Christmas Part 3 (Indiana)

Our third and last Christmas was at Grandpa Thomas’s house in Indiana. We exchanged gifts, and Nathan got a lot of fun new toys to keep him busy. In addition to fun gifts, I also got a not so great surprise in the form of strep! I really hope no one else gets it.

We also had fun in their pool, played games, and went to the zoo!

CUC Challenge -- The Muppet Christmas Carol

So what if Christmas movies can be a bit sappy? They warm our hearts, restore our faith in humanity and generally bring joy to the world. This month at Cookin' up Creations, YOU have the opportunity to share your favorite Christmas & Holiday movies with us. How you ask? - by completing challenges based on them.  I chose to use The Muppet Christmas Carol as my inspiration for this layout.  For my challenge, you can either specifically reference the movie (by, for example, using "Muppets" somewhere in your title or a picture of any of the characters), or you could include a picture with someone making a silly face and/or laughing.  For my layout, I scrapped both a silly face and a laughing face.

You can see all of CUC's challenges on their forum.  A new Blue Plate Special challenge is posted each Monday (sketch), Wednesday, and Saturday, and participants have until the 3rd of the following month to complete and post their creations in the Cookin' Up Creations Gallery.

Prize will be a $10 Gift Certificate to their favorite online store (random drawing).....

*Any month that we have more than 50 completed layouts/creations, the prize will be a $20 Gift Certificate instead of $10.

Christmas Part 2 (Michigan)

My sister Rachel hosted Christmas this year in Michigan! We got to see her new house and enjoyed seeing Detroit and Ann Arbor again.

We bought matching Michigan pajamas for Christmas morning, and enjoyed opening presents, putting a puzzle together, decorating cookies, and playing.

Christmas Part 1 (New Mexico)

Merry Christmas!  We started off our celebration with a ride on the Polar Bear Express train, where we enjoyed hot chocolate, cookies, and jingled bells to Christmas music.  The train took us around the River of Lights and ended with a meet and greet with Santa!

After the ride, we walked around the River of Lights.  The trains completely captivated Nathan!

On Saturday we celebrated our little family's Christmas.  Stockings, presents, and toys, oh my!

Our big present to Nathan for Christmas this year was a new "big kid" bedroom.  We set it up while he was playing with his new toys and then had the big reveal!  Nathan loved it.

CUC Challenge -- How the Grinch Stole Christmas

So what if Christmas movies can be a bit sappy? They warm our hearts, restore our faith in humanity and generally bring joy to the world. This month at Cookin' up Creations, YOU have the opportunity to share your favorite Christmas & Holiday movies with us. How you ask? - by completing challenges based on them.  I chose to use How the Grinch Stole Christmas as my inspiration for this layout.  For my challenge, you can either specifically reference the movie (by, for example, using "Grinch" somewhere in your title or a picture of any of the characters), or you could use a bright grinch green as one of the main colors on your page.  For my layout, I scrapped a picture of my son in front of Grinch character art.

You can see all of CUC's challenges on their forum.  A new Blue Plate Special challenge is posted each Monday (sketch), Wednesday, and Saturday, and participants have until the 3rd of the following month to complete and post their creations in the Cookin' Up Creations Gallery.

Prize will be a $10 Gift Certificate to their favorite online store (random drawing).....

*Any month that we have more than 50 completed layouts/creations, the prize will be a $20 Gift Certificate instead of $10.

CUC Challenge -- A Charlie Brown Christmas

So what if Christmas movies can be a bit sappy? They warm our hearts, restore our faith in humanity and generally bring joy to the world. This month at Cookin' up Creations, YOU have the opportunity to share your favorite Christmas & Holiday movies with us. How you ask? - by completing challenges based on them.  I chose to use A Charlie Brown Christmas as my inspiration for this layout.  For my challenge, you can either specifically reference the movie (by, for example, using "Charlie Brown" somewhere in your title or a picture of Snoopy), or you could include a pine tree on your page (either in your photo or as an embellishment/on your patterned paper).  In this layout, I scrapped a photo of my son with lots of pine trees in the background.     

