s'mores...

 I love s'mores... I especially love getting my marshmallows good and black... so the inside is oozing with all that oooy-gooy-marshmallow-goo! Ever since I was a kid, I liked just getting it good & black... watching it catch on fire... hear it sizzle... then having the delight of blowing it out.... gotta love a well toasted marshmallow!!! I always thought it strange when my sister would patiently toast her marshmallow... it was always lightly toasted... never burnt... the light tan of the marshmallow was always picture perfect.... beautiful in fact.... but by the time she had finished one... I was already working on another... to this day... I remember her patience and the beauty of her result.

Well, now that it's Rainee's turn to learn the fine art of making s'mores... she takes after her mommy.... black as black and be... leaving no space untouched.... that's my girl!!! And although she doesn't eat all that she makes... she loves this delightful little treat whenever we have the fire going. It's become a family winter favorite.

This photo is Rainee with her big brother, Austin....sitting by the fire making none other than... s'mores! We had just finished eating Thanksgiving dinner and we were all lazing with our very full tummies by the fire... when Rainee decides she wants to make s'more... and although we were all quite full... we went for it! Rainee & Austin were sitting by the fire making their marshmallows... I love watching them interact... this college student and his little sister...whenever we're all together, I always make sure to get a photo of them together.... so of this was the perfect opportunity to do so with all the s'more making doing on... I love this photo... and although you don't see their faces... it is one of my favorite photos of them together!!! This was such a great moment.... oh and if you're wondering how Austin likes his marshmallows?...?...? perfectly lightly toasted... or... burnt & oooy-gooy???? It would be... burnt & oooy-gooy!!!

What about you??? What kind of marshmallows maker are you... perfectly lightly toasted... or... burnt & oooy-gooy????

Happy Birthday...

Birthday after birthday, year after year,
we live, laugh and grow together.
So, for all the beautiful days we've shared together and for all those still to come... Rainee and I wish you much love, laughter and a year full of wonderful things!

Happy Birthday Steve!!!

Word For The Year...

My friend Julie has again inspired me... this time in choosing a Word For The Year. My word is Blessings! This year I am looking forward to... the Blessings I will receive... the Blessings I will give... and the Blessings I already have.

Happy New Year!!!

What did you do last night? Go out? Party with friends? Stay in? Us? We stayed home. I made dinner, then we celebrated by having some of my new favorite little homemade treats... Cake Pops & Cake Bites! These bite size little treats are delicious!!! They are as much fun to eat as they are to make!!! Rainee and Steve can't get enough of them!!! I think I'll be making more today!

Thank you all for sharing in my life. I hope your new year is filled with possibilities... with new and wondrous things! I hope you find delight in every little blessing which comes your way and you leave the worries behind. I pray you are blessed with daily joys and you dreams are fulfilled.... Happy New Year!!!

What's Your Favorite...

or rather WHO is your favorite Scrapper?? Who inspires you? This is our new challenge over at TAAFOMFT. There are so many scrapbook designers who I admire....Jennifer McGuire, Ali Edwards, Jessica Sprague, Jenni Bolwin, Elizabeth Kartchner and list goes one... But I've chosen for this challenge TAAFOMFT design team. These women are amazing!!! Each one has a different way of expressing their love and joy of scrapbooking with each beautiful layout, card or project they create... They inspire me and fill my heart with possibilities They are remarkable women... and I'm blessed to have them in my life.

So now that you know mine... why not pop over to TAAFOMFT and see who inspires our design team.... then play along with us and share who your favorite scrapbooker is...We'd love know know!

Merry Christmas...

May your Christmas be filled with love, joy and peace.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today would have been my dad's 85th birthday. It has been difficult without him.

Sparkle The Elf...

The other day when I went to get the mail, Rainee received a package from none other than Santa... and inside was a letter from Santa and a little Elf.... named Sparkle. Santa and Mrs. Claus sent him for Rainee to play with and to be his eyes and ears to make sure Rainee was feeding Champ, helping mommy and being good. Sparkle reports back to Santa & Mrs. Claus every evening during the holiday season... because he needs to know how not only Rainee is doing, but also mommy and daddy. So you can imagine, we've all been on our best behavior for a good report to Santa.

