The Love of the Savior Part 2

So how was your Saturday? Did you do something fun? Christmas shopping? Decorating? Anything? It started out a little frustrating at our house. Captain America called at 7:30am to chat. We decided that at 8:30am we'd try and get the webcam and speakers/microphone set up, so that the kids could talk with their dad. It started off good, but then suddenly stopped working. RRRRGH!!! Hate it when it does that.

By 10:30am, we finally had it up and working again. We had to get Captain Americas little brother from St. Louis to take over my computer to fix it. Thank goodness for Remote Assistance (and geeky brother-in-laws! - LOL). It was SO fun to watch my kids interact with their Dad. They were laughing and having fun. It was AWESOME! Definately a memory maker.

My mom decorated the tree yesterday. She has GORGEOUS decorations for her tree. I'm a bit worried for their safety, though. I sure hope that Jim (the 3 year old) is able to keep his hands off of the ornaments. They're SO tempting.

Not bad for a free tree from the woods, eh?

Yesterday at the Church building, we had a Creche festival. Everyone came and set up their nativity scene (creche) in the morning, then it was open to the public from 10-5, to come and view all of the cool scenes. We'd gone to a few of them in the past, and had a great time. I just LOVE to see all of the nativity scenes, and really wanted my kids to go and see it too.

Check out Jake (11) and Tom (9) 's faces. Yeah, they're THRILLED to be there. It's JUST what they wanted to do with their Saturday. This was after I told them that they had to look at ALL of the creches, tell me which was their favorite, and WHY it was their favorite, BEFORE they could get the cookie refreshments.

This one was really cool.

Here's a view of quite a few nativity scenes.

This one was pretty impressive also.

This one was hilarious!!! The Boy Scouts carved a nativity scene out of SOAP! LOL!

OK, and here's our favorites. This one was mine. I liked it because the people were so TALL, and cool looking.

This is Eme's favorite because of the colors, and the gold, and the jewels.

This is Jim and Tom's favorite, because it had so many pieces.

This is Joe's favorite because it's snowmen (not penguins, like I kept saying)

This one is Jacob's favorite, because they're dogs. LOL!

So after the Creche festival, I decided to take the kids to the library. My mom took her other grandaughter, Taylor, there too. The kids had a TON of fun hanging out there. Let me tell you, as librarys go, this one's childrens department is HANDS DOWN the best! My kids LOVE to go there and play with ALL the toys.

Here's my mom and dad, sitting at the little kids table.

Here's Tom at the dress up station. He didn't realize that the bagged toys were to check out, not to play with. How cool is that, that the library has check out-able toys . LOL!

Jimmy with his favorite toy at the library - the train.

Joe at the coloring table. Yep, it always looks like this - hehehe.

Eme at the kitchen, with all the food.

Jacob and the wooden castle. He thought it was SO awesome. I have to agree :)

Ha! The one time I actually read a book to my kid, someone snaps a picture, and I look like a GREAT parent. Hehehehe. I really do need to take more time to read to them :)

Joe and I dressing up. What, didn't I tell you that I LOVE to play dress up?

Ha! This on'es a little bit scary. Hehehehe.

Here's Eme and Taylor, wearing the kings crowns. Aren't they adorable!

And yep, here's me again. Don't know what this hat is supposed to be - LOL! But Joe is a construction worker.

So after the library, we headed out to Fred Meyers. Santa was there, and the photo lab was taking pictures of Santa and the kids. They said we could come back the next day and pic up our FREE picture. How cool is that? We got one of each kid (minus Jacob - he's like "I know there's no Santa" and we were like "SHHHHH", little kids!) and a group shot. We'll pick them up on Monday.

There's Joe sitting on Santa's lap.

After the library and Santa, we went back home, and got the kids fed dinner, then got ready to go to my mom's work party. I was invited to go with them! Woohoo! Grown up time - LOL! Grandma Ida came over to watch the kids. Thank you Grandma!!!!!

We drove up the coast to Yachats (ya-ha-ts), and went to dinner at the Adobe. We were in a conference room, and it was catered. TONS of yummy food! I had salad, potato salad, bean salad, cucumber salad, garbanzo bean salad (sounds like a lot, but it was a small plate, small spoonfulls), AWESOME cheeses (my favorite was in a rind, and was creamy in the inside - didn't know how to eat it, so I just smeared it out with my finger and licked my finger- yeah, I've got some killer manners, I know), cucumbers, a roll, red snapper (fish), rice pilaf, some chicken in a creamy sauce, and beef. OH MY GOODNESS! Can you say yummy? It was awesome :)

See the guy in the red shirt? That's Mr. Grano, my 8th grade Language Arts teacher. His wife works with my mom. How cool is that? What a great guy. His son, Seth, graduated the same year as me. It was kinda fun chatting with an old teacher.

Check out these KILLER desserts. I picked the Cheesecake because I was SO craving it. But the chocolate cake was better than amazing. Imagine fudge, but in a cake shape. Seriously. It was THAT chocolately. HOLY CRAP! If I'm here next year (I'm shooting myself - no, no, just kidding), I'm getting THAT dessert!

We had a White Elephant exchange too. Everyone brought a gift for the game. We brought a tree decoration, a baggie of teddy bear pins, and a box of cherry chocolates. So, everyone picks a gift that they DIDN'T bring, and sits in a circle. Then, mom's boss read this REALLY funny story about Mr. & Mrs. Right. See, when the story said RIGHT, you pass your gift to the right, and when the story says LEFT, you pass it to the left. When the story is all finished, you get the gift in your possession. It was SO funny to watch these people who'd been drinking play the game. Ha! Too funny :)

I ended up with a real soft teddy bear (which I'm saving for a christmas present for one of my kids), mom got a mini address book, and my dad got an old copy of the book, The Stepford Wifes (LMBO!).

After that, we had a Sing-A-Long. I do love me a sing-a-long! We kinda-sorta took the song sheet home with us when we left - LOL! Now we have a GREAT compilation of songs to sing when we go carolling this year. Woohoo!!!

Here's a pic of my mom and I at our table. We took about 4 pics, and the first one was the best - Ha!

And, I thought I'd share what our TALL tree in the front yard with the lights looks like. Isn't it AWESOME! You can see it the second you pull onto our street. It's pretty tall - hehehe.

Pfew! Are you guys still there? Well, at least there were pictures to keep you interested - not just boring Bethany ramblings - hehehe.

Don't forget, the 12 Days of Christmas at Scraporchard starts on Friday!!!

Here's the 2nd part of my Love of the Savior WordArt. Click on the image below to go to my box.net account and download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

FONTS:
Love - Felix Tilting
Savior - Stephanie Marie JF

The Love of the Savior Part 1

My dad got off work early yesterday, and he and I put up the outside lights in our yard. Well, he mostly put up the lights, I was mostly moral support. Ha! But I'm great moral support. If any of you need someone to come and cheer them on, and offer moral support, I'm your girl - hehehe. Anyway, in joking, I said that he should put some lights in our tall poplar tree in the front yard. Well, Dad being the logger that he is, got out the ladder, then proceeded to climb up the tree. I was SO afraid that he was gonna fall down and kill himself. But, all was well.

Check out these pics, though. He's there in the tree. That's WAY off the ground. Of course, I'm afraid to go higher than the 3rd rung of the ladder. Did I mention that I was afraid of heights - LOL! Anyway, here's some "monkey" pics of my dad. He did a SUPER jobs with our Christmas lights this year! Awesome job, Dad!

Look close, that's him up in the tree. Look in the tree, past the green, in with the blue sky. He's there!

I didn't think it looked sturdy enough, but he seemed pretty confident.

I just loved this shot, for some reason :)

It may not look that far up, but look how tiny that big ladder is. He's a good 3 ladder lengths up that tree. You go, Dad!

Well, after dinner I told my 6th grader that he needed to go over his homework for the weekend, and show me his progress report. 40% in all classes. What's up with that? He a solid A/B student. I looked at it, and he just didn't turn in 60% of the assignments. And I know he's doing them, because we work on them every night. I took away TV and Computer until the assignments were found and accounted for. Let me tell ya, that didn't go over well. Apparently I'm a mean mom, and he hates me. The fun begins.

I called his dad (luckily he had a pass tonight, so he was cell phone available), and they had a little "Talk". Captain America's so good with Jacob. He knows just what to tell him to motivate him. I used to be good at that, but I'm WAY tapped out right now. Anyway, Captain America got him back to acting civil, and I wasn't hated so much anymore.

My mom and I sat with Jacob for a good hour, going through his trapper, finding a WHOLE stack of papers, sorting, organizing. Now granted, he was sick for 3 days, and had a ton of make up work (which he did). But come on, if you go through the trouble of doing the work, at least turn it in. Anyway, it's all sorted by subject, in order of date, ready to turn in on Monday. He has 2 or 3 make-up assignments that he needs to get the handouts for on Monday, and about 8 pieces of homework to do this weekend. I told him that once he completed the "this weekend" homework, the computer/tv privileges would be restored.

So I'm stil not on the top of his nice list, but I'm not public enemy #1 anymore. I guess during the teen (or pre-teen) years, if you're hated, you're doing something right. Sigh. Have we started that ALREADY?

