A Visit from the Twins

Last night, Darla & Dale came by with the twins, Emma & Lily. They are so precious. It is hard to believe they will be 3 in February. They are a riot.

As soon as Lily opened up the tutu's she had to take off her dress and wear a tutu.

They loved the little Santa that sings and moves when you push a button.

Emma also loved the baby Jesus. They gave me a beautiful ornament of the Eiffel Tower. How appropriate is that!!!!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. Adam, Brooke, Jack & Bennett were here as well as Alex and Jessica.
 After dinner, we took the boys to the park for awhile and then watched the old version of Miracle on 34th Street in black and white with Natalie Wood.

Bennett loved his turkey, green beans, and rolls.

Jack liked to play in Katie's cage.

Bennett loves his grandpa.

This is a picture of the Thanksgiving cards I sent out this year.

I also made a second page to go with the page of Bennett in the pumpkin.

We now know where the wedding reception for Alex and Jessica will be. We (her mom, Jessica, & I) decided on the Woodmont Clubhouse in Temple Terrace. They have remodeled since I was there last and it is really nice and the price is right too. They have a large room with 8 round tables for eight persons each. The adjoining room and entryway has tables for presents and sign in etc and a bar. The kitchen is large and the dance floor is a good size too.

Speaking of the wedding, I have been experimenting with Save the Date designs and Jessica settled on this one. I have half of them made already.

James made a shadow box for Larry at work. I did a picture page of Normandy and we put it in the box along with some shells and rocks from the beaches in Normandy. It turned out really nice. James also gave him a small album with pictures of Normandy.

Tallahassee

James & I went to Tally this past weekend to see Adam, Brooke, the boys, &. of course, Chelsea. We had a great time. Bennett is growing up so fast. He is so different from the last time we saw him, but still the happy, laughing baby we remembered.

He sure loves his grandpa.
Jack had a great time with James too, looking over the new books we brought him.

We got to see Becca, Steve, and their beautiful new baby, Fletcher. He is just adorable.

We took a gift for baby Fletcher, and here is the card that I made.

I have my Thanksgiving cards done, and am working now on my Christmas cards. I am also working on Save the Date cards for Jessica and Alex. We are having a wedding August 10 and the best news yet is that Frances, Christophe, Sasha and Francois will be here for the wedding. I can't wait to see them again.

More Pages

 Frances uploaded 500+ photos to Walgreens the other day on her own without any begging on my part. So I knew that she must be wanting a new page for her frame. Well, here you go Frances and I will mail it tomorrow. Since is it Francois's birthday today, if you upload some party pictures I can do another page for you and mail it with the Christmas box.

I already had this ball page made from a class I took at the convention in Jacksonville, so it was real easy to make myself a page for my scrapbook.

I plan to spend some time tomorrow scrapping since I don't have to work. I also plan to use part of Thanksgiving break and Christmas break catching up, so be ready for more pages of pictures.

November

We went to card class last week and made several things. We made a gift card holder, a thank you note, and 2 gift tags for Christmas. Then, of course, we went out to eat. We went to Longhorn this time and really had a great meal with a fabulous salad.

Saturday, Lynn and I went to the new Hobby Lobby in Lakeland. Heaven forbid, we missed the grand opening last week. I just can't imagine how that happened! But no matter, we had a great time. I actually didn't buy anything for scrapbooking-I have everything I need!!!HA HA I did buy a huge wreath though to hang above the garage door. Of course that is for Christmas in July-Hooray, Hooray,Frances, Christophe, Sasha and Francois are coming July 23 for three weeks so we are celebrating Christmas in July this next year!!!-tree, lights inside and out, etc. I know, I know, but they have never been here for Christmas and don't decorate like we Americans do, so indulge me.
Back to shopping, Lynn & I also went to Belks and I bought some ornaments and 2 trees for my dining room table to go with the one I had.

Of course, they will look better with the table cloth on and the table runner, but you get the idea. I think they are rather pretty.
I did a Halloween page today of Bennett in the pumpkin. You knew I had to do one, he is so darn cute in that pumpkin. Everyone at school says people would actually pay for a picture like that. Anyway, I am pleased with my page. I used one of Tami Potter's papers. I love the effect of cutting the pictures up into mosaics.

