I've got a few layouts to share, but not much time, so there won't be much chatter!  I'm involved in an online challenge game for the month of December, and it has motivated me to scrap, and that is always fun!  The first layout encompasses little snippets of fun from the Bird's house on Christmas morning.  I can just hear the squeals of delight!  But please don't mess with breakfast time for Noah!!  Such a creature of habit!!  :)

The Second layout shows the fun we had when the boys opened the presents from grandpa and grandma!  We set up the tents in the small living room, and there wasn't much room for much else!!  :)  The third layout shows the boys saying good-bye to Disneyland on their last visit.  Their annual pass has now expired, but they will remember all the fun trips they had this past year.

The next layout shows the girls and grandma and grandpa on the beach at LaJolla on a cold and blustery day.  But it's ok, the water was beautiful, and the company was great!

Christmas 2009 shows a few more photos of the Bird's Christmas morning.  The boys were so cute with their stick horses and cowboy hats.  I remember when our little Adam got those for Christmas too!!  Such a cute time.  The last layout is baby Jacob who is still struggling at times with his health!!  We pray he outgrows his problems soon.  Poor little guy is not going to know what it is to feel good. 

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I had a lunch date with my church ladies today.  We had a great time together, as always!  There were only five of us there today, so it was pretty cozy.   It was so good to see everybody!   I look forward to our morning out all month. 

I have another layout to share today.  It is all about my husband.  He's a real cutie.  I appreciate him so much. The journaling says:  Have I told you guys that I love this man?  You probably figured it out by now since we’ve been married forever. 
            I’m not sure I ever told you why I love him though.  This is him.  He’s real.  There is no pretext to him.  He sees things like they are.   He doesn’t put on airs.  He’s a Godly man and always gives God his best.  He’s not ashamed to stand up for what is right, nor for his God.  I love that in him.  I love his gentle spirit.  I love that he loves his family--all of it--I especially love that he loves me in return .  I rely on that love.

I found a new kit today and just couldn't wait to get it made up into a layout.  I used a blog freebie template from Erin Fazz, and the kit from Sweet Blossom Designs is called What a Hoot.  It fit my little Bird family to a "T" of course!!  :)

The boys loved their special trips to Disneyland this past year, but now it's time to find another interest.   I can't wait to see what that will be. 

I'm in the groove for the year so far!  I've done 13 layouts in 8 days.  I doubt I can keep up that pace, but it IS fun to have more pages done than days gone in the year.  The layout I'll share first is one I did today for the Flashback Friday challenge on the pub.  I'm sure I've scrapped this photo before, but it is so sweet, I just couldn't resist.  It is my mother and father in law on their honeymoon. 

I took Hazel's old ledger that she kept ALL her information in, and came up with the dates here.  That ledger is an amazing old book!  She wrote down EVERYTHING in it--the kids school grades, their doctor visits, their job records, and everything they bought, when they bought it, how much it cost, and what it was for!  I'll have to do a layout on it someday.  It is truly amazing.  She was so organized!!

My next layout is another Christmas ornament layout.  Amy informed me that my last one didn't include any of the ones from her, or ones that she had made, so this one took care of that!  :)  Gotta love that kid!  I didn't have room on the layout to explain all the ornaments, but five of them are ones that Amy either made for us or the one is a First Christmas one from the year she was born!!  One looks like Molly, one of them is from Debbie and her little flakes, and the last one is one from my tree when I was growing up.
The year we were married, my mother had gotten married that year also.  So, my mom supplied us with a lot of ornaments from our home tree because Bill had "enough" to fill up a few trees!  With her combining households with Bill, Earl and I picked up a lot of good stuff!

The last layout I have to share, the photos were from Amy and Scott's trip up to the mountains before Christmas.  The kids had a great time playing in the snow, and Amy and Scott were able to snap some good photos!  :) 
That's about all for now!  Back to scrapping--have a great day.

Well, I've been busy!  I'm ready to post a few more layouts though!

