{Looking For Some BABES}

One of the Creative Teams (CTs) that I'm on is having a CT call and I want YOU to apply! If you love digital scrapbooking and are able to be active on a CT, please apply right away. I know I have some super talented friends out there who would add a TON of fun and creativity to our team! ;) Yari of Jady Day Studio has really cute stuff and it's a lot of fun to work with her and the rest of the "Babes" on the CT. Here's the scoop:
Please note that this is a short CT call. It ends on Monday, so get those applications in asap!

Now go get scrappin'!

{White Christmas}

How many years has it been since we've had a white Christmas? I can't even remember! What a gift to have a beautiful blanket of snow on the ground during the week of Christmas. Last Sunday we took the kids outside to play in the snow. Dixon, of course, has never touched the white stuff before. He was none too pleased to be outside in the cold, and he cried when I sat him on the snow. He really is like his mommy: the warm indoors is his friend. I took him back inside after about ten minutes and he was happy as could be. The girls, on the other hand, LOVE playing in the snow. They begged to go outside from the moment they woke up!

There is a hill in our backyard and they quickly discovered they could slide down the hill on their bellies. Daddy also got out the sled and they all piled on together. They had an absolute blast.

Because we have so many groups of family members to celebrate Christmas with, we always begin to party early. On Wednesday we went to Cory's parents' home and enjoyed some yummy ham and sides. Check out Dixon with his newest cousin, Stella, who is almost three months old. They just checked each other out the way babies do. So cute.

The big kids could hardly wait for Me-Me and Pap to bring out the presents! Sasha and Clara got the Moxy Girls they wanted as well as some clothes and other fun toys. Jude got an awesome pirate ship and other goodies, too. They were quite happy!

And both families, meaning Cory and I and his sister Megan and her hubby Jason, got a Wii and Wii Fit. How fun! We were probably the last families in America who didn't own a Wii.

Pap got some good snuggle time with Dixon. The poor kid was out WAY past his bedtime, but he hung in there and had a good time.

On Christmas Eve we always go to my grandmother Mom-Mom's house. My mother always gave my sisters and me a gift on Christmas Eve (usually something she made), so I've been doing that with my kids. They got pjs again this year. It's nice to have new pjs for pictures the next morning!

The Meyers crew in front of Mom-Mom's tree:

And our kidlet crew. I could gobble them up, they are so stinkin' cute.

Sasha and Clara each got a Barbie and Dixon got an assortment of Chuck trucks.

Towards the end of the evening Mom-Mom sat down at her piano and started to sing Christmas songs. The girls immediately were drawn to the music and they all ended up signing "Joy To the World." What a wonderful moment and memory to treasure!

Dixon had fun seeing lots of family members who enjoyed holding him. But he sure does love his Daddy, huh?

We always get a birthday cake for Baby Jesus and sing Happy Birthday to Him. I love that my kids are growing up knowing what Christmas is really all about.

When we got home we went outside and sprinkled reindeer food in the snow.

Then we put an assortment of cookies on Santa's cookie plate, poured him a glass of milk, and wrote him a thank you note. We made sure to leave a carrot and bowl of water for the reindeer as well. Then we were ready for bed!

This is what our tree looked like, all ready for the kids the next morning. We definitely went overboard this year!

We didn't get much sleep that night. Sasha was up at 12:30 sobbing uncontrollably. She said she was scared, but she couldn't tell us what she was scared of other than the dark. She's been sleeping in the same room with the same night lights for six years, so I don't buy it. Who knows what was really bothering her. She was up again at some point coughing and to see if it was time to go downstairs. Plus Dixon was up once or twice (can't remember) to eat. When my alarm went off at 6:45ish I definitely wanted to hit "snooze", but of course I couldn't. I had to get up, shower, get dressed, and put our red-tinted reindeer water outside. Plus I had to put Santa's mostly empty milk glass back on the counter, start making a breakfast casserole, take the dogs outside, and turn on all the Christmas lights. And this had to be done before the kids woke up or the morning would not run smoothly.

Thankfully, I accomplished almost everything before I heard the pitter patter of little feet. Then the ripping and tearing began!

