Yuck, gross, and yep, yuck again....

We are sick... didn't I have to write a similar post back at Thanksgiving? UGH! It started with Micah, then Emerson, now me... I am really hoping to keep Lincoln healthy. So, I am not a post slacker, just an achey, fevered, sore throated, puking, migrained woman. We took Em to the doctor yesterday... just a virus, it has to run its course... yeah. So, I am off to get back on the couch...my kids are watching way too much tv, and I am lysoling every surface... hopefully we'll be back to normal for the new years weekend festivities... Thanks Chanel for checking on me... :)

A little non holiday to share...

So, my sister Patti and I decided not to buy gifts for eachother or our spouses and kiddos this year. We both felt the holidays should not be about the gifts... HOWEVER... her idea of us NOT exchanging gifts was to give the boys all giftcards to Amazon.com, and me an iPod... I think we should NOT exchange gifts more regularly. Now,she probably already had these items when I brought up the no gifts, but being the gracious and generous person she is, she agreed. (Cause she could've said... "No, dummy... I've already shopped for you guys..." But she is not like that. Clearly I am since the thought even crosses my mind...) ANYWAY... (wow, I am so long winded... at least I can cherish that I will never be called "curt"...I think its a weird little word anyway... but, I digress...) Soooooooo.... I was going to make them this for Christmas anyway, but put it off, but after the no-gift gifts, I decided to go ahead and get it to them... If you are Patti stop reading this... it will ruin your NGG (that is No-Gift Gift in case you missed it...) It is one of those Maya Road chipboard books... it gets all big and fat once you have everything in it, so I couldn't even close it. I tied it all up with some cool ribbon though. I did NOT sand the photos... I did however sand all the stickers, the circle journal spots, and such... :) OK, more holidayish stuff soon okay... plus I am going to show you all a lovely little RAK I recieved... it deserves it own post though so... bye for now...

Tagged by...

I am taking the TAG from "Brown English Muffin" although I am going to come up with a name for her is she doesn't give me something to call her soon. I am too slow a typer to keep typing out "Brown English Muffin" and let's be honest here... The abbreviated "BEM" sounds like some kind of bowel movement syndrome or something. LOL. Brown English... you know I am just pickin'. Don't get all "bloody" mad at me... okay, that was my attempt at British sarcasm... hope that's not like a curse word or something in England! (oh yeah, and you all are TAGGED if you read this. Let me know in the comments section if you do it.)

1.Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Egg nog, but just one cup, on CHristmas Eve...
2.Does "Santa" wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrapped of course!
3.Colored lights on tree/house or white? White...
4.Do you hang mistletoe? Yep. just got a new one from my sis.. any reason to trap Micah for a kiss is a good one!!LOL 5.When do you put your decorations up? The day after Thanksgiving... ALWAYS!!
6.What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? My mother in laws Broccoli Casserole
7.Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Going to cut down our own tree... 4 girls, one mother, lots of snide comments, and probably a curse word or two. That is the funny one. The other is singing at church on Christmas Eve... I loved the little candles!
8.When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Ya' know, I don't even remember, so apparently it wasn't too earth shattering for me!
9.Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Not usually.
10.How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? White lights, "old fashioned" looking ornaments,this year we added hand painted eggs that I picked up in Austria. 10.Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it! I stay home and bake!!!
11.Can you ice skate? A bit...
12.Do you remember your favorite gift? Sony headphones in the 5th grade...man I thought I was so cool!!!!!!!!!!!
13.What's the most exciting thing about the Holidays for you? The spiritual realization of Christ's birth... it amazes me to think what He gave up to become a helpless baby... We also love the tree decorating, the extra time with family and friends, the happiness of it all...
14.What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Apple pie... I love it- But only HOME MADE!!
15.What is your favorite holiday tradition? I love getting the tree after Thanksgiving. I also enjoy our Christmas Eve dinner. Every year we have a tradtional German meal... YUM! (Sorry Miss Brown English Muffin, no mint jelly here... unless you want it on your sauerkraut???LOL)
16.What tops your tree? The tree topper is an angel that a former student's "Granny" made for me... I love it! 17.Which do you prefer: give or receive? I like BOTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL... remember I am a 4th child folks!!
18.What is your favorite Christmas Song? Away in the Manger. I love it especially this year as both boys sing it in the back of the car... so cute!!
19. Candy Canes? The honest truth... ugh,this is so humiliating.... I like Candy Canes after a few months in the cookie jar... they get softer and "chewy", and I love them that way. THERE! NOW YOU KNOW...I LIKE OLD,SOFT, CANDY CANES... I realize I may never hear from some of you again once you read that shockingly gross fact about me, but it feels good to come clean.... Happy Holidays... Here are some Holiday album pages... do they make up for the fact that I am a GOCCE? (Gross Old Candy Cane Eater)

Guess where I was????

Hey all... did everyone in Blogland miss me? (um, this is where you lie and say yes...) We went to...

Yep, Disney! We went to see my sis and my little nephew down in Florida. He is such a cutie. We even went to Disney and the Animal Kingdom. The boys loved it, even though they are a bit too young to really get it some of it. They were happy just to see it all really!!


The funny thing was, Lincoln got most excited about the "train" ride from the parking lot to the entrance!LOL. Then we took him into toon town and I said, "Do you want to go see Mickey Mouse's house???" He got all excited and said. "Oh YES!!!!" and started running towards it. He stopped and looked at me and said, "Who is Mickey Mouse?" i was laughing so stinking hard.




Then, he sat on Santa's lap, and when Santa said, "What do you want for Christmas?" He said, "Oh, nothing. We already have a tree, but thanks Santa! BYe!" and hopped off running back to me. He was so funny! The weather was CHILLY for Florida too, but it was perfect for going to the theme parks. I was originally going to try and take Ali's classes in Tampa, but thanks to Jury Duty we had to cut the trip short, plus I felt bad taking a whole day of our mini-vacation and leaving Micah with all the kiddos... Here is the BEST part...we get home and ... yep, you guessed it... Micah did NOT even have to go down for the stinking jury duty! Oh, well... it just wasn't meant to be this time I guess!!LOL.


I will have to say, my little guys were sooooo good in the car. They played with little matchbox cars, read books, ate snacks, sang with us, and slept. It was a fun road trip... except for the EXTREMELY disappointing Vanilla Mocha Smoothie from the gas station... it was so gross. It tasted like cherry pipe tabacco. Really. Micah even said so. I was a bit bummed, it was my to be my special "car drink", but wowee, if that is the worst part of our trip... we did great!!LOL.
Hope you guys are all having fun planning and doing Holidayish things!! We sure are... I am off to get caught up on some "stuff"... laundry, bills, etc... I will post some Holiday album pics soon!

Our Holiday Album...

Here is the cover of our Holiday ALbum. I am using the Basic Grey Papers that some sweet woman sent me... ADRIENNE!! Thanks again, these totally inspired me to get this thing going!!
I had it all done on Friday, except the "2006". I thought I had little number stamps, so I wanted to use those with some paint... no, I do not own number stamps... weird that I thought I did though huh? So, I resorted, finally, to the rubons... not loving them... may cover them up at a later date and change it a little. I would like to note that there is no stapled ribbon, or paint on the edges thus far... a major accomplishment for me!LOL. I will be sanding all the photo edges though.... Come on, you didn't expect me to go cold turkey here did ya'?
The little trees in the left corner are actually triangle jump rings that I put patterned paper behind, I think they came out cute, except that the KI memories glue leaves a residue everywhere... I may have to modpodge the cover because if it. And that paper is not actually visible directly above the bookplate. The gluedots have a little "give" and shifted during scanning...
I am relaxed and having fun this holiday season already... I took alot of stress out by getting all adults giftcards,and not worrying over the outside decorations. So this little book should be fun, I am writing down the memories in my trusty little sketch book, so I can scrap them at any time.
Ok, its very late, I couldn't sleep, and now, I am clearly babbling, and oddly, I am not nearly as sarcastic at 3:21am as I am in the day... what a fun new fact about me... I am a nicer person in the middle of the night...um, when no one sees me... sweet... go Team Jude...

AEzine challenge...12-1-06

Okay, this is my challenge... do not laugh, but buttons are out of my comfort zone. I have seen all these great LOs over the last few months with buttons, and they look cool. Me with buttons is a bad thing though. I do not know when to stop. Hence I chose buttons as my challenge to the comfort zone. I held back from the overbuttoning... I think...??? I had to resist the urge to sand the photo, or paint the edeges of the paper white... I wanted it to look different than my normal LOs, and as we all know, those always include sanded photos... LOL. Here it is, and truth be told, I think it needs "something"...

I know... some cute little Atumn Leaves Swirl Stamps... stamped in red around the edges a little, yep that would've topped it off nicely I say. And Santa, if you are reading this, they are available at Linnecards. com or our LSS... just in case you want to know...Santa, that is... :)