Happy Holidays...boy I've been gone a while!!!

Where do I begin...

well I spent the weekend before last working on Christmas cards

for my family and friends that turned out like this...

... pretty cute I thought. So, I had the bright idea to take

a picture of the kids together wearing their Santa hats in front

of the Christmas tree for all the grandparents and family

that looked like this...

So far so good! On our way to my dad's house Tuesday night

for his Christmas, we ran by CVS and my hubby drops me off

at the door to run in and print off a couple quick pictures for my

dad, but I never even made it into the building! Only a few steps

across the sidewalk and my feet slipped on the sheet of ice and

down I went catching myself with my head. I'm not sure if the

fall knocked my out or not, but I couldn't see anything for probably

a good 30 seconds. I just remember my husband calling out to me

from the car asking if I was OK, and I responded NO!!!

He said he knew then that I was really hurt, because I always

say that I'm fine. I found out later that my poor girls were in the car

crying because there was a puddle of blood on the sidewalk were my

head hit, and thank goodness my poor little baby Carter was asleep

in his car seat while my hubby and an EMT that just happened to be

walking out of the building helped me sit up.

I found out that I have a concussion (not sure if I spelled that right)

and trying to sit through the holiday parties and all of our families

houses was almost impossible. I hope they can all email me pictures

because I was and still am way too dizzy to take any. That just makes

me want to cry because it's my baby's first Christmas.

So, that's why I haven't posted for a while but now that I'm stuck

here at home and can't drive I'll try to do some catching up.

Hope everyone had a much better week than I did!!!

Happy Holidays All!!!!

My Karate Princess

My sweet Emmy is having a blast in karate!

We signed her up when a dojo opened up recently

just down the road from our house. We thought

that karate would improve Emily's confidence and

self-esteem, and boy we were right...she's thriving!!

Tonight she actually came home with a new badge

for me to sew onto her new blue gi for being able to

do the splits. It's a big deal in her beginner class to

get the colored gi...they all start out with white ones

and when the students can finally do either the

splits or the straddles then they can choose either

a red or blue gi...Emmy chose blue. She is sooo

proud of herself and I am too. I love seeing her

come out of her shell and truely enjoy something

that she thought she would never have the guts to

do. She is learning and just moving right along...only

one more step to go and she will get to be promoted

to the next class and receive her yellow striped belt!

I'm so proud of her!!!

That time of year...again!

Oh my goodness! I absolutely love this time of year and all of the

gorgeous decorations, but I really dread this time of year and all

of the decorations too...can anyone relate with that or is it just me?

In our family it is my hubby's job to go out to the garage, find where

he stashed all of the Christmas boxes the year before, and bring them

into the house for me and the girls to set up. Every stinkin year he

goes out to the garage and returns with about 3 or 4 boxes (we have

about 10 Christmas boxes) and promises me that this is it, no more

boxes to be found anywhere. We debate this for about 15 minutes

and then miraculously there are some boxes that seem to appear

from nowhere back in some remote corner of the garage. Well this

year, all boxes have made it into the house except the ones with our

tree lights and ornaments!!! So, our tree is still sitting bare in our

living room and I think my hubby would rather go out and buy new

decorations than have to dig through our garage anymore...oh my my!

Hopefully I look back at all this one day and laugh!!!

So, I am posting pics of the girls putting our tree together last year

because I may not get any this year...wish me luck!!!

December's Layouts for MOXXIE

Here are my layouts that I created this month for MOXXIE.

My assignment was to work with the basketball and wedding

lines. I had a great time making the basketball layout, because

I got to use photos from 4 or 5 years ago of my daughter Becca.

It was just really fun to be able to scrap those older photos and

reminisce about the great times we had watching her play during

her first year of basketball. I also created a basketball frame

cover that I can just switch out with velcro and replace with

the current sport of the season. Becca plays tons of sports

so the velcro and switching of the frame covers

really will come in handy.

Hope you enjoy!

My baby boy is 3 months old already!!!

In honor of Carter turning 3 months old today

I have some new pics of him that I just LOVE!

(like I need an exuse)

He is growing so fast! After 3 children

it still amazes how quickly they learn

and the changes that can be seen daily.

Carter is smiling, giggling, grabbing at things,

pulling his head up like he wants to sit up,

loves trying to jump when we stand him up,

and copying noises that we make...he is also

growing like a weed and weighs 15 lbs!!!

My Grandma Campbell

Unfortunately, my Grandma Campbell passed away this week.