Even without his breakfast, Dixon was happy to sit amongst the chaos.

Cory helped him open his presents.

The girls tore through their stash quickly. I was shocked when Clara told me, "I didn't get what I wanted. I didn't get anything cool." Wha-wha-whaaaaaatttt???

But I sure did get something cool! Ever since the girls were wee little they have had a thing for the moon. They always spot it in the sky - sometimes when it is just barely visible. When they were younger they would squeal and get really excited when they found it. We would sing moon songs (and still sometimes do). And of course, every night before I shut their door I ask them, "How much do I love you?" And they respond, "To the moon and back." Cory and I even bought them each a moon necklace from Tiffany & Co. when we were in NYC a couple of years ago. They don't know we bought the necklaces, and the girls will get them when they turn 16 along with a note about how we will always love them to the moon and back. A bit sappy, perhaps, but it's our "thing".

So a while ago I saw a website that sells hand stamped silver jewelry. One of the pieces was a moon necklace that was stamped with "I love you to the moon and back." It had charms that you could stamp names onto and a little pearl drop as well. I fell in love. I told Cory I was bookmarking the site and that I would love to have that necklace. When he asked me a couple weeks ago if I preferred hearts or stars, I knew I was getting it!

Well . . . I ended up with something even better! Cory didn't care for the design of the necklace I saw online, so he went to three different jewelers until he found one who would design a necklace for me. Cory and the jeweler sketched out a design and then the necklace came to life. The result? A silver half moon with the moon quote etched onto it and three stars connecting the top and bottom tips of the moon. Each star has the birthstone of one of our kids, and the backs of the stars have the coordinating child's name etched into the silver. It's beautiful. And what I especially love about it is that Cory took the time to design something for me himself. Sigh. I'm a lucky lady.

I think Cory's favorite gift from me was The Hangover. He's been waiting to see this movie since it came out in the theatres last June. He was supposed to see it with "the guys" when we were at the beach, but that never happened. And we never go to the movies without kids, so we had to wait until it came out on dvd. His whole face lit up when he opened that gift! We watched it last night and it was hi-lar-i-ous!!!

The girls special gifts this year were American Girl dolls. Cory bought them each two: one that looks like each of them and a best friend duo: Felicity and Elizabeth.

After an enjoyable morning at home, we packed up the kids and headed to my mother and Jim's house. We were all spoiled some more with more presents, and we enjoyed giving gifts as well.

Sasha and Clara finally got Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure. They've been begging for that movie since it was released!

They also each got a Fancy Nancy doll, doll clothes, books, and lots of other things that I hope are "cool" enough. :)

We hung out there for a long time, then headed back for a couple of hours before heading back out to celebrate with Cory's mother's side of the family in Mercersburg. Once again, Dixon was smitten with his Pap.

We ate more delicious food, some of the crazy people played another rip-roaring round of musical chairs, we had a gift exchange, and finally we posed for some photos. This is G-G Hill (Great-Grandma) with her great-grandkids. Quite a cute bunch of kidlets!

Finally we went home and got to relax. Thankfully we didn't have to be anywhere this morning. Sasha has had a horrible cough, and the poor child slept until 9:30. So today we played Wii, relaxed, and enjoyed being home. This evening we celebrated with the Fegans. More great food, lots of laughs, and lots of kids made for a fun evening.

One more celebration is yet to come tomorrow! We're off to see the Witmers (my dad's side of the family)!

I hope all of you have enjoyed a blessed Christmas with your families!

{FREE Digi Kit!}

A few months ago I was honored to join a fabulous Creative Team (CT) for a digi designer named Sarah Bennett. She has a store at Funky Playground Designs and she has been a guest designer at Scrap Matters this month. Her designs are very detailed, original, and super fun to play with!

Right now there is a wonderful giveaway on our CT Blog. You can win Sarah's brand new kit, Tough Boy, by leaving a comment on the blog. You can even get two entries for becoming a Facebook fan! Here's the kit:

Isn't it fabulous? Go to our CT blog HERE and leave a comment to win! Don't forget to become a Facebook fan to double your chances of winning.

Happy Scrapping!

{Concerts}

This week was a busy, BUSY week. Both of the girls had a school Christmas concert, Sasha went caroling with her Daisy troop, the girls had dance where they had a gift exchange, Dixon had two doctors appointments, and Cory was on call (and still is :( ). And to top it off, all of us girls were horribly sick last weekend with a nasty stomach bug which left us feeling drained for several days.

Despite all that, it was a fun week! Let's start with Sasha's school concert. On Monday seven of the twenty kids in her kindergarten class were out sick. I'm guessing they had the stomach bug, too. Poor kids. When you miss school you can't participate in after school activities, so that meant the turnout for the concert was slim. In fact, only eight kindergarteners showed up to sing!

Here is Sasha with one of her sweet friends, Adam, before the concert started. She was really anxious for a couple of days leading up to the concert. She was afraid she would get sick and throw up on the stage. But once she got there and saw her friends she was fine! In fact, she could hardly contain her excitement! Before they started signing, Sasha tried to find us in the audience. She spotted us!

Of course there was a microphone stand right in front of Sasha from my vantage point. :( And the dad in front of me kept bouncing his head around during the songs, so I had to do some quick leans in order to get a half-decent shot of my girl. The pics are grainy, but that's to be expected when you have an amateur camera and are shooting in the dark up onto a stage.

Aren't the kids sweet? Sigh.

Here they are shakin' their groove thang. Work it, Sasha!

I love it when they do the sleepy pose. They are so innocent looking. But we know the truth. Heh, heh.

The kindergarteners and first graders were on stage together. The kindergarteners sang a few songs alone, then the first graders sang, and then they did a couple of songs together. For only having a handful of kids there, they did a great job! There were a few times I could hear Sasha's voice loud and clear. Maybe she'll be like her Daddy some day and sing solos. That would be cool.

Once all the grades had a turn singing, all the classes made their way back on stage. While she was waiting to get into place, Sasha looked out at us and made the "I Love You" sign with her hand. I melted. Then she pointed to herself, made a big heart with her fingers in the air, and pointed at us. I became a puddle on the floor. I love that sweet girl.

When the concert was over, Sasha ran over to us and was all smiles. She had a great time and did a fabulous job. We're so proud of her!

Thursday evening was the preschool Christmas concert and party. This year the teachers decided to have the concert during the evening so more parents could come and they also combined the three and four year old classes. I'm so glad they did this because it meant Cory and the grandparents could come.

Clara is in the four year old class so they did a play before they sang. They enacted the Christmas story, complete with a Mary who gave birth to a baby boy right there on stage! Adorable! There are fifteen girls and five boys in the class, so Clara was one of many angels. I think she was perfect for the part. ;)

Here she is with Mary, some shepherds, and some other angels.

I managed to get a picture of most of the kids at the end of the play. They did a wonderful job and looked so darn adorable in their costumes!

After disrobing, the class sang some songs. I don't know where the teachers find these songs, but they are the cutest things ever. They are perfect for little voices and the words crack me up every time I hear them.

It looks like the girl in red is a bit confused. "Whatcha doin', Clara? You singin'?"

Most of the songs have movements to them. I can't remember what this one was for, but it's cute.

Then the class sang "The Twelve Days of Christmas" only they replaced the gifts with things in their classroom. Clara represented 8 colorful crayons.

Sweetly singing.

When the concert was over, the Big Man himself showed up! The kids had time to sit with Santa, talk to him a bit, and then get a card with a candy cane.

It's hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that Clara is four and could possibly go to kindergarten next year. How did this happen? I went ahead and got a registration packet for preschool for next year because I just don't know if she's ready for kindergarten. It's such a hard decision! Registration for preschool starts now, though, so I have to save her spot just in case.

Look at my girl. Ugh. I can't let her grow up too fast!

Now it's time for cookies, parties, presents, family time, and general holiday happiness. Way to start off the season with a gleeful sound, girls! We love you!

{Lots Going On}

I've been a bad blogger lately. This is mainly due to the fact that I'm still having problems with accessing my photos, and a story is much more interesting when there are pictures! Right now the main issue is that my camera won't load new photos onto my computer. I'm not sure why. Bad cord?

Anyway, I just wanted to update the blog and share some of the many activities that we've been enjoying lately. During the past two weeks we have:

* enjoyed a fabulous Thanksgiving with family
* found some amazing deals on Black Friday and throughout the past month
* donated close to $900 to the Greencastle-Antrim Tumani Ambassadors via a
wonderful Tastefully Simple fundraiser
* experimented with new recipes as I cook my way through an Italian cookbook
* cut down our Christmas tree and decorated the house
* gone to parties
* had a DATE! :)
* made gingerbread houses - such a fun activity!
* visited Hershey Sweet Lights, and the next day Candylane

We've been busy, busy people! I have LOTS of great pictures to illustrate these adventures, but until my camera and computer decide they like one another again, you'll have to just use your imagination. :)

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful holiday season!

{A Mighty Recap}

After my external hard drive (ehd) crashed and died a few weeks ago, I haven't been in much of a mood to blog. It turns out that I've lost a LOT of stuff: almost all of my photos from 2007 and everything from 2008; almost all of my digi scrapping kits; and many of my scrapbooking layouts. Thankfully, I have a lot of photos saved on memory cards, so I was able to reload those onto my computer. Almost all of 2009 is on cards and two or three months of 2008 is there, too. But I'm still missing a LOT. A LOT. The computer guru is running a different recovery program on my ehd as we speak, and I can only pray that it successfully recovers more data. This has been a very hard lesson: back up your files, people!

OK, now to recap some of the things going on in our lives lately.

First, Dixon has been growing and developing like crazy. He now sits on his own for long stretches of time. He has discovered that he controls his hands, and thus he reaches for things, picks things up, and of course, puts everything in his mouth.

He also hit the majoy 6 month milestone on October 27th. Wow! This is the only thing I hate about babydom: they don't stay little long enough! Several days after he turned 6 months old, I started feeding him rice cereal. He ate it like a champ!After two weeks of cereal and no problems, we introduced peas. He liked them, too. And after two weeks of peas we are now into sweet potatoes. Again, he is eating great! The change in diet has resulted in interesting diapers. It's been a few years since I've had to change baby diapers, so I had kind of forgotten how "things" change as diets change. Fun stuff. We've had some pretty days lately so the girls have had lots of fun playing in the leaves.

They love to make big piles, jump in them, and bury each other. What kid doesn't enjoy leaves?

They've also had plenty of dress-up moments, although their dress-up choices have gotten rather inventive. Cinderella dresses are no longer the go-to items in the Meyers house.

Could you say "no" to this face?

And sometimes we all decide to let loose and have fun together. On this particular night Cory and I let the girls paint our faces. I ended up with a painted face, arms, hands, legs, and feet. Sasha and Clara LOVED doing this and have asked several times since to do it again. They'll be getting some new face paint in their Christmas stockings!

Call me "Chief Mommy".

Sasha enjoyed a new experience recently: she got to walk in the Veteran's Day Parade with her Daisy Troop. All the girls had so much fun doing this together!

Get ready for cookies, folks. They'll be coming your way soon! :)

And while I'm thinking of food, I'll share this tidbit of my life. A friend of mine were talking about the book Julie & Julia recently. If you're not familiar with the book, it's about a gal who decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year. We decided to pick a cookbook and do the same thing! We chose one of Giada De Laurentiis's Italian cookbooks, set up an online website to organize the project and share our reviews of the recipes, and got cookin'!

And this little gem is my personal favorite so far: Ricotta Capuccino.

Oh my stars, is this dish delish! Cory hates Ricotta cheese, and he LOVED this dessert! It is so creamy, so rich, so . . . so . . . heavenly perfect! I'm planning on making it again this week for my extended family. Really, it's just an excuse for me to eat it again. But I'm OK with that.

By the way, if you want to join our cooking project let me know. We haven't gotten that far into it yet so you can easily hop in and catch up.

That's it for now! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends!