New Years Eve

It is a quiet New Years Eve here. David had to work tonight (busy night at the jail) and I have to open tommorow morning. I am going to take my Nyquil pretty soon. A cold has been going around our house. I have it pretty bad, Liam also has it and Christian has a runny nose, but still seems to feel fine. Liam kept freaking out and crying over the smallest things yesturday and I finally gave him some Tylenol and he was able to cope with life much better. It is hard for a three year old to know that they should just go lay down or explain why they fell so bad.

Here are a couple of layouts
Credits can be found at the link to my gallery to the right.


Have a Happy New Year. I hope to be back tommorow with Liam's 2007 in review and stay tuned for a few more Christmas layouts.

I have been busy the last couple of days working on the family 2008 Calendar.
I used Doreen's 2008 Cd Case Calender template Set for this

The boys and I went to Ikea this afternoon so I could check out the flooring and bring samples home. David called the relator and told her we want to take the house off the market. We are going to focus on improving the things we hate about our house. (Many of the projects are cheaper then moving). Our crazy neighbors are moving out, so we are praying for more normal people to move in.
Now that we are staying and getting rid of the ugly turqoise carpet, it is also time to choose a color scheme we like for our living room. I was really liking plum at Ikea.
Here is another layout I did today.

Credits Here

Boxing day

I don't actually live in a country that celebrates Boxing Day, but since my entries have had a holiday theme lately, I thought I would be consistant. I should have started on Sunday the 23rd with Emperor of Japan's Birthday, which is a holiday there.
The snow melted soon after it came (like it often does on Portland) They are talking about more snow tommorow. We will have to wait and see.
Here is a layout I did today. I used Sugar Cookie by Cori Gammon, Peppermint Kisses by Sherri Tierney & Santa Alpha by Lindsey Jane

Christmas Day

The boys followed our instructions this morning and did not come out until we went to get them. I woke up at 6:00 am and had to go to the bathroom, but I held it, because I did not want risk getting them up. David and I got up, started coffee, got the camera ready, then David got the boys out. They enjoyed their present opening. Liam still does not quite get it and when we gave him stocking, he threw it down and said "no". Christian just ripped through his presents and after some coaxing Liam got his open. They have played happily with the new items today. We gave them art supplies, which are nice since they do not take up a lot of room. Christian has been hopping around the house on his new hippity hop all day.

The boys were playing quietly and I was sitting on the couch reading and I looked out the front window and was amazed. It was snowing! I grew up here in Portland and have been here every Christmas, except the two years I lived in Japan and I don't think we have ever had snow on Christmas (freezing rain a couple of times) It stuck a bit and should snow more tonight and stick. We got the coats out, they boys played in the snow and I took pictures. When we went out, we could hear children playing and yelling in delight from all over the street.
I used Snow Biz by Lindsey Jane to do this layout

Christmas Eve

Today was a rough day. Liam came in and got in bed with me at 4:00 am, then I had to get up and go to work and my lower back was in extreme pain. The boys were fairly calm this afternoon even though Liam was sleep deprived. We watched Milo and Otis, so I could lay in bed. It was tough getting the boys to bed since they were so excited, but they did fall asleep by 8:00.
After they were asleep, I wrapped the presents. Everything is ready for tommorow morning.
I am working on learning to use some of the settings on my camera, since I figure I need to understand this one if I want to buy a digital SLR. Here is a photo of the Christmas tree lights

This is the tree with the wrapped presents

Luna in her Christmas best

Christan with my stuffed Opus

I wonder if the Space Shuttle has plato sensors

Frames: Christmas Wrap by Lindsey Jane & Duo Tinsel Frames by Lindsey Jane

I am fighting a migraine tonight, but I wanted to post this layout. Click on my digishoptalk gallery for credits.
I have to work tommorow morning, then wrap presents when the boys go to bed, so I hope my head is better.

Korean Food

Tonight we went to dinner at a Korean Restuarant close to our house. David and I ordered a combo meal with Bul-gol-gi (Barbeque beef that you cook at the table), tofu, gyozo, seafood soup and the traditional rice and side dishes. We ordered yakisoba for the boys to share. Christian nibbled at the Yakisoba, actually ate salad (big shock) and ate some of my rice. Liam snacked freely from all the food. He loved several of the side dishes and David and I did not get much from them. At the end of the meal he wanted to pour the left over hot sauce from the kimchi on his food. He mixed it with some sesame and ginger oil and ate much of the food. After mixing it up, he wanted to give it to me to eat. I finally took the bowl, prentended to eat from it, tell him how yummy it was and thanked him as I gave the bowl back to him. He also loved the seafood soup and left the restaurant screaming when we took him from it and the chopsticks. It is nice that Liam is such a good eater. If he ever gets some table manners, we will be able to take to any kind of restuarant we choose. Christian has pretty good table manners, he is just so fussy.
It will look really odd when we visit Korea next time and David, Liam and I are eating everything happily while Christian is asking for Mac and Cheese. At least, we should be able to prove that it is not from lack of exposure that he is so fussy.

How many presents

I have heard many discussions lately about how many presents to give your kids for Christmas. On The Diva Cast podcast, one of the woman was talking about a friend's church where everyone agreed to limit the presents for their kids to three per child. The Divas were discussing how they like the idea and it works well at church, but once their kids go to school the encounter another scene.
I have to say that we lean towards the less is more school of thought on Christmas presents. Christian's birthday was just last week, so he is not in real need for lots of extra toys right now, so we bought him a couple of things now and then we are going to wait until spring and summer to get him a couple of toys when they will be more unique. We do the cash only Christmas and I have been trying to do more home-made presents for people or I give them coffee.
I have been shopping for a couple of months and I am storing everything in the garage, so it will be a surprise to me what I bought when I get the stuff out Sunday and Monday to wrap. I did buy Hippity Hops for each boy (2.99 at Ross), so I am taking them to work on Monday and a co-worker is bringing his bicycle pump and I am going to inflate them and just put bows on them and leave them by the tree.

Christian had a little sing a long for the families at school today. I had to work, but David & Liam went. Before school, Christian was practicing Deck the Halls. He was singing the line "You be ancient, You be jolly" as he sang the song.
Here are a couple of layouts I did. I decided to use a star theme on Christian's Birthday Layouts.
I used many items on this layout, my posting at digishoptalk has links to the Elemental Scrap store

I used Two Little Boys by Sharia Braxton on this layout (link in yesturday's post)

Another Birthday Layout & Legos

We have entered a new season in our family life....the season of Legos. Christian got his first little Lego set for his birthday. He and Liam are both in love with it and have been playing with it a lot, but it also means lots of little Lego pieces scattered about our house. We have all of David's old Legos in storage and will get them out for the boys in a while. At least his sets come with some organizers.
Here is a layout I did today:
I used Graphically Speaking by Cori Gammon, Simply Primary Papers and Shine On Primary Alpha by Jannylyn and Two Little Boys by Sharia Braxton for it.

1st Birthday layout

I decided to use a template to do this layout and I chose Shandy Vogt's Got Shapes template pack. I thought this would speed things up. The templates are great and easy to use, but this layout took me a long time. I tried to play around with some brushes and did not like them, so I put a new page in. After a lot of messing around, this is what I came up with. I used Birthday Wish by Leah Nicole and Sherry Tierney's Date Stamps

Birthday Re-cap

Christian had a fun birthday party. We had a big turn-out, only one person who was invited was unable to attend. When I sent out the invitations, I figured we would not have a large turn out since it is so close to Christmas, but I was wrong.
We had the party at Round Table Pizza. I went down a few minutes early and saw they had a TV and a DVD player in the room so I asked if we could play our own DVDs and they said sure. I called David and asked him to snag the Superfriends DVD we have from Blockbuster and we put it in while the kids ate pizza. It was a big hit. I think the parents liked it because the kids sat quietly ate and watched the DVD for a few minutes. I gave everyone a couple of quarters to play video games with and them kept them busy for a while then we did cake and then the present opening. At this age the present opening is like a pack of lions decending on their kill. I was able to do a pretty good job remembering who gave what. Christian expanded his Hot Wheels Collection quite a bit on Saturday.
After he party we went to Zoo Lights. There were a couple of melt-downs from each child, but they got inot it and had fun by the time it was dark out.
Here is the Thank You card I made. I used Rev it Up by Sherri Tierney

I used 'Tis the Season by Jeannie Papai, Merry Brights by Jannylyn & Silver Bells the Elemental Scraps Collab kit for this.

