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looking like Christmas ...

The weekend sure did go by fast (but don't they all).  We had our first formal family portrait taken on Saturday (just the three of us as a family).  I was asked, "Why didn't you wait until after the baby was born?"  Well, I could have, but I wanted a formal picture of just us as a family of three ... since we've been just three for the past (almost) six years.  I go back on Saturday to view the photos - can't wait.

All decorating has been done in our home for the past few weeks.  Nicholas got his hands on a few ornaments and did a little decorating himself.

  
I wasn't too crazy about him putting wires through my baskets, so these decorations only stayed up for a few hours.

And here is what our tree looks like ...

 
I didn't put SEVERAL ornaments on the tree this year.  I was just too tired and not very motivated to get every ornament on the tree.  The train under the tree is new this year.  Rob thought Nicholas should have his own train going around the tree.

Tonight is Nicholas's holiday concert and I'm so excited.  He is not too thrilled about getting up on stage (or the risers) to sing in front of a big crowd.  I'm sure he'll be even more nervous when he sees how big the crowd is going to be ... I think he thinks he is only singing in front of the parents from his class; however, the concert is Pre-K thru 4th grade.  Pictures will either follow tomorrow or within a few days.

Enjoy your evening everyone!

christmas movies ...

Sticking with the Christmas theme, my list for ...

  

is going to be my all time favorite Christmas movies (in no particular order), but if you want to know what my all time favorite is, it is White Christmas.

1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
2. Holiday Inn
3. Polar Express
4. A Christmas Carol
5. Frosty the Snowman
6. Santa Claus is Coming to Town
7. White Christmas
8. Elf
9. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
10. Miracle on 34th Street
11. The Santa Clause
12. A Christmas Story
13. The Year Without a Santa Claus

So, what are some of your favorite Christmas movies?

Enjoy your day everyone!

playing in the snow ...

With the snow we got over the weekend, Rob and Nicholas were able to go out yesterday and do some playing.  I stayed inside where it was nice and warm.

First I bundled up Nicholas ...

 

Then Rob and him headed outside to play in the yard.

 
They even built this together ...

 
Nicholas definitely takes after Rob with his desire to be outside in the snow.  I love the Fall, but hate the Winter.  I love to watch the snow fall outside and the way everything looks after a snowstorm; however, I would much rather be indoors by a fire than bundle myself up to go outside. 

How do you feel about the cold weather?

Enjoy the day everyone.

it's a bit snowy ...

Yesterday was my birthday and I was able to work from home (normal Friday routine).  We got take out for dinner, and then had a piece of birthday cake which Rob made.  It sure ended the day on a good note.

This morning, Nicholas and I ventured out early to hit some stores for the sales.  We were able to go to JCPenney, Kohl's, Motherhood (needed a black shirt for our family portrait next week), Old Navy, Kohl's (where I saved LOTS of money), Michael's, and Target.  By the end of the morning, I was wiped out.

I'm sure glad that we headed out early, because on the way home it started to snow, and by mid-afternoon, it looked like this ...

 

 

So glad we are indoors and enjoying some family time together.

Have a wonderful evening everyone! 

christmas songs ...

It is ...

 

So I'm going to list 13 of my all-time favorite Christmas songs.  They are in no particular order after the first song (which is my favorite Christmas song).

1. Do you Hear What I Hear
2. Little Drummer Boy
3. White Christmas
4. The Christmas Song
5. The First Noel
6. Carol of the Bells
7. My Favorite Things
8. Mary's Boy Child
9. O Holy Night
10. I Wonder as I Wander
11. What Child is This
12. Angels we Have Heard on High
13. Winder Wonderland

What are some of your favorite Christmas songs?

Enjoy the rest of your day everyone ...

 

walking in the woods ...

Nicholas loves to make up his own songs.  He must get his love of singing from me.  I was in the chorus from 3rd grade all the way up to my senior year in high school.  I'm not saying I can sing very well, but I sure do love to sing.

Anyway, I was trying to take my picture of the day and Nicholas got in the way of the camera and started singing a song he calls "walking in the woods."  Click on the link below to hear a clip of him singing.

Download DSCF0750

So, what is on everyone's Christmas list this year?  I don't need anything, but would love to get this ...

 

For the Cricut lovers, have you heard about this?  It's called the Gypsy.

Some of the features are:

Easy-to-use - create your very own designs; when you're ready to cut your projects simply connect (with the included USB cable) to the Cricut machine (sold separately) and press the cut button.  Allows you to design on the go.

