The Pie Bandit and other Christmas Moments

Here's the pie bandit (so named by her grandparents, my in-laws), and otherwise known as Lucy (my niece) in action:) This one is worth big-ifying (in other words click on it!)

Michael was tearing wrapping paper into tiny little pieces with his teeth.

I'm not sure who was more interested in Christopher's stocking...him or Zoe (my s-i-l & b-i-l's dog) :) Obviously there was candy in the stocking!

Michael in action...jumping off the ottoman.

And last but not least, instead of "The Great Pumpkin" we have "The Christmas Beagle" :) She is framed in the humongous wreath we purchased 1/2 off at Michaels a few weeks ago and will get decorated, lighted and hung next year on the peak of the garage facade of our home.

A very sad end to a long weekend...

(layout from 2003)

I was busier than I ever have been at Fast Track on Saturday. There was no lull
from the moment I got there at 11:00am until the time I finally finished my last
chart at midnight (FT closes at 9pm or whenever we finish the last patient, then
I have to finish charts). We had more patients in FT, at least per provider,
than they did in the ER almost all day long. I had 10 people waiting for me at
one point, and there are only 6 rooms.

Sunday was a quieter day in the beginning, but of course that meant the evening
was busier than ever, so I got home around 11:20pm that night. The garage door
opener wouldn't work so I got out to manually open the door, and found a note on
the inside door that said to go through the FRONT, not garage door, and come
talk to Jeff RIGHT away.

Our 12 year old beagle, Reuben, had died in the early afternoon. He has
had some liver failure issues in the last 2-3 months, but had treatment, was
never jaundiced, or anything, but was obviously not feeling as well as he had.
He didn't eat well on Saturday, but Jeff said he ate his lunch with gusto on Sunday and
acted normal for awhile after that as well, but then started panting slowly and
just lying around. 15 minutes after that began, he died quietly lying down on
the laundry room rug (right in front of the garage door).

Jeff and the kids dug a deep grave in our backyard flower garden (don't tell the
authorities, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to bury animals in town...),
and at 11:30 Sunday night Jeff and I buried Reuben. I didn't get to sleep until
after 1:30am with all my reminiscing and crying and then of course the danged
storm we had kept me up half the rest of the night. Our sump pump alarm went off while
the power was out for an hour or two, and anyway, I took a TWO hour nap at the
same time as Michael Monday afternoon. TG for afternoon summer camp this week as
Christopher was having a bunch of fun while we slept away. Then there was
another brief storm and I had to wake Michael up to go get C early from camp b/c
it's outdoors.

I love pets, but today of all days I wish they lived longer than they do b/c
it's hard to lose them...

Feed the Cute Little Doggie

This one's for the reader's of Janet's blog:) Check out her post on "The Look". This is also in honor of Uno, the Westminster top dog of the year! (The first beagle to do so!) Anyway, our video was shot by DH in 2001.

A Layout a Day...

I am in a challenge to complete a layout for each day this month, so I will challenge myself to post them all here too:)

The photo/layout at the center was our Christmas photo this year. It's a digital design of mine, using www.scrapgirls.com "Blue Christmas" by Durin Eberhart and Brandy Hackman's passport embellishments, and LD Deck the Halls font. The background (which is traditional, ie "real" scrapbook paper) is from Heidi Grace and has soft, fuzzy parts like the 1980s stickers:) I also used some snowflake buttons.


This has to be the quickest page I've done in a year:) Just our Christmas letter and some MM papers. It'll be a nice year-in-review page in our album.


I'm working backwards to 1994 here. We used to go to a couple dog shows a year to scout out potential beagle breeders...that's her at left on the newspaper article (OMG look at the cute little beagles!!) And there's Jeff at the center right, videotaping me taking a picture of him (can you tell we were in college?! Cheap entertainment, lol). Most supplies are Karen Foster, and the title is from Cecelia Dossey at thescrappinpath.com and cut on the CraftRobo.

