A Scrap of Life

Hello from sunny Florida! We have arrived safe and sound here in Orlando and have weathered our first Disney day. It's been quite and adventure already. Our day acutally started late Sunday night when we boarded a plane bound for Florida. We decided to try the red-eye this time. A straight flight, lower airfare (always important when you're paying for 5 tickets!) and we don't waste a day of our vacation flying. Perfect scenario, right? Then again, maybe not. I've never taken a red-eye before and I was not quite prepared for all that flying at night meant. In my mind we would all board the plane, curl up in our reclining seats with our blankets and pillows and fall fast asleep, only to awaken the next morning in sunny Florida. That's not exactly what happened. Yes, we boarded the plane and curled up with our blankes and pillows to sleep. We reclined our seats ... all of 2 inches back! Ugh. OK, so now we just have to sleep sitting up. No problem, right? Well, it actua...

I've been home nearly a week and I've finally had time to start editing pictures to add to my blog postings. So look for my trip reports to begin tomorrow... :)

We've returned from the magical Walt Disney World in wonderful, sunny Florida. Now I'm sitting in my messy house in rainy Oregon. *sigh* Lots of great pics and moments to share in the upcoming days when I have time. :)

I don't know how I forgot to upload these, but I made us all matching shirts to wear to WDW. I gave them to everyone at Christmas and they loved them! The boys have hoodies to keep them warm during the cold nights and Carissa has a long sleeve tee since she gets cold so easily. Brian and I both have t-shirts. Blue camo Mickey heads for the boys, pink for us girls. I made these using a blank Mickey head design a lady named Pat on the disboards made. I added the words to say "Walt Disney World, Pixley, 2008". We can't wait to wear them this evening!!!

I know we only have a day until we leave, but I couldn't resist altering some journals for the kids. Tristan's teacher gave him the assignment to journal each day and I loved the idea so much that I decided to make all of them do it. So now they each have their own altered journal to write in during our trip. I can't wait to read what they have to say!!!

Just had another layout requested for publication. That makes 40 published layouts. Yippee!!!

You would not believe the piles of stuff sitting in my front room. Open suitcases, piles of clothing, list upon list of things to do, things to pack, things to remember. The anticipation is getting to us all and we're just getting so excited. We leave Sunday and are taking the red-eye there. We're hoping to sleep on the plane (the whole 5 hour flight! LOL) and hit the parks bright and early when we arrive in Florida. Send us your thoughts and strength ... I think the sleep and time transition might be a little bumpy. ;)

As bad as the timing was for this snow trip, I must admit that I easily forgot about everything and really enjoyed my time up on Mt. Hood with Chase. We went as guests of the local Boy Scout Troop that Chase will be joining once he crosses over to Boy Scouts next month. This particular lodge was quite a hike in - about 1/2 mile (not too bad right?!?) but with a 600 ft. elevation climb! Not so easy for a girl who doesn't even own a pair of hiking boots! The only thing that saved me was the fact that my sons feet have grown to the same size as mine (seriously, he is growing WAYYYYY too fast). So I borrowed Chase's hiking boots while he wore his snow boots this weekend. Nonetheless, the trek up to the lodge was steep and exhausting. But once we arrived and stored our gear the real fun began. The big highlight of this trip is the tubing hill. It had snowed the previous week and since we were the first troop up we were able to break in the tubing trails. This means that they were a ...

Tristan has been working so hard lately on his spelling. He had found his 3rd grade spelling book way too easy so, with the permission of his teacher, he worked on completing the entire year of spelling (36 units of 15 words each) in just 6 weeks. He completed it last week and today he had his "final" with his teacher. She chose 50 words from his 3rd grade speller and tested him on them. He could miss up to five but he missed only one! Way to go!!! What this means now is that Tristan is the proud recipient of a 4th grade spelling book. He's going to continue doing it independantly and at his own pace and I'm sure he'll do wonderfully with it. He is so proud of himself for having successfully challenged the 3rd grade spelling! Way to go Buddy. You rock!!!

11 days to go. 11 days until we leave for Disneyworld. 11 days to get all 10 suitcases, 5 carry ons and 5 fanny packs organized and packed. 11 days to make the finishing touches on Carissa's birthday plans. 11 days to stress over ever minute detail that I may or may not forget at some point. 11 days, 5 days of work, 3 Tae Kwon Do practices, 2 basketball practices, 1 basketball game, 1 gymnastics class, 1 dentist appointment, 1 book club meeting, 1 haircut still left to get and 1 day of football games to watch. Oh, and that 2 day snow trip with the boy scouts. Ugh, what was I thinking? Why did I think that 2 days at the snow a week before leaving on our big vacation was a good idea? Oh, I know. I was thinking "gee, this would sure be fun for Chase. Let's do it!" Someone smack me please! Anyhow, I think you get the point that I'm stressing this all a little. It could have to do with the fact that I am a planner and organizer and the fact that I'm no...

Can you see me jumping up and down? It's because I'm over the moon about my latest email. Creating Keepsakes has requested a layout for their May 2008 edition! This is my first time ever being in a regular edition of Creating Keepsakes. I've had some in one of their special editions but I just wasn't quite satisfied with that. Now I feel like I've officially broken the CK barrier - the last major scrapbook goal that I've had for myself. 2007 was actually a great year for me publication wise. I had 9 layouts in 2007 issues, most of which paid me (gotta love that!). I already have 9 layouts requested for 2008 issues, again most of which are paid submissions, so I think it's going to be another great year. For the first time I can actually say that I made more money than I spent in supplies. Not much more, mind you, but more. You can see my work coming up in 2008 here: Scrapbooks Etc. - Jan 08 Scrapbook Trends (2 layouts) - Jan 08 Memory Makers "Oh Baby!...

