It is COLD here!  -11° this morning when we woke up!  The furnace had stopped running during the night.  It was 40° in the house when we woke up.  The furnace never brakes when it is warm out does it???

I wrote about this on FB and Twitter yesterday but I want to put it on the ol’ blog for posterity purposes.  Yesterday Corey got out the Wii to set it all up.  Did you know we were getting a Wii for Christmas?  Well now you do.  So it was a good idea…setting it up.  When Christmas arrives and we open it up all we have to do is plug it in and it will work…no set up and waiting around…don’t you hate that about Christmas gifts?  I do.  And so do the kids! ;D  Having it out all day was not a good thing tho.  And I have told Corey WE ARE NOT GETTING IT OUT EARLY.  It is the big gift and we are going to wait!!!!  So Laney gets home from school and wants to play the Xbox.  I told her, “Sure you can play the Wii.”  She exclaims, “BUT WE DON’T HAVE A WII!!!”  OOPS!  See, Corey!  I told you not to open it! I was able to cover it up by saying something about playing it over at Steven’s house for Thanksgiving and I was confused.  It seemed to work.  If it had been Ava I’m not sure it would have.  As my friend Jeni said to me…”You blundered with the Tooth Fairy.  I see a trend here.”  Yikes!

There’s another new paper pack in my store today.  It’s called Winter Pink.  Would you also like some more good news?  If you sign up to follow me on Twitter and Tweet about this I’ll give you a 50% off coupon for my store!  ;D  Direct Message (on Twitter or email me at jenatjencropabledotcom) me to let me know that you have done this and I’ll email you the coupon! ;D

Here is my December Daily layout for Day 8 which was yesterday.  I scanned a picture that Laney drew.

star, cutstrip, berries Flitter Kit Lynn Grieveson
trees Seasonal Sampler Shabby Princess
graphic word blocks brushes & stamps no2 Katie Pertiet
paper Winter Wonder II JMDesigns
date stamp December Dayz JMDesigns
artwork Laney Maddocks

I’m sick.  I can’t stand it!  Boo.  Ava is sick too…not quite as bad.  But she said her ear hurt so I took her to the dr today.  She has a double ear infection.  Peh.  So today I did a lot of drinking…ehem…liquids and laying on de couch.  I was thankful for my laptop and the ability to be able to do a little designing.  I put together this paper pack.  You can find it in my store.

I’m so very excited that my friend Wendy is doing the December daily this year.  She made the best layout yesterday!  I have to share.  Maybe I’m a little bias because she used my supplies but this layout rocks!

So day two’s layout comes with another quick page.  It was one of my freebies.  So thankful for this…especially when sick!

I have a new weekly freebie in my sidebar.  Just in time for your December daily projects.  I used one of them in this photo as well as my number set from the December Dayz Element pack.

Are you going to do the December daily this year?  Have you done it in the past?  This will be my second year doing it.  First year doing it digital.  So looking forward to documenting December!

And YES I have my first layout done for my December daily album.  Having templates helps!!!! ;D

Don’t forget the sale going on in my store.  35% off store wide!  Use the code BLACKFRIDAY when checking out.  Happy Black Friday!

I made a layout with my new products.  Having a lot of fun with those.

How was your Thanksgiving?  Ours was very pleasant.  We visited friends and had a great time and great food.  It is fun for the girls to visit with boys.  Ava dressed as Darth Vader and Laney was Princess Leia.  They have been in the Star Wars mode for a long time…playing Star Wars Legos on the xbox.  ;D  As I said it is fun going to a boy’s house…he has Star Wars dress up stuff! ;D

Laney lost another tooth last night.  Well.  She didn’t quite lose it as I pulled it out for her.  It was ready to come out and it was annoying her but she couldn’t quite get it.  And she was scared.  Ava helped her pull the last one.  But she was nervous to have her do it again.  So she tried for half the night and I finally asked her if she wanted me to help her.  She agreed.  I pulled.  She cried.  It came out.  In the end she was happy.  But she “never wants me to pull another tooth again!”

So Laney put her tooth under her pillow and waited for the Tooth Fairy.  And the Tooth Fairy in this house is a bad Tooth Fairy and sometimes forgets.  Sigh. I woke up this morning and thought of it right away.  I didn’t hear the kids up so I thought I was ok.  I slipped into Laney’s room and she looked like she was still asleep and so I found the tooth and exchanged it for a dollar.  She woke up just after the exchange.  So I thought I was safe.  She told me the Tooth Fairy forgot to give her money and I asked her to double check.  She did and was happy to see the dollar.  I thought I had gotten away with it but when it all came out she revealed to me she had been awake earlier and downstairs.  She had also been “faking it” when I thought she was sleeping and said she felt her pillow moving when I was taking her tooth.  Another sigh.

“Mom.  Are you the Tooth Fairy?”

“Yes.”

“You ARE!!??”

“I’m sorry Laney.  But yes I am.  Are you okay?”

“Yes.  But what about all my other teeth?  And Ava’s teeth?  What happened to those?”

“I took them.”

“Where did you put them?”

“It doesn’t matter.  In a special place.”

Ava emerged and we told her.  I asked her if she was okay.  “Yes, I’m fine.  And I don’t believe in Santa either.  Because he’s Lauren’s grandpa!”  Apparently a friend of hers at school has a grandpa that looks just like Santa.

“Well.  Since we are talking about this do you want to know the truth about Santa?”

“Santa’s not real either???”  Laney exclaimed.

“No.  Not in the way you think.  There was a person who existed called St. Nicholas who passed out gifts to children.  But there is no Santa.”