TFL,
Cheri

Scraplift from Brandy Hackman http://scrapgirls.com.ipbhost.com/index.php?autocom=gallery&req=si&img=25620 (she is my favorite digital designer!)
BHA A Little Worn Out (alpha)
BHA Mica embellishment
BHA frame
BHA Spiced Cider (ribbon and brads, recolored)
MRE Cardboard Collection Mini
DMI Embellishment: Torn Edge
S_Carling Aero kit (Sweetshoppe...blue paper)
Fonts: Arizona and Dominican (CHRISTOPHER & DAISY)

So as promised back in October, here is the photo again, all scrapbooked:)

Well I must be an official geek now- as of last week, my laptop was FULL, as in would not let me download things, could not even open a file in Photoshop. (Help, Santa!) So until I have a better solution, some of my digital scrapbooking files will have to live on the desktop.

In the last week, Michael's vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds. We know he understood most of these words before then but had yet to say them himself. In the last month he's become very good at parroting what we say, but he's now crossed the border into talking on his own initiative. Example: While shopping at Hy-Vee the other day, he pointed to the bakery and said, "cookie," plain as day. He remembered a time or two ago when Christopher was along and they got cookies. Michael even asked politely "pease" at the bakery and received his prize.

Scrapbook pages above:
Top left: Christopher with Jill (my sister-in-law) on her hospital bed right after Lucy was born. Journaling reads:

When I met Lucy 4 days after she was born, Jill mentioned she was glad she had a girl b/c if she’d had a boy, she was sure he would be “gross” like her friend’s son. Jill was full of praise that Christopher isn’t “gross” like that.

After returning home, I had to email Jill back: Jill, I thought you were thankful that Christopher isn't "gross"...but I just scrutinized the pictures from Lucy's birth day and lo and behold Christopher is sitting in your hospital bed with a WHOOPIE CUSHION!…

Jill’s reply: I don't consider that gross. I can't explain it, [the friend’s son] just is gross. That is funny though. Here I am on the day I give birth, playing with a whoopie cushion with my nephew. He was hiding it in my bed covers. I can practically imagine my speech at his wedding. :)

The layout at lower left shows Christopher and me making the carrot cake for Michael's first birthday party. Jeff stood up on the counter to get the way cool picture (very creative...two thumbs up, Jeff!)

Another two thumbs up to Jeff for the picture of Daisy...he'll have to explain the technique in the comments section, but it involves a special program that integrates 3 pictures together...one purposely underexposed, one right in the middle, and the third overexposed.

Murphy's Law

Did you ever wonder why...when it's a preschool morning, you must DRAG the preschooler out of bed whining and crying, but when he COULD sleep in an extra half-hour, he's up 45 minutes earlier than usual of his own accord?

Well anyway, if anyone ever figures out why this happens, please fill me in.

This is Christopher and Daisy on the bottom bunk. Normally, C sleeps on the top bunk and Daisy sleeps with us, but somehow this night they fell asleep together and obviously, being the good scrapbooking Mommy I am (hehe), I took a picture. Warning: You will likely see this picture again someday on a scrapbook page here.

Hope you had a good Tuesday! I harvested a couple more basil plants and made two batches of pesto this afternoon after work at the scrapbook store.

Inaugural Post

Well this is it, the inaugural post...hm, wonder how long this will last? I guess that depends on you, the reader. Funny to think no one but me even knows this exists right now! Ok, to do list for me: send out a mass email:)

I plan to put a TON of our scrapbook pages/pictures on this blog to make it easier to share with family and friends. If you see a photo here you want, let me know and I'll either print a double to get to you, email you the original (ie. large) file, or upload to walgreens.com and you can order and pick up locally.

This layout is primarily for the Thieleke's and Purcell's out there who knew and remember Max. I've been slowly but steadily scrapbooking pictures from 1994, so this is a selection of Max pics and memories from that time.

Thanks for reading!
Cheri