Golfing.

Jeremy and Lee went to play golf today with a bunch of the neighbors. Here is a shot of Jeremy that Lee took.

And here are Josh and Joel demonstrating why it is not a good idea to play too many video games!

(Actually they posed for the picture - they don't REALLY look like this when they play, but we thought it was hilarious-looking so here it is!)

Christmas Eve with Nanna and PaPa

Here are a few pics from Christmas Eve.

Credits: Color Me Christmas Kit and Holiday Sparkle Kit II by Bon Scrapatit Designs

And then there were more...

Well, my nutcracker collection grew a bit more this year. I actually got 2 as gifts - one from a coworker - Andy - who heard that I collect them. The other was from my friend and neighbor Grace (who is also a fellow nutcracker collector) - it is an extremely cool one - it is a nutcracker who is building nutcrackers!
I was really good and didn't buy any before Christmas - but the day after - when they were on clearance - how could I resist? I bought a set of 2 small ones and a big one.
Here are pictures of the new additions:
These are the smaller ones - the one on the left was from Andy at work, the one in the middle from my neighbor Grace, and the two musicians on the right were a set from Target.
More detail on the nutcracker builder nutcracker!
All of the new additions together.

Our Christmas Card

Here is our Christmas card for 2007. We were very lucky that it snowed in November because that is when I took the snow picture !

Credits: Wonderland Kit by Atomic Cupcake; Snowflakes by Angie Svoboda; Frame by Jessica Sprague

Old Christmas Pix

My Aunt Paula emailed me these old pictures of my cousin Jennifer, me and my brother Jeffrey. I don't think I have ever even seen them. I couldn't resist doing a page with them and here it is:

Credits: Vintage Christmas Papers and Frames by Digitreats; Star element by Raspberry Road Designs; Tag by Priscilla Rocha

Nutcracker Collection

I think I am obsessive-compulsive when it comes to collecting things. I am trying to overcome it, but it sure is hard! Here is my collection of nutcrackers. I must say that I have not bought any this year (and that was very hard to do!) I also have a Santa collection, a reindeer collection, a rocking horse collection, a nativity collection, an Angel collection (quite by accident). I think that is it as far as Christmas Decorations go. Anyway, here are my nutcrackers. When I started putting them on this shelf, I didn't realize the entire thing would be totally filled! I think next year I will have to display them on a larger shelf!

Joel's Christmas Concert

Joel had his middle school band Christmas Concert on Thursday. It was a rare occasion where we actually got all 4 kids in the same place at the same time. After the concert, we all went out to eat along with Nanna and Papa. (Unfortunately, for some reason I didn't get any pictures of them that night) It was actually kind of funny because we ended up having 4 vehicles at the school - Lee had to take Joel to Kohl's before the concert to buy him black pants, black shoes, black socks and a white shirt (because we didn't know 'til right before the concert that he needed them!) I had to go to the post office in a mad rush to get my Christmas Cards mailed. Josh drove Jenna over and left Jeremy in the shower because they didn't want to be late. Then, Jeremy finally drove himself there. He actually was a little late but still got to see Joel's entire performance anyway because there were several bands. If you include Nanna and Papa's van, we really had a total of 5 vehicles there and we drove them all to the restaurant afterwards.

Credits: Musical Monday Kit by lizandherbabes; Dominican Italic Font

Jenna's Orchestra Concert

Thursday was Jenna's school orchestra Christmas Concert. The middle school orchestra is so big that they actually had to split it up into multiple concerts - Just the 6th graders played Thursday.
Here is a picture of the whole orchestra and a layout I did of Jenna, Lee and my dad (Jenna's Pa Pa) They are very good and you would never think that they were just in the 6th grade!

Credits - Musically Inclined kit and Christmas Innocence Kit by Creative Victorian Designs; BlackAdder ITC Font

The Amazing Christmas Light Show

This evening, we drove all the way across town just to see an amazing Christmas Lights display. It is at a private home, but boy is it awesome. They have the lights synchronized to music by the Trans Siberian Orchestra. There is such a large crowd that the police are there to direct traffic and help people walk across the street to their cars. They have scheduled times for the shows only on Friday, Saturday and Sundays because it is just in a regular neighborhood and I'm sure the neighbors probably get tired of people standing in their driveways and yards, and the sound system is very good (and loud) so they probably even get tired of the music. Here are a few pics I took there - with the exception of one that was taken by Jenna. Oh - And Santa Claus was there too! Joel and Josh didn't go this time because Joel was at a friend's house and Josh was babysitting, so that's why they are not in the pictures.

We went with some of our neighbors and afterwards we all went to eat at BJ's Brewhouse - delicous!!


The lights are pretty awesome even without the music.

Here are the kids - Daniel, Matt, and Jenna.

Here's Jenna with Santa Clause.

Here are Matt and Daniel (our neighbors) with Santa Clause.

Jenna took this picture of the 'adults'. Didn't she do a good job ?

Jenna at the Mall

We finally got an outlet mall built here - within about 5 minutes of our house. No longer do we have to plan an out-of-town trip to go shopping at outlet stores! As you can see from this layout, Jenna really wanted to go check it out, so Lee and I decided to take her there one Sunday afternoon. It was pretty calm - no huge crowds or traffic jams like we had heard about a few weeks earlier when it first opened - and the weather was beautiful. We had a bite to eat and walked around taking a look at all the shops. The only one who bought anything was Jenna. (She cannot seem to hold on to money.) All in all, it was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Credits: Frame cluster - Lindsay Jane Designs;Ribbon, Tag, Flower, Paper - lizandherbabes; Stapled Tag - www.digitalscrapbookplace.com; BillieBarred Font

The Mohawk

Credits: Paper - NBK Designs, Frame Cluster - Lena Scrap Design, Paper Tags, Metal Tag - Shawnery Mathis

As you can see in this layout, Joel recently had a Mohawk - and his dad cut it for him!! He really liked it for awhile, but this weekend, he decided to just cut it all really short again. The sides had grown in and it had kind of become a big mess!

Christmas Lights are Up!

Well, Lee and I spent all day getting our Christmas lights up on the house. I can't believe how much work it was. We have a 2-story house and it is pretty frightening getting near the edge, so last year we did not put any lights on the top of the house at all. Last weekend, Lee actually got about 3/4 of them up and then just could not bring himself to go up any more to do the rest. So today he took down what he had already put up.
Lee actually fell off of our old house many years ago. The air conditioner (we have swamp coolers) had leaked water out onto the roof so he went up to check on it, not knowing that it had frozen on the roof. He took one step on the ice and down he went. He fell on his right side, immediately flopped onto his stomach and reached for a hold on the roof but all there was was more ice!! So he flipped over on his back and sat straight up, rocketing for the side yelling "oh no oh no oh no". Thankfully, for some reason, we had parked our '67 mustang on that side of the house, and he landed on the hood - with shock absorbers no less! And he was not even hurt.
Oh well, here are some pictures of our lights last year - have not had a chance to take any yet this year.

Jeremy Skiing

Here are some pictures of Jeremy's second attempt at skiing. He had actually taken a 1/2 day lesson when he was about 6 years old when we went skiing at Mount Hood in Oregon, but here he is again 12 years later. He actually did better than these pictures show. I think I just made him nervous with the camera!

Credits: Snowflake, Shapes - Scrapbook Max, Scrapbook Max Software

Lee and Jeremy's band

Did I mention that my husband, Lee, and my son, Jeremy are in a band? Lee plays the bass and Jeremy is the drummer. Other members of the band include Jack on rhythm guitar, Joe on lead guitar (who is absolutely awesome!), and in these pictures, Fritz was singing. They've been doing it for almost 3 years now, but Jeremy has gotten tired of it and is doing his last show this Friday. (He's just 19 and I guess he wants more free time - and he would probably like to spend it with people closer to his own age) Here are some layouts I did of the band awhile back. They just recently lost their singer, Fritz, who moved away. They now have a female singer named Pam and she is really good! I don't have any layouts of pictures with her yet, but I will do some in the near future and post them here. Oh - and the band is really good, too!!

Me Ma's Christmas Angel

As you can see from the layout below, my grandmother (Me Ma) gave us this Angel several years ago. but the neatest thing was the tag she attached to the box. I kept it in the box for years, but actually thought I had lost it a few years ago. It reappeared again in the large plastic container I keep the Angel box in and I was absolutely thrilled. I'm not sure of the exact year we got this Angel, but I know it had to be at least 1988 (the year Jeremy was born) and I would imagine it was before 1991 (when she got sick). Sadly, she passed away in 1993 - but we still have her Angel!!

Design Credits:Papers from Tis The Season Collection by Retrodiva; Overlay by Lindsay Jane Designs; Journaling Tag from MerrySeason Kit by S&C Designs creations; Ribbon from Joyeaux Noel Kit by Mana Scrap Passion; Background and Holly from Merry & Holly Kit by Lena Gulbrandsen

4 Wheeling with Pa Pa

Here are some pictures Joshua took a few weeks ago when Lee and the boys went out 4-wheeling with my dad (Pa Pa). The boys love getting out with their grandfather and he loves taking them!

Credits (for all) : Brass tag frame - Atomic Cupcake, Annie BTN Font

Karate!

After years of dance (ballet, jazz and even a little tap), Jenna decided she had enough. She absolutely did not want to go back to dance class this year. So, we asked her what she wanted to do instead - gymnastics? no! soccer? no! I can't remember all the options, but the one she was really excited about was Karate! So, we signed her up for a trial Karate class and she loved it. She has now been doing it since the beginning of September and should test for her 'orange belt' in December. Here is a scrapbook page I created using pictures I took during her 2-day 'trial' class.

Credits: Clip Art, AKKA Star - from the internet, Name Tape - Atomic Cupcake, Forte Font, Scrapbook Max Software

Our Family

Credits: Frame - Priscilla Rocha, Harting Font, Scrapbook Max Software

Here is a scrapbook page I originally did in a farewell scrapbook for a neighbor who moved away. I scanned it and added some digital elements.