Happy New Year!

Well, here we are on the last day of the year.  I can't complain too much about 2011.  The only thing I hope for in 2012 is to figure out how to get rid of my hives.  Yes, I have still been getting them once in a while.  It is quite the mystery as one day I have a lot of them and the next day I may only have one or two.  So wish me luck later in January to get it all figured out.  Otherwise, it was a pretty good year.  I am SO thankful for all the wonderful blessings in my life.

Now onto Hope's funny of the day...

On the way home from Cedar Falls, we were trying to figure out what we were going to have for your stay at home dinner tonight.  Joe asked Hope what she wanted for supper and she exclaimed "but I haven't even had breakfast yet"!  Of course, Joe and I cracked up!

It was a pretty quiet day.  Joe did a little work, Hope and I did some crafting/scrapbooking and then cleaned up.  We played the board game Life---I WON!---It pays to go to college!  Hehehehe!

Speaking of scrapbooking, here is one of the layouts I finished up today.  These were some of the pictures from Cancun this fall.

Below is a close up shot of the lizards we would see just hanging out on the sidewalks.  

Here is the title.  All of the products were from Pink Paislee.

I had a few pesos I brought home, so I used them on my page.

I distressed all of the edges of the pages (except the background paper).

Everyone be safe and I hope to see you visiting again in 2012!

Darla

Christmas fun...

We had a great Christmas at our house and also with my family.  We will be spending some time with Joe's family this coming weekend too.  Hope had fun with all of her gifts and has played/worn/watched everything she got.  Between Joe and one of us has been off each day this week so she didn't have to go to the school program.  It has been nice to just stay home and relax.

This is a nutcracker (actually the rat king) we gave to Hope.  Joe found it and we put her Nutcracker picture in a frame and I hot glued it to the sword.  She loved it and carried it around like a doll for several days.

This was her Christmas morning when she first walked in and saw the presents from Santa.

I look really scary here, but Santa brought me the Harry Potter lego castle.

Here is Hope with her nutcracker.

We got Joe a spatula with a hawk eye on it.

Hope and I had a lot of fun putting the Harry Potter lego castle together.  Maybe I will get her into Harry Potter yet.  She laughs when I tell her about all the characters and that she is a Muggle.  :)

I am so thankful my entire family was able to get together this year.

Grandma Deloris made a wedding dress for Hope's American Girl Doll.  Her dolls have worn it several times the past few days.

We got Kenton a Cyclone football jersey.  It was only appropriate that Kirk was holding him when that gift was opened, since he is from Missouri.  :)

This little cutie is Kendal and she loved her pillow pet from Dawn.

Annie and Ally peeking over the top of their large gift (it was a basketball hoop).

This is one of the more organized looks into our living room and all the Christmas fun!

Hope and I are off tomorrow, so I am hoping tomorrow I get to do some scrapbooking.  I think I might have some mojo coming my way!

Well, that pretty much wraps things up for this year.

Here is a sneak peek of a project coming to The Scrappy Gourmet soon.

This is a FUN project full of magical memories.  

Have a good night!

Darla

Christmas Eve...

Wow!  Can you believe it is Christmas Eve?  This year has just flown by.

Here is where Elfie has been hiding since I last posted...inside the curio cabinet...

...up in the fan...

...on the fireplace mantel...

...and his final spot was in the nativity scene watching over baby Jesus.

This one took her a while to find this morning, but she finally spotted him.  Tonight Elfie will fly away with Santa and return to the North Pole until next year.  We will miss you Elfie.  Thanks for all the fun!

Today we are going to make cookies for Santa, go to the afternoon church service and then wrap some presents.  Nothing like waiting to the last minute to wrap some presents.  :)

Here are the last three Christmas cards I made this past season.  

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 I will be back in a few days to share our Christmas morning memories.

Darla

Elfie continued...

Elfie has really come up with some good hiding places this year.  Here are a few more locations...

This is where we found him this morning.

This is one I missed in my last post because I had to take the picture on my phone instead of my regular.  He actually snuck into Hope's room that night when he came back.  Most of the time he stays on the main level of the house.  He must have needed to keep a close eye on her that night for some reason.

Keeping it short tonight because it is bed time (for Hope and myself).  

Here is a Christmas card for your scrappy inspiration.

Later!

Darla

Firetruck Santa

It was an exciting and long morning (yesterday) waiting for Santa to arrive in our neighborhood on a firetruck.  We had time to make a batch of chex mix...YUM!

Finally, I went to the mail box to drop one last Christmas card in the mail and I could hear the sirens in another close by neighborhood.  So, while we waited the girls decided to play outside with sidewalk chalk and play golf.  Crazy, since it is December.

Here is a picture of all the kids and Santa!

Then the girls spent the afternoon playing!

I woke up with a cold yesterday and just kind of bummed around.  This morning after we got home from church, Hope brought me a piece of paper.  She had made me a get well card.  How cute it that!  That one is a keeper for sure!

