Double Digits or I've Been Carrying a Diaper Bag Every Day for a Decade

Love this photo. It is the essence of my Bubba's life. Always surrounded by the rest of the brood. EVEN on his big day. My oldest turned the big 1-0. Yikes. How did THAT happen?!?


We spent the morning of his birthday at...wait for it... Bass Pro Shops at Christmastime. Every 10 year old boy's dream come true. There were guns and boats, and remote control trucks involved. Ahh, this is the life. The boy deserves all he desires and then some. This kid has it all. Kindness. Smarts. Brains. Humor. Mad athletic skillz. Empathy. Compassion. And boundless energy. Plus, he has my heart for ever and ever.

Here he is enjoying the fruits of my labor. (No, not that 20 plus hours of labor followed by an emergency c/s). The 5 am door buster labor I stayed up ALL NIGHT for on Thanksgiving.
He loves his new limited edition orange DSI.

On the scrappy side of my world, I have some last projects for Croppin Paradise to share. Croppin Paradise's store is still open with tons of new product coming in daily, but they have disbanded the DT there. So, my 12 months of fun designing with the scrapbook industry's latest and greatest have come to an end. You can still get all this great stuff (Basic Grey's Jovial, Dear Lizzy Christmas, Jillibean Soup's Chestnut Soup, Crate Paper's Restoration) there...

Still playing ketchup here, so check back soon for another fun update. Hope 2011 is treating you well.

The Middle's Not So Little

sigh. deep breath. here goes nothing. 2010 is behind me. 2011 is ahead. i can see clearly now, and it's going to be a great year. it has to be. there are NO other options. I hope you enjoyed your family this holiday season. The older I get, the more time that passes, the more cemented it becomes to me, just how terribly important family is. I have been blessed with 2 of the most amazingly perfect parents ever. And now Patrick & I have been blessed with 5 of the most amazing, smart, and special children of our own. Only good things are coming, only good things.

So... enough of this horrible drivel. Lots to catch up on here. First up is my middle's 6th birthday. Big fun when you're 6 often involves strangely cute bowling shoes and Mighty Beanz...


Bubba assisting Miss Sassy on the lanes...

I told you, it doesn't get any better than this...

Seriously?!? LOOK at that smile!

ok, ok, I've got TONS of scrappiness to share. Did these for Croppin Paradise. I think I may love this Dear Lizzy line even more than her debut Spring line. It is THAT yummy...

Made this one for CP, too. It was my part of the 12 Days of Christmas we featured. (I told you I was behind)! I never give away stuff I make. I'm very selfish that way. But, this one I made just for Mom. It was worth it, oh so worth it.

This one uses some fun stash and a Studio Calico exclusive pp, too. This one was for Scrapbook Express's December Progressive Layout Challenge. Never done one of those before, let alone help organize one, but it was SO much fun!

October Afternoon hit another homerun with this Seaside line. You can find it in the Scrapbook Express Store HERE.

Hope you're not sick of banners yet...

A little Alphabet Soup love for Scrapbook Express...

And, I can't leave out Scrap That Baby's last prompt for 2010...

Lots more to catch up on. Thanks for listening. I treasure each and every visit you make here and each and every comment you leave. Happy 2011! Jenny

Meeting Miss Scarlet

Hiya!! Waving furiously & jumping up and down to get your attention. Alot has gone in my not so simple little life. I would never bog you down with the dirty details, just know it's been a character building time in our family's life. And, we done be filled up to our gills in character. Probably enough to last a lifetime. But, that which doesn't kill you only makes you stronger... Man, you should see my pipes!

But, that's not why you're here. You're here for some crafty inspiration and a chuckle or two to help get you through YOUR character building life. So, without further delay... I've been asked, more than once, how I get everything done that I do. I mean, I AM a mom of five and the wife of a man who serves our country. Well, it's simple. I make lists and break the bigger tasks into more manageable steps. Like blogging, for instance. I typically keep a list of things I'd like to chat about and use that as a reference when I sit down to upload photos (both chaos-related, ahem, family-related and crafty) for the post. Then, in the evenings, after the dinner crumbs have been brushed away and in between preparing lunches and pulling five sets of clothes for the following day, I sit down with my lappy and compose a post to go along with the selected photos.

So... that's how you arrive at my blog today with Sassy climbing out of a trailer that LOOKS to be filled with the cold white stuff we know as snow. Well, that would be the case IF I prepared this post today, but alas, this post was started back in October when the walls started coming in around me personally. I just couldn't let this special day I spent with the twins and their classmates go by without me mentioning it here. Frick and Frack on their first fieldtrip... at the farm.

Some scrappiness using MME's Alphabet Soup. Love this bright, happy fun line. Did these for Scrapbook Express.

Random goodness...

A fun Sassafras page for Croppin Paradise. All of these goodies are still available in the stores.

Even though things have been off, I still have TONS of fun scrappy assignments to share, so be back soon, k?

THEY Are Why I Keep Going

Still kicking. I am. Still kicking. I figure if I keep repeating this, I will believe it and carry on.

Back to your regular programming, already in progress. The Fab Five on my favorite non-red/green holiday...

The Bigs on Storybook Character Day at school. Tell me again why we can't dress up for the Halloween, but we can do THIS which magically falls on the Friday before Halloween?!? She's Fancy Nancy. p.s. I made those silly shirts for the boys.

Football season/cheer season ended with Little Bit's cheer competition. So proud am i.

yep, put that Cricut to good use...

No words... I took 100's of pictures, I totally took it easy on you. Meet Tinkerbell & Peter Pan, Luigi of the Mario Bros, Alex Russo of Wizards of Waverly Place, and Captain Rex of the new Star Wars.

Did these for Croppin Paradise's Fright Night Crop and for the blog...

Hosting the newletter article/challenge over at Scrapbook Express this week. Come play with us...

More Scrapbook Express goodness...Don't ya just love that new Tim Holtz paper rosette die?!

This is my November kit at Scrapbook Express. You can buy everything you need to make this including detailed instructions by yours truly.

And this last one I did expressly for Scrapstreet Magazine and Scrap That Baby. My very first pub. Love how it turned out. You can see it all here. That's me in all my glory on page 44.