Play

Now that we are back at home, Nathan is having a ton of fun playing with all of the new presents he got for Christmas.  He loves them all, including his stuffed dinosaur, train track extension, and new trains,

trucks (and empty boxes, of course),

and his new Play Doh set.

As an extra special treat, we got snow in Albuquerque this week!  So much fun.

Creative Embellishment Cards

I love making cards out of scraps I have leftover from my layouts, and I realized that I haven't made cards in a while, so I made two all-purpose cards this week. For the card on the right, I used a chipboard piece from the Valentine's Hashtags set for my title. I primed the piece with gesso, added purple chalk ink, and then layered crackle paint on top. 

For the card on the left, I used a beautiful chipboard Bird. I primed the piece with gesso, added turquoise chalk ink, and then layered white perfect pearls on top.

Friendship

Nathan went to a Build a Bear birthday party for his friend Annelise and had a blast!

Nathan got a Cookie Monster stuffed animal.  We have never been a Build a Bear before, and Nathan was transfixed!

He especially liked the fluffing station!

We had the Hamburgers over that evening.  Their kids are a hoot -- amongst other things, Lucas and Nathan enjoyed wrapping themselves around Jesse's legs and made him tromp around the whole house.  He definitely got a workout!

We just love Dave and Tiffany and are thrilled that we got to spend time with them!

Cereal Layout

I created this layout of Nathan's introduction to solid foods.  I used the Heart Strings Border as the main element on my page.  I also used bib embellishments from the It's a Boy Set and the Basic Alphabet for my title.  

I primed the chipboard with gesso, layered chalk ink on top of each piece, and then finished it with crackle paint.

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time

We spent Christmas in Connecticut. Chloe narrated part of the Christmas story for their Christmas Eve service, which was adorable. 

We wanted to try another escape room after we had so much fun with one this summer. We got out with 12 minutes to spare, and I (very fittingly, if I say so myself), became the queen!

We had a lovely Christmas with family!

It even snowed on Christmas and we had so much fun playing in the snow! Nathan enjoyed the snowball fights and making this adorable snowman.

We then celebrated Christmas for a third time in Indiana. There were lots of laughs and giggles!

The best feature of Grandpa Thomas and Memaw Nono's new home is their indoor pool and sauna!

Nathan kept his Uncle Mitt and Aunt Merida on their toes by having them chase him around basically the entire time he was awake.  Just watch this adorable video of the three of them!

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We were also able to squeeze in breakfast with Nana and Grandpa Butch. It was good to see them again.

CE January Challenge

Happy New Year!  I can't believe it is 2018.  I am excited to continue designing for Creative Embellishments, and I was inspired by their January challenge picture to use a champagne-colored background for this layout.  I also used glittery flourishes, two Small Flourishes, and the word "Embrace" from the Moments Word Set.  I painted my chipboard pieces a matte black.