Well, here is the latest on Elfie...he got cozy in one of the stockings we have hanging around the house...

...and must have hitched a ride back on this reindeer this night...

...and in the lampshade last night.

Can you believe that Christmas is next week.  I think we are done shopping, but now just need to wrap presents.  

Well, off to rest my tired bones and watch the finale of Survivor!  I really don't have a favorite I want to win, but still enjoy watching how it all plays out!

Til next time...

Darla

December-Project 12

Before I share my December P12 layout, I have to share this picture Hope drew this weekend.

It is a picture of herself in her Santa dress.  This is the frame we usually put the Santa visit picture in, but I didn't buy one this year and I haven't taken the time to print one out.  Not sure I will, because I love the one in there already.  :)

Now onto the layout.  Yes, I actually used pictures from December, but they are from last year 2010.

Here is the sketch...

I loved this sketch and used the My Minds Eye Christmas Lost & Found papers.

Here is a close up of the left side of the layout.  Instead of the title and embellishments, I opted to add three more smaller photos of events during last December.

Here is a close up of the right side of the layout.  Now if you look closely, you will notice the die cut from My Minds Eye is spelled incorrectly.  If you purchased the die cut sheet (it is a 12 x 12 sheet) you can send an email to their customer service (click HERE for link to their blog and further information) and they have offered to send a new (corrected) die cut. I plan to just pull off the one showing and add the new one to the layout when I get it.

Thanks for stopping by and have a good one!

Darla

Well...

...the snow has melted, the Christmas cookies are gone and Hope danced her little heart out in The Nutcracker!

Wow!  It has been a busy week!

On Friday, Joe's mom came to town (for the show) and we went to visit Santa (and got our nails done)!  :)

This was the easiest visit to Santa EVER!  We walked up to the gate and I couldn't figure out why there wasn't a LONG line.   We just walked right in, sat on his lap, I took a picture and we were off to get our nails done!  I did ask how much it was to have a 5x7 picture printed.  $22.  WOW!  Now I remember why we don't usually go to that mall to visit Santa!  You have to stand off to the side to take your photo, which isn't a big deal.  The lady actually yelled at me because I wasn't in the right spot, but there was a stroller in the way so I couldn't stand where I was supposed too.  So much for holiday cheer!  Good thing I didn't have to stand in line or my holiday cheer would have been gone too!  :)

Then Saturday was performance day.  All the kids did a great job and Hope was such a good baby mouse! We giggled the few times she was on stage.  When the baby mice run across the stage, she was the last one across and the line got held up behind the curtain.  So hope was pushing the girl in front of her and then she decided to look back and got mesmerized by what was going on stage and just stood there for a few seconds.  Then at the end of the show when all the cast comes out to bow, she was tickling to person next to her while they were walking out and was totally oblivious that she was on stage.  Too funny.

Below is her birth mom doing her hair for the show.  We are so thankful that she was able to come up for the show and to help us with Hope's hair.  I know it looked way better than if I had done it.  

Here is a picture of Hope in front of the tree with her mouse make-up on.  She had a great time and is already looking forward to doing it again next year.

I think because she got flowers from everyone in the family.  This is just a small sampling of the flowers she received. 

Well, now I better bring you all up to date on Elfie's adventures...

We have found him here on the mirror in the hallway...

...and here in the village again (I tried to take a photo so you could see the glow of the village)...

...and in the kitchen window...

...and here on top of my scrapbook cabinet.

We also found him way up on the ledge in the living room, but I forgot to take a picture of him before he flew away that night.  :)

Ok, if you made it this far then good for you!  Here is a Christmas card for a little scrappy inspiration too!

Have a good night!

Darla

Snow much fun!

It started snowing here this evening after Hope got home from school. I told her to go look out back to see if it was snowing and she said she could see sparkles, but didn't think it was snowing...until she stuck her foot out and started moving it around.  She was pretty excited, so excited that she ran out without a coat and started playing.  Then she finally got cold after a minute and decided to come in and get a coat, hat, gloves and boots on and went to work shoveling the deck.

For some reason she thought it needed to be done (even though there is hardly any snow).  Might have something to do with trying to earn one of these...

We baked cookies tonight for this weekend.  And yes, those are Christmas cookies with purply-pink frosting.  It was the color Hope picked out/created.  I just went with it.  :)  The next batch will have traditional colored frosting.

...Or maybe she was trying to give something good for Elfie to report to Santa tonight.  Here is where we found him this morning (Day 8)...

These are the lego sets that Hope had been building and we ended up putting them on top of her art center for now instead of taking them apart.

Here is a Christmas card I made a while back.  I have had these papers for years and finally go around to making a few cards, but have a lot more I can make too.  Maybe next year.

Since the snow is glistening'...I will end with that tonight!

Have a good one and stay warm!

Darla