My Bird boys sure are cute aren't they?  The photos were taken the day we went to Amy's house and gave the boys their Christmas presents!  Jonah's photo was taken while he was IN one of the tents we gave them.  We took Noah a TRAIN tent and Jonah a space shuttle tent.   Noah was happier to see US than the presents!!  He really isn't into presents much.   And Jacob was just happy--I think that is his perpetual state!   Even when he's sick he's happy.  Who can complain with a baby like that??

In the next layout, the photo was taken the day after Thanksgiving.  Jacob was so sweet.  He really loves to cuddle!!  And what grandma worth her salt could resist a little cuddle now and then??  They stay small for such a short time!

I have one more layout to share.  The photos were taken on Thanksgiving day.  We all were outside waiting for the turkey to finish baking, and the leaves had just fallen off the three, so they were still nice and fluffy--the best kind of leaves for a leaf fight!
I used a fun kit from Jen Martakis called Nuts for You  for all three of these layouts--she is currently having a 25% off sale at 2 peas if you are interested!  The snowmen, staples and bling on the first layout came from a different kit that I don't have the name of offhand.  Sorry!!

This brings my scrapping for today to a close.  It is now time to make dinner for my dear husband (left-overs again!)  Poor guy.  I got so used to cooking for a big family when the kids were home, that I find it very difficult NOW that it's just the two of us here!  I've got to learn how to adjust the ingredients for recipes to only feed us once!!  So, I cook once and we eat it for several days.

I guess I'm a follower!  I saw several people post their favorite 10 layouts on their blogs, so I thought, "Oh, I should do that too--even though most of them are already here.  I tried to limit it to the top 5, but I liked too many of them! 

My first one would be one I just finished in the last few days.  It's What Is Under Your Tree.  I had taken a series of photos of the boys when they were here for Thanksgiving, and loved them all, so to only pick one photo for the layout was a difficult task!! 

Number 2 would be a layout I made for Drew's first birthday.  It is called I'm ONE!  I was able to capture a great expression.  That, by itself, is a great accomplishment!!  He is always moving!!  And very hard to get a good photo of!!   But look at that cute little face!!  Isn't he just adorable??

Then comes LaJolla! Besides being one of my favorite layouts, it is also one of my favorite places to visit!  The beach is absolutely one of the most beautiful places God made here on earth!  And of course, some of the grandchildren live nearby too, so we get to play in the waves with them.  Talk about adorable children!! 

This one is one I'd planned on doing for several years. so felt quite good about finally taking the photos and getting it done!  I used a template from Renee Pearson for it, and really love how it turned out.  I think I'll eventually make this a double page spread because I still have a lot of ornaments I'd like to get down on paper! 

 

Some of my layouts have double meanings for me.  This one of Hopie, for instance, reminds me of me when I was a little girl.  Hannah took this photo of Hopie when they were playing dress up together.  Hopie is quite the poser!!  I remember, as a child, playing with my older sister.  I didn't ever know we were playing though.  She would be brushing my long hair--and I'd be waiting to PLAY.  She'd get done brushing and think we already DID play!!  We didn't get that misunderstanding taken care of until we were adults!!  :)

Another favorite is this layout of Andrew!  I took the photos in September at Hopie's 4th birthday party.  He was sitting in his high chair, really giving that whistle a work over!  And the next layout, all the photos were taken that same day--The birthday girl!  She was so excited to finally be "BIG."  Why do they want to grow up so fast?? 

Another favorite layout is of Jonah.  He has such an expressive face!  You always know where you stand with Jonah.  Just love that boy!!  I can't believe that Santa brought him a two wheel bike for Christmas this year!!  How did he get old enough for that??
Besides this being one of my favorite photos of Abby, it's also one of the first layouts I did for my first creative team!  I think that is probably why I like it so much!!

And this one of the three boys will round out my favorite 10 layouts.  Amy gave me the photos from one of her photo shoots!  I love how it shows how much the boys love their new baby brother.  They are so cute with Jacob!!  He's such a little dear!

Besides posting their top ten layouts, some of the scrappers have also picked a word for the year.  So, being the follower I am, I too picked a word!  I chose CONSISTENT to be my word.  I need this word for several areas of my life besides scrapping!  :) 

I wish you all a Happy New Year, and may the grace of God be with you all in this new year we've just started!!

