Christmas Cards Ordered!

I finally took a few new pictures of the girls last night so that I could finish my Christmas card. They turned out better than the last batch, though it was hard to get either of them to co-operate. Oh well!

At any rate, the card is done and off to Costco to be printed. I should be able to pick it up by Saturday so that I can get them all mailed out.

Here is a preview:

(created using All I Want for Christmas by Monica Larsen)

I hope they turn out!

In other news, I was feeding Sara breakfast yesterday morning when I discovered that one of her bottom teeth is finally emerging from the gum. That would explain why she has sometimes been refusing her bottle. So far no fever or excessive drooling. But she has been more restless in the middle of the night. I hope that passes soon - we could use more sleep!

There has been a light dusting of snow falling for the past three days. It looks like it will be a white Christmas after all. (As if there were any doubt, this being "Winterpeg".) The temperature has dropped to seasonal norms, but it seems much colder after the few weeks of above average (and above 0!) temps.

The weekend is looking busy - I need to get groceries, do some Christmas shopping, and get the Christmas decorating started. So much to do and so little time! I wish I could get out during the week days and get this stuff done, but with only one car between the two of us and Brendon needing to drive to some meetings, it makes it hard. Oh well, we will manage somehow. I've been researching presents online, so I pretty much know what I want to buy and where to get it. That's most of the battle right there! :)

I hear Sara just woke up, so I gotta go! Take care!
Jen

December already!

Thanks to all my friends and family that have sent me birthday wishes today. They are much appreciated!

This week marks the official start to the Christmas season in the Foot house. We always put up the tree on the weekend between my birthday and Brendon's birthday, so this is the week. I love decorating the tree. It is so much more fun with Danielle helping, watching her eyes glowing with the joy of the season. And next year, Sara will get to "help" too. This year, I think she will help, but most likely she will just help remove ornaments - if she figures out how to crawl by then.

And I think she will. She is really working at it. She rocks back and forth on her hands and knees and I saw her moving her hands forward a bit this morning. So it won't be much longer.

Danielle had already brought home lots of pictures that she has coloured, with plans to hang them in the window. I think that by the time she is done, I will not be able to see out the front window anymore! :)

To catch up on the events of the last week, we got Danielle's report card home on Thursday. It had lots of positive comments on how well she is doing and a few points to work on for the next session. Overall it was very good and we are very proud of her. Keep up the good work!

Sara has grown so much that we have transitioned into the "big tub" since the infant tub is getting too small for her. She seems to like being in the regular tub. And Danielle, who swore she would never share the tub, is the first one in every night at bath time. Sara gets so excited that she claps her hands and giggles. It is the cutest thing!

We went to Bird's Hill Park and celebrated Keegan's 6th birthday. It was a fantastic time. We went on a 45 minute hay ride through the trees and fields and the kids had a blast. There was lots of hay being thrown and songs being sung. And the weather was perfect - around 0c and a light snow fall. Couldn't have asked for better!


The kids then had a hot dog lunch (we had delicious burgers and fries - yum!) and everyone had birthday cake. Then it was off to a picnic area where the kids got to have sparklers and roast marshmallows. Lots of fun!

On Sunday, we got to do a video chat with Grandma & Grandpa, who are currently house sitting in BC. It was great to see them. It makes the conversations so much more personal - especially for kids.

It was Grey Cup Sunday too. Brendon watched the whole game, but I just got to see the last quarter. It was quite the upset - the Allouettes pulled out a win based on a do-over because the SK Roughriders had too many men on the field. A true fight to the finish and sure to go down in the record books!

Since I am in the Christmas spirit (it seems to be the only thing on TV anymore!) here are a few older scrapbook pages from Christmases past for your enjoyment. (click picture for credits)









I'll post a few more next time! Bye for now!

