Fancy Nancy comes to Texas

Jennifer found the Fancy Nancy books and instantly thought of Rachel! So when she heard that we were going for Mommy/Rachel manicures today, she told me to open that present and read the book to Rachel. Well Rachel LOVED it ... and said:"Well mommy ... we are going for manicures today - that's fancy for nail painting" She is just too darn cute.

We headed over to the salon at about 9:45 this morning and Rachel sat up in the big chairs in the waiting room. Then Kate came and told us that she would be right with us. While we waited we chose our nail polish colours - Rachel chose a pretty (and sparkly) mauve and chose a sparkly reddish colour for me. The girls were all unable to get the bottle of polish for Rachel's nails open. They took it to one of the men having his haircut and asked him to open it. Rachel was so darn cute she had everyone wrapped around her little finger. I snapped this picture of Rachel and Kate - aren't they so cute?!

A fun afternoon

Yesterday was the last day of school for this calendar year and was an early release day so I wanted to do something special in the afternoon. I picked up this Gingerbread House kit so we sent to working on it together to surprise Daddy when he returned from Nebraska. It was a silly, sticky, and super fun project. I think Kaden ate more than he contributed to the house, but that's Kaden for you! I stressed a bit about the lack of any design qualities, but it all went away when Kenny said, "Mom, this is awesome!"

Here is our house and the proud builders:

This Year's Boots (part 2)

So it's cold here in the central valley... I know, I know. Not like the rest of the country, but still cold enough and this flipflop-wearing girl needs something a little more substantial on her feet these days, even if it does cover up her much needed and loved pedicure from Saturday afternoon. So I have been bugging Ken for a few days (yes, just days b/c it doesn't take much to convince him of what I need) that I wanted UGG's for Christmas.

Yes, you read that right.

Those trendy and not all that attractive boots that are all around town.

On Tuesday night after calling every retailer in the city to find the one and only pair in the color, style and size I needed - my dear husband brought these home to me as an early Christmas gift. I am in boot/slipper/shoe heaven!

I honestly never want to take them off (ok, that's a stretch, but I did almost wear them to bed they are so cozy)

So. Big girls get new boots for Christmas too. ;)

xo, Jen

This Year's Boots

The Christmas that Rachel was 3, my mother bought her cowboy boots. Rachel was insisted that they be purple. Who knew they had purple boots?? Well last year she had finally outgrown the purple boots and so my mom wanted to buy Rachel's new boots ... some may remember those - the 3 kinds of pink leather, the gem stones ... yes they were lovely - at least she is still little so they are cute!

Well we went out to buy this year's boots this past week - thanks mom! There were no discussions as to what the colour of this year's boots would be - please let her think brown SOMEDAY. We went to Wood's boots - and I have to say I am not sure that I have ever seen that many blingy things all together in one place! WOW. My spirits were lifted when Rachel took a look at a pair of brown boots - even with the embroidered flowers on the upper part of the boots - they were quite normal looking. But then she saw these ....

.... and let me tell you it was LOVE at first sight. We tried on one pair - too small, tried on the next - too big. And the size in the middle was nowhere to be found. She wandered around and looked at other boots, but her heart was set on the pink and white ones. All hail the sales clerk who took apart the store room to locate the perfect size for our girl. So here she is in the 2008 boots! Can you see the pink blingy belt there too?? Yup gems all around - she is SUCH a girl!

Also had to share this photo ... these houses are across the street from each other. Hopefully they are not too bitter in their rivalry ... only in Texas!!

xo Amy (if you are wondering where in the world my co-blogger is ... she is still Facebook-ing - go look her up - heehee)

12 Days of Christmas ...

Did you know that there was more meaning behind this song than just the silly words? I learned something new yesterday and I thought I would share ...

I found the following explanation HERE and of course there is a disclaimer that says there is a controversy disputing the authenticity of this interpretation - but I like this one so I am sharing ...

Catholics in England during the period 1558 to 1829 were prohibited by law to practice their faith either in public or private. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written as a "catechism song" to help young Catholics learn the basics of their faith.

"True love" refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person.

The partridge in a pear tree is Christ Jesus upon the Cross.
The two turtle doves refers to the Old and New Testaments.
The three French hens stand for faith, hope and love—the three gifts of the Spirit that abide (1 Corinthians 13).
The four calling birds refers to the four gospels in the Bible — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The five golden rings represents the first five books of the Bible, also called the Jewish Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
The six geese a-laying is the six days of creation.
The seven swans a-swimming refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.
The eight maids a milking reminded children of the eight beatitudes listed in the Sermon on the Mount.
The nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
The ten lords a-leaping represents the Ten Commandments
The eleven pipers piping refers to the eleven faithful apostles.
The twelve drummers drumming were the twelve points of belief expressed in the Apostles’ Creed: belief in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, that Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, made man, crucified, died and arose on the third day, that he sits at the right hand of the father and will come again, the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting.