For the new year, I gave my blog a face lift!  I think I like the new look!  But don't get too used to it because I figured out how to do it, and it wasn't that hard.  :)  As the saying goes, if "I" can do it--ANYBODY can do it!!!  I've been taking part in some challenges on the yahoo lists I belong to, and doing some layouts for the CT's I'm on, so I have things to post again.  Now that things have settled down from the holidays, I'll probably have time to post the stored layouts! 

This layout is from Halloween!  I'm a little behind.  Noah was such a cute little pirate this year, when I saw this kit at Digi-licious Designs, I thought it would make the perfect kit for this photo!  The kit's name is Shiver Me Timbers--isn't that just perfect??  Don't you just want to pick this little guy up and give him a  big hug??  I'm afraid that is what I do every time I see him! 

The next layout is also from this same kit, and again, from Halloween!  But I included all the little gremlins that went trick-or-treating together in San Diego!!  It is so neat when the cousins can spend time together and enjoy each other.  It happens so few times a year.  I had to take advantage of the time and fill my camera with photos to last the whole year!

Moving right along to Christmas Eve, I finished up a layout from our visit with my son's family.  Gina is one of the best cooks I know, and she made a delicious dinner for us!  Then we opened presents and played a bit.  After that, Chuck and the kids set up the new wii and played some of the new games.  They were so happy with their presents!!  We enjoyed our evening together.  One thing we forgot was to have time to have Hannah play some songs on the piano!  She always does such a fantastic job with her music!! 
This kit was from Bella Gypsy and is called Christmas Past.  I love their things!   I also used a blog freebie template.  I love those things also!  Yeah for templates.

Grandpa and I attended church services this morning, then came home and ate lunch.  It's been a lazy Sunday afternoon, just right for scrapping! 

I loved the elements in the Kit "ONE" from Digi-licious Designs so I decided to make another birthday page for Drew.  He was darling!!  And Hopie had such a good time too.  She loves helping her little brother open presents, and she loved helping him share his new goodies too!!  :) 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Just one day late!! 
We've had such a blessed Christmas.  We spent Christmas Eve with Chuck's family.  Gina made a great dinner to start out, and then everybody opened presents.  The kids were so pleased to receive a wii from mom and dad!!  After we were finished, opening presents, we shared dessert, then grandpa and I on headed home. 

Christmas day we talked to all the rest of the grandchildren with the assistance of SKYPE!!  By the sound of all the presents they received, the economy in the U.S should be on an upswing very soon!!  In the afternoon, Grandpa and I visited our friends home for dinner.  By the time we were finished, I was feeling much like the turkey we had! --STUFFED!! 

Saturday has been a very relaxed day!  Grandpa has his train running under the tree and another one running under the television.  He's tried to get his Lionel Heliport working better, but apparently it has a mind of its own! 

I do have a layout to share.  I used a new kit from Digi-licious called "ONE"   It was perfect for one of the photos from Drew's first birthday this month!  He was so cute sitting in that box!!

Oh my poor little forgotten blog!!  I've been preparing for Christmas, and just haven't had time to post.  Will try and do better in the New Year.  I have several layouts to share that I've completed since my last post!  I'm still working on my Christmas album.  It's been a lot of fun to revive old memories.  My first layout to share is about wrapping the presents!  :)

The journaling says:  We took one day and wrapped all the gifts. We use the old knife to cut the paper. The knife was a wedding gift to my mother so many years ago. Wrapping with any other knife just wouldn't seem the same. 

I think my mom and dad were married in 1939, so that knife is OLD OLD OLD--even older than the hills!  (My maiden name was Hill!)

The next layout was inspired by a challenge at 2 peas.  It was for the Flashback Friday challenge to scrap a favorite Holiday movie or a tv show.  My choice of show wasn't a problem, but finding images was!  I resorted to the Internet and googled the title, then looked for images.  I love the results!