In the letter, Santa also told us a little bit about Sparkle... how he likes to play, but that is favorite game of all is Hide & Seek! Santa told us that during the holiday season, Sparkle may hide in a new place every morning but after Christmas, Sparkle will go to sleep until next year!!! So every morning, since Sparkle has been with us, Rainee gets up to see if Sparkle is where she left him... and of course he isn't... so she goes searching the house to find him! She's been having so much fun with him!!!  Although Sparkle loves to hide, we've come to realize... he always seems to leave something showing... usually it's been his hat!!! It's been very fun to see where Sparkle is each morning... and he's been helping us all stay on Santa's Nice List! I sure am glad Santa sent him to give us some holiday fun!!!

JibJab Holiday Fun..

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

What We've Been Up To...

Life around here gets so busy at the holiday season... that I don't seem to have time for the things I love doing - things which keep me sane on a daily basis like... talking to my sister... scrapping... blogging... and visiting my favorite blogs... soooooooo please forgive me for the laps in my posts and my comments on your blog... life gets crazy!

Now that all the PTA fund raisers are finished... Rainee's class Christmas projects are finished... her class party will be over today... and all my shopping is finished... I'm hoping to be able to start blogging again and get one post done a day!!! I'm crossing my fingers!!! I have to catch up on my Weekly Gratitude posts.. but it's a good thing I have a journal going on that so I can get those posts done!!!

So as for what's been going on around our hectic home??? I thought I'd share a few things...

Make Christmas Tree Pizza's... This was such fun... Rainee got a blast out of punching the dough and making the tree shape... this was one yummy dinner!

Making Ice Cream Snowmen - This was one of our holiday things to do... Rainee had a blast making this little guy...

Helping daddy with the Christmas lights... well, not really... mostly playing with the ladder as a Santa Sleigh with all her stuffed animals... so cute!!!

Making SnickerDoodles.... a holiday favorite around our house!!!!

Helping with the PTA fund raiser... and loading up the Goodwill Truck.... this was such a great way to make money for the school field trips... happy to say we made $2300.00 in an afternoon... Thank you Goodwill for such a great way to help our school!!!

As a surprise for Rainee... Steve and I decorated Rainee's room with lights, a mini tree and lots of other Christmas things.... it was so fun watching her get excited about her holiday room!

Making the class Christmas gift with the kids in Rainee's class... They had such fun painting and stamping....

Raking leaves and jumping in them... We don't have snow... but our big beautiful tree sheds a lot of leaves... so we're constantly raking them up... and Rainee... well, she's having fun jumping the the pile... weeeeeeeeeeeee!

Playing card games and watching movies on the portable DVD player... when the power was out for servicing... it was a whole day without electricity... no Internet... no cooking... no laundry. Thank goodness the batteries on the DVD player and computer were charged so we could watch movies.... so glad it was only one day!!!

Playing Christmas Charades... Charades is one of our most favorite things to do as a family... Rainee's really good at it...  such fun!!!

More baking... this time... Chai-Kissed ChocoDoodles... yum yum yum!

Well, that is just a few things we've been doing around here - I'll share more later... have a lovely lovely day... happy Friday!

What's Your Favorite...

2010 Scrapbook Layout, Card or Project?? Is our challenge over at TAAFOMFT. I love looking back on the layouts I've done... I take pleasure in looking at the past year's memories and I'm always awe struck at the changes I see in my daughter and how much she's grown.

For this challenge I've chosen "My Little Bug" as my favorite layout of 2010. It's a favorite for many reasons.... I like how this layout came out... but I also love this photo of Rainee and I love love love  the memory attached to it!!