Anyway I thought this was totally cool and wanted to share!

Have a great day
Amy

This is for you Jackson!!!

How do you Follow ....

a blog entry like that one from Jennifer???

You add some fun Christmas music - my friend sent me this link and I just LOVE these guys!!



While you are listening to that fun Christmas medley ... head on over to Scrappin Mojo and check out everything going on there. There are challenges, daily project prompts as well as a kick-butt guest design team contest. The January Sponsor ROCKS - so come on throw your layout/project into the ring!!

Dear Blog,

I haven't forgotten you, I PROMISE. Really! I even gave you a new look this afternoon to show you just how important you are to me. I will try harder to at least check in here each day and see what you have been up to. You have been a great source of communication with the outside world this past year and I totally appreciate it. And Amy has been here the whole time keeping you company. She even wrote a post with all those great links. Lots of places to click.

What did you say?

Where have I been lately?

Well...Um...Awww....I can explain...



Look me up if you are there too ;)

xo, Jen

Guest Design Team Contest

ScrappinMojo are kicking off our guest designer contest this month! And it's going to be a good one! Make sure you check out the rules and responsiblities associated with this contest before you apply. All the guidelines must be followed, no exceptions. If you are chosen as our first ever guest designer you will receive your goodies shortly after Christmas.

Now for the contest: With Thanksgiving just past us and lots of opportunities for family, friends, and fellowship in the month of December, here is your challenge - Use this quotation by W.S. Gilbert as the inspiration for your page - It's not so much what's on the table that matters, as what's on the chairs. The quotation is not required on your layout, however you can include it if you wish. We are super excited about this new aspect of our site and can't wait to see what you create!

Please upload you layout or project to our gallery and link it to the contest thread no later than December 20 midnight PST. We will announce our winner by December 25. GOOD LUCK - we hope that lots of you submit a layout for this!!!

All good things...

must come to an end... I sure wish they didn't have to, but we had such a wonderful week in Anaheim with our favorite friends. We packed the week with all sorts of yummy surprises for the kids and once we get caught up we can unpack each wonderful day of our trip for you. For now, here is one of my favorite photos of our day at the beach.Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope your day was filled with yummy food and good conversation and fellowship! I know ours was and I am so thankful for the greatest friends God could have found for our family to share. I can't wait for the next trip!

xo, Jen

Scenic Route Sponsor at Scrappin' Mojo

We were so fortunate to be sponsored by the incredible Scenic Route Scrapbooking company this month. They are my go to papers and embellishments so creating was a breeze for me. Here are a few of the projects I worked on for the DT reveal on Saturday. Head over to Scrappin' Mojo to see more. Amy also created an incredible little book that she will hopefully post here very soon ;)

I am totally in to making embellished tags at the moment - here are a few!

A little altered notebook for a friend of mine too.

Kindergarten Turkey Trot

This morning Jackson's class participated in a Jog-A-Thon for Break the Barriers. They ran for 20 minutes and Mr. Jackson ran 17 laps. I was so very proud of him! His little cheeks were all red and shiny when he finished, but he never stopped going. Kaden even ran for part of the time too. He held his own with the Big Dogs, LOL! Here are a couple of pics from the day.

GO BOYS GO!!!!!!

Make sure to stop by Scrappin' Mojo tomorrow for our November Sponsor Reveal. We received some VERY yummy stuff to work with and I have been having lots of fun creating!!!
xo, Jen

My little witches ...

Here is a pic of Rachel in her costume ... she was not into the green make-up, but she did look so cute!!!And here she is with Jennifer the cat. Jason said this was mean, but the cat did not seem to hate it too much! And Rachel thought it was cool to be dressed like the cat :)

Happy November

xo Amy

Happy Halloween!!!

