Snapshots of Life- 9:00pm

A quick photo of bedtime. (Little did I know that I would be up 2 hours later changing the sheets after Adam got sick.....)

Thursday, November 18th- 9:00pm

2010 Christmas Card

I finally made a decision on my Christmas cards! I ended up picking a 5x7 card (with a completely different design from my pick of "favorites" I posted earlier).

Here's what I ended up with:

Back in the scrappin' groove!

Last Saturday I attended a scrapbooking crop to benefit a precious little girl Jordyn. Jordyn is 3 years old and was recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. I currently watch her little brother in the daycare and used to watch Jordyn before she went off to pre-school. Immediately after hearing the news my friend and I decided to host a scrapbooking day to help raise money for their doctor bills. You can read more information about Jordyn here: LoveJordyn

This is the first time I have sat down to scrapbook in about 6 months! I don't know what happened, I just lost track of it. BUT, I was really excited to jump back in. With my new-found motivation, I took about 3+ hours on Monday and completely cleaned my scrap desk and reorganized. I'm ready to dive back into my love of scrapping!!!!!

Here are some pages that I completed this weekend:

Dylan as Anikin Skywalker last year on Halloween

My hockey star!

My book club friends & I downtown Mpls.

I love sushi!

Snapshots of Life-10:00am

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Thursday, November 11th, 2010- 10:00am

Yep, every morning around 10am I am in the backyard cleaning up the dog doo-doo. One of my least favorite jobs in the world. But, if I didn't clean it up I would have kids running around with it on their shoes (which is WAY worse to clean up!). Oh, the joys of pet ownership.

Thanksgiving Decorating

Time to take a Halloween decorations down and get ready for Thanksgiving! Here's a few shots of my attempt at bringing the Thanksgiving spirit into our house.

My cute little turkey

Pumpkins! The small pumpkins are temporary until I get another big pumpkin.

My new addition--a cornucopia!

Turkey's hanging out of the front porch.

"The Last Song"

"The Last Song" by Nicholas Sparks---*** (3 stars)

Ronnie & brother Jonah are sent to North Carolina to spend the summer on the beach with their father. Three years prior, their parents divorced causing a great amount of friction between Ronnie and her father.

Ronnie is not happy about spending the entire summer away from her life in New York and does everything she can to show how upset she is. However he father takes it all in stride and is extremely patient and understanding.

The book is written in 4 different perspectives---Ronnie, Steve (father), Will, and Marcus. Each perspective gives the reader a little more incite into the plot and characters.

In the end this book was more than just a summer romance book. It's about change, learning to love yourself and others around you, and building lasting relationships. It left you with a renewed sense of wanting to take moreI time with those you love. I would definitely recommend it to others.

Snapshots of Life- 8:00am

A week has already gone by and it's time for another "Snapshots of Life" photo! Today's snapshot time- 8:00am.

Thursday, November 4th, 2010- 8:00am

Holiday Cards

It's barely past Halloween and everywhere you go it's suddenly Christmas! I'll admit, I "try" to start my Christmas gift buying early. Mostly due to the fact that I need to spread the money out over a few months. Plus, it's nice to enjoy the holidays rather than be frazzled with too many things to do.

So today I'm thinking about Christmas cards. A couple years ago I made 50+ cards to send out. I was so on top of it! Last year, I scrambled at the last minute and put together a photo card a week before Christmas. While I really loved having the homemade touch a few years ago, I was amazed at the options available for photo cards. It's definitely not the same as it was 10 years ago! The options are almost endless!

Here's a layout I did with last years photo card:

I love the simplicity of it with the black and white and just a dot of red. I also love the multiple photos (let's me pick the best photo of everyone.). I would love to have something similar to this for this year.

I decided to start my search for the perfect card at Shutterfly. Shutterfly is a great online photo resource for photo sharing, photo books, cards, calendars, etc., etc. Their holiday card selection alone has a gazillion options! The set-up makes finding the perfect card for you so simple. Items are categorized by style, # of photos, size, and even color. It makes searching for my simple, multiple photo card SO much easier!

After refining my search, here are a few that popped out at me right away:

I love how the photos are the main focus on the card. This can have up to 6 photos.

Love the retro design on this one.

This is real similar to the first one, but with a little tree added.