The journaling says:  Oh my gosh. When I was a little girl I loved to sing about the famous red-nosed reindeer! I loved it so much, in fact, that I sang it at a Mother's Day dinner at my Aunt's church--I was probably about 3 years old then! I've heard that everybody thought I was darling, but I can imagine that my poor mother was probably embarrassed by my festive solo! The Internet says the movie debuted in 1964--which was the year I married! We didn't have any little ones until the following Christmas, but I'm sure we watched it even without little ones (After-all, we watch it NOW without little ones!) I remember watching it with my own little guys when they were small--and when they weren't so small. So many of our happy memories surround the Christmas season. Now it's so much fun sharing those memories with the next generation. The grandchildren have the same magic look in their eyes as my children did when they watch Rudolph!

I used a freebie blog template and a kit from BellaGypsy called Jolly Old Elf for this layout!

The next one has no journaling!!  :)

It's just an up to date photo of the three of us!!  Have I told you how much I love this time of the year (I'm sure I have!).  I have to watch it though!  It's so easy to get caught up in all the preparations and forget the Reason for the season, and NO, it's NOT the Winter Solstice!  I heard that on the TV the other day and it just made me sad that some people actually believe THAT is the REASON!  I'm sad for their choice for their eternity.  And yes, there IS an eternity.  It's up to each of us to CHOOSE where we spend that eternity.  I hope you've all chosen the right path. Enjoy the season, but remember the REASON!  :)

It's been a few days since I've had time to update!  I have a few layouts to share tonight. 
The first one came about because of the Flashback Friday challenges on the pub at 2 peas.  One of the posters challenged us to do a layout about what we wanted to be when we were a child.  So, of course, I journaled my story about becoming a nurse.
The journaling on the layout says:  I can't remember a time when that "want" wasn't there. That "need" to be helpful to someone, that empathy always burned in my insides, that deep wanting to fix everybody.

I remember trying to help my great aunt Soak her feet when they were sore. I used to fix tea for my grandma when she wasn't feeling well. I helped wrap my grandma's legs with elastic bandages when her varicose veins were bothering her. I always tried to make everybody feel better.

My nursing plans were delayed a long time. I chose marriage and motherhood over college and career out of high school, but as I approached my 40th birthday I realized I still needed to fulfill that other "need" I attended college and finally graduated with a Bachelor of Science in nursing!

I used kits called Stitches 5 by Twinky, Flower stitches by Christine Mortimer, paper by Hero Arts, (extra spring).

My second layout will be part of my Christmas album of memories.  The journaling says:

 Over the years we've collected many ornaments made by our children and grandchildren. Many of these ornaments were made as school or Indian Maiden projects. Some of them have photos of the artist on them. Some only have the artist's name. This, for some reason, has become a matter of contention between my children. We have several ornaments with Becky's picture on them. Several years ago Debbie started the tradition of hiding the nut. (one of the ornaments is a nut with Becky's face on it. This year the contest took on a new dimension. Debbie offered to pay Amy 100.00 if she hid the ornament so we couldn't find it. But I saved the day. The nut is safely on the tree!

(by the way, the "contention" is all in good humor). I used 25 days of Christmas template (Manipulated), very boyish kit by Bella Gypsy, paper arrows kit by Khadfiel.

The third layout is another one about ornaments.  Ones that mean a lot to us or have some other important significance.  The journaling says:

Most of our ornaments hold a special memory or have some other significance. Take for instance, the top
heart.  Hannah and Adam made that ornament for us that year.  The next ornament represents the Christmas
we spent with Debbie’s family in San Diego.  The next photo shows two ornaments.  One represents our dog
Ashlee, who is no longer with us, and the little dog ornament looks exactly like our dog Molly!  Such great pals.  The next two ornaments are new to us this year.  We bought them at an Estate sale in our neighborhood.  The lady loved Christmas, and hand made many of her own ornaments.  We gave these a new home. The little red ornament is one Becky made for us out of dough.  And the last ornament represents Earl’s love for his trains.  Each of these ornaments generate their own special memories. As we swiftly march towards Christmas day, may the Real joy of Christmas ring in your hearts.  May you be warmed by sweet memories of the past, and may you make new memories to cherish in the years to come.  May God bless you and yours during this sacred season.