One Month, Seven Months, Two Years

Wow, only one month until Christmas! Hard to believe that it is nearly December. This year seems to be flying by!! I better get out there and get my shopping done. The stores are getting crazy, even though the news reports that retail sales are down. Perhaps people are hanging out at the mall but not buying things. Or perhaps the media trying to scare people, as per usual. :P

Speaking of time flying - little Sara turned seven months this past Monday. Not so long ago she was a tiny baby and now she is getting so big. She is developing quite the cute little personality. She adores her big sister and desperately wants to do everything Danielle does and have everything that Danielle has - it doesn't seem to matter if it is food, or toys, or homework. She isn't crawling yet, but I am sure that she will soon figure out that it is the best way to reach whatever she wants and then nothing will be safe!

This past two weeks, I have taken on my largest digital scrapbooking project to date and I am happy to report that I am finally done! I created a 12 page book of Danielle's second birthday party. I learned that it is very different putting together a book vs putting together one page. I found myself redoing a few pages to get a more cohesive feel. And I did a lot of two page layouts, something I haven't done much of lately. At any rate, I am very pleased with the results:















Credits: Emma's Birthday by Inspired Mommie Designs, fonts are Book Antique and Pea Devon Caps.

One birthday down, five more to go! Maybe I can get some of them done before Sara's first rolls around! :)

Anyway, that is all from me today. Have a great week!

November is half over already??

Wow, where is the time going? It seems like only yesterday that it was June! Maybe because the temperature is about the same now as it was then - ha ha! The summer was cold and rainy, but the fall sure has turned out to be unseasonably warm. It is still +7c today and sunny. The long range forecast is looking good too. I hope it stays this way for a while!

We all got our H1N1 flu shots on Friday. The needle itself wasn't so bad, but boy did my arm ache a few hours later! It seems about 90% better today, so by tomorrow it should be back to normal. I am glad I only need to get it once, but the girls will need a second dose. :P

We had a nice weekend, pretty much just kicked back and relaxed. We ended up going to Sears and bought a new microwave since the old one died (that makes 3 microwaves in 6 years!) I am hoping this one will last. It is a microwave/convection oven/grill combination. We gave it a try last night and it works really well! We did baked potatoes (convection), steaks (grill), and green beans (microwave) and it all turned out really well!! The steaks were medium and very tender, not at all tough like microwaved meat. All that in under an hour in one appliance. I was very impressed! Now I want to try making a chicken or baking a cake to see how it turns out.

I did a few Christmas scrapbook pages late last week since the season is fast approaching and I still need to scrap photos from Christmases past. I am trying to incorporate more journaling in my pages so that they are more meaningful. I better put the memories behind the photos to paper soon or I am bound to forget!

Credits: Christmas is Coming by Inspired Mommie Designs, Peel and Stick alpha and Red Card Alpha by Misty Cato, template by Karah Fredricks., font is Traveling Typewriter

Journaling reads:
A few days before Christmas, Danielle and I made this gingerbread house. It was a lot of fun, but next time I think I will assemble the house the night before. For some reason, five-year-olds have no patience for instructions that read “wait two hours before assembling the next section...”


Credits: Christmas is Coming by Inspired Mommie Designs, font is Pea Chrissi

Journaling reads:
Danielle was so excited to see the Santa parade for the first time. She didn’t evem seem to mind the cold. We oohed and awwed over all of the floats as they went by and Danielle kept asking when we would finally get to see santa. Of course he was the last float. As it went by, his voice called out over the crowd “Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas to Amanda and Brendon and Christine and Donald and Elizabeth and...”

When he was out of earshot. Danielle turned to me and I expected to see her little face glowing with joy. Instead she cried “Mommy, why didn’t Santa say Merry Christmas to me? He said it to Daddy!”

My poor little girl. I tried to explain that he couldn’t call everyone’s name, but you were only 4 years old. It is so hard to understand at that age. Even though he didn’t call your name, you were not forgotten. Not for one moment.

There is a new scrapbook related product out there that sounds like a great idea. Log Your Memory is selling a journaling prompt notebook (ebook or printed) to record your everyday life in 2010. I am seriously considering buying it. I could use my lunches and bus ride to/from work to get caught up once I go back to work. Hmmm...