This one is so fun! Love the non-traditional colors.

I love all of them!!!! What's fun is I can create each one with different photos and then decide. Crap, I have to pick photos too! Good thing I'm starting early.......

Make sure to stop over to Shutterfly and check out their other stuff too! They have a great photo sharing page, calendars, and so much more.

Which holiday design is your favorite???

Norwex

Last month I was invited to a Norwex home party. I'll be honest, I was very skeptical about these high priced "cloths". Not to mention a party for cleaning supplies?? Not your typical candle, jewelery party. Anyway, I went to the party (mostly for the free margaritas!) and was pretty surprised at what I found.

"All Norwex products support our company mission to improve the quality of life by radically reducing the use of chemicals in personal care and cleaning. With a commitment to effective cleaning, responsible care for the earth, and the power of information, together we can become a generation to leave behind a legacy of improved quality of life."

While I consider myself a "green" person, I'm not a fanatic about it. I recycle and reuse things on a day to day basis. I believe that "organic" is great, but I don't go out of my way to solely use organic products. However some of the Norwex products sold me and intrigued me more than I thought they would. Many of the products are pretty high priced so I decided to just try a couple items to start.

Basic Package: Antibac Enviro Cloth & Antibac Window Cloth

I decided to try out a couple of their more popular products: Enviro Microfiber Antibac Cloth & Window Cloth. I've had these cloths for just a week and I tell you what---I love them!!! I have used the Enviro Cloth for EVERYTHING! I've used it to clean off the kitchen counters, table, stove, walls, doors, sink, windows....seriously I think I could go on and on. What's amazing about these cloths is that you don't use any cleaning agent at all. Water. That's it. Water. AND it cleans just as well or even BETTER than my Comet or Fantastic would have. Actually, I haven't broke out my kitchen sprays at all in the past week. Just think of the money I'll save on cleaning supplies! (I get a little crazy when I save money....)

Tonight I've been invited to another Norwex party. Of coarse I'm looking forward to some free drinks and girl time, but this time I'm excited to try out a few more of their products. The problem is, there are so many products I want to try! Here's a few items on my wish list:

Bathroom Scrub MittAntibacterial Microfiber Kitchen Cloths

Microfiber Mop Starter Package

Halloween Fun!

Dressing up for Halloween is one of my favorite things! Adults are never too old to dress up!

Here's a glimpse of my family this weekend:

Little Red Riding Hood & the Big Bad Wolf

Little Red Riding Hood

Big Bad Wolf (he was VERY proud of his homemade hood!)

Alien Adam

Zombie Chainsaw Dylan

Zombie vs. Alien

My cutiepie nephew Dino Zach

Spiders!

This year I added a few fuzzy spiders to my Halloween decorations. These cute spiders were super fun and easy to make. You can find the directions on how to make them here.


Stop over tomorrow to see pictures of me and my husband all dressed up for our annual Halloween party!!! Only a few more hours and I'll be transformed into...................??? You'll just have to stop back to see!

Halloween Goodies!

The Halloween parties are in full force today!!! I love Halloween! I thought I'd share some of our fun Halloween goodies with you. Happy Halloween!!!

Ghost Pretzel Sticks

Candy Corn Treat Bags

Mini Notecards on Treat Bags

Treat Bags decorated with foam stickers from Michaels

Scary Trees from Oriental Trading Co.

Mr. Pumpkinhead!

Snapshots of Life

I've been obsessed with a blog called "Eighteen25". The site features lot of crafting projects and all around family fun. It's loaded with fun ideas! (If you follow their lead, everyone will think you are a crafting genius!!!).



This week the gals at Eighteen25 started a new photo series- "Snapshots of Life". Every Wednesday evening they will post a time of the day. Your assignment on Thursday is to stop and take a picture of what you are doing at the time posted. I LOVE photo challenges and I couldn't wait to get started! I set my phone to remind me and at 5pm today I was ready!

Here's a glimpse of what I was doing at 5pm tonight.

Thursday- October 28th, 2010 5:00pm

Can you guess?? I was setting up the basement for our daycare Halloween party tomorrow! And since I can't just take one picture, here's a few more shots of my decorating--including a witchy photo of me hanging the decorations. :)


Two posts in one day!!!! I'm on a roll........