Hannah came and played in the scrapbook room today.  She wanted to make some Christmas cards, so that is what we did!  She ended up with about 8 of them for her friends.  We had a good visit.  My job was to find the stuff she wanted to use.  Since I've been digi-scrapping for a few months now, it was a challenge to find some of the things I haven't seen around for that long!  But we did it--She did a good job with her cards.

Besides helping her find the tools of the trade, I also had enough time to finish up a layout I began yesterday.  Eventually it will go somewhere in my Christmas album for 2009--even though the photos are from Christmas' past.  All those Christmas memories, from all the previous years add to the whole wonderful warm feelings of Christmas in my heart.  I think Adam was about three or four and Megan was also about three.  Wasn't Adam  the cutest little cowboy!

I forgot to keep track of what I used, but I know the template was a blog freebie!  Thanks for looking!  

This year I've decided to make a Christmas Album starting now.   I'm starting the album out with the page I'm sharing today.  Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year I can hardly wait to get going on the album.

I was challenged to use a list for journaling for this layout.  I used the same kit from Michelle Underwood!  I think I love it!  :)  The pictures is from last year when we had our BIG snowstorm!  I was staying with the kids at their house because Chuck and Gina went to be with Andrew's biological mother while she gave birth to him.  They got stranded by the storm, and I got to play in the snow with the kids.  I had a glorious time, and we readied everything for Andrew's arrival at home! 

I must be excited for Christmas or something!  I was challenged to do a layout about a past Christmas, and decided to do one on our First Christmas together!  It rekindled a lot of great memories in the process.  I remember our first Christmas tree.  It fit nicely into the corner of our small living room.  It was pretty barren, even though my Mother had been generous with decorations from our family tree.  We bought one box of new ornaments to supplement the others, but it still looked pretty bare!  We loved it anyhow.  It was fun to cuddle on the couch with only the soft glow from the lights on the tree to illuminate the small space.

We spent Christmas Eve with my family, Christmas morning at our own home, and Christmas afternoon in Flint at the Staley family home.  This worked out perfectly.  We were both warmly embraced by both families.  It was a magic time in our lives.  A life that was full of love and adventure.  We were young and in love.  Now we're a bit older, but still in love.  We've enjoyed many Christmas' since that 1964 "first."  God has been so faithful to bless us richly.

I used Michelle Underwood's Vintage Holiday Memories kit from 2 peas and a freebie blog template for this layout.

We are watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and I remembered I have a layout to share.  I made it for the Scrapsketch.com site, and couldn't post it when I finished it up, then forgot all about it!  Like I said the last post, I love this time of the year, and it is never too early to start posting Christmas layouts!  These photos were from a couple of years ago, and the girls have really grown a lot since then. 

I'm taking a couple of online Christmas classes, so I'm going to be a busy lady for a few weeks!  Have a wonderful season!

I absolutely love this time of the year--even though it is the busiest part!  I love the family time together, the reason for the season, and the warm glow of the lights that start to show up soon.  I love having hot chocolate in the glow of the Christmas tree while Christmas Carols fill the room with their familiar words.  I love the smell of goodies baking in the oven, of holiday scented candles, and cinnamon scented pine cones.  I love the glow of anticipation in the childrens eyes as they (not) so patiently await a visit from jolly old St. Nicholas.  I like to watch them pour through toy catalogs as they make their lists of wants. 

I don't particularly "like" shopping in the crowded stores, but I do enjoy the feeling of satisfaction when I find the perfect gift for someone on my list!   I love giving gifts.  It is almost an art.  Sometimes I bomb though--and buy something either too old or too young for the person.  I miss shopping for the freshly cut trees we used to buy--but do enjoy the fake tree because we can leave it up and enjoy it so much longer.  It's always fun to pick out the "best side" of the artificial tree!  We'll be assembling the tree on Friday, and I hope to share some photos of little Birds and possibly little Staleys as they may be here to help grandma and grandpa with their tree!

In the meantime, I have a couple of layouts to share.  One is of the three little birds last month, and the other is from when Micah was just a little guy in 2004.  The layout of Micah is a "classic" baby layout.  I hope you enjoy it!

Look at that sweet little face!  Poor Micah!!

Two posts in one day!!  Record day!  :)

I did this layout for a challenge at How Much Is Too Much?   Find the blog here: HMITM BLOG
Everything was supposed to be in green tones.  I made it except for the white title and the black journaling and black swirls.