We are going to Tally this weekend to see the babies & Chelsea. I can't wait!! Oh yeah, we will see Adam and Brooke too!!

Grandbabies

I owe Brooke & Adam pages for their magnetic frame so I finally made one the other day for them and one for us too. The boys are just too cute in those shirts I bought them. In case you can't read what they have printed on them, they say "My Mummy Rocks" and have a mummy on them. I love this black, orange and white stripped paper.

Yesterday, we got a Halloween card in the mail from the twins, Emma and Lily. They also sent us a collage photo.

 Who's foot is that????

They are so darn cute. Dale and Darla are so lucky.
Of course Darla and Brooke are the real lucky ones. They both get to stay home with their children instead of  having to work and sending the babies to daycare. I know I will always cherish the years I stayed home with Adam and Alex.
Emma & Lily, Jack & Bennett, we hope you all have a great Halloween and we can't wait to see pictures of all of you in your costumes.

Catching up

I am trying to catch up with my scrapbook pages but it is slow going. I really need to do pages for my picture frame and Brooke's but just haven't had time. I have been trying to get ready because my peer evaluator comes tomorrow at school, so we will see how that goes.
I have taken some of my previous 8 x 8 pages for my frame and turn them into 12 x 12 pages for my scrapbook. Here are three of them. I am really pleased with the way my silhouette has been cutting things out since I did the update for the software. It is cutting out things it never would have done before the update.

This farmer Jack page is James's favorite.

I really like this one with the green checked paper and the green poke-a-dotted paper.

The silhouette cut out these detailed hearts and the button borders below.

It never would have cut this out before the update. I am really excited about it now.
It was James's 65th birthday Saturday so for a gift we went to the USF homecoming game. Unfortunately they lost with a little help from the refs but we had a great time and got some sun too.
I also got him a coffee maker.

He is really liking it.

We had great seats on the 40 yard line. I asked the guy behind us to take a picture of us and supposedly he did but when I got home and checked the camera, there was no picture of us. Oh well.

 Here is a picture of the card I made for him.

The Tampa skyline was beautiful and I couldn't miss taking a picture of it.

I put the pictures that Brooke and Adam took on their beach vacation on the pages I made at a make and take at the convention in Jacksonville. They were perfect for the pages. Even their clothes and swim suits color coordinated with the papers on the page.

October

This month for card class we made a calendar. We used a small CD box for the stand and we did three months worth of calendars for 2012. Guess what the secretaries are getting this year for Christmas?

 Here is what they look like from the side. I really like them because they are small and won't take up much space on a desk.

 I made a Halloween card for Jack and Bennett that is different from the ones I am sending everyone else. Since they are going to be little monsters for Halloween, I thought this card was appropriate. I mailed it today in their Halloween box.

 Also in the box is a Halloween can for Jack.

I made this door hanger for Jack & Bennett too.

Lynn and I went to St. Pete to Whim So Doodle last Tuesday for their make and take. We made these cute little Halloween bags. We ate at a little Italian restaurant around the corner. I don't remember the name, but it sure was a really nice place to eat. They had some tables outside and the weather was beautiful so we ate outside. It was like being in Paris again.

Jessica, I thought these boxes might be nice for favors for your wedding if we do them in your colors and put the guest's name on them and fill them with those candied almonds.
This is the Halloween card I made for this year. I really like this stamp.

I made Christmas, boy birthday and girl birthday count downs for Frances and put them in the Halloween box I mailed today. Here are what they look like. This is part of your Christmas gift Frances, I am just sending it early so you can use it for Francois's birthday and for Christmas this year. I will do you an Easter one later. I really think these are so neat. I used my Silhouette to cut out the shapes and the numbers. It is really working so much better since I did the upgrade to Silhouette studio.

Boy Birthday

Girl Birthday

Christmas Countdown

Now it is up to you to buy the little trinkets and candy to put in them!

Francois's birthday is next month so I couldn't leave him out. I made this card & envelope  for him.

It is the first time I used this stamp. I pop-dotted the little stars and glittered them.