Merry Christmas

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! And Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish friends and family!

Snow

I know we've been having some crazy cold weather, but this is something else.....

My Grandpa Dado lives in Phelan....it's just past Victorville on the way to Vegas. He's lived there for years and has never ever had snow. Well, the other night he got 3 feet of snow! I just wanted to share these photos he sent. This is front gate to drive in to his property, that his dog "Buddy" in the second picture and I believe the last one is his backyard and more property. Crazy stuff!

Moments from the last weeks

I have been extremely busy with different holiday ongoings so I haven't shared many photos. But today I uploaded to empty out my memory card because we are spending the day at Disneyland today! This is my favorite time of year to go! There is something so magical about Disneyland during the holiday season. We are meeting my mom at her work at 1pm and then we're off for the day and night! I expect it to be very, very cold (40 degrees tonight!) so I plan to bring jackets, gloves, hats and scarves for us all. If I had a thermos, I'd bring hot chocolate!

Here are some snap shots of the last couple of weeks. We had a MOMS club kid party, decorated our tree, my birthday, holiday craft day with Santa at my mother in laws work, Red Bee Holiday dinner, Birthday dinner with family and Zachary's holiday program. Blogger doesn't seem to want to upload any more photos! I guess that a sign to get off now!

Disney Photo Contest

I'm sitting here reading my Sunday paper and I stumbled across this article;

The theme parks here in north Orange County are like a playground for me as a professional photographer — unique architecture, fancy-shmancy light displays and strange happenings everywhere you look.
Now, we have a challenge for you amateur and pro photographers:
We’re going to publish five holiday-themed photos – taken by you and chosen by our photographers — in The Orange County Register print edition during the week of Jan. 4.
Interested?
Send us your favorite holiday-themed photo from Knott’s Berry Farm, Disneyland, California Adventure, Downtown Disney or any of the Disney Resort hotels in Anaheim.
We’ll put all of them all in the above slide show as you submit them. The winning five will make print in the Register.
Send entries to: atownsend@ocregister.com
Put “HOLIDAY PHOTO CONTEST” in all capital letters in the subject line. Please include your first and last name, age, phone number and the city where you live in the e-mail. Attach the photos in JPEG format.
The limit is two photos per entrant.

Now I know I have many friends who have Disney passes and love to take pictures! So I thought I'd share this. Who knows? Maybe one of my friends will win it! Here's the website link, which I never even knew existed but now will be bookmarking it for future reading.
www.arounddisney.com

Dec 11th

I have pictures to share....just haven't uploaded them. I wanted to share this that my friend emailed me. It's too funny for us scrapbookers!

Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree. I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me. Could it be cardstock or chipboard or lace? Or a Cricut, I said, with a smile on my face. And that's when I heard him, "Hi Santa, " I said "You know....good little girls should be in their beds." "I know I should Santa, and now I've got caught. But I was just so excited To see what you brought." "Well, let's take a look in this room where you work. He shook his head quickly, And left with a jerk. I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear. "You've got enough crap, I'll see you next year!"

Tomorrow I turn 37! I can't believe it. It doesn't seem like I'm that "old." Kind of surreal. No definite plans yet. Probably dinner with the kids and maybe a movie. Isn't there normally a whole slue of kids movies out this time of year? I could only find two; Bolt (which we already saw) and Madagascar. Was thinking maybe just to meet Ryan at the Spectrum. Gives us more options for dinner and stuff to do.

Happy Friday!

Dec9th

Happy birthday Alanna! My sister turns 28 today. Hopefully she'll spend it with friends.

I missed posting days 5-8. :( So here's a recap:

Dec 5th-visit with Santa

Dec 6th-went out to breakfast, went and picked out a Christmas tree and then later that night I went to a cookie party.

No pictures on the 7th. I worked all day and just forgot.

Dec 8th-it was Gingerbread Boy day at preschool! Zach made a cookie, a notepad and colored a picture. Were still working on our tree. Today were going to our MOMS club kids Holiday party. Have a great Tuesday!

Dec 4th

Day 4 and I'm on a roll! Today I spent the day at Pinecone Press with our rep and some other store owners. It was a fun filled day of make & takes and lunch! Pinecone was so generous with the kits we made. They were debtuting their "Love" line and it is so stink'in cute! Plus it filled my head with great ideas for make & takes for the store! Here's a little peek.

Tomorrow I'm taking the boys to go see Santa, so I told them that they should work on their lists. Check out Zachary's writing. It just amazes me how fast they learn their letters.

Day 2

Today was chilly----today as in Tuesday. I know, already behind! Had our usual park day, but it was celebrated with a enormous chocolate cake for the December birthdays! And I'm a December birthday! How fun is that? Poor Zach was confused all day. He kept giving me stickers as presents thinking that today was my birthday. I took a picture, but it's on my cell phone and I need to upload the software to the new pc in order to share it. So that one will have to come later.

Tonight (again, still Tuesday) I had the boys wear their holiday jammies. I love these pants that Zach has on. It makes him look like one of Santa's helpers!

Today-Wednesday-I have no pictures. I already blew it. :( Maybe I'll color one. I did spend the morning shopping for gifts and the evening with my QK Club. Tomorrow I'm going to a workshop all day. It's all Valentine/Love themed stuff. I guess that's how you have to be when thinking of projects and product.....always two or three seasons ahead! I am planning on taking my camera for sure! Have a great day!

25 Days of Christmas or December?

I'm not sure what to call "it?" I'm doing the "Ali" Daily December Book and I found this book I bought a year ago from Freckle Friends that I'm going to use for it. But not sure what to call it? Merry Days of December? Any witty ideas would be great!

Ok, now to recap....in doing the daily book, I'm going to try my hardest to snap photos everyday of something holiday related and hopefully journal here. So much goes on the month of December I'm hoping this way I won't forget anything!

I scrapped pretty much all weekend and then worked yesterday. I worked on a handful of projects which I completed. Now to just finish up my December book, which I'm keeping simple.

In other randomness.....we didn't move. It's a long story, but seems to be working in our favor. Do I utter the words yet of what we started doing this past week? Why did we start doing this, this time of year? Well, I'll tell ya why, interest rates are super low and houses are pretty much at their all time low. So we've been working with a realtor. The one that showed us the rental. And there are tons of houses out there, but finding a "livable" one or even one that is move in ready in our budget is pretty sad and hard to find. Most are foreclosed or abandoned. Ryan looked at one this morning that was in our ideal location. However, being abandoned the walls have been tagged, looks like someone beat up the closet doors, the grass is dead and the carpet was major ick! I know it's out there for us, it's just gonna take some time. With that said, hope you enjoy my first day of photos. Gotta get some Austin when he gets home!