January already!

We are quite used to it being us, sad to say. Daddy has been away since just after Christmas, with only a 24 hour quick trip home for a doctor's appointment. Nicholas is back in school (thank goodness) and Benjamin is potty trained YAAY!!! I told him that if he was not potty trained by his birthday then we could not have a party, or presents or cake, because we would not celebrate still being in pampers by then. He was potty trained pretty much early on the 2nd day. Wonderful! Love it! And he's in underwear all night too. Today is a chores day, getting to things I've been too lazy to do. I was in my scrap room almost all day yesterday, made 10 cards and did some tidying. Felt soooo good to craft in my own room - it's been too disastrous to work in there. Still have a lot to do, but my work table is nice and organized. So, back to chores, then a little scrapping this afternoon, maybe some pics posted of what I've been up to. Cheerio!

Almost the end, almost the new

This year has gone by so quickly! It's hard to believe we have just celebrated our 3rd year living in the United States. While I miss a lot of things about home, now it is mostly just the people. We have finally adjusted to the different climate, and are now feeling the cool weather. And I don't really miss the snow - the idea of it yes, but the thought of being cold and wet, not at all. The boys and I are home on our own, and debating how to spend our New Year's Eve. I think that we will just have to treat it as another day, go to bed as normal, and go on. We are missing our Papa Bear, but we can't have him home just now, so we will manage. Truly, it is just another day, and we can celebrate our new year / new hope / new challenges and beginnings when Daddy is home. We did have some unexpected fun - one of my bestest American girlfriends called us yesterday morning and invited me, the kids, and Valentino over for a scrappy sleepover. We had a great time, laughing, visiting with Michelle & Nicole, and scrapping. Only one bad thing happened - when Michelle was leaving for the night, Valentino got out, ran away, around the corner and onto busy Barker Cypress. I ran after him as I realized he wasn't just walking away. He went and sat right in the center of the road lane. One car was coming, and switched lanes, and Valentino seemed scared still - he didn't move, just looked at the oncoming lights. I ran and caught up to him, but was on the other side of a ditch from him. Michelle performed a gazelle like leap and got to the road, checked for cars and dashed to grab Valentino. If it wasn't for her and her do-it actions, I probably would have seen my dog killed in front of me. I owe her everything, and I am so grateful to her. Above and so beyond. We are home today, after much snuggling, more scrapping and chatting. I am grateful that we are all together, safe, warm, and able to love each other. I couldn't imagine what I would have done if I had to tell the boys something had happened to Valentino. But it all ended well, thanks to my wonderful friends. And to make the day end on such a sweet note today, Jessica gave me her BoBunny red purse that she won from Tracy at our last Pea retreat. Oh, it is lovely, and I loved it from the moment I saw it. It still had all the stuffing in it - she never used it at all. She is such an amazing person, and I love her, my crazy American :) One thing I can say this year has done for me, it has given me the time and opportunity to love my kids even more than I ever thought I could, again, to realize even more how much my husband is my best friend, and how much I value him and love him, how much I miss him when he is gone, and how not to ever take him for granted; to appreciate and and to truly enjoy and deepen friendships with some of the most amazing women that I am so grateful to have. I wish I could have seen my son for Christmas this year, but I do feel so happy that he was able to spend some time with Ed (2x) this year. I cannot wait for him to come in the spring. With a few difficult times, and some near misses (like our Valentino's incident) we are very, very lucky, and it has been a great year.

December 1st!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Well, actually, if you look in the stores like Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Target, or Walmart, it's been looking like Christmas since before Halloween. Funny how you can shop for fall home decorating items, then go over an aisle, and Christmas is right there.... but it is CHRISTMAS season, and we're very excited in our house. We spent running time to 5 - count em - 5! different stores yesterday to get advent calendars for the kids. It must not be a big thing for people in the US - very difficult to find, but Target, our 5th and final stop, had them. We will let the kids take their first chocolate this afternoon, when Nicholas gets home from school. And I get to start my December daily today - yaay! This is a book I've put together to snapshot our December, as we are always soooo busy at this time of year, with parties, and get togethers, school things and friend things. It will be neat looking back on I know! The coffee's ready - that's my cue - later!

Paper Bag book, canvas cover

I've watched this on YouTube a few times, and I think this is what I need to make for my Pirate Retreat theme album. Love the canvas cover, handpainted and attached - all one piece.

The most amazing recycled scrappy organizer!

This was posted on a cafemom group by one of the crafty, crafty mommies! Who would have thought to use an old lampshade, stripped down to the frame! What an awesome idea. I am so impressed by the craftiness of some people, wow! This was too good to keep to myself, had to share, as she has been kind enough to :)

Spiderlicious!

Benjamin and I made it through all our letter and number flash cards in record time this morning, so we decided to make something crafty. With the use of some pipe cleaners, a hot glue gun, my cropadile, needle and thread, crayons, scissors and googlie eyes, we jazzed up some (free) little ketchup containers that we got from McDonald's and came up with these silly, spooky guys:

Benjamin's 8 legged, 10 eyed spider :)

and our little spider family. Cute, easy, cheap, and fun!

Hippo Birthday

Checking in at the Dollhouse today, this is their most recent color challenge. Just so happens that I needed to make a birthday card today for a very special little boy who is just turning 6 years old, and this fit in perfectly!

Per the Dollies:
http://designdollies.blogspot.com/
very first OCTOBER CHALLENGE! Here we go....

Red, Blue, Ivory and Brown


Here is my card that I made, with these colors in mind, and a sweet youthful punny sentiment!
I hope he loves it!