You can see all of CUC's challenges on their forum.  A new Blue Plate Special challenge is posted each Monday (sketch), Wednesday, and Saturday, and participants have until the 3rd of the following month to complete and post their creations in the Cookin' Up Creations Gallery.

Prize will be a $10 Gift Certificate to their favorite online store (random drawing).....

*Any month that we have more than 50 completed layouts/creations, the prize will be a $20 Gift Certificate instead of $10.

Fall Family Fun

After thanksgiving we decorated the tree and added a light up Olaf to our outdoor decorations.

We also got in a lot of Nathan play time!

The highlight was taking Nathan to Frozen II.

The rest of the group enjoyed a lovely sunset hot air balloon ride!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a fun and full house this thanksgiving with Nana, Grandpa Butch, Aunt Judy, and Cousin James. Nathan loved watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade balloons on TV.

We got a lot of lovely snow and had a blast playing with it! 

Nathan was very much ready to feast feast feast feast! Hope you enjoyed your thanksgiving too.

CUC Challenge - Thanks for the Memories Winterings

At Cookin' Up Creations we are giving thanks to those companies who are not around in our scrapping lives any more. I created a layout using discontinued scrapbooking manufacturer Little Yellow Bicycle's Winterings line.  For my second CUC challenge this month, I would like you to either create a layout using Little Yellow Bicycle products or you can use any old scrapbooking line that has a winter theme. 

You can see all of CUC's challenges on their forum.  A new Blue Plate Special challenge is posted each Monday (sketch), Wednesday, and Saturday, and participants have until the 3rd of the following month to complete and post their creations in the Cookin' Up Creations Gallery.

Prize will be a $10 Gift Certificate to their favorite online store (random drawing).....

*Any month that we have more than 50 completed layouts/creations, the prize will be a $20 Gift Certificate instead of $10.

Roar!

Nathan and I went to the Natural History Museum together for some quality time.  We saw a new planetarium show, enjoyed all of the dinosaur exhibits, and made sure not to step in lava!  

CUC Challenge - Thanks for the Memories LYB

I am excited to announce that I am on Cookin' Up Creations' Challenge Team.  This month we are giving thanks to those companies who are not around in our scrapping lives any more.  For my first CUC challenge I have chosen to use one of my past favourite lines by a discontinued scrapbooking manufacturer: Winterings by Little Yellow Bicycle. I would like you to either create a layout using Little Yellow Bicycle products or you can use an old scrapbooking line that uses a lot of light blue. 

You can see all of CUC's challenges on their forum.  A new Blue Plate Special challenge is posted each Monday (sketch), Wednesday, and Saturday, and participants have until the 3rd of the following month to complete and post their creations in the Cookin' Up Creations Gallery.

Prize will be a $10 Gift Certificate to their favorite online store (random drawing).....

*Any month that we have more than 50 completed layouts/creations, the prize will be a $20 Gift Certificate instead of $10.

Pumpkin Spice

Fall is definitely here! It’s cold and leaves are falling everywhere. This year we have a new raking helper. Unlike most children, while Nathan enjoyed playing in the leaves, he enjoyed raking and blowing them even more!

Paw Patrol Halloween

Happy Halloween!  This year we dressed up as Paw Patrol characters -- Nathan was Marshall, I was Skye, and Jesse was Chase.

It was a little cold (though thankfully not as cold as it was supposed to be) but we put a lot of layers under Nathan's costume and enjoyed trick or treating around our super fun neighborhood.

After getting getting candy from each house, he would excitedly tell us what kind of candy he got -- so cute!

Unfortunately he did not give me a cute smile while he was in costume.  Just this painful face:

Until later that evening when he put on parts of our costumes, then I got the cutest little grin!

Fall Fun

This week Nathan's school had a fall carnival where all the kids dressed up and played fun games.  Nathan was such a cutie and got some warm hugs from Olaf!

This weekend we went to a pumpkin patch, where Nathan experienced his first ever corn maze and hay ride!  He also got to see farm animals, had a caramel apple, played games, and got a pumpkin.

We painted our pumpkins our Paw Patrol theme -- one for Marshall, Chase, and Sky.