I will be spending my evening with a daring Indiana Jones, a super sweet skeleton, and a cuddly elephant. Yay! This is one of my favorite days of the year because it is just so darn fun! We will be heading out for Trunk Or Treat at our church in a little bit so I wanted to leave you with my 3 little cuties. (I'm sure Amy will be putting Miss Rachel up a little later too)

xo, Jen

4SS kit and closing

Unfortunately, Lisa has decided to close her doors after this month's kit release, but she is having a great blowout sale to end her time there. November's kit is amazing and she also has a fun surprise Christmas kit for sale. Head over there and send her out in style. Lisa, your site will be missed, but I hope to catch up with you somewhere in the future. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

xo, Jen

Be a Hero - Don't Do Drugs

Yup it is that time of the year at Rachel's school again this year. The theme for anti-drug week is heroes. Today they were asked to dress up as their favourite super hero. Thanks to Jennifer Rachel looked great. You may remember that when we did the walk to cure diabetes in June, our shirts had a logo similar to the Incredibles one - only we had a J - for Jack's Pack. Well Rachel wore that shirt, a red skirt, black tights and boots and we made an incredible mask with paper. As you can see she looked pretty good. Also - since this is her Jack's Pack shirt ... she will be telling everyone who will listen all about Jack and why we do the JDRF walk - always good to spread the word about the Walk to Cure Diabetes!! Tomorrow is camouflage day, no 'theme' on Thursday and Friday is patriotic day.

Oh and last night was the annual ICK fest at our house - well OK Rachel and Jason refer to it as the most fun with vegetables. BUT I so do not like the smell or the feeling of pumpkin carving. I am there to photograph and ooh and ahh over the creations ONLY. I do not cut, scrape or remove any parts of the pumpkin. Anyway here is how they turned out this year - quite cute actually!

Have a great Tuesday!

- Amy

HSM3

Ken and I took the boys yesterday afternoon - all 5 of us! Everyone had fun, Kaden fell asleep about midway through, but hey, he's only 3 afterall. Jackson sang along with the songs as we had the soundtrack added to the ipod last week. Loved it - every fun, sparkly, cheesy high school moment!

xo, Jen

High Red Belt ...

Kenny - good luck at your BLACK belt testing tonight! We are very proud of you! I am sure Jennifer will post pictures of the black belt testing as soon as she gets them home!!

Friday Morning Musings ....

So I am sitting here, deleting spammers from the Scrappin Mojo. It is amazing to me how many we get in 24 hours. In the last month I have deleted Sarah Palin, Brad Pitt, George Clooney - just to name a few of the celebs who are hitting the spamming world - haha.

Anyway I am sitting here and drinking my water. I DO not like drinking water - I would go so far as to say I hate drinking water - well maybe not hate but I REALLY DISLIKE it!! Now if I am outside in the heat or I am doing physical activity - I can slug back water with the best of them. Otherwise I simply force myself to drink water - 'cause I know it is good for me - blah blah blah. It does not make it any easier to drink. Plus I like it ice cold so I am freezing when I drink it. I have tried drinking it without the ice because I hear the body is 'less shocked' by the warmer fluid. Yeah well less shocked or not - my body does not like tepid or even cool water. So while it is a beautiful fall day here I sit in a fleece jacket freezing from the inside out. Remember that I am in West Texas so the term 'fall' is a loose term for what the weather is actually like. Although it has started to cool down - it is still not the fall I am used to. Today I have all the windows and the back door open so I have some fresh air flowing through the house!!

I am getting ready for my scrappy filled weekend - yup that is me dancing in my chair. Don't forget to check out the Just Create crop - it starts at 4pm EST today. Yippee!

HAPPY FRIDAY friends!

xo Amy

I feel a Scrappy Weekend coming on ...

It has been a while since I have had some weekend crop time. So this weekend I am really excited to be getting down to it. I have some of my Cathy Z Big Picture class assignments to work on - LOVING that class. I have made some totally fun pages - and yes my album is looking very cute - and come on isn't that really why we do this scrapping thing - because at the end of the day we have a really cute page/album/project/card ...

There is also a fun crop going on at Just Cre8. This is a Canadian kit club/store/forum that I found a few months back. It is fun to be part of a site that talks about what is going on back home. Also they have some awesome talent and lots of fun stuff going on. I saw the crop schedule and they have it packed with challenges, games, classes and projects. So fun!!

It won't be a total scrappy weekend though - Rachel's School is having their Fall Fun Festival friday night, we have a Halloween party to go to Saturday night and Rachel's choir sings at Church on Sunday. I figure I can fit those things into my scrappy plans :)

Finally in honour of Jennifer's birthday yesterday I baked a cake. Not for her just because of her - and let's face it - the cake would not have tasted too good when it got to Cali! So I made the Sweetwater cake and it was YUMMY. Now I have some fun treat food for my scrappy weekend.