So, we're doing the 12 Days of Christmas over at the Orchard. Each designer gets to do a sale, freebie, whatever she wants for the day. I'm gonna give out a freebie. A 6 piece set, all in one zip file. Aren't you SO excited! You're gonna like it. So, below is a list of all the girls who are playing. It's starts on Friday the 12th (MY B-DAY!!!), and I'm day 5. So that's the 16th. I'll post a little reminder here each day, just so you don't forget. We're only leaving the links up for one day, so get it fast!

So I decided that since I move around WAY TOO MUCH, and all my IRL (in real life) friends may not have a clue where I actually live (LMBO!), that you guys should send me Christmas cards - hehehe. You guys are my digifriends, and I'm SO grateful for all of you!!!! And, that way, I can decorate a wall at my moms house with Christmas cards like I usually do at home. Isn't that a FANTABULOUS plan? hehehe. Here's my address (see, I'm serious - LOL)

Bethany Harty
PO BOX 857
Florence OR 97439

And why not sweeten the pot. If you send me a Christmas card in the mail, be sure and include your email address, and I'll send you a free WordArt pack (email cards don't count for the free pack). Is that like paying people to send me Christmas cards - ha! Oh well, if it fills up my wall......

I had a TON of positive comments about my Mom's Christmas card saying this year, so I decided to give it away to you guys. One today, one Sunday, and one on Monday. She really does have a way with words. Thanks again, Mom! You're fabulous :) Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
Stephanie Marie JF

I Can Do Anything

Just so you know, this is a VERY long post. I guess I'm just feeling chatty. So, as a warning, this is big - hehehe. But you know you wanna read it - hehehe. Cause I'm just so entertaining - LMBO!

OK, and now for the Aunt Shirley story. hehehe. So, Aunt Shirley is my Mom (Lyn)'s Mom (Ida)'s sister. So that makes her my great aunt. How old is she? hmmmm, like 70 or so. At least that. Grandma Ida is 78, hmmm, 70 is about right. Anyway.

Aunt Shirley's husband died about 6 months ago, so for this Thanksgiving, she decided to go to Washington State with her daughter, Cheryl and son-in law Terry. On the way home, they stopped at a gas station about an hour from Florence (home) and got gas. They got done, pulled out of the gas station, barely got back up to speed (35 mph) on Highway 99 (just this side of Junction City) (4 lane highway). Aunt Shirley got up from the front to go to bed, and stumbled, fell against the unlocked door, and it came open. Out she went. Thump. Boom. Crash.

It's the kind of motor home that when you open the door, stairs come out. She fell out backwards!!! So, she hit the stairs, and then the road. Good thing the stairs were there, or she may have been ran over. Also good thing that he was in the outside lane, so that when she fell out, there were no cars there to run her over. Holy cow!

Once they noticed that she had fallen out, Terry slowly slowed down (he didn't want to run her over), and Cheryl jumped from the (slowly) moving motor home before it got completely stopped, and got almost as hurt as Aunt Shirley. So, Aunt Shirley ended up with a huge know on her head where she landed (they used frozen french fries as an ice pack) bruises on her body, a bangded up ear, and a tiny missing patch of hair. Amazing. It could have been SO much worse.

Here's a picture of Aunt Shirley's ear with a week's worth of healing. Poor Aunt Shirley. Morale of the story is: LOCK THE MOTOR HOME DOOR when you're traveling. Goodness!

And, happier news - hehehe - my dad, the logger, was at work the other day, and were moving equipment to a new show (job site).

Lets see if I can explain what he does. OK, cutters come in, and cut down trees. But not all of them. They always leave some "straggler" trees. Then, my dad is in charge of extracting the trees. And it's not like farm land. No flat areas. Imagine the side of a STEEP hill (mountain, more like it)

Anyway, so they're at a new show, and the cutters have been in already, and he's getting ready to get his crew doing their job, and he sees, in the "straggler" trees, 4 PERFECT Christmas trees. Now, they were in the path of what would probably be the "road" anyway, so he cut the down, and brought them home for us!!!

There's one for my mom and dad, one for Captain America and I at the cabin at Baker, one for my sister's in-laws, and one for my friend, Maren. We're SO excited! Do you know how much a real Christmas tree goes for? Like $25 bucks, at the cheapest. That's insane! FREE is a much better price :) And they're not really Charlie Brown, either. Sometimes when you get trees from the woods, they're pretty Charlie Brown-ish. I'll post some good pics when we decorate the tree on Saturday :)

My dad brought the 4 trees home on the flatbed truck.

Jimmy wasn't so sure about being put up on the flatbed. But he was a good sport. Papa kept trying to drop the tree on him, and it was kinda freaking him out - LOL! Maybe he'll leave the tree alone this year - hehehe.

