Scraps for the New Year...

It's been a while, well over a month, since I posted any scrap pages {gasp}...so bear with me as I share the latest of my scrapping habit (sorted from least to most recent). During December, FPD offered a free template every day....so most of the pages were created with those. While the free templates are no longer available, there are plenty of other freebies at the site you should check out if you have a free moment.

New Year, New Address...

It has been just over a week, and I am already so far behind I feel I will never catch up. Typical of me, I know...falling eternally behind. Doug and I are both back in school, the girls are as energetic as ever, and life just keeps on moving along - whether we're ready for it or not.

As an update, we found a rental home in East Costa Mesa; unfortunately, we can't move in until the 1st of February. The house is old but it's really cute and Doug and I think it will be perfect for our new life back in So Cal. It's a 2BD/1BA, plus dining room (which we plan to use as a play room), plus "alcove" (which was previously used as a bedroom, but we plan to use as a guest area). It's not the largest of homes, but it will fit our family's needs just fine.The best thing about the house is the location - it is just down the street from the elementary school, a huge park, only a couple of miles to the beach, and about 10-minute commute from Doug's work. Here's a pic (borrowed from the craigslist posting, I'll take some with my camera next time we go down there)...


Fortunately, my parents have been kind enough to let us stay with them until the house is available...I cannot say enough how grateful I am that my parents have opened up their home to us for this long. I'm afraid the girls and I have given mom and dad a run for their money, but seeing as how they survived raising 7 kids, I am sure they will survive our little family of four. I don't know if we'll ever be able to repay them for their kindness, but that doesn't mean I won't try!

Anyway, enough of sharing my thoughts...I'm sure you aren't here to read my ramblings. To let you see what we've been up to, I'll be posting some recent pics of the girls and some scrap pages - it's been a while since I've shared anything (sorry), but I hope you enjoy catching up with us!!

Christmas Wishes...

From our family to you and yours, we hope you had an absolutely wonderful Christmas!

I have some video clips I am trying to upload, but so far I haven't been able to get them to work out. As soon as I figure it out, I post them here so you can see clips from our Christmas morning...

Recent Scraps...

Although I haven't been able to scrap very much this past month, here are the pages I have managed to put together amid all the chaos...

Using Sister Sue by Sarah Bennett at FPD

Using Vintage Thankful by Leah Farquharson at FPD

Using the November Grab Bag from Creations by Rachael at Gotta Pixel

Thanks for looking! I really hope to get back into the swing of things soon...once I get our Disneyland and Turkey day pics uploaded, I should have some very fun photos to scrap.

Today We Give Thanks....

I just wanted to wish all of our family, friends, and loved ones a wonderful Thanksgiving. In spirit of today's holiday, I reflected earlier on the many wonderful blessings I am fortunate to have received. I can honestly say that my heart is full and I am so grateful for the amazing people, circumstances, and situations that have contributed to the person I am today and to the life that I know.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you....a hundred times over. I hope everyone had a fantastic Turkey day.

4 Years Old...

Four years and one day ago, these two little cuties were born. I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone by....and I cannot believe that I was blessed with such amazingly sweet, beautiful, smart, fun-loving, caring, daring, mischievous girls. Happy birthday Aiden and Reilly....your papa and I love you so very much!

Reilly and Aiden - 11.2005

Halloween Pics....

Yeah, yeah...I know I am pretty late in getting our Halloween photos posted. Things have been a little crazy lately, with all of us getting sick, the move from AZ to CA, being in limbo at my parents home until we find a place to rent, the twins' birthday, Disneyland, Thanksgiving, etc., etc. With things being so out-of-whack, I haven't had much computer time to blog...or scrap...or do the stuff I usually do on our little laptop. That being said, I will try to get caught up this weekend once all the festivities are over.

Anyway, here is a slideshow of our pics from Halloween. The girls decided to be Musketeers, after one of their favorite movies Mickey and the Musketeers....but since I decided to make the costumes this year, I took the liberty of adding frills and sparkles to make them more girly. Aiden picked out purple fabric and Reilly picked out dark pink...I also made musketeer costumes for me and Doug, but later realized it was a waste of time because neither of us wore them for more than 5 minutes; I guess dressing up just isn't as fun as an adult.

