I think I feel another addiction coming on.....

Baby news....

Congratulations to our neighbours who have welcomed a new baby boy into their lives :)  Such a lovely couple and I can't wait to meet their little one!!!  They're going to pop over one day in the next two weeks while the hubby is off of work :)  Mom and Baby are both doing well and new Daddy is over the moon :)  Lloyd forgot to find out the name!!

Anybody who happened to be watching Dr Kevin Leman on 100 Huntley Street yesterday will understand me when I say that 'Mrs Uppington' would totally appreciate the conversation Lloyd had about the new baby ;)

If you didn't see it you can watch the part I mean HERE It just shows how different men and women are!!  I guess at least Lloyd got the weight, the day and that it was a boy ;)

Visitors yesterday and today....

Bad pictures but this morning it was too dark to get a good picture and the little guy was just too far away and yesterday the dogs scared our little visitor away before I could get my camera!!!  Cute to see those white tails flashing though ;)

Val - are you impressed to see I was up before the sun this morning????  ;)

Wintry skies.....

Won't you be my neighbour????

One of our neighbours is selling their house....you can check it out HERE

It looks very small from the road but I guess much of the house is in the spacious basement....it looks so pretty and rustic inside - I love the way it has been finished - although the kitchen looks quite small but maybe thats the way the picture was taken - for a million dollars I'd want a big kitchen.

Would be a lovely family home though and is nicely off of the highway and close to good schools and easy drive to the city.  

'Winter Beauty' digital layout

Another digital layout - this one was actually quick to do - does this mean it's getting easier????  Hmmmm - I like this one and really enjoyed doing it!!!  Oohhh this is addictive!!!  AND there is no mess to clear up afterwards :)

I forgot to say on the way to collect Sam from preschool the other day, I over took a church on the highway!!!  Now, I have sometimes overtaken houses and buidlings on the highway - as it's fairly common for them to move houses by truck over here in Canada because the roads are so wide and the trucks so big.  However, I have NEVER had to overtake a church before!  The actual church was a pretty little white one like in the picture above, and on a smaller truck behind it was the steeple!!!  It was quite amusing to have to slow down and over take it!!  I wonder where it was going!

Such a shame Lloyd wasn't driving - then I would have been able to snap some pictures!  It's the kind of thing people just wouldn't believe!!  seeing a  church driving up the highway!!

Hhhhmmm

I'm not sooo happy with this one but  the digital store I wanted to order from was down so I had to go elsewhere and I couldn't find a birthday kit I liked so I bought this one - not really my style but it was all I could find.  I want to learn how to edit the pictures more - frame them and rough up the edge - scratch them up a bit etc etc....

these pictures are from Sams 5th birthday yesterday - yes i'll get around to posting about that some point ;)  busy doing other stuff right now......

My first attempt at digital scrapbooking!!!!!

Well....it was quite a task, but after a few trials and errors I FINALLY created a page!!!  It may look very simple compared to most peoples beautifully decorated pages but Photoshop is completely new to me - and Photoshop Elements 8 was TERRIFYING!!!  I still have no clue what I'm doing - I wanted my page to be 8.5 x 11 but somehow couldn't do that (lol) so I have a 12 x 12 which I will have to print out at Costco.....sigh...

The elements and papers were ones I bought from Pickleberry Pop and that site was wonderfully easy to use!!!  I still can't believe how much beautiful paper and how many amazing embellishments you can get for ushc a low price - and of course the beauty of digital is that you can use them again and again!!

I think (once I get the hang of 'Elements 8') I'm going to LOVE digital!!

The last day....and a completed album....

Apart from a few loose ends to tie up....an inside front cover to decorate and a few extra embellishments to add (ribbons to the book rings and a few extra bits here and there), my JYC album is complete.

Today, being January 6th and Twelth Night, is the last day of this years Journal Your Christmas class.  I am so sad that I won't be getting any more daily Emails from Shimelle's each morning when I wake up - no more journal prompts - no more festive news.  The Holiday season really has ended.

Although my album didn't exactly follow Shimelles prompts , I have to say that joining her class is the best money I spent this Holiday Season!!!  It changed my Christmas!  Truly!!!

Firstly, because I was going to be taking part in the class it made me prepare EARLY for Christmas - I was ready in November.  I decorated early, shopped early and was planned and organized for events, teh class and activities as well as food and gifts.

As well as this, Shimelles prompts started on December 1st but discussion about them started in November on the forums.  All the talk about Christmas and everyones friendliness and festiveness just made me feel festive myself from the very beginning!!

Because I was creating my journal I wanted to DO more Christmasy activities and spend more time feeling festive and BEING festive - I attended more festive activities and did far more crafts and activities than normal with the children - our whole December and much of November was so Christmasy.

Shimelle's prompts gave us so much to talk about and think about as a family - and amongst friends - even though my friends may not have know where the conversations came from....

And perhaps most importantly....Shimelle's class has brought new people in to my life - new friends from far and wide who I would never have 'met' if it had not been for this wonderful class!

And now I have this lovely album to remember this Christmas by - it has a letter from Santa in it - hats from our crackers, jokes, receipts from days out.....photographs....lists of movies we watched....memories - precious memories!!!!

I have now taken two of Shimelle's classes and I can't WAIT to take another!!!  :)  Worth every penny!!!  If you have a chance to sign up for any of her classes then DO - really - you won't regret it!!  I can't wait to do JYC again December 2010!!

A puzzling morning....

Darkness....

Our neighbours house was totally dark last night....  so of course now we are wondering if last night was THE night and maybe the baby arrived!!!  Lloyd wants to text them and ask but I know what it's like to be constantly asked if the baby is here yet when you are over due......sigh....and I don't like to pester them....we're just excited to know....and nosy ;)  awww it will be lovely to have  a new little one around!

I hope everything goes well.  I hope we hear soon!

5 years ago tomorrow my little baby boy arrived in the world.  This morning he told me the 5 is now all the way in to his feet but quite to the end of his toes but tomorrow the 5 will be EVERYWHERE!!!  Even to the tip of his nose!!!

Snowflakes and hearts....

Once we took the handmade Christmas stars off of our little Christmas tree, I replaced them with the little hearts I had made a couple of years ago...yesterday Val told me it was FAR too early to start decorating for Valentines Day and that I should have snowflakes instead - so yesterda Abby and I picked up some little snowflake decorations - but we kept the hearts up too ;)  we've also added some red and white candy canes but I have no doubt that they will disappear pretty fast ;)

Sam made the little guy atop the tree last year at Preschool!  I think it was on his Valentine treat bag!!!

Malteser Cake -

MUCH better the next day:)

Mmmmmmm  oh my GOODNESS it's sooooo good!!!! Very very good!!!  Definitely will be making this again kind of good!!!

Make it - chill it - leave it until the next day before trying!!!!

Mmmmmmm - I can feel it settling on my hips as I write!!!  ;)

Winter Light.....

The Winter Light Festival starts tonight!!  Winter Light lasts through until March and includes many city-wide events celebrating winter in our beautiful city!!!  This includes one of my favourite festivals of the year Ice on Whyte which starts next week on January 14th.  We couldn't go last year because it was too cold, and then one year it was too warm and they had to close the ice castle!!

I'm hoping this year that the weather is just right - at least for a few days, so we can go along and the children get to slide down the ice slides!!

I'd like to go to the Silver Skate Festival this year too, to see the snow scultpures...again depending on the weather....

Are you planning to take in any of the Winter Festival activities???

Nail salon.....

On Monday my craft room became a nail salon, and Abigail gave us pedicures...she even painted our nails....unfortunately she ran out of customers but Daddy was kind enough to play along......I bet no one at work knows that underneath those black socks lie some very dashing glittery toes with flowery embellishments!!!  ;)

Eeeewwww feet......I admire people who work with feet all day because I couldn't do it!!!  Eeewwww!