Vacation = abundant blessings!

Hello my faithful readers! I'm sorry I didn't blog this past Sunday but I have been totally submersed in the freedom to sleep in, to craft and to cross a few things off of my "to do" list since Friday. I am so grateful the girls and I don't have school this week. We call it "Fall Break" and I need to give our calendar committee a great big smooch 'cause I am lovin' it!

One of the many lessons I gained from Heidi Swapp's visit last weekend was this concept of
"energy in and energy out". It's not anything that we really don't know about ourselves and our lives, but her story and analogy just helped make it so understandable for me. Think of your energy as if it were money. We need money - energy in - and we also spend money - energy out...
It is important to do things that give you energy. And today, although I had to "spend" a lot, ch-ching, I am reaping the rewards of my effort. (deep breath.....mmmm, energy in......)

I know, I know, it is a little early, but the girls helped me clean house and set up all of the holiday decorations in the house...yes, that does include the tree, but looking back (in the blog) to last year, I didn't get to do it until the Sunday night before we went back to school and that was just too stressful. Remember, it is my goal to be ready for the holidays by December 1st! :o)

It has become tradition that Andrea holds McKenna to place the angel a top of the tree....I wonder how many more years she'll be able to do that? :o)

It has also become tradition that Scott puts together the Disney Monorail under our tree.

I'm sorry the photo is a little blurry, but I liked this better w/o a flash.

I have also ordered and picked up at Walgreens our holiday photo cards and have addressed about 20 envelopes. (deep breath....energy in....) I am really happy w/ them and can't wait to send them to you!

Lots of energy in yesterday. The girls washed and vacuumed my car in hopes of earning as much money as possible before our Black Friday shopping trip this Friday. (They also washed and vacuumed Nana's car!) While she was over, Nana got to finish a few gifts that she says I helped inspire her to try - how cool! But I can't take all the credit. That inspiration came from Tim Holtz.

While my mom worked on those, I got to work on not one, but two mini-albums I've been wanting to do. The first is one called "Thank God Crazy Dreams Come True". I've shared the front cover of that one before, now the pages are in and waiting for photos. (.....energy in!) The second book I worked on is my "December Daily" inspired by my other favorite designer Ali Edwards. The embellishments aren't in yet, but the pages are and I've even started to document our holiday activities.....yep, energy in.......

What I haven't planned well for is groceries.....I'll be off to Wal-Mart tomorrow (day before Thanksgiving) to shop for groceries.......lots of energy OUT! However, I plan to go as early as possible. Later that day, I am planning to renew some "savings" and Andrea and I will go to the movies. I love going to the movies. I love escaping reality for two hours and pigging out on popcorn. Yes, we plan to see New Moon. It is all the rage with teen-age girls these days (and even some "not so teen-age girls" :o) . I'm just grateful to have some time with Andrea and to relax.

Okay, I know tonight's entry was a little long, but I know you've been waiting for an update!

May your blessing be many and your memories grand - Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
All my love,
Melle

My "energy" renewed!

So much to share, but so little time, so I'll keep it to the highlights and hope I can get back w/ details soon.
The things I learned this weekend are priceless.
From tools and products to new outlook on life I am so grateful I got to meet and attend two Heidi Swapp workshops this weekend at the wonderful new She Scrapbooks store in The Villages.
Here's me and Heidi!

and I'll throw in me and Tim Holtz, just for good measure! :o)


Now, if I can just get one more famous crafter under my belt, I will have hit the Trifecta!!!!!

I'm also busy with mass production again as I get ready to bring some gifts bags to Susan's Open House this weekend and fill orders from school.
Thanks everyone!!!!!!
Melle

Sneak Peak

Well, as I've shared before, my favorite moment of the week is Saturday mornings, however, I think I can say I equally dislike Sunday nights....on the eve of another work week of course I haven't accomplished everything on my "to do list" this weekend, but I did get to take the photos I want to use for our Christmas cards this year. (Remember, I have a Dec. 1st goal!!!)

