just me

Winding down

2008 is winding down and will soon be but a memory. There are so many emotions that consume me at the end of the year. I am sad for the time that has come and gone and always tend to think about what I have not accomplished. This year I am not going to do that. Instead I am going to think about all of the things that I have accomplished.

I am looking forward to 2009 and the adventures and events that are coming my way. Two of the events that I am looking forward to in 2009 are the births of 2 new grandbabies. One in June and one in July. There is only one event that I can think of that I am dreading and that would be my 50th birthday in October.

For those of you who scrapbook, have you selected your one word for 2009? I have and I will post what it is on January 1, 2009. If you want to know more about "one word" you can check it out here.

Here's to a Happy and Healthy 2009!!!!!

A belated Merry Christmas!!

I hope that everyone has had a very Merry Christmas!!

We did at our house. We spent Christmas Eve visiting my father in law and having dinner and looking at lights with our friends. After our friends went home it was just Tony and I. This was the first Christmas Eve that we have been by ourselves. It was so quiet, nice but also melancholy. We have never woken up alone on Christmas morning. We got up and went to Kayla and Nick's to watch the girls open their gifts from Santa. They were so cute. The kids are what make Christmas so much fun. Kaya cut her 2 front top teeth for Christmas. She has 8 teeth now, and she is standing by herself. It won't be too long before she is walking. Time just goes too fast!!!! Danika wanted a shopping cart with food from Santa and that is what she got. She was so excited with it. Both of the girls got so much for Christmas.

Renae and Del came in from Gillette on Christmas morning. It was so nice to have them home for Christmas this year. Their visit was cut short as they had to leave early in the morning the day after Christmas. We got up to about 6 inches of new snow and it was still snowing hard and the wind was blowing. It usually takes them between 3 and 4 hours to travel between Billings and Gillette, but going home it took them 7 hours. I am so glad that they got home safely.

We all got together for brunch at my parents and then later we had dinner at our house. It was a great feast. We had a great time together and enjoyed each others company. It was a great Christmas.

I have spent some time this weekend creating. I did 3 layouts. I am excited to be feeling like creating again. It seems that I had such a dry spell for such a long time. It feels really good to sit and work with, paper,tape runners and photos. Here are my creations.

I hope that you have a great week!!

Chris

2 more days til Christmas

and I am still not feeling the best. I came home from work with a headache and chills this morning. After resting I finally feel much better.

Here are some thank you cards that I created with the KOTM from my LSS.

Time to get to bed. It is snowing again so I will need to get up early and so that I can get out the door a little early tomorrow.

Have a great evening!!

 

A little creativity

I have been feeling a bit under the weather all day (last night too), I stayed in my pj's all day. I have to be ill to do that, just not what I normally do. Anyway I got an idea in my head and thought I would try it. I get  kit each month from my LSS and have not used any of them in 4 months. They are just stacked in my craft room. I did use this month's tonight. The papers are all bazzill and MME. Here it is my first creative project in 2 months, I guess that I have not lost my mojo after all.

The photo is not that great, I will try to take another one and post it tomorrow.

More snow and bitter cold

Today we got some more snow, at least 3 inches. It is supposed to snow more over night. The temps today have been below zero since about 10 AM. We are in for a cold weekend.

I am almost finished with my Christmas shopping. I just have a few things left to pick up and then the food for Christmas dinner. We are having ham and turkey. I already bought the ham and my mom is getting the turkey. I am looking forward to the food already.

Tomorrow is our anniversary and we are going to dinner at our one of our favorite restaurants, The Rex. They have the best blackened prime rib that I have ever had. That is what I will be eating. After dinner we will go to see the live nativity that is put on by a church here in Billings. We have gone by to see it for the last few years. It is very touching.

Have a great evening and try to stay warm.

A few photos

I just wanted to share a few photos that I took over the weekend.

It is so much fun to watch the girls and their excitement for Christmas. Danika is so funny. Every commercial that comes on TV she says "I want that"! I told her that she wants everything. She just laughs and says "I want everything".

