Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  We are in the middle of our second Christmas celebration.  We celebrated as a family earlier this week and we decorated Nathan's playroom for him.  He got some new seating, a new-to-him train table and track, and cute storage boxes.

We added adorable forest animal decor items too. 

He loved it (especially the train table and track)!  Here is a good perspective of the room which, as Rachel noted, is as big as the whole main living area in her house.  

He also loved the trains and treat he got in his stocking (look at that face!)

And he also had a bunch of presents from his Nana and Grandpa Butch that he loved.

Last but not least, he opened awesome presents from Aunt Judy and Uncle JP.

He also loves Christmas carols and listening to the Christmas story for advent.  It's truly the most wonderful time of the year.

Love Layout

I just love these close-ups of Nathan!  I framed them with the 5" Large Clock Face and the 6" Large Clock Face.  I left the frames as-is, but I inked the Small Family Border Word Set title piece a dark chocolate brown to stand out from the clock frame.  

Staying Cozy

It's chilly now and we have been staying cozy by drinking hot/warm chocolate,

busting out winter coats and mittens, which Nathan likes to put on and wave with,

and wearing winter boots.  Cutest little lumberjack ever!

Family Layout

I love the warmth of this picture so I kept that feeling though the variety of warm browns I included in this layout.  I used both the 4" Large Clock Face and the 3" Large Clock Face to embellish this layout, and added the word "family" from the Small Family Border Word Set for my title.

Enjoying the Outdoors

It is only just beginning to get chilly here, and we have been enjoying the mild weather.  Jesse finished up his outdoor soccer season,

and Nathan has been playing outdoors at our hands on science museum

and in our backyard!  

CE December Challenge

For Creative Embellishments' December challenge, I was inspired to create a Christmas-y layout, and I added a Pinecone Border for the twist.  I used gold ink on the pinecones in the Pinecone Border, the Pine Cone Clusters, and on the Happy Word Set.  I also traced the details of the pinecones with gold Stickles. 

Thanksgiving with Barb & Butch

Barb and Butch came to visit us for Thanksgiving! Nathan had a lot of fun with additional playmates.  

We (mostly Jesse and Barb) made a delicious Thanksgiving feast. Nathan was a huge fan of the cranberry sauce and would have had it for his entire dinner if we let him!

After Thanksgiving, we put up our Christmas tree, and Nathan loved decorating it (with a little help)! 

Nathan also went to swim class with Nana and had a great time!

Happy Layout

I am working on scrapping our professional family pictures from a couple years ago.  I love how these pine wreath and pinecone branches perfectly coordinated with this picture and the look I was going for.

I used an olive colored chalk ink for the branches of the Pine Cone Branch and Pine Needle Frame.  For the actual pinecones on the Pine Cone Branch and the Pine Cone Clusters, I used brown chalk ink for the base and then traced the details of the pinecones with brown Stickles.  For my title, I used the Happy Word Set and layered the brown ink and Stickles for a glittery effect.

Jesse's England Trip

Jesse spent last week in England for a work trip, and stayed in Kensington, England.  He had a meat pie for dinner one night at Sweeney & Todd, which was hilariously located in between two barber shops!

We FaceTimed him a few times while he was there, and while Nathan thought it was kind of weird, Jesse managed to crack him up.

We were really happy to have Jesse back home, and he brought Nathan back the perfect present: a London bus book!   

We celebrated Jesse's return by taking a trip to our natural history museum where we saw dinosaurs, amongst other cool things.  

Mom Time Layout

I created a "mom time" layout to coordinate with my "special dad moments" layout.  I love how darling the Family Banners are, and I thought it would be cute to layer the Heart Balloon Set to make it look like the little hippo was holding them.  I also used the Moments Word Set and the Basic Alphabet set for my title.

I decided to use the same treatment on all of the chipboard pieces on this page for a cohesive effect.  I painted each piece with gesso, and then I layered two different colors of blue ink to get just the right color for this page.

