Happy New Year!

It was just the two of us this year (Elora was asleep), and when it came time to welcome in 2010, we kept it simple: some champagne and a kiss. :) Blessings and joy to you all! Happy New Year!

Photo Session Highlights

My sister, niece, cousin, daughter and I had some photos done while we were home. Merryn, my cousin, is pretty much the third sister. These are the highlights. Can you figure out who is who? Here's a hint: my cousin is the one who's expecting. :)

Elora & Santa

December 15, 2009
Merrit Island, Florida

Christmas Markets, Christmas Trees and Christmas Decorations.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Elora and I went with Peguy and Neil, and Neil's Mom, Angela, to the Christmas markets in Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart. It was a blast!! There was all kinds of great stuff, and I managed to score a few Christmas presents.

Then, that Sunday, Brandon and I picked up a Christmas tree because I couldn't stand not decorating for Christmas. Never mind that we're going to be away from home over Christmas, we're here now. At least the tree is artificial, so I won't have to worry about dealing with a dead tree when we get back. I just hope that Han doesn't knock it over while we're gone.

And, here are some of the other decorations around the house:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Old Photos, New LO

These are some pictures we had done a while back--6 years back, to be exact. I'm planning to do a new LO with these old pictures, when I find the time and the inspiration. They're fun pictures, I need to do a fun page to do them justice.
Here's my new LO using Kelly's new Great Outdoors Kit. It's my first time doing a photo cut-out like this, what do you think?

A Day in the Life of my Elora Baby

Crawling to do.

Naps twice a day.

Yummy fruit and cereal for lunch.

Toys to play with, mischief to find.

Things to inspect. (Like Momma's camera.)

Things to learn and practice. Really, she's a very busy girl. And on top of all that, she's finally getting some teeth in! The bottom left cut through a few days ago, and the bottom right is on its way.

Poor thing. At least the chilled teething rings help.

More pages

The first one is done exclusively with elements from Kelly's kits. Most of it is from Summersault, but the green paper (it's the border) and the stitched swirl are from Closet Confessions. And actually, I used that same green paper for the second one because I liked it so much when I was doing the cereal page but you don't get to see much of it.

There is another layout that goes just before the Halloween page, but it isn't finished yet. I'm stumped on it, so I'm taking a break from it and hoping that inspiration decides to pay me a visit. Hopefully, there will soon be more to come!

Halloween!

Elora was the cutest darn teddy bear ever!

I went as a beer wench on Friday, the 30th, and as a sorceress on Saturday.

The girls at the shop--those of us who dressed up, anyway. :)

After the contest, some of us went outside for more pictures. The trees and fall leaves made a great backdrop. And, finally, here are the solo pictures of the costumes:

Daddy Boy

Brandon's Daddy Boy past away last night. He went easy, with his family all around him. Brandon's Mom and Aunt Sheila made it up there in time, so he got to see all of his children one last time. It's sad--I'm sad--but he isn't hurting any more.

Good bye, Daddy Boy! You are loved, and we will miss you!

New Pages

That is all.

I'm Paying It Forward!

I picked up this little game from Corinnea. Here are the rules: I will make a little something for the first three people who comment on this post. I will have 365 days to do it in. If you would like to play you must have a blog and post your Pay it Foward on your blog to keep the fun going.

And, while I have your attention, I thought I would show you these:

Our First Pumpkin

It's our 5th Halloween together, but this is our first pumpkin. It's pretty ridiculous, actually. The cat was supposed to have more detail around the face, but Bran didn't draw it in, and I forgot to do it before I started carving. Still, I think it turned out pretty well.

While we were working on gutting the pumpkin, Elora had her supper and a nap.


Then she and her daddy went upstairs to hang out while I did the actual carving. They came back down when it was time to do the eyes, and Brandon got out his drill. I wouldn't have thought to do it that way, and I have to admit that while Elora entertained herself on the floor

and Brandon went at the pumpkin with a power tool, I hovered over him until I could be sure that he wasn't going to destroy 3 hours worth of carving with that power tool. Once I was satisfied that it wasn't going to be demolished, I started taking pictures again. I'd say it turned out pretty well! I like our pumpkin. :)

Backtracking

This is something that I did ages ago...last winter, I think. I finished the embroidery, but I never did anything else with it, and I never posted it. I'd originally thought to make it into a little bag, but now I think I might frame it.

Also, I finally uploaded my pictures from when I was babysitting for Jennifer. Here are a few:

Ava was all about Elora for the first few days. She kept wanting to play with her, and was always bringing toys to share. We had to keep a sharp eye to make sure that Ava didn't share something that could hurt Elora, or be hurt by her. It was the sweetest thing!

Elora, for her part, didn't seem to mind hanging out at Jennifer's. She was her usual smiley self. I think she rather liked being around the other kids. Oh, she's definitely going to need siblings! But not just yet.

Ava was walking around in just the one boot...

The girls were all playing on the couch. When Elora grabbed a handful of Emily's hair, Emily just laughed and said "Look, she grabbed my hair!" Of course, this is the same child who, on this same day, informed me that I have pretzels on my butt. (If you've ever seen the tattoo on my back, this will make perfect sense. :)