Well, that's all for today! Have a wonderful Monday!
Jen

Nov 12 Update

It has been another busy week in our house! Just when I thought I was getting over this cold, it got worse. :( And now Danielle and Sara have it too. :( I am hoping that we'll all be able to get over it ASAP and be healthy for the rest of the year. Fingers crossed!!

Other events this week - we had our first Grade 1 portfolio night at Danielle's school. It went very well. She had lots of projects and school work to show us in her binder. It is neat to see how kids learn math, language arts, and science through colouring, cutting, gluing, etc. I can definitely see the changes in her reading and writing skills since Kindergarten. We are so proud of her!

The weather has been nice here all week, so Sara and I took Keisha for a walk by the pond a few blocks from our house. There are still lots of geese here in the city. You can get an idea by the picture here:


we took advantage of the day off (Remembrance Day was yesterday) and went to the park. It was +12c here, which is really unusual for this time of the year. The girls enjoyed the play ground and some close up views of the Canada Geese that are still sticking around. They are so used to people at this park that we had to go around them on the walking path because they didn't look like they were going to move!

Some good news for me when I opened my emails this morning - I was picked for layout of the day at Digitals for my page "My Snow Princess" (see post from last week). It was a great surprise! I have another page done this week too:

Credits:
All I want for Christmas by Monica Larsen at ScrapScandiStyle.org

I also have a Christmas card on the go with this fantastic kit. I was hoping to get a picture of Danielle and Sara in their Santa hats so that I could finish it off, but with them both having colds, their noses are all red. Hopefully they will be much improved by this weekend and I can get the card done and ordered. It would be nice to get them out early for a change!

Anyway, that is all for today! Take care!
Jen


This week's update

Has it been a week since I posted already??!! Time really flies!

What is new this week? Halloween was really good this year. Danielle did get another costume - a witch one - and there was no upset feelings over it. My dear husband even complimented her on her costume! It looked very good on her. Orange and black seem to be a good colour combination for her.

Danielle had a very busy Halloween. She was up super early because she was so excited. She wore her costume all morning. We carved the pumpkin right after breakfast.


Then it was off to a birthday party for a school friend. They were outdoors all day at Six Pines Farm. Then they came back and had cake and ice cream (so I didn't have to make supper - yay!!) We dashed home to feed Sara and have a little down time, then it was off Trick or Treating. We tried to deliver goodies to our neighbours, but only one house was home before 7pm. We then drove to our usual area and visited Uncle Randy, Aunt Lindsy, and Grandma & GrandDad's houses. Brendon took her to a few houses on Grandma's street and we were done by 8:15pm. Good thing, too! Danielle's bag of candy was overflowing!!

After a quick cup of tea, we set off for home. Danielle crashed in the car, but Sara stayed awake (amazingly!) We poured the girls into bed and then crashed ourselves for the night.

Other happenings this week... Sara had her 6 month checkup at the doctor's and got 3 shots. She then slept for most of the day, not that I blame her!

Speaking of sleep, she is starting to learn how to go to sleep on her own. It is going surprisingly well with a minimum of crying. In fact, she sometimes doesn't cry at all! I am pleasantly surprised. I must admit I expected it to be worse than it has been because Danielle cried a lot when we started doing this. I don't know if it is because Sara is a bit younger than Danielle was, or if it is because she is more bottle fed, but whatever the reason it is a good thing!!

I have been busy scrapbooking whenever I get the time to. Here are some of the pages that I have done lately. Please excuse that the credits are not linked up yet. The Pretty Scrappy store has been down most of the week. And some of the kits by Monica Larsen have yet to be released.

Harvest Scarecrows and Quote It: Autumn by Inspired Mommie Designs:


Magical Winter Dream by Monica Larsen:


All I Want for Christmas by Monica Larsen:


That's all for now! Have a wonderful day!

Aren't colds the worst??

Hello! I know I haven't posted much lately, but I have been sick all week with a cold. The only symptom that is left is the cough and it is a doozie! It is one of those tickles in the back of the throat that just can't be ignored. :( So not much sleep lately. Double :(!