We went to a trunk-or-treat in the church parking lot on Friday the 30th, then went trick-or-treating on the 31st with some of the AZ cousins. We had quite a group that night, including a pirate, a ladybug, Fancy Nancy, a soccer player, and a combat soldier. The girls had a blast...they loved their "mousketeer" capes and swords, but Reilly didn't care for her hat too much because it kept falling off her head. Oh well...you can't win them all.

The best part of Halloween was having Doug join us after being in Cali for three weeks with his new position. I admit, we weren't very "halloween-ish" (i.e. we didn't carve pumpkins and decorations were pretty minimal with the upcoming move and all), but we enjoyed spending time together and tried to have as much fun as possible.

Anyway, enough of my rambling...here are our very belated Halloween pics:

New Look...

Okay, so even though I don't have time for a full post right now to catch up on everything I need to catch up on (sorry...Halloween pics will have to wait a little longer), I did just want to provide the links for the FANTASTIC kits I used to create our new blog look...

Sister Sue by Sarah Bennett - available at Funky Playground Designs
Mingle by Corina Nielsen - available at Funky Playground Designs
Ransom Alpha by Bren Boone Designs - FREEBIE available at DigiScrapAddicts
Fonts: Impact Label and 1942 Report

Thanks for stopping by!! I hope you enjoy the new look...

Rock on Baby...

Seriously, this was WAY too much fun...check out our family's SpoOkY RoCk SessIoN!!

Thanks Julie and Cynth for sharing this...I SOOOO needed the laugh. Hope you don't mind that we joined in the fun!!

P.S. Doug got such a kick out of watching our rock video above, I went ahead and made another one for the groupie back in Fallbrook...it's a little country, a tad bit silly, and a whole lot of FuN!!

Auction for Benson and Claire

My cousin Sara sent me an email about this...it's a cause that is dear to her heart so I wanted to help out by passing it along to anyone who may be interested in donating to the cause.

Benson and Claire were born with a rare genetic disease that causes their liver to produce too much oxalate--called primary hyperoxaluria. Excess levels of oxalate destroy the kidney and may have fatal consequences if transplants are not received. Benson and Clarie are part of the Children's Organ Transplant Association (COTA). This non-profit charity helps children in need of life-saving transplants by organizing volunteers to raise funds for transplant-related expenses.

An online auction has been created to help raise money for these very deserving children. The auction will begin November 2nd at 8:00 am and run through midnight November 16th. The site for the auction is http://bensonandclaireauction.blogspot.com/. Although there is already a fantastic list of auction items, they are looking for businesses or anyone else who would be willing to donate products, services, crafts, gift cards, etc. Donations will be accepted until the auction opens. If you have anything you'd like to donate to the auction, please email Becca at bconlineauction@yahoo.com. All funds made from the auction will be going directly to COTA.

In addition to the online auction, my amazing cousin is also in the process of organizing a benefit concert for Benson and Claire. The concert will feature highly acclaimed pianist Marvin Goldstein, and will be held in the Idaho Falls/Rexburg area. As the concert is still in the planning stages, I don't have much information. However, once I hear something I will post it so that anyone who lives in that area may attend.

For more information about Benson and Claire, please visit http://givehopetobensonandclaire.blogspot.com/ and http://cotaforbensonandclaires.com/

Thanks for letting me share!

Costumes...

So, we've had a bit of a dilemma figuring out what our costumes are going to be this year. The girls have changed their minds at least a dozen times, and despite all the ideas and suggestions we've gone through, we haven't found anything that could be "the" costume....until now. The girls mentioned something earlier today, an idea from one of their favorite Disney movies, and it instantly clicked. Not only will the costumes be something I can make, but it will be easy to pull together...seeing as how we only have a few days left, easy is a must. Also, all four of us can join in with this one, so we'll actually have a matching/themed Halloween...how precious! j/k...

I'm not going to tell you what the costumes are until I find all the supplies...but here's a clue in the meantime: