Thankful for...

Family





Health
Food on our table
precious memories made...
Our Thanksgiving this year was bittersweet. Missing loved ones who weren't able to be with us this year at the Thanksgiving table, but cherishing the moments we had with others who were present. I don't know about you, but I love Thanksgiving. I love what it means and stands for. I love the colors. I love the delicious food (oh, the dressing & pecan pie! mmmm..) I love the crisp, fall weather that Thanksgiving brings. I love the family and friends we get to see during the holiday. I love the memories that are made, as well as the many memories remembered during this time. I am thankful for the holiday itself and how it brings people together at one table during such a busy time of the year.



Parker and I flew down to Grenada, MS the Sunday morning before Thanksgiving. We spent a glorious 8 days in the South visiting and living it up with friends and family!!! We're always so spoiled when we go down there! :) I have to be honest...I was a terrible photographer this last week and am ashamed that I didn't get some of the pictures that I should have with family members. However, I have forgiven myself and promised myself that I will do better next year!! I am thankful I captured some of the fun and sweet memories that I did though!!

Playing football in the front yard, going on leisurely neighborhood strolls, playing one afternoon with Case (Parker's little buddy), going through and finding some of my old children's books for Parker to read, playing Rumikub at night with mama, visiting our family & friends, watching Abbey (my brother, Taylor's dog) run around and chase things in the yard...that was one of Parker's highlights, having Thanksgiving dinner at the Penders...thank you Anne & Buddy! (I must remember to get the dressing & potato casseroles recipes!), talking to my grandparents about family history stuff, watching Christmas movies, observing Parker finding and playing with my brother's old tractor and other intricate toys that Taylor played with when he was Parker's age, sleeping in my old bed with the fan on (I still have my old t-shirt sheets from highschool on there!), sweeping leaves off the front porch with Parker, seeing the joy that Parker got from sitting in the fire truck, wearing the fireman's hat and sounding the sirens like the big guys do while visiting Granddaddy and the others in Oxford, watching Parker sit contentedly in Papa's lap while he plays with his little trucks over at Grannie and Papa's, hearing our little man rolling on the floor with laughter at his cousin Collin who had been chasing him around the floor, seeing old things that I had forgotten I had in my room in Grenada, finding Shorty pushing my happy son around in this old wheelbarrow all the while clutching his stars and stripes football, and listening to my mom read to Parker...these are some of the memories from this Thanksgiving that will never be forgotten and always be cherished.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Love,
Us

"miss you daddy!" love, parker

"I love my Daddy."
"My daddy can make me laugh like no other."

"My dad is the coolest; he lets me wear his pilot's hat sometimes."

"My daddy teaches me new things every day. I love it when we go on outside adventures!"

"My daddy lifts me up..."

"But most of all, I love it when my daddy comes home from work to play with me. I get a little playtime (even if it's my bedtime) & lots of snuggles & kisses! It makes me so happy to be with my Daddy."

"I love you Daddy! Mama & I miss you & wish you were here with us! Thank you for working so hard for us! Mama says to eat healthy & catch up on rest in between flights! We'll see you soon!"

Mwwaaaaahh!!

Love,

Your little man

celebrating Thanksgiving with family & friends in MS!

Parker & I are in MS visiting family over the Thanksgiving holiday!

Enjoying good conversation, eating my mom's homemade chicken salad, observing the magical storytime between Rassie & Parker before bedtime, taking simple strolls through the neighborhood, shopping at the local Walmart & gift shops, seeing friends & other family members, looking through old family photos, watching Parker exuberantly play with his "new" toys at Rassie's, sleeping in my old bed in my old room...missing my husband...wishing he could be here enjoying this memorable week with us....

I am so thankful for these sweet moments with family!

this week

I've snacked a little here & there on this yummy kibbles & bits mix (it's one of my favorites that my mom would fix for our family & friends when we were growing up...most remembered in the fall! Thanks Mom!)