A special kind of normal

It was a normal average day with a few wonderful surprises built in. A mom's job doesn't end on her birthday, but the boys did their best to try to give me a few moments of special-ness.

Here is a run down of my day -

1. Wake up to Jackson with a high blood sugar of 444.
2. Make Kenny change out of winter clothes for this warm October day.
3. Counsel Kenny on making amends to a friend he hurt.
4. Drop Jackson off and apologize for his possible craziness.
5. Get gas at only $3.39/gallon at Costco (thought I was getting a steal until I talked to Natalie and she said gas is $2.49/gallon in Wichita today - ugh!)
6. Run to grocery store for a few baking goods to make the yummy Oatmeal Spice Cake from Sweetwater retreat
7. Go home and talk to Amy while I tidy up.
8. Upload sneak peeks of November projects for 4 Scrappy Sisters
9. Pick up Jackson from Kindergarten
10. Got bagels and cream cheese for lunch at Uncle Harry's
11. Picked Kenny up at 1:30 pm as it was a minimum day
12. Helped Jackson and Kenny with homework and played with Kaden
13. Baked cake and received package for Amy with adorable birthday gifts
14. Jackson off to soccer practice, loaded dishwasher, attempted to watch Oprah
15. Received edible arrangement from Ken
16. Made Chip Dip Chicken for supper and got to girl talk with my dear sister
17. Opened presents from Ken and boys (they really spoiled me)
18. Ate an early supper so boys could get ready for Tae Kwon Do
19. Dropped Kenny and Jackson off at Tae Kwon Do
20. Came home and cleaned up supper dishes
21. Played with Kaden.
22. Vacuumed out car in preparation for field trip tomorrow
23. Vacuumed bedrooms as Kaden ate candy corn Hershey kisses while I was vacuumming out car.
24. Played with Kaden. (do you see a theme here, LOL)
25. Listened to "Happy Birthday" song complete with Cha Cha's and enjoyed the cake with french vanilla whipped cream on top.

It was an ordinary day made extraordinary by those that I love! Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

xo, Jen

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNIFER

I know it is a bit late - but I just wanted to say I hope you had the happiest of days today my friend!!! Wish I was there to celebrate!!!

xo Amy

A "Croppy" weekend

And that my friends, is a good thing, LOL! Many of the sites we frequent are hosting weekend and in one case, a week long online crop. So stop by...

4 Scrappy Sisters

Coordinates Collections

Crop Addict

I am hosting a couple of times during the weekend at 4SS so if you have a chance, come play with me. I am a little lonely in scrappy world this weekend, but I hope to really bust out some layouts. I have been working on DT stuff tonight that I just can't wait to share with you. It's like they are begging to be put up here. Alas, I will have to wait 'til later this week, but rest assured, the scrappy goodness will be flowing!!!

Until later today,

Jen

A little boy's dream come true

A new friend of mine invited Kaden and I over to her home this morning for a "fire truck party" - in reality a fire safety lesson with an engine and 3 real life firemen. Did you know they will come out to your home and bring an engine and conduct a little safety lesson? All you have to do is ask. The boys got to dress in their costumes and hats and see the engine up close and personal. Kaden was a bit scared of the the men in gear, but it was a good experience for him to see them, just in case. He finally warmed up and let me sit him in the truck to snap a few pics. I know, I am shameless, all for the scrapbook. LOL! However, I did have a great conversation with one of the men about our own family and the things we can do to be prepared in the event our home catches on fire. Thank you to the men of Engine 14!!!

Today is the Day!!!

Jennifer is starting her acrylic class at Mojo today ... click here to check it out! Come on - join us - grab that clear album out of the basket, remove the plastic and get creating!

I know that Jennifer and Kaden are out on a "field trip" this morning - so I am SURE there will be some cute pictures posted here later!!!

Friday Night Lights .....

So we went to a football game - yup a true Friday night football game in West Texas. It was homecoming at Rachel's school this week and we thought it would be fun to go to the game. A team from Amarillo was here to be the opponents and it was the first Varsity game played on the new artificial turf field that the school put in over the summer. But Rachel's school is not very big so we were not expecting a lot of stuff ... the band is small, the varsity cheer leading squad is not that large, and for a pre-K - 12th grade school - there are not really that many kids. Well I can't wait to go to a Friday night game with one of the big schools here - cause tonight was a pretty good show.