This conversation continued on for awhile.  I could tell Ava was totally fine.  I knew she would be.  I could tell Laney was completely devastated.  I knew this was going to happen as well.  Insert another sigh here.  So.  In order to help out the situation, because at this point Laney was pouting…something she is very good at…I reminded her the REAL reason we celebrate Christmas (and Easter).  She immediately said, “JESUS!”  I told her she was right.  I told her that even tho things like Santa are fun and we could still pretend and have fun, that Santa was actually a distraction from the real reason of Christmas.  After I explained it, she was okay.  Needless to say I had no intention of this happening this morning.  In a way I was very sad and also glad.  What do you do in your family with Santa and the Tooth Fairy?  Do your kids still believe?

Last night it started snowing.  I was looking at the snow and loving it but I really needed to go to bed.  Corey suggested I go out and take some photos.  It was midnight.  And cold.  I didn’t want to go out.  But I did.  I was freezing.  And LOVING IT!  Do you ever feel that way about something?

On to the next thing…there is a new digi kit at DDE.  It’s called Crisp Fall Day.

Here are a couple of layouts I did with this kit.

And last but not least…if you have stuck with reading this entire post…I made it on to the next round of the My Scrapbook Art Ultimate Artist contest with this layout.  Total surprise…and looking forward to the next challenge which is being revealed tomorrow!

I love my girls and how silly they are.  But sometimes I just want a good photo of the two of them…when it comes to special event time.  So the deal is…I get one good serious pose…then I’ll take a bunch of photos of them being silly.  Mostly it works out in their favor rather than mine.  I wish it wasn’t so…but I guess that is “real life” around here and I’d rather have them be silly than unhappy. ;D  This year’s photos were inside because it was so chilly and snowy outside. ;D

I put together a layout of some of the photos I took of Laney out in the snow yesterday.

grunge frames, wings, grunge alpha, acrylic flower, buttons, circle stamps JMDesigns
flower, acrylic brad Embrace Fei Fei’s Stuff + Paislee Press Designs
circle stamp Circle It No.2 Anna Aspnes
journal circle stamp Journaling Brushes-n-Stamps Katie Pertiet

The kids are out playing in the snow.  Building a snowman.  Throwing snow balls.  Eating snow.  It doesn’t feel like Halloween.  It feels like Christmas.

I got some updated photos of Ava at her riding lessons on Friday.  She was working on posting.

We went mini golfing again.  I didn’t bring my camera.  It was a good chance to use the camera in my new phone.  Just to see if it was any good.  Here are a couple of shots…not too shabby for a camera phone…

And then just because it is such a novelty for me…we saw a praying mantis when we got home from mini golf.  We didn’t have these in Maine.  This was with my “real” camera…btw. ;D

What did you do over the holiday?  Oh, and half of Ava’s room is painted…and somehow I recruited Corey’s help…it went a lot faster.  ;D

Sometimes it’s nice to just do something for yourself.  Sometimes it’s nice to just use a template.  Sometimes it’s nice to not think but just do!  I found this very relaxing tonight!

Milly Molly Lynn Grievenson
Weathered Neutrals Anna Aspnes
Template JMDesigns

Corey was actually surprised to see me making something for myself tonight rather than designing.

I hope you enjoy yourself and your family this holiday weekend.  Maybe you can sneek in a few minutes for something just for you! ;D

Mother’s Day weekend was…not what I expected.  I often have visions in my head of how things are going to go.  They rarely go that way.  And I’m sure its God’s design that it doesn’t go the way I want but rather the way He wants.  I learn so much more that way anyway…if I listen.  This weekend was average…ordinary…in fact a few times stressful, upsetting and disappointing.  Real life.  It was by no means a “Norman Rockwell painting” if you get my meaning…But that’s OK!!!!  Really.  Mother’s Day is a hard holiday for me anyway…for various reasons…which I will not get into.  In any event…after the happenings of the weekend…good or bad I decided to download my camera.  What I found made me smile!  I have some great stories…great memories.  Real life stuff.  So here they are…

And the simple facts are…when you don’t add all the ingredients then your cupcakes don’t come out right.  But it was a great object lesson for the girls!

When you want your daughter to share something with friends at her birthday party…make sure she REALLY understands what it means.  I thought I did.  But I didn’t.  And it resulted in a very ugly scene!  For example the above beads…which is a lovely photo…was not a lovely scene at Ava’s bday party with her friends.  My idea was to make bracelets or necklaces out of the beads.  She has this huge box of them.  Why not use them?  Um yeah…not a great idea mom…it ended in tears…lots and lots of them…because Ava was way more attached to them than I realized.  I should have gotten some neutral ones to share.  If you are saying duh…please don’t share it with me.  I was stupid.  It was the lowest of lows of the weekend. Even tho this photo is my favorite of the weekend.  Ironic.

It was never my intention to be a mom.  Glad God had other plans!

Laney’s dance recital is coming up in June.  Apparently it is a huge deal.  This is our first year doing dance so this is all new to us.  The costumes are already in.  Photos were this weekend.  We got her all dressed up so she could go to the studio and get individual as well as group/class photos.  Oh what a beauty queen she is!  I love putting her hair up.  She rarely lets me do it cause it hurts her.  But she had to for these photos so I was very pleased to get some photos with her hair up.  But as soon as she came home…yep…it was down again!  ;D

I hope, that whatever you did, or didn’t do, your Mother’s Day was wonderful.  If it was hard, or easy, stressful or not…just remember…you are loved!  ;D