A couple of weeks ago Tony hurt his back and was having a hard time moving and driving. We had Danika and she heard him moan and then she said, "Papa it is ok, when you get little I will drive for you." She was concerned and wanted to help him out. Her thought process was a little off but the thought was sincere, she wanted to help her Papa.

The last photo that I wanted to show you is a great one of Kaya and Roxie. She loves Roxie and is always trying to grab Roxie's tongue. I was just snapping away with the camera and look what I caught. I just love this photo it will make a great scrapbook page.

Okay, I forgot I still have one more photo to share it is one of the ones that I took of the ornaments on our tree.

I love how this photo turned out. I have fun playing with my camera. I am studying and learning more about my camera and all of the fun stuff that it can do.

Have a wonderful day!!

In the deep freeze...

It sure does feel like that is where we are living. The next few days are supposed to be bitterly cold. The high for Monday is supposed to be -7 degrees. This is unusually cold for this time of year. The really cold weather typically comes in January and February.

We had Danika and Kaya this morning for a few hours while Kayla and Nick did their Christmas shopping. We had fun with the girls. Kaya was not feeling very good and so she just wanted to be held most of the time. Papa was glad to do that while Danika and I cooked brunch. Danika loves to help me cook. We made biscuits and scrambled eggs with ham. After we ate, we switched kids and Danika and Papa watched Sponge Bob Squarepants and Kaya and I slept.

I cooked a beef roast, potatoes and carrots for dinner and then I cleaned up my scrapbook room. It was in need of cleaning. Now I have it ready to actually be able to sit and create something. I have some calendars that I need to make sometime this week.

I have been doing some reading on taking photos of Christmas lights and had to give a couple of things a try tonight. I am liking the way that they turned out.

Well it is time to call it a day. Good night.

-13

THIRTEEN BELOW ZERO!! That is what we woke up to in Billings this morning.

I hate cold weather. I am planning on staying inside today. We will be watching the grandkids this morning so that Nick and Kayla can finish their Christmas shopping. I am thinking that it is a good day to do some baking.

Have a wonderful day!!

Edward and Bella

We went to see movie Twilight tonight. This is the second time that I have seen this movie. I really liked it. Have you read the books by Stephanie Meyer? If you have not you should, they are very well written and kind of a modern day Romeo and Juliet with a twist. The twist is that Edward is a vampire (he is a vegetarian) and Bella is well, human. I plan on reading the books again, I read all four of them in a period of 8 days. I think that it is somewhere around 3500 pages total. I can be a little [:)] bit compulsive when it comes to reading. I plan on buying the movie when it comes out on DVD.

Have a wonderful evening.

German Cookies...

    Tonight I baked some cookies, German Cookies. They are one of my Dad's favorite cookies. It is a delicious spice cookie that my Grandma Leedy used to make. I do not remember the ones that Grandma made, but two of my Aunts used to make them and I remember those cookies. We used to go to Missouri to visit family every year at Christmas. Aunt Rena and Aunt Ruth both would make them. I remember them being wonderful and very tasty. Tony and I took them out to Dad after I baked them and he was so excited. He ate one and told me "they taste just like Grandma's". That comment meant so much to me because I know how great his love for his mother was.  Thanks, Dad. I love you!! Mom has never liked these cookies, so my sister are the ones that make them for Dad.

Give them a try they are really a good cookie!!

German Cookies

2 cups sugar             1 tsp ginger
 1 cup butter             1 tsp allspice
           2 eggs                      1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cloves           1 cup raisins
1 tsp cinnamon

Sift all togehter and last of all add 1 tsp of baking soda in 1/2 cup of hot water. Add 5 cups of flour or enough to make a stiff dough. Drop by rounded spoonfuls  on to a cookie sheet and flatten wih the palm of your hand. Bake at 400 until a light golden brown. (between 10 and 14 minutes)

Have a wonderful day!!