A new year....

I've been thinking of last year and how crazy it has been. I am so very grateful to have survived with a happy heart and my faith and hope still intact. I was joking with John today about our snow forecast that was .5" to 1.5" as of Monday night and then increased all of the sudden today to between 6" to 9"s. That is a lot of snow. I told Kate not to get her hopes up. I told myself not to get my hopes up. We would only end up with an inch. At 10:30p.m. this is what we discovered out our back door. These snowflakes are the hugest ever...

Oh you could hear them hitting the ground too!

Paige's new favorite comment is ooh wee.

You can see she's enjoying the snow.

(She was mad because her hand was sooo cold a minute later.)

My daughters having a dance party in the snow.


You know that it's important to be stylish when catching snowflakes.
(If only you could see her rockin yellow rain boots.)




My eye my eye there's a snowflake in my eye.
This shot will be kept for future bribery.
John already uploaded it as our background photo just to torture kate.


Proof of the biggest snowflakes ever.
Our yard has at least a half inch in the past 20 minutes.
So no matter how much snow we get at least

we got to play in the snow.
Maybe I didn't plan the most fabulous New Year's Party...

we miss the Stalling's fun family parties.
But we still get to have John's famous
Peanut Butter Pie.

Sooooo, have a happy and rockin' new year!
From all the Skrappingirls and Skrappinguy.

Lights Before Christmas

We love our Zoo! On Wednesday Laura, Jade and I took our girls plus one extra to see "The Lights Before Christmas" at the Toledo Zoo. We had fun and it wasn't too cold. But I definitely need to work on getting into shape. Here are our Highlights.

All the girls ready to roll. Hannah, Macy, Kate, Abby, and a reluctant Sydney.

Paige all bundled in and singing.

Yes, it's dark outside and yes she INSISTED

on wearing her sunglasses and carrying BlueBeary.

My favorite tree.

And the favorite of all the girls the musical lights.

Two minutes of happy, happy fun.

Sad to report that we've had a virus running through both our families since late Wednesday night. Family togetherness can be a little overrated.
Hopefully all parents and little girls are better for Christmas

Jolly Holly Christmas

My girls make me laugh! I have a friend who sends out the best letters for Christmas that include "The Best of" Qoutes from her boys. I've never remembered to write them all down. Well Miss Sydney has been on a roll.

We caught her playing dress up and took a couple of photos.

A few minutes after John and I left the room we heard.

"Can I get a little help in here?" Look at who we found!

Sometimes a girl just needs a hand.
We still don't know why she was in the box.

Then John and I were busy,(ha ha ha) finding cool things on the internet. I heard Syd in the hallway, singing over and over,"Have a Jolly Holly Christmas its the best time in the WORLD." She kept singing and became more enthusiastic with each repeat. Gotta love little people especially when they don't get the words right and get the meaning anyway.


Today I laid down for 15 minutes until Kate got off of the bus. Sydney was told to be quite since John and Paige were asleep. When you're four it's hard to be quiet, hey my girls can't even walk quiet. So I expected her to wake Paige up at any second. I saw her go into the bathroom and then for a couple of minutes I heard a lot of jumping. I opened the door to peek in and see what was going on. She was doing the potty dance! Leotard on under her t-shirt....bouncing and saying "I hope someone comes to help me...I hope someone comes to help me!" Poor kid. After we took care of the major crisis I couldn't stop giggling. At least I know she listens sometimes!

My friend, Jean sent me a funny Utube video about Mom's. You may have heard it before but every time I see it I laugh more. Kate overheard me listening and thought it was sooooo funny. "Mom that's you!" I said, "No honey that's ALL moms." Thank goodness for creative moms who can let us all know that we are normal. So have a Jolly Holly Christmas and have a good laugh today. I know I did!

Digital Designs for Christmas

I love to play. When I received a copy of the new 101 Hip, Handmade Gifts from my sweet friend Charlene after surgery.(Thyroid, two weeks ago and I'm better than Okay, I'm great!)

I was inspired to make the best Christmas gifts ever.

But alas so little time to work on my inspiration.

It was already Dec 5th!

How many cute handmade gifts can a girl

come up with in a mere 19 days.

I was wandering around 2 Peas in a Bucket and found

the BEST little CD Calendar

by Cherie Mask 2007 Ck Hall of Famer and 2Peas Garden Girl.

and Birthday Book Downloads
by Rhonna Farrer, LOVE her work.

Soooo, thought I'd share my find so everyone can go to 2Peas spend $12 TOTAL and take advantage of these fun, happy mostly pre-created, amazing gifts. Top it off with a creatively made bag topper, a few pens, Post Its, and some custom stationery and you have a ROCKIN gift. I promise that I'll show you a completed set when I have one ready. I did already give away twelve of the CD Calendars and they were a hit! Can't wait to see what I'm going to do with the birthday book...but I think I see clipboards in my future.

By the way if you're on my gifting list...sorry to ruin the surprise. On my list of other gifts to complete I have Three aprons done,

only eleven more to go!

Snow Day Sunday!

I loved snowdays as a child...my sister Brandy and I would build snow forts by our mailbox. I remeber them as huge...using the snow that the plows would pile up on the edge of our street. I hope my girls will also have great winter memories. Too much snow + no church = lots of playtime and some cocomotion. This was our favorite christmas gift last year....thanks Leanne! I love being able to make everyone hot chocolate at the same time. It makes me feel like Super Susan, see I knew I had a super power.

Advent Calendars & Snowflakes falling all around,

Today my goal was to complete my advent calendar that I've been working on for three weeks. So off to crop with die hard Skrappaper fans...Thanks to Mary Ruth for organizing a monthly crop four faithful friends were there Mary Ruth, Laura, Linda and Mary Ellen.
The advent calendar was my take on the Calendar Book assignment for the Pine Cone Press Bookclub I host. Perfect excuse to get to finally use the fun idea I found on Two Peas in a Bucket a couple of years ago. I've had more than my share of oops on this project. First rule if it looks good let it go, don't try to fix it. I could have just laminated the pieces but no I didn't think that would be shiny enough. Next rule don't apply diamond glaze without a heavy backing on your pieces or else it will curl...duh, I really did know that. Third, don't apply diamond glaze to the back(to help them curl the other way...really it sounded good at the time) of your pieces and walk away. Typical mom emergencies, "Kate won't let me watch KID shows Mom","But Mom she always watches kids shows can I play on the computer then?" "No I want to play on the computer she can't!!!" Oh and Paige needed a diaper change, juice and then they all wanted lunch. Upon going back to my previously pretty pieces I discovered some of the glaze had dripped off and stuck to the cookie sheet. I'm relatively creative so I took my craft knife to remove the pieces very carefully. Nope careful didn't help. After much patience and embellishing with buttons and the dew drops from Robin's nest my calendar was done. My daughters love it and you will see our daily updates here.


Winter Snow Advisory....to me this means don't get the girls hopes up! How many times are we promised at least three inches and only get 1/4 inch. I love snow as much as they do. So, to our surprise John went to the grocery store for 30 minutes and just before he came home we saw it SNOW actually sticking on the ground. Paige doesn't remember snow so she was amazed by this miracle. Kate ran out in the driveway in her jeans and coat and started making snow angels. Little Miss Sydney was busy catching it on her tongue...thank goodness she didn't try to lick the old well pump! Check out the slide show on the top left and I hope for you that it feels a little like Christmas today! ~Susan