Large memory - stores thousands of cartridges and your own custom projects

Easily preview and manipulate the full library of Cricut cartridges - no need to use the keypad overlay or manual; use the shift key to quickly flip through the variety of cartridge images; select images from the library of Cricut cartridges and once you find one you like, purchase the cartridge and use for everyday crafting

Variety of features for each image - easily rotate, stretch, flip side-to-side or flip top-to-bottom; group the images to make them easier to move or edit; weld 2 images together for 1 large, unique image

Choose your size of paper mat based on the Cricut version you own (6" x 12", 12"L x 12"W or 12" x 24")  

Built-in layout board - view your project before you cut the paper

Search function - allows you to search through all of the images by keyword (even those you haven't yet purchased) or all cartridge names

Open existing saved designs as templates - use as a basis to create new designs

2 exclusive pre-loaded "electronic" full content cartridges - equivalent to 2 physical cartridges; Gypsy Wanderings Shapes and Gypsy Font (available only on the Gypsy)

4.7" touchscreen display

Black and pink carrying bag - zipper open, top carry handle, adjustable/removable shoulder strap, silvertone hardware, interior mesh zipper pocket, interior divider and flat bottom

Doesn't it sound great!  I'm certainly not looking to get it (it is a big chunk of money), but a girl can dream ...

On a whole other note ... I have a quick question for my blog readers who use Photoshop.  My banner at the top of my page seems to be stretched and I'm not liking the look of it.  What am I doing wrong?  Thanks in advance.

Enjoy your day everyone!

happy December ...

Well, Christmas is just around the corner.  I still have SO much to do.  My poor tree still has only a few ornaments on it.  My bins of ornaments have finally made it to the living room; however, I haven't had the time or energy to start unpacking the ornaments and putting them on the tree.  Anyone want to come over and help me?

My shopping has begun, but I'm not even close to being done ... again, the lack of energy these days is not helping.  Christmas cards WILL be ordered today.  It's just been hard for me to decide on what photo(s) to put on the card this year.

We have started to move things around upstairs to get the baby's room ready.  Thanks to my brother ... we have a crib.  Rob just finished putting a new coat of stain on it and it looks beautiful.  We just have to move everything out of the room the baby is going into, paint, and then move things in and decorate.  I think I'm going to go with neutral colors for now.

I've been trying to get myself to sit down and do some scrapbooking, but this time of year is always busy to find any time to sit down to do anything.  I am looking forward to getting the December Studio Calico Kit though ...

 

Aren't the colors beautiful!  And I love those chip letter stickers.

Hope you are enjoying your day - we'll talk soon! 

what a great few days ...

We have had such a great few days ... spending time with family and friends.

It started off on Wednesday when Nicholas had his Thanksgiving Feast at school.  The kids had their feast and then performed some cute Thanksgiving songs for us. 

Here are some pictures from that morning.

 

The below picture shows Nicholas with my nephew in the middle and a friend of theirs on the left.

 

 

On Thursday we had Thanksgiving with family ... yummy turkey and all the fixings.

Friday was spent at home hanging out, trying to put some Christmas decorations up.  There is still so much to do, but I ran out of energy and can't lift the other boxes filled with decorations to bring them upstairs.  Maybe we'll get to that today.

Yesterday afternoon, I did a little shopping with Nicholas and my niece Paige .... these two goofballs ...

 

It was a fun afternoon with them ... we went for lunch, did some shopping, and had lots of laughs.

Last night, Rob and I attended a 40th birthday party for one of our good friends.  We laughed so much, had a great time, and even did some dancing (yes, I attempted to dance to one fast song even with my big belly).

Don't know what's in store for us today, but I'm sure it will be another great day.

Hope your day is great too!  

an award ...

A new blogging friend (known as "S") who has a site called Snaps and Snippets has nominated me to win a "blog" award.

 

In order to claim the award, I must provide 5 random facts about myself.  I know that I have done this before, but there are always new (or old) facts to list about yourself.

Here it goes: 

1. I'm both excited and nervous to be a new mom again.  We have been a family of three for almost six years now, so I'm sure it will take some adjusting to, but will be so worth it.
2. I love board games - would play anytime - anywhere.
3. To make rides in the car more fun, Nicholas and I usually play iSpy trying to find things in our travels.
4. You can usually find me on Facebook on a daily basis.
5. I have been watching Days of Our Lives since the third grade (with missing maybe a year in between).

There you have it ... if you want to play along, just leave me a comment so I can go and check out your random facts.

Last night it was kind of dreary, rainy, and cold by us, so we got to enjoy sitting in front of this ...

 
I love the cooler nights in the Fall and Winter when we can sit as a family in front of the very warm fire and enjoy being together.

Enjoy your day everyone! 

looking forward to tomorrow ...

I'm so excited for tomorrow ... I'm heading out to a local scrapbooking crop and am planning on getting a few layouts done.  Since this is not one of my crops ... Nicholas will be staying home with Rob and I can have the day to myself to concentrate on what I'm working on.  Don't get me wrong, I love having Nicholas with me at my crops, but I NEVER get anything done because I'm always helping him work on projects.

As for the rest of the weekend, it should be pretty quiet (except for the cleaning that I will have to get done on Sunday).

Can you believe that next week is Thanksgiving?  This month sure flew by fast.  What are you doing for Thanksgiving?  We were going to have it at our house, but plans have changed and it will now be held on my in-laws.  We are looking forward to seeing everyone.

I'll leave you with a picture of my most favorite tree in our yard ...

 

I love how different it looks every season, but hate when all the leaves fall off.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!