Thinking of John today.....

December 31st was John Denver's birthday...
This was the very first album I ever bought. I don't mean my first John Denver album, but my first album ever! (Yes, back when they were "vinyl" record albums.) I can remember my mom taking me to K-mart so I could buy it. This record album played a million times over and over again in my bedroom. His songs got me through many a time in my life (and they still do).

Of all the thousands of photos taken of John, this one below is still my all time favorite. It was on the front cover of his album titled Autograph - he said, "here is my autograph, here in the songs that I sing".....


Thank you John for your autograph.
Add a little music to your life today - from John and me!
Love,
Melle

Reflections

While among friends, colleagues and acquaintances for dinner last night, the conversation came up among one of them about how they were so frustrated about how Christmas for their children had become about "the things they got" and about how they (her children) had lost the magic and weren't willing to help w/ the traditional activities of the holiday season. I've been reflecting a lot about that conversation and can appreciate where she is coming from, but in looking back on this holiday, I think it was everything I was hoping for and then some. While the girls did get gifts, I think they were chosen with care and they are ones they will remember for a lifetime. Again, I do appreciate the conversation from last night, because I do want to be careful about what I'm teaching my children "the holiday" is about and I want to be careful about the messages I am sending. I still certainly have room for improvement and I hope I look back at the entry in about a year and remember these thoughts. It's just McKenna is now 8, it may be the last really magical year for her, Andrea is 15, soon she'll want to spend the day with others (perhaps a boyfriend - ack! I know hard to believe, but it will happen) and then she'll be on her own in a blink of an eye.
I wanted to share a few more photos from our magical day and again, thank the good Lord for all of our blessings. And if you are reading this today, please know that we love you and am so grateful for the blessing of YOU!

McKenna received this beautiful dollhouse from Santa. It sure was a very special elf who helped make this possible!
McKenna also received her second American Girl doll from Santa. She was so happy.

Andrea has wanted the American Girl doll, Addy for years, Santa brought it to her this year. I love this moment when sisters were playing w/ their dolls. :o)

Santa also brought Andrea a "netbook" (a teeny-tiny laptop)....for her studies :o) ....... Andrea does have to work w/ PowerPoint for school a lot and has to use the internet for research almost daily. I think this well be very helpful to her. They are so light weight, it's amazing. You can carry them anywhere! Andrea is also sporting her new furry boots from mommy and daddy - she loves them.

Holding on tight!

Happy Holidays.....okay, I know Christmas day is now over, but I'm still enjoying the holiday feelings while they still linger....
-it's Monday and I didn't have to go to work today
-the tree is still up and lights are on
-the girls are still in the jammies until noon

I admit, it wasn't even noon on Dec. 26th and already the greeting from the cashier at Publix was, "Happy New Year" and the DJ on the radio was saying the same thing....."Happy New Year"!??? I couldn't believe it! I wasn't ready to let go! Santa was at our house only a few hours before!

So, me, hanging on by tooth and nail, "Happy Holidays Ya'll" and here are some photos to go with it :o)

McKenna works on a traditional favorite - "reindeer cookies"....

I love how each one seems to have it's very own personality....

Trays of holiday cookies for our friends at the Japanese Steakhouse, Kotobuki's. This is another holiday traditional favorite.
Andrea liked these gifts!

The girls loved their gifts from Aunt Sue!

Both girls received an American Girl doll from Santa!

Just before bedtime, I did read a few holiday favorites....

Santa truly left a dollhouse for McKenna and a stack of other gifts too.
It was a wonderful day and a lot of fun!

Best wishes for "Happy Holidays"!!!!
Melle

Celebrating the day she was born....

Hello All,
Not feeling so well tonight, so I'm off to bed, but I wanted to be sure and post this cute photo from McKenna's birthday party....

(You can click on photo to enlarge.)
More birthday photos to come....just 5 days until Christmas break and only 12 days 'til Christmas.....woohoo! and I'm almost done!

Love to all and to all a good night :o)
Melle

Thanksgiving week in review....

When I last posted, I shared :
Monday, my mom and I crafted;
Tuesday, we put up the Christmas tree;
and Wednesday, Andrea and I went to see"New Moon". It is all the craze among the girls these days, young and old...although, I must be way old, I do admit, IF I were 15, I'd totally be "Team Jacob" right there with Andrea, yep, all over that!

Andrea's shirt says "Bite Me"

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, was very nice.
The girls were troopers and got up early with me to help make the traditional bread in the bread machine and help make the pumpkin pie that they never eat.


Grandma Gail and Grandpa Charlie have returned to their tradition of visiting the casinos in Biloxi, Mississippi during this holiday and Scott was working, but my mom and her husband Bruce came over and I enjoyed that very much.

Friday, meant a tradition going back to when I was about 15. Each year, my friend Pam and I go holiday shopping with her mom and her aunt. As time as gone by, Aunt Brenda's daughter Holly joined us and then Pam's daughter Katlynn and my Andrea and then just last year, McKenna joined our gang. Tradition is we pick a different mall each year. This year was the Altamonte Mall, and this year, I finally handed the camera to some stranger and asked if they would take a picture of all of us!
From left to right: McKenna, (age 7 almost 8!), Pam's Aunt Brenda, Pam (one of my very best friends, we've been through it all since the 9th grade), Pam's mom Ellen, Me, Andrea (age 15), Pam's daughter Katlynn (15) and Brenda's daughter Holly.

We use to call this "the day after Thanksgiving shopping", but that was a mouthful. Fortunately a few years ago, the term "Black Friday" has been used to describe that day. "Black" referring to the one day of year that retailers hope they will be operating "in the black" again, instead of the red.

Now that McKenna is with us, it wouldn't be shopping at the mall without doing some damage at Build-a-Bear workshop!

And a visit with Santa.

I thought McKenna might talk with Santa about the American Girl doll she wrote him about 2 months ago, or I thought she might talk about her most recent wish for a doll house, but when I asked her, "what did you ask Santa for", she said, "a cell phone"! OMG! LOL!

And finally, it wouldn't have been Thanksgiving break without the traditional Florida/Florida State football game on Saturday.
Daddy's friend Tom and his wife Melanie are HUGE Gator fans, and although out numbered, I was proud to know that daddy and McKenna wore the right colors to the party.


The Seminoles lost by the way, but you can't accuse Scott of being a "fair-weather fan"!

And then this week, I've just finished delivering the last of the holiday bag orders to my co-workers. I stamped 129 bags and tags. Here's what my work space looked like after I was done.

The photo of the floor doesn't do it justice (which is probably a good thing), but I usually do keep these new carpet squares clean as a whistle....not tonight.

I'm off to bed.
Next post, McKenna's 8th birthday!

Peace,
Melle

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