Totally reorganized all my coupons...it felt great! To the local grocery stores (Target & Rainbow): "Watch out! I am coming in on a mission & will be saving money! Be prepared to scan..." :)

Inspired by this...

loved every minute of getting to watch our little man play hard...

missing this guy terribly...love you babe!
enjoyed each & every minute with this precious one!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Clay came home from a long trip the other night. Since Parker hadn't seen him in almost a week, I kept our little man up a little past his bedtime so he could greet his daddy when he came home. Parker was just getting out of the bathtub when Clay walked through the door. I couldn't even get his diaper on him before he was taking off for his daddy! :)

A few minutes later, after the big greeting, lots of hugging & babbling about the week that he had (this was Parker telling his daddy), Parker proudly pee pee'd on the floor & made sure to tell his daddy all about it. "Daddy! Daddy! I pee pee!"

For the next 30 minutes I got to watch these two romp around (Parker being in all his glory as you can see by the pics! ha!). I did finally get a diaper on him; it just took a little teamwork. :)

Bermuda scrapbook & details

Here's a peek into my latest completed project...do you remember this trip?

While on our trip to Bermuda, Tressa gave each of us girls a matching stack of scrapbooking supplies to use to help put together our individual albums. At the end of the post, I'll try & list as many of the supplies as I can remember. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing the other girls' albums; it will be fun to see how everyone used the same supplies in totally different ways & techniques!

I started & almost completed this album shortly after we got back from our summer trips. ("almost completed" meaning I had put together all but about 4 of the pages & still had the journaling to do. I think it took me a total of somewhere around 8-10 hours to complete the 34 pages). I finished the journaling & put the finishing touches on it this week. I LOVE the feeling of a completed project...it's almost up there with chocolate!!!

In my scrapbooks, I like to not only include the details of the trip itself, but also the history & some fun facts about where we are visiting (because there is no possible way that I will remember ANY of it when we get back if I don't...the history of the place I mean!)

So here's what I did with all the memorabilia...I attached things like a postage stamp, a brochure, airline ticket stubs & a cut-out from a menu from my favorite restaurant that we visited while there...all of this went on the first page of the memorabilia stuff. Next, I slid the rest of my collection down into 2 clear pocket page protectors. (Before the brochures & such went in the album, they were in my "memorabilia box," which is this cute, black decorative box that sits on the floor in Parker's room. One of the reasons I get so excited about scrapbooking is that by completing albums I weed out "unnecessary" clutter that just sits in the memorabilia box. I go through the items cutting, trimming, tearing & only keeping the things I really want. I actually end up throwing away most of what I bring home from trips...Now, my husband who does not hold on to clutter, would say, "There wouldn't be clutter to go through in the first place if you just opted not to bring it home from the trip from the get-go." However, I will bring the "paper stuff" home because it's important to me...it should be a part of the scrapbook. So...my husband just shakes his head & loves me for it anyway! ;) To hold the things in place, I found some handy office clips & paper clips that added to the charm of the page, but also worked as nice little placement holders.

In the very back of the album, I included the story of how the four of us met & came together as friends.

One of the things I love to do in my scrapbooking is to include some trip memorabilia on the pages as embellishments! Postage stamps & postcards are favorites of mine! Some people collect match boxes & pilsner glasses...I collect postcards & postal stamps. :)

I had fun playing around with the rub-ons that came in our supply stash. As you can see in the picture below, some went right on the picture rather than on the paper itself.

Cost-saving techniques: Use your scraps as embellishments. Also, grab the stapler out of the office; it can present a fun look to the page!

My scrapbooking style is chronological...I have tried other ways, but it bugs me so much to not have the pages in order, that in the end, I have to go back & reorganize them all. So for this trip, the pages go from beginning to end & then I have a "summary of the trip" that has details & journaling. Next, is the memorabilia & then lastly, the story of the MN Girls.

The album is an 8x8 (which made it so much easier & faster to complete!).

Supplies: Euphoria by Basic Grey(basically used the entire line), Bazzill cardstock, Zip black & brown pen, Archival spray, adhesive, "our story" by Ali Edwards, misc: staples, office clips, paper clips

treat bag toppers

Fun way to dress up goodie bags...treat bag toppers! The original idea came from Becky Higgins....love her!! She has such neat homemaking tips & ideas; plus, Becky is a terrific scrapbooker! Her style is simple & clean...her work always stands out by the creative layout and/or the one or two timeless embellishments she adds to her pages.

Presentation really is everything, so I will be using this idea for my future "goodie bags!" I think about how often I'm giving out happies for gatherings, birthdays, the holidays, baby gifts, etc...bag toppers are my new favorite thing! :)

I made my treat bag toppers with a piece of cardstock that I had on hand & 2 stamps! I smudged the sides with a distress ink, then just stapled the cardstock to the bag...took less than 10 minutes to put together! Simple thing, yet it really adds a lot to the overall look of the cookie bag! (You could do these with Ziploc snack bags or sandwich bags or whatever you have on hand...the bags don't have to have a top that closes..mine didn't. These were bags I already had on hand from Stampin' Up from several years back.)

{The yummy chocolate chip cookies are from my Nanny's (my mom's mom) recipe box.}

a few "picture a day" snapshots

Just wanted to share a few of our "picture a day" snapshots that will go in our album!
November 2 - Eating yummy apple pie at Emma Krumbees


November 4 - getting our pj's on...I think I see a little "Rambo" in that face!!! (What you don't see in this picture is how hard he was laughing when I showed him what he looked like in the bathroom mirror!)

November 5 - outing to Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis (it ended up being a much quicker outing than we expected because it was soooo cold!)
November 7 - Parker & Clay swinging at the park (we were so excited to have a warmer & sunnier day!!)
November 10 - Pics at St. Paul Cathedral

while daddy studies...

The other night while Clay was studying & updating his books, this is what our little man was doing...

...like father like son. :)
(& no, we didn't dress him in that shirt just for the pics!!! ha!)

summary of last week... p.s. we're better!

Just an update: We're all well & no longer sick with pnemonia or swine flu! Yea! I quit running a fever about mid-week last week, but Parker & Clay took a little bit longer to heal. For those of you who have called to inquire about the whole swine flu thing...I was more worried for Parker's sake than mine & clay's (especially since Parker also had pnemonia). My symptoms weren't too bad..just tired with a fever & achy. Clay on the other hand had naseau along with a fever that lasted much longer than mine (even on constant medication). Parker's symptoms were mainly coughing & fever. So, was it absolutely terrible? No. Mostly like any other common viral or bacterial infection you would get but with just a little bit more severity. We took extra precautions with Parker & slept in his room at nights to be able to check his breathing & make sure all was normal.
We were basically indoors through Saturday..with a couple of outings in between. What did we do to amuse ourselves? Oh, don't you worry; we had plenty of things keeping us busy! ha!

Parker of course LOVED playing with his new race car set..thank you again Tressa!!!

...and Daddy came up with the creative drum set in our kitchen one evening!

...and there was the constant taking of temps around our home (it seemed like every other hour on the hour!)...Parker had fun with it though..."Nope, not there Parker."

"Now, that's about right!"
...and then of course the usual day-to-day "ways to keep mama busy since she has nothing to do" activities ;)

I even got this sudden urge to clean & purge over the weekend...so, my closet was first. Two heaping garbage bags & a few hours later, my closet was much lighter! (much to my husband's delight! he was thrilled when he saw items from highschool & my early college years being put in the Goodwill bag! ha! ...more on that later...)

...oh, & of course Parker helped.

Saturday evening, we got together with some friends, Jimmy & Sharise, for a few hours of fun. Say hello to Superman & Peter Pan!

That about sums up our activities for last week...with the exception of 2 grocery runs.

We're happily in a new week with new plans!

Remember to wash those hands, to sanitize things when you go out in public & to take your vitamins!!! :)

Happy Thursday!