Don't Get Wet!!
The journaling says:  Journaling says: Yeah right! What else would a 3 year old do with water just sitting there? Isn’t that why God put him and the water in the same spot at the same time?

I used a freebie blog template and a freebie kit called Addie the dinosaur by Jenny Cereal.

Yesterday Grandpa and I spent the day in Pasadena at the Cal Stewart Train Show.  It's a once a year event for model train enthusiasts where a bunch of train people go to sell their wares.  I akin it to a scrapbook convention for scrappers--
We had a good time walking the aisles, looking for bargains, and buying a few things.  There was an awesome floor display of several running train layouts, and also several other layouts for us to examine.  There was an upside down Christmas tree with a train running on the ceiling around the base of the tree, and another tree on the floor around the area the tree would have been, had it been on the floor.  The action of the train was possible with the use of magnets, but it looked pretty amazing running around in a circle on the ceiling.

I attended the auction.  Although it was only open for bidding to the club members, I had a good time resting my legs and feet while looking like I was actually a bidder!  There were some good deals, and some of the people were buying things at the auction and taking them right out to their booth for sale to the public.  I'm sure they were hoping on a big profit in the double transaction. 

I didn't get many photos of the show because dh had the camera--but I guess he took photos of the things that were important to him!  :)

I was browsing the web this morning and found some cute word art, so made a layout with it.  I've used this photo before, but absolutely love these photos of the baby backs and their shar-pei look before they start filling out.  Jacob may be on the mend after a rough start in life.  He spent several days in the hospital after originally being released after birth.  Then, he contracted a cold which turned to bronchitis.  Poor little guy spend a few days in an upright position because he couldn't breath while laying down.  He's such a sweet little fellow! 

Besides the wordart by Vicki, I also used a blog freebie kit by Jeanne Marie Scraps for this layout.

I took part in a chat tonight on the digi board at 2 peas, and found the weekly challenge with a little help from Sheri!  Thanks Sheri!  :)  Anyhow, the challenge was to use a DVD cover as inspiration for a layout.  So, off I went to the DVD cabinet, and I found the one I wanted to try!! 

We saw this musical (?) group at our local fair the past few years.  They are a lot of fun to watch.  Silly kind of fun.  That's us--silly!!

So, I took it and decided since the background is black, maybe I'd do a Halloween layout.  It was fun to see the grandkids in their cute costumes this year.  We usually don't get to have TWO families together for the evening.  

I came up with the layout--and posted it at 2 peas--

I did my own morph! 
journaling says:   Megan was Darth Vader, Kelli was the cute cat, Emily made the cutest little butterfly princess you’d ever want to see. Ashlyn was Princess Leah, Jonah was a little fireman, and Noah was the Pirate! Grandpa is holding the newest one-Jacob who is going to give everybody a run for their money next year.

 

 It was fun getting some photos from Debbie when we visited San Diego.  I remembered her telling me about this day a few weeks ago, and had a good time scrapping the cute photos!
Kelli and Emily had such a good time in their square dance class! It is part of their co-op classes where they read the Little House on the Prairie Books each week. They dressed up like Laura and Mary with their prairie hats and cute sun dresses. Mom helped the girls make a pie for the feast after the dance! Yum, the pie was GOOD!!

I used a mini kit called Funky Rainbow from Flutterbye Faery Designs for the layout.

Amy shared a lot of photos with me, and there were a lot from their trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  It looks like the boys had a great time trying to find their perfect pumpkin.

For this layout I used a kit called Birdhouse rock collab by Digital Couture and Jen Yurko, and I used a freebie template from Weeds and Wildflowers

I pulled out some "newborn" photos of baby Jacob today since he's on my mind!  He's sick again, poor baby.  Doctor says it's bronchitis, but wasn't sure until today that it wasn't pneumonia.  We're grateful for friends and prayers!!  He's such a good little guy--even when he's not feeling well.

I used two kits-one from Erica Hernandez at 2 peas--the freebie November kit, and a blog train kit.  The sketch is from Scrapsketch.com.  Stephanie gives us great sketches to play with every month!!  thanks Stephanie.

