here's one of the pages I created!  I have started with our Disney pix from this April-this is page 2-right as we got into the park on the first day-fun!

This is just me throwing some elements, journaling, and pictures together.  Talk about having time to scrapbook now-woohoo!  Then you just send them to be printed-talk about easy.  It came with tons of elements (like scrapbook papers, punches, buttons, ribbons, etc.), but I also got some free digikits from 2 Peas.  And they work!  I've bought a bunch of fonts from them, and they save all my downloads, so if I lose them, get a new computer (it happens!), I can still access them!  They are great-and check out their sample projects with each product-they are SO creative.  I can only look for so long, and I'm hooked again.  When we get back (oh yeah-we are going on vacation!), I downloaded a coffee-cup book I'm going to make when I get back.  It uses a starbucks tall cup as the cover (you'll just have to see it...let's see if I can find a picture..)

I know it's not super clear-but how cute is that?  A little more sturdy than my paper bag books-and we could branch out to making a book out of AnYtHiNg if you can make a book out of a REAL Starbucks cup! : )

We are headed out on an adventure starting tomorrow.  I'll keep you posted.  We are headed to high places. ; )