She was a lady that love fishing, playing BINGO, and her

Indianapolis Colts...GO COLTS!!!

We all dug through our photos and created just the coolest

slideshow showing her throughout her life from 1933-2008.

It was a very neat thing to see pictures of my grandma and

my dad growing up (many that I couldn't believe I had never

seen before). I just wanted to share a few of those wonderful

b&w photos that I love of my beloved Grandma Campbell.

My grandma, grandpa, my dad, and my aunt

around 1954.

My dad, so funny wearing his little
boxing gloves.

My grandma and my dad around 1965.

My dad was in the 9th grade I believe.

My dad's graduation.

My aunt(I think), my grandma, my dad,

my dad's best friend, and my granny

(my dad's grandma).

May of 1968 I think.

My mom, my dad, my grandma, and me.

July 4th, 1979

My grandma, my dad, and my aunt at my wedding.

May 11th, 1996

Spooktacular!!!

Every year in the neighborhood where we trick-or-treat

there is "The Scary House" at the end of the road. The owners

there go all out every Halloween by decorating their house,

playing spooky music, and dressing up as the Grim Reaper.

All of the children actually have to earn their candy at this

house by being brave enough to pass by the Grim Reaper in

order to retrieve their candy while being followed and slowly

chased by this man in his 8ft. tall costume. It's hilarious!!!

I couldn't resist hitting record on my digital camera, and

although it's very dark (and sideways) it's still sooooo funny!

Trick-or-Treat Time

We had a blast trick-or-treating this year. As all of you know,

it's Carter's first Halloween, and although she's 12 years old and

pushing the age to go trick-or-treating, Becca gave up going to

her school dance because she just couldn't miss out on Carter's

first trick-or-treating experience. The weather was a perfect

65 degrees that evening, and we couldn't have asked for a better

night full of fun, frights, and friends.

Pumkin Patch & More...

OK, just wanted to post a few pictures from the pumpkin patch

last weekend. It couldn't have been any more beautiful that day!

Carter and I stayed home because I've been busy painting the

house, but the girls went with their aunts and cousins and had

the best time as you can see from the pictures. Since Carter

wasn't there, I'll throw in my new favorite picture of him too.

Time Management

Alright, I need some help planning and squeezing every

moment out of each day. I find that by about 6pm every

day I am getting frazzled because evenings are crazy

around here. So, to help organize all of our schedules

into one place that I can even take with me on the go

(because with Becca's sports the schedule is constantly

changing) I created a cute little calendar that I can

throw into the diaper bag (which also serves as my

purse because I can't stand carrying two bags and a

baby) and have with me anytime I need to check it

or add to it. Of course it needed to be cute and decorative

so not just any old calendar would do, which is why I

made this for Emma's Paperie Color Challenge (pink for

the month of October). Click over to Emma's Paperie to

check out other cute PINK projects for this month.

Busy, busy, busy...

Oh busy & tired me!!! Everyone kept telling me that Carter

would be my easiest baby yet...not so much! It's not

that Carter isn't a good baby (he is), but everyone thought

that I would have so much help with my two older girls

and it didn't quite work out that way. With all of the

homework, and school events and projects, and shuttling

Becca to and from volleyball games and practices every

night, and being up at 6am every morning to get the

girls ready for school, and Steve working 3rd shift...

it's definitely not as easy as everyone thought!

Anyway, I've been pretty good about taking lots of pics

of all 3 kids, and I have new pictures of Carter's first

smiles. He is now 6 weeks old and smiling at all of our

familiar faces every chance he gets. He also will copy

us saying "ohhhhh" it's sooo cute!!!

I just wanted to share my new favorite pictures!

Some New Cards

It's been a little while (about 5 weeks...hmmm, the same age as Carter)

since I've been creative, so I just needed a quick project to get myself

back into the swing of things. So, what's quick and easy... CARDS!!!

I made a couple new ones and just thought I'd share.

I'm painting my daughter's bedroom this weekend and probably

my scraproom while I'm at it so look for pics coming soon of my

hopefully organized and freshly painted scrapbook room.

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

I totally knew that Leelee Sobieski would be on here...

it's definitely those Polish noses!!!

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Dynasty - Roots

Sunday's Church Fair

As you can see from the pictures, last Sunday was

a gorgeous day and the girls had a ball. My mom's

church held a free fair for the entire county and it

was amazing! Tons of bouncy equipment, games

and free food...you can never go wrong with

my kids and free food! I got some great

shots of the girls playing, and even

one with Carter even though he

slept the entire time.

Thanks for the invite, Mom!