So, here is only a "sneak peak", you'll get to see the final project when you receive your Holiday Card. :)
May you have a great week!
Love,
Melle

Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween!!!
Well, here are a few photos of our big day....they are unedited, but if I wait to post when they are edited it might be next halloween!

Scott continued with his "Mad Medic" theme and we were his zombies. Thanks to all the friends and family who came to work another successful year. I admit though, after
6 years, this one was leaning towards more work than fun....makes me always think that this might be the last one.....we'll see....perhaps I'll feel differently in about 300 days.....Of course, I don't know why I complain, Scott does 99.99% of the work!

Scott's epitaph was written by my mom and I one Saturday afternoon during lunch at Mimi's in retaliation to Scott making a tombstone for me! "Here lies Scott, you'll find him where its hot!"

McKenna searched for the perfect pumpkin.....

Here's the "perfect punkin"

Grandma Gail and her good friend Darlene handled the candy duties....
(Did you catch the fog in the background? Cool!)

(McKenna, is NOT a zombie! :o)

I thought the glowing red eyes worked in this case - don't believe I'll edit those out.


Two quick side notes (maybe 3):
I made 42 Halloween treat bags (see photo in previous post). Of course, 10 of those were for my gifts, but then the other 32 were "orders". So, I'm trying to design some more for Christmas. My goal is to only take "orders" in November and deliver in December.
Here's what I have so far, but not really sure these have the "wow factor" like the Halloween ones did. I think it's all in the stamp I choose.....


Speaking of goals and holidays in the same sentence (thanks to Yvonne's inspiration), it is truly my goal to be finished for Christmas by December 1st, so I can enjoy the holiday. I actually placed a few online orders today - November 2nd.....hmm....not too bad....oh and I have purchased the clothes for the girls holiday photo for our Christmas cards. I hope to take those this weekend.....anybody else....don't forget to book me for holiday photos if you need me! ;o)

And finally, I remember that I never posted anything about Andrea's birthday....that was during the week I missed....hmmmm....wonder why??

First we surprised Andrea EARLY in the morning of her 15th birthday with a dozen balloons and streamers attached to her bedroom doorway. Daddy woke her with a bagpipe serenade! :o)

We ended her day with our traditional dinner w/ friends and family at the Japanese Steak House Kotobuki's. She wanted to bring her balloons with her. :o)

Love to all,
Best wishes,
Melle

Catching up.....

....well, catching up a little at a time....
agh, agh, hmm, hmm, here we are again, Sunday night and I'm all caught up with laundry, all caught up with errands or other commitments, sort of caught up with bills and now, finally, time to "blog", but now all I can think about is going to bed....gotta get up for work tomorrow.....
I'm now behind on this blog (which I do enjoy writing - all week I think about what I'm going to say), I'm behind on my classroom page and of course my classroom blog (I knew that'd be a toughie to keep up with), but I just couldn't let another week slip by with at least something....

Hopefully pictures will help (ironically, photos take a few extra seconds longer to load up).
Last weekend I finally finished the Halloween teacher gifts I was working on

and as a whim, I took them to school hoping a few other teachers might want to "order" some, well, 27 little gift bags and tags later, whew, I got them done



McKenna has been working on a "mass -production" of her own

she is making little ghosts filled with peppermint patties for her classmates

aren't they cute! The neat thing is, I have a photo of Andrea doing the exact same thing when she was the same age....actually, that's where McKenna got the idea. I would probably have forgotten all about it, if it wasn't in a scrapbook!

Okay, darn it, I have to go....so much more to share, but kids are in bed waiting to be tucked in and somehow, I gotta get up tomorrow to face another week.....
okay, two more photos, look what my students have made at school - I think they are too cute!

