Mini Photo Shot and Sweet 16....

Please don't mind the very obvious spot that's on my shots....I have eliminated the lens, so I'm certain it is inside the camera....I am just really procrastinating about sending the camera back to the manufacturer...I don't want to go without my camera for more than a day!

This weekend I took some pics of the girls before we headed out to a party. Alexis wanted to pose with one of her many LPS....
Love her new boots....and she loves them too! She is my little peanut!

a little color adjustment...

I was really playing with the color on this one....not sure if I love it yet...

It wouldn't be Alexis if we didn't have some silly faces in there....I saved you and only added a few...

And then it was princess Mikayla's turn....she didn't want to smile at first, but....

then I told her to pretend she was a model and immediately the head tilted to the side...cracks me up....but we got a smile

Sam's turn....the big teenager now...

really bad fake on the smile....

love the crazy eyebrows....

another ham in front of the camera....she really has a nice, genuine smile...

close up on Casey....

I had time Saturday morning {believe it or not} so I made a card for the birthday girl...

Kiara {and I} enjoy quotes, so I wanted to add a quote for her....

had to fancy up the envelope with a few stamps....

At the party Alexis was showing a good friend, Ben, her Leapster game. He is so patient with her...it is so neat to watch them...

another beautiful shot of Casey smiling....

the teens {aka...Cheyenne and Sam} didn't want their picture taken....

Alexis wanted to touch the grass skirt that Kiara was wearing, but she was very shy, so she just stood there behind Kiara for a while with this goofy look on her face....

The birthday girl, Kiara, and one of her girlfriends, Samantha

Once the DJ got rolling, we lost the lights and then no more good photo ops....we all had an awesome time, it was great to get out and listen to music with some great friends!

Teaching kids class...

I was asked to teach a girls group {Wilderness Club} at our local library the basics of scrapbooking. I did that class a few weeks ago and the kids were awesome! They range in age from about 10 to 14 and they were so excited to do crafts. I had the girls bring in photos and I got supplies for them along with some pages for inspiration....then set them free.

This time I'm teaching them about stamping...and what a perfect time, right before Valentine's Day. I created some ideas that I thought would be easy for the girls to recreate if they would choose to use them for Valentine's to hand to their friends. They'll be creating the same cards I made samples of.

This was my favorite....I just love the teal and hot pink together. Such a clean, simple design, but would be so easy to make lots of them!
and the inside....

I just love this owl design stamp....had to use it. The single letters would make this a little more time consuming to recreate multiples of...

the inside....

A fun little matchbook design....I really think the girls are going to like this idea.

the inside view....

Another easy card to recreate multiples....

the inside....

all together...

I'm looking forward to getting together with the girls next week...I know they are going to have lots of fun! {Plus, I'm getting double the amount of girls this time...they must have enjoyed the first one and passed the word.}

An entire day to craft....

This past Saturday I joined a group of wonderful ladies at a crop event which was held at our church. It was a very long day for me and Mikayla....we were up at 4:30 to help serve the community breakfast at our church...then at 9 am we moved to the opposite end of the church to share in some crafty time and fun conversation. We were there till 7pm...the last 1 1/2 was very long and I was very tired. I think it showed, because I didn't get much done.... I finished an Easter mini album {sorry no pictures yet} and I made these...
This is Mikayla with your wonderful kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Foltz. This was at the end of the year and the kids hosted a tea party for the parents.

I created the ATC for a challenge this past year and I knew I wanted to use it on a layout for Alexis. This is her very first day of preschool.

SNOW DAY

This past Tuesday the kids had a snow day!!! Yeah...and I didn't have to work....so we enjoyed the day together.
We spent the day in pjs, ate a yummy breakfast of cheese omelets and blueberry english muffins with strawberry jam, and then had some fun!
We played a game of Skip-Bo...this is a great game for children of all ages. It's great to see Alexis learning her numbers and recognizing the order.
Mikayla enjoyed helping her sister play and she was trying to shuffle the cards, but she needs a little more practice to be a card shark.

CHEESE...

I don't know where she gets these silly faces from!

Then the girls decorated my hair while I read Where the sidewalk ends for an hour. {And let me go on record here...I know this book is a classic, but there are some weird and inappropriate poems in this book.} After I had the girls remove the million barrettes from my hair, Alexis decided to decorate her hair....doesn't she look beautiful?

Maybe about a year ago I made myself a book review journal. My aunt just recently seen it and she said she would like to have one too. She is a very avid reader and would find it useful to list a little summary of the books in a journal. I'm really happy with how this turned out...I'm thinking about replacing the one I have? I seen a card recently that had a similar sun design and I love these colors from Sassafrass.

The inside...and yes I did stamp 15 stars on every page of the this journal.

Her birthday is in February {wow, I have a gift made almost a month ahead of time?...that's amazing!} I hope she likes it.

Love to hear her sing...

With the addition of a few inches of snow through the night, Alexis now is back into the Christmas spirit and singing Christmas songs.
On our 10 min. ride to the shop today she was singing Joy to the World...using her words....

"Joy to the world cause God has Love,
everything is king,
heaven and nature king
heaven and nature king and
HEAVEN {really wish you could hear how high this sounded...HaHa} and nature king"
It really took everything I had not to laugh out loud so she wouldn't stop. Getting ready to head home soon...I wonder what the entertainment will be on the way home!

Color Challenge

On the Moxie Fab blog you can join in the color challenges this week. One of the combos...
inspired me to create....

This is a lot cleaner and simpler than I normally do...but I think the flowers are so cute and they can steal the show with this card.

2011

I don't personally like the word - resolution - so I'm going to share some goals I have for the new year - 2011. {These are in no particular order}...

in 2011 I....

would like to host a family picnic...get the extended family together for laughs and relaxation...we all enjoy a competitive game of ladder golf
will turn the big 34

hope we can enjoy a week long family vacation together {and a few weekend camping get aways}

would like to get more photos of sam and casey...other than sport photos

would love to make more time for family game nights....we all enjoy playing games, just have to make the time

will celebrate my 7th wedding anniversary

will make more play dates for my girls to play with their friends

will learn to relax when life gives us challenges {don't take everything so seriously}

would like to make a better effort at getting more work for our machine shop...and work smoother with my hard working husband

will watch many, many soccer games and practices...

and many, many field hockey events

will celebrate birthdays with the girls....Alexis - 5, Mikayla - 8, Casey - 12, Sam - 14

will play outdoors more with the girls and take lots of photos

this is a big one....I will organize my life! I want to go through the house room by room, de-clutter, and reorganize. Spice it up, make it look like my style....it's not going to be easy...it's going to take lots of time and late nights with little sleep....but I will feel so good in the end.

will complete more challenges and submissions...will get more gifts made...will get cards made ahead of time....will count my layouts for the year

take more photo sessions....get more models to give me practice

will make more time for Joe and I to be alone....have date nights....work at strengthening our relationship

make more sewing projects....more applique shirts....more accessories for the girls...maybe teach Mikayla to sew more than a straight line

stay active in my church....monthly breakfasts...teach sunday school...attend weekly service....maybe start a bible study