The teams run onto the field from their inflatable helmets - in school colours - with their mothers and father on either side of the entry. And yes the other team brought their own helmet with them. There is smoke, the small band is quite good and the cheerleaders are fun to watch. The team did very well and when we left at half time the score was 48 - 27 for us! We did end up winning the game - 61-33. That is a fun homecoming for those football kids! The funniest thing we saw was the Flag boy ... with every touchdown the Mustangs scored - he ran that giant Midland Mustangs flag down the field. His shirt said FLAG BOY on the front and "Run me 'till I puke" on the back. And he did an awful lot of running - especially in the 1st quarter!

But what got me tonight was the corsages - and I use that word LIGHTLY - that a lot of the kids were wearing. It is a Texas (maybe other places too) tradition to wear Mums as your corsage ... only they are no longer a traditional corsage - in fact the girls wear them on lanyards because they are so big! I googled them and found they can cost up to $200. They used to be given to you by your boyfriend or prom date - now you can get them from anyone who wants to give you one. And there is a HUGE competition over them. They are in school colours and have your school name, mascot, bears, animals, feather boas, your boyfriend/girlfriend's name, your #, mini footballs and helmets - you name it, they can put it on it. SO many kids had them on - even the boys - they wear them on their sleeve like a garter. You can buy the stuff to make them at Michael's - including ribbon with the school name and mascot - or you can order them from special "mum-stores". There are small ones for little kids all the way up to giant ones that would take you down if you leaned the wrong way!!

I found this picture on the internet and since this kid's mom already put her there I figured it was OK to re-post her here - the blog says they live in Houston ...

I kid you not some of the ones there tonight were bigger than this - with boas and bears and lots of dangling things - and lights - YES LIGHTS. They crowned the Homecoming queen tonight and her "mum" was gigantic and to use Rachel's words - 'all pretty and sparkly'. And here is another picture I found on the internet with a pic of boys and girls wearing theirs (the boy ones are called garters - if you want to be in the know)

I asked Jennifer if this was a tradition all over - and it seems like it is more a Texas tradition. Which seems fitting if you ask me - they seem to Texas-size everything here. My friend here made headbands for her 2 girls and made one for Rachel too. It was red, white and blue with a white flower and some beads on hanging ribbons. You can see the flower and the blue and red ribbon here ... the whole headband is covered. It is cute, and Rachel was very happy to wear it to the game - with her blue Homecoming 2008 t-shirt (which said True Blue Believers on it) and her red skirt - she loves the school colour thing! I truly have a girly girl!!

xo Amy

BIG fun at Scrappin Mojo

Since we took over ownership of Mojo with our friend Jan ... we have been having fun. And we have started to have some sponsors. Well yesterday we revealed our newest sponsor .... KI Memories. They sent us a ton of FABULOUS stuff to play with and to give away!!!

First we have our monthly contest over at Mojo ... all you need to do to enter is register at the site and make a page using at least 75% KI Memories products. Contest deadline is Oct 31 at 11:59pm PST. For the winner there is a great prize pack of yummy goodies like this ...

Second we have a contest going with our weekly challenges. For each weekly challenge you complete using KI products, we will enter your name into a drawing at the end of the month. Each week Jennifer, Jan and I will post a challenge and there will also be a weekly sketch challenge posted by a Mojo member. All 4 challenges are eligible for the KI challenge - and all you have to do is complete the challenge using KI somewhere on your page. How cool is that?? Chance of a prize just for doing pages you need to do anyway!! All pages will be due Oct 31st at 11:59 pm PST to be considered for this drawing. (challenges will be posted Sundays from Sept 28 - Oct 26th) The prize pack will be similar to the picture above.

Here are some peeks at a few of the things Jan, Jennifer and I have been working on with the KI goodies ...

From Jennifer -
From Jan -
From Amy - To see more - go check out this out!!!

ONE FINAL FUN THING happening over at Mojo ...
Starting Monday - Oct 6th, Jennifer will be guiding us through the world of clear albums. I am so excited to see all the tips and secrets she has gathered along her acrylic album journey. If you are interested in having a place where all your acrylic tips and tricks are living together in one place - this is a GREAT start! I can't wait! Check it all out at Mojo!!

XO Amy

Where did September Go?

I realized that I hadn't put up my Guest Design Team for the month of September. After a long wait, I was able to get my hands on the GORGEOUS Madame Butterfly kit at Coordinates Collections It was totally worth it and I got to work with papers I normally wouldn't have picked up for myself. It was fun to stretch myself as a scrapbooker this month. I got 3 layouts - 1 Altered Project -

And 2 cards -

What a great kit!!!

xo Jennifer