If you know my daughter at all you know she's a love bug. She at any time during the day is saying "Mommy, I love you!"... or is invariably asking for a hug & kiss... and I love love love it!!! It's one of those childhood things I don't ever ever ever want to stop. But I also know eventually as she grows older I won't hear those words quite as often or receive those hugs & kisses at the drop of a hat... so I'm cherishing every one of them now... I'm holding on them... because they are precious... and I don't ever want to take one of them for granted. So, for many many many reason this layout is more than just my favorite... it is also one of my most favorite things about my daughter I don't want to EVER end.

Okay, so what is your favorite??? What layout, card or project have you done this last year that every time you look at it, it takes your breath away... because of the design or the memories it holds. We'd love to see it!!!! So hop over to TAAFOMFT and share it with us!!! While over there you're going to love love love checking out what the DT has chosen as their favorites for this challenge from all the wonderful works they've done all year. Come on over... we'd can't wait to see your favorite!!

Advent Calendar... & Where Did The Week Go???...

Golly where did the last week go???? I can't tell you how many times I tried to blog... but between last minute freelance design work, shopping, crafting with Rainee and getting ready for the class craft.... I haven't had a moment extra to blog...

Here is my promised Daily Activity Advent Calendar in one of my Ivory EverydayFrame... I love how it looks in the frame... and it works so great with pulling out each days surprise. For the page protector, I used a regular one and sewed all my squares for each day... then made a little pocket for the day so I could put a little note inside each day. I have to say, I love love love it... and Rainee... she's getting real kick out of what we do each day... it's been a blast! I've enjoyed watching her excitement at the 'surprise' for the day.

I printed out something for all 25 days... plus a few extras... just in case of ill weather... or the days circumstances change. Having those extras has really worked out well... because it rained this last weekend and we weren't able to do what I had planned.

I've had such a blast with it, I've already decided to do more calendars to count down fun things like... counting down to... Valentine's day...  Easter...  the start of school... and of course Rainee's birthday!!! Sooooooo I once again need to say.... thank you thank you thank you Deana... for such an inspiring idea!!! I love it!!! And so does Rainee!!!

Here's my list with some of the things we'll be doing or have done...

• Visiting Santa and taking pictures with him
  Making a Christmas Tree Pizza and Ice Cream Snowman
• Making hot chocolate and reading the Christmas Story
• Putting out the Christmas Decorations... and sharing favorite Christmas stories
• Making S'mores by the fireplace
• Christmas Charades
• An Indoor Picnic
• Going Ice skating
• Newport Beach Boat Parade
• Driving around to see the neighborhood Christmas lights
• Popping pop corn for a night of Holiday movies
• A Snow Day in the Mountains - sledding, snowball fights and a snowman
• Our annual Carriage Ride
• Baking Christmas cookies... with frosting the works
• Holiday cookies... for the neighbors and friends
• Going shopping for our annual New Christmas Ornament
• Making our Gingerbread House
• Baking Christmas Pies
• Hitting all the stores that have free crafts (Michael's, Joann's, Bass Pro, Home Depot and Lowes)
• Christmas Crafts I've put together for Rainee (this one will happen on multiple days!!)
• Taking a trip to the Christmas Tree farm - - to play and enjoy a cup of hot apple cider
• Making hot apple cider and reading the Night before Christmas
• Going shopping for daddy's gift and having lunch together
• Having friends over for a Mini Christmas Party
• Putting light up on the house and all over Rainee's room
• Family Game Night with lots of special Holiday Treats
• Going to the Rescue Center to give toys for the needy
• Wrapping presents and enjoying a holiday treat
• Making Rainee's teachers gift
• Going to Disneyland for the Holiday Spectacular
• Put out cookies and milk for Santa and having a few ourselves
• Open presents and play play play with all the fun new toys!

That's my list so far... it's been sooooooo fun... I keep coming up with more things to do... and what's so great is having the extras on  hand when a day doesn't go the way it's suppose to. I hope this gives you some inspirations... and some fun ideas to do during the holiday. If you have any other 'to do' ideas, I'd love to know what they are. Until next time I blog... hopefully tomorrow... have a really wonderful day!