Our Farm Unit, one of my favorite times of the year. The Kinder are making pop-up piggies,


and first grade are making scarecrows (this was one of my mom's traditional projects - I'm proud to carry on the tradition)
Kendra, thank you for a fun Saturday afternoon - skating was much more fun than I thought :)
Mom, thank you for a wonderful lunch :)
Yvonne, thank you for your inspiration - thanks to you, I too hope to be ready for Christmas by November 1st,
and Michele and Barb, I miss you! Hope we get to catch up soon!!

Love to all,
Melle

(OOPS!!! I meant DECEMBER 1st! Thanks Kendra for catching that mistake - dah! Ya, that would be a miracle if I was ready by November 1st! )

A quick update...

Hello Readers!
Here we are once again, I find myself at the end of a weekend on Sunday night finally caught up with everything and ready to "blog" only now I'm tired and can only think of going to bed.......

this week:
- Andrea's swim team swam against Forest, I think we lost, only it was too crowded to tell and too small a pool to see anything. We competed at CFCC and I was really disappointed by the pool. Man, we are spoiled!

- I registered for two Heidi Swapp classes at the beautiful new SHE Scrapbooks store!

- I taught, well, really "hosted" a computer workshop at school this week - imagine, me?!!

- My favorite nephew turns 23 today, that means his mom and I have been the closest of friends for at least that long....I love you, Donnie, David and Sue!!!!!!!!!!

- And my dear, amazing husband holds on to one more year of his 30's. He turns 39 tomorrow.
Happy, happy birthday Honey. :o)

- And I crafted just a little this weekend....didn't finish, no surprise, but I got to work a little

These are intended to decorate the outside of Crystal Light containers for Halloween treats for McKenna's teachers.....my intention was that I would have made a dozen of these this weekend and I was going to sell the extra's at work.....can you believe it? You would think I'd know myself better than that by now. Well, it wasn't my fault. The mounds of laundry kept getting in my way!

Have a great week everyone.
Love you!
Melle

Fall is in the air

Well, if I have to accept that summer is over, at least I have the blessings of fall waiting for me.
We had our first cool down this week. Since Wednesday we've had what I like to call "a Boulder Day". Lucky for me, my summers were spent in my birthplace of Boulder, Colorado and to me, the weather was ALWAYS perfect. (Note I didn't spend winters there.) It would be cool in the morning and warm up to a comfortable 78 by midday. The sky was a gorgeous blue and not a cloud for miles.
Another sign of fall in our front yard (since our leaves don't turn) is our "yellow rain tree".

I don't know if that is it's official name, but "rain" yellow it sure does. I couldn't seem to capture that on film. It leaves these beautiful tiny yellow buds all over our driveway and coats our cars by morning. In turn, those little buds get tracked into the house. So we endure the inconvenience for about two weeks, in exchange for the beauty and comfort of knowing our family favorite season is just around the corner. An added bonus, once these buds fall off, they leave behind beautiful rose colored buds for us to enjoy for a few more weeks.

More signs of our blessings around here this week are ones of love and friendship.
While at church just a few weeks ago, McKenna actually won a Wii gaming system, however, she and her sister already had one that was from Santa last year. She was happy to give it to a friend. Everyone left church that evening happy and feeling great. Well, imagine our surprise when a gift certificate arrived in the mail about a week later for McKenna to pick out her very first American Girl Doll. It was a thank you gift from the friend she shared the Wii with. Talk about kindness! It took a weekend to decide if she wanted Molly or Kit or Ruthie. In the end, she chose a "Just Like Me" doll. It arrived this week:

She loves it. :o)
And I love the friend who gave it to her.

Andrea's team remain undefeated, but the boys did lose their first meet this past week. We face Forest High School (my high school rivalry) this week. I'm pretty nervous about that match. I'll keep you posted.

I want to wish the very best of luck to two of the most deserving, creative and dynamic people I know......Stephanie and Yvonne who open SHE Scrapbooks this weekend!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited for you and so happy for ME!

Best wishes everyone.
Love,
Melle