Its a revival!

For this blog that is! Update blog has been on my to do list for so long now that I started to ignore it. Hopefully today will be the last day I ignore it for such a long time! It would be impossible to "catch up" so I'm just going to start with current info and move forward.

Halloween is over. Thanksgiving is on the way and then Christmas. My calendar for the next two months is slowly but surely filling up. I like being busy but I want to really enjoy each and every day and all the activities. One thing I really enjoy about this time of year is the decorating. The style of our home is very simple - we don't like clutter. But we get a little more intense during the holidays!

One of my favorite areas to decorate is the mantle.

Here is my Halloween version for this year:

I plan to get it back to just a fall display this week.

More!

I owe all this scrappy mojo to my wonderful friend Tracie who challenged me to only use the products from Jenni Bowlins kits. The snow layout is one I had going before the challenge. The other four were done at Tracie's house with no pictures! That picture of me and Mark was taken at a marriage retreat and they printed it as one of those greeting card photos and the border matched exactly! So I guess it was meant to be! It feels good to get some layouts done and play with my stash!

Some Scrappin'

I am ashamed to see that I haven't posted since January! But hopefully these layouts will make up for it!

Layout #3

I can't believe I have done 3 layouts in a couple of days! I hope to continue with the momentum!

layout #2

These pictures make me sad and happy at the same time! Sad because my baby girl is growing up and happy because she is so darn cute!

I scrapped!

I'm trying to start the new year off right. I am going to try and document our daily life by doing an album with a photo for everyday. Evidently in thinking about this, I got in a scrappy mood and did a page! Granted its a scraplift but I'll take what I can get!

First Week of the Fourth Grade

Courtney has had a wonderful first week of school! We have prayed long and heavy for this year and it looks like God has answered once again.

I had promised her that I would walk her into the school everyday this week. Today as we walked down the hall she said, "I think everyone is looking at me because you are walking with me"! I guess I won't be walking her in anymore!

Where does this stuff come from?

These first two photos show my empty scrap room.





























I am very blessed to have a wonderful scrap area. But it has become a catch all place. I decided that the only way I could get it organized was to start over. So I pulled everything out of the room. This picture shows what came out of that room! Where does this stuff come from? It is like it mulitplies overnight.


Once I waded through it all I ended up with 3 bags of trash. I have moved it all back into my scrap room but I am still organizing it. So far I have gone through my scraps and reduced that pile greatly! I have gathered all of my photos into one place and am in the process of organizing them. I think I am going to put them all into slip in photo albums. I am going to use all black and get a bookcase of some sort to put them on. I put all of my completed scrapbooks on a shelf downstairs. Why didn't I do that before?! After getting my photos in order, I will start going through my scrap supplies. I am considering separating all of my embellishments by color but I'm not sure about that yet.

I will post photos of what it looks like once everything is in place.

Science projects

Courtney is studying landforms in science at school. They were assigned a project to make a 3D presentation of any landform. So we paper mached, painted and glued (at the last minute, of course)! Courtney's project shows a mountain, waterfall, river and valley.

#4

Our baby turned 4 yesterday. We had a great party with friends and family. Kirsten was happy the whole day. She was lavished with love from everyone. As usual, I am overwhelmed with how fast time flies!

Baby Ellie

My sister had her baby on Tuesday. Her name is Ellie Nicole, she was 7lbs 10 oz and 19" long. She is perfect! (Better pictures to come soon!)

A word

I have a confession - I am a lurker of blogs. I have a list of about 10 blogs that I check in on everyday. I never leave a comment, well, maybe once or twice. That's bad I know. Mark and Jessica say that it is creepy that I "stalk" these people. Truth is, I'm nosey and these blogs are interesting!

So, one of the blogs I frequent is the blog of Ali Edwards. It is aliedwards.typepad.com. I need someone to show me how to add links. Anyway, last year she had this idea to pick a word as your focus for the year. Sort of a new year's resolution in one word. My word for last year was simplify. Since we moved into a house twice the size of our other one, I don't think I grasped the concept of simplify! LOL!

This year my word is devotion. My first thought was that it simply meant being faithful in my devotion time with God. But over the past two weeks I have been really trying to figure out what "devotion" means. Websters says that devotion is

1 a: religious fervor b: an act of prayer or private worship —usually used in plural c: a religious exercise or practice other than the regular corporate worship of a congregation2 a: the act of devoting b: the fact or state of being ardently dedicated and loyal 3obsolete : the object of one's devotion

My first and most important goal for this year is to strengthen my relationship with God. I want to study more and understand God and His purpose for my life. My hope is that through a more powerful relationship with God I will be able to strengthen my relationships with everyone else. It seems "devotion" is a good word to focus on!

What is your word (or focus) for this year?

(almost) Happy New Year

It is almost a new year. This is always a time of mixed emotions for me. I love getting a fresh, new calendar and the prospect of a fresh start. But it is the end of another year, which seems to go by faster every year. I gave up making resolutions a long time ago! I seem to lose my focus somewhere along the way. I guess one thing I've learned in all these years is that change happens and it is okay to adapt. That said, there are a few things I want to work on this year. I have to get into better shape and I want to study the Word more. Our pastor made a good point this morning in saying that the Word does no good until we write it on our hearts. Amen! (or The End, as Kirsten says!)

Anyway, I think we are all on the mend here. Marks eye gets better everyday. If you would like to see a picture, just let me know and I'll email it to you!

Have a safe and happy new year!

Christmas Traditions

I try every year to make Christmas a magical time. We don't always get to do everything on my list but there are a few that always manage to come together.