Final birthday preperations

Christian's party is Saturday almost everyone has rsvp'd yes and no one has said no, so we might have everyone we invited (I did not expect that with it being so close to Christmas).
I bought candy to get the kids buzzed up on today and made race car bag toppers. (I'll try to grab a picture. I put together the Batman theme goody bags and wrapped his presents. I have to go to the pizza place and put in our order for the party, pick up the cake Saturday morning and get some balloons. The party is only a few blocks from our house, so if we get there are realize we forgot something, it is a two minute drive.
Tommorow is Christian's snack day and David's parents are flying in (David and Liam will pick them up while I am at Christian's school). After his cooking class we will Ride the Christmas steam engine.
I am glad I have most of the work done, so I can relax the next couple of days. I am going to start pulled pork in the crock pot in the morning, so we have a easy, yet tasty lunch.

Layout and guide to freebies

I did this layout today using How Grunge Who Stole Christmas by Sharia Braxton, Tinsel Alpha, Glitter Frame Duo & Christmas Balls by Lindsey Jane.
This layout is not my usual style. I am not a big person for using a lot of patterned paper for one thing, but as I worked on it, I liked it and I could not figure who I was drawn to something that was not my style. After a while, I realized that the kit, the frame and the tinsel alpha reminds me of a 1970's Christmas. They remind me of my childhood Christmas decorations.


My friend Calyn asked me to post some of my favorite sites for freebies for people getting started in digital scrapbooking

The best site to start at is Shabby Princess
Oscraps and designer digitals are good places to start.
Ikea Goddess' blog gives a run down of freebies on a daily basis, and Lindsey Jane's blog has wonderful freebies often. You can find the links to these on my side bar.

I did my first project for Cori Gammon today. I did a recipe card and bag toppers
I used the kit Sugar Cookies
Here is the recipe card

Here are ziplock bag toppers

This idea was inspired by Pinku Pixie.
To make this open up a blank 8x10 paper. Open the paper you want and cut it to about 4x6. Repeat for with another paper and make a second 4x6 cut on the page. I added a square and a rectangle and element and the title. Print, cut out, add cookies or candy to a ziplock bag, fold, spread glue from a glue stick on the back of topper and attach to top of ziplock bag.

I am going to make some of these to use for Christian's Birthday Party on Saturday.

This Portable DVD Player and iPod Dock is my Christmas present from my parents this year. I knew I wanted a iPod dock, so when I looked up Frys on the web to see my choices, I saw that there were Portable DVD player docks as well as only audio ones. I decided to make the jump to having a portable DVD player. This will make camping trips much easier if I can let the boys watch a DVD once and a while. I have been proud to have these "media" free times, but it will be nice to get a break once and a while.

Getting a tree

We went to cut down a Christmas Tree today. We went to a tree farm in Oregon City. It was even snowing a bit today, so it felt very Christmasy.
I re-did the second page of the layout today. I am still working on the best way to do a two page layout.

Choosing a tree

No outing would be complete without a temper tantrum. Liam wanted another cookie and I said no.

I have seen some pictures of kids with lighs and decided to playing around with using my camera in a darker enviroment. I have some other great pictures with the lights. Stay tuned for some layouts.

I took this picture of our cat Luna because she is cute.

Frame: Folded bits by Lindsey Jane

Here is a two page layout I did of Liam visiting Santa. I used Christmas spectacular by Pyralis Designs at 3scrapateers for these.
We are hoping to go get our tree tommorow, so I should have some more Christmas pictures soon.
I was invited this week to join the site team for Elemental Scraps this week. I am excited to get started with some fun layouts. I am also a guest ct for Cori Gammon at Elemental Scraps this month.

A visit with Santa

We took the boys to Macys downtown to see Santa. Christian would not go near Santa, he just hid, Liam never sat on Santa's lap, but he did get to know Santa and had a conversation with him about Thomas trains. I don't know if we was giving Santa his with list or if he was just conversing about his favorite thing. I think he managed to name all the engines in the course of the conversation. He did give Santa a hug before he left.
They used to have a tram in the Meier and Frank Santaland. I used to ride it when I was a child and it was still running up until a couple of years ago. It was not very safe, so they decided to close it, but they have part of the tram for the kids to look at and sit in.

Here is a layout I did from Thanksgiving. We are going downtown to Macys to see Santa in a little bit. I hope to have some good pictures. David and I both worked in that building when it was Meier and Frank. This will be our first visit since Macys took over and since the remodel is completed. This is also the store I saw Santa at when I was a child (as Meier and Frank), it is always fun to take my kids to the same places I went.