Sesame Street Halloween

Our family costume theme this year was Sesame Street, and Nathan helped us paint our pumpkins for the first time.  He loved it and was so proud of how they turned out!

Aren't we the cutest?

Despite having been diagnosed with pinkeye earlier in the day (sigh) Nathan really wanted to go trick or treating, and we let him (and made sure he didn't touch anyone).

He enjoyed it so much!  He loves Halloween decorations: pumpkins, spiders, skeletons ("bones"), ghouls ("big men"), ghosts ("little guys"), and pictures of skulls projected on the side of a house ("dancing lights").  His innocence is so sweet!

Nathan's favorite Halloween treat was a cereal bar he received from one of the first homes we visited.  He insisted on eating it as we went from house to house -- we treasure our one-of-a-kind little love.

CE November Challenge

This month's Creative Embellishments challenge picture inspired me to use a frame around my picture.  I used the Rectangle Flourish Frame 3, which I altered with black chalk ink, and I also used rhinestone and pearl flourishes.  For my title, I used the word "cherish" from the Moments Word Set, which I painted with gold paint.

Odds and Ends

We have been very busy with the house buying/selling/moving/renovating process, but we have also had some fun with Nathan this month as well.  We spent some time at our "old" park before we moved, and to Nathan's delight, we saw the garbage truck pick up all of the park garbage!  He loves garbage trucks!

We had a celebratory cupcake on Jesse's birthday, and Nathan's face is the only thing sweeter than that chocolate fudge cupcake.

We took advantage of the beautiful balloon fiesta sights.  We didn't go to balloon fiesta park this year, but we went to our park both weekends of the fiesta and enjoyed the view of "so many" balloons going by.

We also took a trip to the zoo, focusing on the big cats exhibits, where Nathan roared like a lion!

Adorable Layout

I want to share this layout of baby Nathan and his Grandpa Thomas.  I love this picture of the two of them!  I also love Creative Embellishments' Large Infinite Frame -- it adds so much to this page!  I primed it with gesso and added light yellow chalk ink.  

I used the word "Adorable" from the Boy Word Set as my title and layered the title piece over the picture and frame.  

Our New House

We closed on our new house!  We have not moved in yet (we are doing a few renovations first and we will move in at the end of the week) but this house is officially ours. 

I will share some indoor pictures later, but I wanted to show you the main reason we are buying this house: the backyard.  Nathan will now have room to run around, and those views don't hurt either!

We have a lot of affection for our old house, and it is bittersweet saying goodbye.  This adorable place is the first house we purchased, and the only home Nathan has ever known.  We have had a lot of fond memories here! 

PS If you want our new address, please email me.

Special Dad Moments Layout

I created this adorable Jesse & Nathan layout and wanted to showcase how versatile CE chipboard is.  I used the Large Nested Rectangles a little more traditionally -- as a frame to accent my embellishments in the middle of the page.

Then I used two different sizes of square chipboard from CE's Squares set and backed each open square with patterned paper to create a cute little decorative house.  I layered the little "door" over the bigger "house" square using pop dots. 

Finally, I used the Moments Word Set and Basic Alphabet to create my title.

It's Fall

We are having a very wet fall so far, with more than our fair share of thunderstorms.  We have had plenty of fun things to do inside, however.  Nathan loves playing with cars (or anything with wheels), and often lays down and pushes his vehicles back and forth across the floor for quite some time.  He is so precious!

Jesse (whose birthday is today!) is playing indoor soccer, and this week's game was at a good time so I brought Nathan to see Jesse play indoor soccer for the first time.

Jesse also builds robots for Nathan out of blocks and they affectionately call these robots George and Terry.  Nathan really likes knocking them over and exclaiming "Poor George!"  

We have been appliance shopping lately in preparation for our move, and Nathan has loved it!  He keeps himself entertained by playing with the high tech fridges (which we are not getting!) and looking for forklifts at Lowes.