Christmas Eve is a big tradtion filled day. I usually have something I have to go to the store for. Either a last minute item or a recipe ingrediant I've forgotten. The girls always get some new pjs. We leave out milk and cookies for Santa. Last year we started painting our toenails red which I hope we continue to do.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful, blessed Christmas!

I am in between family get togethers. I'll update tomorrow!

The cards are in the mail!

Well, I got our Christmas cards in the mail today. Better late than never, I suppose. One week before Christmas is better than after Christmas (which I did one year)!



I encluded this blog address in some of the cards to out of town folks. Hopefully that will help me keep this up to date!



I am currently feeling the holiday stress. One week until the big day and there is so much I still want to do. But I'm feeling exhausted. The past 5 days have just about done me in. I had planned on getting our shopping done this weekend. But Wednesday, Courtney came home from school with a rash. I took her to the doctor who couldn't identify it, so she labeled it "viral". I am halfway convinced that she had a mild case of the chicken pox but who knows. Then Thursday night, Kirsten started running a fever and coughing. The fever lasted until Saturday afternoon, but she still has the cough and so does Courtney. Friday, on the way to work, Mark notices something weird going on with his right eye. He leaves work early to start a 6 hour long journey to find out that he has a torn retina. So, they schedule emergency surgery for Saturday morning. All day Saturday was spent at the hospital. The surgery went great but he is out of commission for a while.

So here I am stressed about when and how I am going to get everything done! I know it will all come together but that thought isn't slowing my heart rate at the moment!

More later!

Funny stuff!

Okay, this is one of those meaningless "tags" that roam around the blog world. I thought it was pretty clever and funny!

1. your rock star name (first pet & first car).Teaser Impala

2. your gansta name (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie).Vanilla Oreo

3. your “fly girl” name (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name).Jweb.

4.your detective name (fav color, fav animal). Green Tiger

5. your soap opera name (middle name, city where you were born)Annette Gallatin

6. your star wars name (first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first). Webje

7. superhero name (”the” + 2nd fav color, fav drink).The Green Dr Pepper

8. nascar name (the first names of your grandfathers)Charles Harrison

9. stripper name ( the name of your fav perfume/cologne/scent, fav candy).Gardinia Dove

10. witness protection name (mother’s & father’s middle names ).Gayle Uz (there is a winner!)

11. tv weather anchor name (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter). Engles Eugene

12. spy name (your fav season/holiday, flower).Autumn Lily

13. cartoon name (fav fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”).Strawberry Caprie

14. hippy name (what you ate for breakfast, your fav tree). Waffle Willow

15. your rockstar tour name (”the” + your fav hobby/craft, fav weather element + “tour”).The Scrapbooking Thunderstorm Tour.

I played along, so if you feel so inclined, consider YOURSELF tagged by me, and copy and paste, and answer away...

High School Musical 2

Last night was the big premier of High School Musical 2. Courtney had a few friends over to watch the movie and have fun. They really didn't watch the movie so I'm not sure if it was good or not! They all seemed to have fun so that is the important thing!

First day of school

Courtney's first day of the third grade. She is not thrilled! She loves school but not the getting up and getting there! Who does!?

me, again

Okay, for the two people who actually read this blog (or used to!), I'm going to try and revive this. So much has happend since me last post, except I have not scrapped. I thought I would start with this survey I saw on Jeanette Herdman's blog.
1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? I was named Jennifer after the main character in Love Story and the Miss American of the year I was born, at least that's the story my mother tells.
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Recently, while thanking my husband for our new house.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Not really, I sort of liked it while I was in design school and was learning that architectural lettering, but I never perfected it. I wish I could write like Carrie Owens.
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE LUNCH MEAT? Honey baked ham with provolne cheese.
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Yes, three girls
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? sometimes, I'm not the most social person!
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? a medium amount
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? yes
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? no
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CEREAL? Depends on my mood, at night I like something chocolatey, for breakfast I like vanilla cream frosted mini wheats
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? no
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? not really
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ICE CREAM? Breyers double churned creamy vanilla and chocolate
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? their teeth
15. RED OR PINK? red
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVOURITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? the physical condition of my body and my negative attitude.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? my grandfather, I wish I could ask him all the questions I didn't know I needed the answers to.
18. WHAT COLOUR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? navy blue pj pants and no shoes
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? chocolate chip waffles and Dr.Pepper
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? amazingly there is very little going on right now, the girls are watching tv, so I hear that. They are watching Peep and the big wide world.
22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOUR WOULD YOU BE? something bluish green
23. FAVOURITE SMELLS? Gardenia, freshly laundered clothes, my girls right after a bath
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? my sister Danielle
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes! Don't know her well. I met her Monday night thanks to Tracie!
26. FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Figure skating
27. HAIR COLOUR? medium brown
.28. EYE COLOUR? bluish green
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? no, but I feel I do need to go and get my eyes checked
30. FAVOURITE FOOD? most kinds of bread, especially the warm, fresh from the oven kind.
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Definitely happy endings
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? in the theater, Pirates of the Carribean
33. WHAT COLOUR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? tan
34. SUMMER OR WINTER?actually I'm a spring and fall kind of girl
35. HUGS OR KISSES? depends on who they are from!
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I don't know
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND. don't know
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon, it is book 6 in a series.
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? don't have one
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? nothing
42. FAVOURITE SOUND? my girls laughing and the ocean
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? the Beatles, if those are my choices
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? NYC
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? not really
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Gallatin, TN
47. WHAT SUPERPOWER WOULD YOU LIKE? I would like the ability to not need sleep and to always have energy, I agree with Jeanette on this one. I'll add patience to the list

Okay, Danielle and Tracie, You're it!