Fortunately last night I didn't cough as much, but then I was up half the night with baby Sara. At least she doesn't have this cold too! She is the only one in the house that managed to escape it. Knock on wood...

I have still been scrapbooking at least. It will take more than a cold to stop me - ha ha! I have some great LO's to show you:
Credits:
Gentle as the Wind by Monica Larsen (to be released on Nov 1 at Scrapbook Elements)
Font is Tunga
















Credits:
Gentle as the Wind by Monica Larsen
Font is Pea Darlin' Deb
















Halloween is fast approaching and I still have a few things to do. We need to buy a pumpkin to carve and candy to give out (we ate the first box already. Why do I buy candy early??!)

At least I have the costumes already. Though Danielle has changed her mind and wants to be a witch instead of a princess. I am trying to decide whether or not to buy a second costume since she has a fairly large princess dress that will go over her snow jacket (just in case, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't let it be cold and snowy!!) She will need a costume for Friday at school and this one will be a bit loose without the jacket. I don't imagine she will want to wear her cat costume from last year again either. Sigh...

I am not opposed to buying a second costume since they are probably now on clearance, but my hubby is opposed to "evil" costumes such as witches. Danielle, being 6, wants to wear a similar costume to her two friends so that they can be witches together. (Peer pressure starts early!) So one of them is going to be unhappy. Perhaps I should send them to the store and they can argue it out on their own without involving me... :)

At any rate, Sara is going to be a cute little love bug and there should be no objections, at least none to the costume choice. I put it on her the other day and it is too cute for words:

Hopefully she will let me put it on her on Halloween night so that I can get some better pictures of her and Danielle together!

That's all for now! Hope you have a fantastic day!

Halloweenies!

Well, despite being sick yesterday (and today too!), I managed to do another scrapbook page. This one is the recipe for a lunch that I made over the weekend. Danielle is old enough to be into Halloween without being too scared of it this year, so I have been digging through the web looking for spooky meal ideas. I found some really cute ones on Pillsbury's website here. Check them out if you have the desire to make a special treat for your kids (or yourself!!)

Here is my page:
Credits:
Punkin Picker and Quote It:Halloween by Inspired Mommie Designs, fonts are Everyday Ghost and Arial.















That's it for now!!

Blast from the Past

Happy Tuesday!

We had a wonderful weekend. My parents were in the city visiting for a few days. Next week they are off to B.C. to house sit for 5 months this winter. We'll miss them, but they will be flying in for Christmas (weather permitting). And with the technology of the internet, we'll be able to keep in touch via email and web cam as well as by phone! It is also great incentive for me to take lots of pictures to keep them up to date! :)

Since we had company, I didn't get to do a lot of scrapbooking, but I did manage to do one layout of some pictures taken when my middle brother an I were kids. Talk about a blast from the past!!

Credits: Punkin Picker by Inspired Mommie Designs, Ever Been Framed by Monica Larsen, font is Pea So Lovely















Not sure how much scrapbooking I will get to do this week. Sara and I finally caught the cold that Brendon and Danielle have had for the past two weeks. So I am drinking lots of tea and getting as much rest as I can.

That's all for now!

Happy Friday! New LO's by me and some exciting news!

Happy Friday, all!

It is another cool morning here, but there is no snow on the ground, so it is still all good! The forecast even calls for some nicer weather over the weekend.

I have another LO to share with you from Monica Larsen's new kit. It is so pretty!

PS - she says she has a Christmas one coming soon! Can't wait!!

And now my news that I held back the other day - I am joining the creative team for Inspired Mommie Designs!! She has some really cute kits in her Pretty Scrappy store. Go check them out!! And then check in at her blog for some awesome free word art!

Just released today is her newest kit, Trick or Treat. It is really great for all those Halloween pictures that you are about to take! Here are my pages:

Credits: Trick or Treat by Inspired Mommie Designs, Peel & Stick Alpha by Monica Larsen, Pea So Lovely font

Credits: Trick or Treat kit and Quote It: Halloween by Inspired Mommie Designs, font is Pea Court














That's all for now - have an awesome day!!