OK, so I know it's probably someone's pirated version of the movie scene, but I just couldn't resist. This song from the AWESOME Disney movie "Enchanted" has been stuck in my head for weeks. I absolutely love it. Give it a listen. Oh, and if you have a daughter and haven't taken her to see "Enchanted" you should definitely go. It was so wonderful. Disney at it's best. Magical ...

I wrote the following for the ScrapAddict blog ( www.scrapaddict.com/blog ) and really loved it. It doesn't only pertain to those who scrapbook either so I'm challenging you, yes you reading this right now, to take the challenge and make your lists. Life is an occasion - celebrate it. --------------------------- Happy New Years Eve fellow Scrap Addicts! Another year has come and gone and with it a plethora of wonderful memories. The dawn of a new year approaches and with it a plethora of wonderful memories to come. About this time each year I am dutifully jotting down the obligatory list of resolutions… resolutions to change who I am or what I do, most of which never come to fruition. This year I have a new list and I challenge you to make it with me. Instead of focusing on life changes that may never happen, focus on the memories you’ve just had and the memories yet to come. Start off by jotting down a list of your favorite or most meaningful memories of the last year. Think a...

... the Christmas season is over. I see I'm quite late in getting my blog posting done, but better late than never, right?!? Before Christmas Day we enjoyed a few of our yearly traditions. We went to Brian's parents house and together went on our annual trip to the house with lights. There is one house out where they live, in a rural area outside of Woodburn, that is just COVERED with lights. Literally covered. He has more traditional Christmas lights, like a lifesize nativity scene and angels up in the trees. He also has some more nostalgic lights, like a train that blows smoke and a lifesize carousel and ferris wheels. He also has the strictly unique, like the lighted tow trucks and ice skaters. We have visited his house every Christmas season and love stopping and walking amongst the displays. I have never been able to get good photos of his lights, but we love them just the same. That same evening we went to the nearby factory stores for a visit with Santa Claus. The kids ...

Every year our Christmas season is marked by a series of traditional events, one of the oldest being the placing of the Santa sign. The time has finally come and the kids have hammered this poor, over-pounded sign into the ground outside our house where it will sit until Christmas day, a reminder to Santa of the good little kids living in this house.

I didn't want to mess with the "flow" of the Holiday Memories postings, so I've been saving this for after those were done. Now that they're completed I can fill you in on the news around here. Tristan (aka "Yellow" to his Daddy) had his Tae Kwon Do belt testing on Dec. 8. Wow, was that an ordeal. 4 hours of it to be exact. But he did such a great job and walked out of it with his yellow belt. We're proud in all that he accomplished and are especially proud that he skipped an entire belt color, advancing 2 belt colors instead of just one. Way to go Tristan! Here are some shots of him in action on testing day: And here is our proud yellow belt himself:

It's so hard to think about the fact that a new year is rapidly approaching. Christmas is just a few days off and that's still the focus here. After Christmas though things start moving along, back into the normal rhythm of life. By New Years Eve the Christmas tree is down, the decorations have been packed away and, besides the host of extra toys, things are just as they are the other 11 months of the year. New Years Eve will be wonderful this year. It's the first time Brian has been home with us since he started in law enforcement and we're all excited about spending it together. We actually have the option of having the kids go to my Dad's house this New Years, but there aren't any big parties or plans that we've been invited to attend so I think we'll be staying home with the kids. New Years Eve is the only night of the year that the kids are allowed to stay up until midnight (and get to sleep in the front room) and they make the most of it. We bring ...

Well, this prompt will have to wait until after the big day. So look for pictures of our loot and what our faves are after Christmas. :)

Our Christmas Day traditions are somewhat less regimented than our Christmas Eve ones. We are awoken early in the morning to the voices of our children trying to wake us up and asking if they can go see what they got from Santa. We try to get them to head back to bed but, of course, that doesn't happen. As soon as we're coherent enough we hop out of bed and head for the front room with the kids. Santa always leaves them one big gift and a stocking filled with goodies. They ooohhhh and aaaahhhh over their big gift and then dive into their stockings. After about 20 minutes they are ready to move on to opening the gifts under the tree. I usually sneak off into the kitchen to bake some cinnamon rolls for our Christmas Day breakfast. YUM! Sometime during Christmas day we have people over. We have a "we stay home" rule for Christmas day, so if someone wants to see us they have to come over here. We usually have at least 2 sets of Grandparents, and sometimes all 3, vi...

We have a plethora of Christmas Eve traditions in our household and we're looking forward to enjoying them all this year. The first tradition is a new take on an old favorite of Brian's. When he was a kid he would watch "Santa Watch" on the local news stations. This was a program for kids keeping them up to date on the whereabout of Jolly Old St. Nick. He has such fond memories of this as a kid that when our kids were old enough he tried to introduce them to it ... only to find out that they no longer do it. But we were able to find a substitute at www.santawatch.com . All day Christmas Eve the kids look forward to the hourly reports and videos of Santa's journey. We spend some time on Christmas Eve watching Christmas movies too. My personal favorite is the 1995 version of "Miracle on 34th Street". Other favorites are "Polar Express" and the Jim Carrey version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." We'll be sure to watch one...