Whoo Hoo!!  I played with a freebie blog template and came up with a second layout for today!  Debbie let me download a bunch of her photos while we visited last week.  The photos I used were taken when their family visited Maryland this past summer.  The sunset photo was gorgeous, so I wanted to used that as the background.  Looks like they had a lot of fun with campfires, riding in the boat, and playing in the huge yard! 
Besides the freebie blog template, I also used a free kit from Sande Krieger at 2 peas in a bucket called Rough Riders.  Since the family was visiting around the 4th of July, I wanted to capture one of the rows of red stars on the paper into the layout!  

Amy downloaded some photos for me yesterday when I visited her and the boys.  I couldn't wait to scrap this particular photo.  My boys are such funny little characters--
The journaling says:  Scott took the boys out for a hike one day.  He wanted to get a photo of them together, and they started “cheesing” it up.  So, which one is the cheesiest?  It's your call!

The two kits I used were A New Day by JMC Carthy and a kit called What a Hoot by Jan Hosford!  Gotta love the cute owls in the kit!!  And the tree isn't that bad either for that matter!

As you know, I'm a "regular" poster on twopeasinabucket.com where I take part in a lot of the challenges.  This week I finished up the Pub ad challenge that is faithfully posted by Corinna every Monday!  I used a Christmas kit from Michelle Underwood for the layout--and although the layout didn't turn out like I had it in my head, I love the results!!  Although the kit is a Christmas kit--the layout is from Halloween!  I bought the kit because it looked pretty versatile, so I'm going to enjoy playing with it!!   I particularly loved the little "musical" bird and the scalloped page I used for the background page.  I hope you like it as much as I do!

This is Kelli--one of the sweetest little girls around.  She's grown up so much and is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. 

We enjoyed our trip to San Diego so much.  It was so much fun sharing Halloween with the kids.  They had such a good time carving pumpkins, finding their costumes, and preparing to go out trick or treating. 

When we got back home after trick or treating, the kids went through their candy and boy, did they have a stash!  Ashlyn even made a written inventory  of all her stash!!  Funny!!

On Saturday we all went to Poway Park.  We attended a Farmer’s Market and rode
the little TRAIN. The kids loved it!

I used a kit called Little Red Caboose from Sweet Shop for this layout!  What a fun little kit this is!!

I did today's layout for the Pub Ad Challenge at 2 peas. The journaling says:  Despite the condition of the pumpkin patch, the condition of the animals, and the attitude of the local people, we had a good time in Ramona. We ran around the corn maze, picked out small pumpkins for the girls, and visited one of the local antique shops. I think just spending time together, though, was the best part!

 

I used a cute kit from Bella Gypsy called Apple Pickin for the layout, and an ad for inspiration.

 

Ramona is a little rural area not far from Debbie's home in the San Diego area.  We traveled there on Friday after the girls were finished with their school work for the day.  The pumpkin patch itself had obviously seen better days!!  There wasn't one pumpkin in it that looked good enough to take home!!  The animals in their fenced in cages looked like they could use some love too!  The corn maze was fun, though, and grandpa did a bit of hiding there!  

After we left the patch, we stopped in at one of the many local antique shops.  The proprietor and the workers in the shop were actually quite rude.  They were preparing to take part in the "safe" trick or treating event in the town.  One of the ladies said " "everybody" brings their thousands of children up there and drops them off--there won't be any parking spaces, and the town will be overrun with these "visitors." " She really had a chip on her shoulder, and we were pretty happy to get off of her property and back into the car!  

We made our way back down the hill as these thousands of people were on their way up! 

We were happy to spend Halloween week in San Diego this year.  Amy and Scott even came down so the kids could trick or treat with the their cousins.  They were all darling in their costumes, and had a good time going from door to door collecting candy.  Noah thought it was great except for when nobody came to the door with candy in hand!  When that happened, he cried, and the girls broke down and gave him a piece of their candy to get him to walk to the next porch!  He ended up with more candy than any of the kids!! 

I used the Pumpkin Spice kit from StrawBeary Designs and a blog template for this fun layout.