Another view of our 4 trees. My mom's camera actually did good pictures, considering it was pitch black outside :)

My dad, untie-ing the tree

See, it's a very pretty tree, don't ya think?

And, the little boys, watching the tree fun. Look at Joe (kid in the orange). Hehehehe, he went to the public library wearing that outfit. Ha! Tie dyed shirt, white undershirt, orange shirt (and in that order), then those jammie pants, with too short sweat pants over those, so that there was a jammie pant cuff at the bottom. Yeah, he's a classy dresser. I almost made him change, then I decided, who cares if he clashes. He piced out his outfit himself, and he was quite proud of it. Who am I to be the destroyer of fashion - hehehe.

Oh yeah, and talking about library. We went to the library today for a VERY fun after school thing they were doing there. Our school district has "early release" every Thursday. School gets out an hour early. So, the library has "GAMING" every Thursday, from 2:30 -5:00 pm. They set up 2 Wii systems, and let the kids play games. My boys had a BLAST! Jacob rode the bus home with a friend who lived near the library, then walked over. I brought the other kids up a bit later.

They really did have a good time. They played some Rabbit game. They let me play a few rounds with them. Hehehehe. In one game, the shook up soda, then drank it, then had burping contests. Who thinks up this stuff? LOL! But, the boys liked it. The one I played was some fart (we say flatch - hehehe) racing thing. That's what propelled our rabbits. Weird. I wasn't very good. I was last every time. I guess I need to refine my Wii skills - hehehe. I was thinking that it would be a fun Christmas present for my kids next year.

This really is turning into a Gi-normous blog post. Hehehe. I went to book group tonight. I almost didn't go, and was 30 minutes late, but still went. I'd actually read the book, so I figured I ought to go. I put the little kids to bed, and my mom watched the big ones.

We read 'The Giver", by Lois Lowry. It's a novel, set in the future, that at first appears to be a utopian society, but the longer it goes on, the more "problems" we see with their society. It really was a good book, and gave us lots to discuss. There's a reason why man has "free agency" or the ability to choose for himself. When you take away all choice, you take away, well, everything. The ability to choose is what makes us who we are. This society was devoid of feelings, devoid of love, devoid of emotion. SO not how it was meant to be.

Some of the girls talked about how "blessed" they felt, and how they had never known war, or poverty, or the bad things in life. How they felt removed from it all. You know, I do feel "blessed" for the things that I have, but I didn't really relate to those girls. My life is anything but stable. Yes, I have a husband who I love, and 5 loving children, but I have no "home". My husband is training to become a soldier (yeah, not so safe). We're poor (yeah, not really a good way to sugar coat that one - too much debt, house in Chicago going into forclosure because it won't sell). Most of them have husbands with stable jobs, nice homes, nice things, spending money. I guess sometimes I feel a bit more "in" (rather than removed from) the hardships of life than them. And I don't even have it bad. I know that there are SO many more who have it worse than I do.

But you know what. As much as I would like to trade it all away some days, I don't really think I would. I know that each experience I have teaches me something important. I don't always see the benefit immediately, but I know that it's for a purpose. I know that these seemingly hard lessons now will pay off someday. Maybe I'll need the experience to help someone else. Maybe I'll have to do something even bigger, harder, that this will be preparing me for. I don't know. But one lesson that that book drove home to me, is that without the pain, without the trials, without the hard time, we can't appreciate the good, the joy, the happy times. I know this is true. The saying "Opposition in all things" is SO true. We can't truly know the sweet without the bitter.

SO, this is getting quite lengthy, but remember, our trials are here to teach us something, to make us stronger, to make us better people. We all have trails. Try and learn from yours, and make yourself better because of it. I know we all can :)

OK, that's enough of that - heheheh. Are you still awake and reading?

On to WordArt, the REAL reason you are all here. This WordArt request is from Linda. Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
Anything - Viceroy JF
All rest - Triac 71

Prince Daddy

Woohoo!!! New stuff is here a bit early this week :) Here's a sneak peak ot the new stuff I have releasing this Friday. 2 Attitude packs, and 3 Christmas packs. I just LOVE Christmas, don't you? hehehe. I should have at least a few more next week, too!

Click HERE to get the pack for 20% off

Click HERE to get the pack for 20% off

Click HERE to get the pack for 20% off

Click HERE to get the pack for 20% off

Click HERE to get the pack for 20% off

Wanna see the Christmas Card I made for my Mom last night? She's gonna get them developed at Freddys (Fred Meyer, kinda like Walmart, but more expensive), then attached them to a small ornament, and give thm to her friends. They're gonna be SO cute! We had fun making it up last night. AND, she came up with the text. Isn't it just PERFECT. I may be giving away the WordArt text as a 3 part series. What do ya think? Something you'd be interested in?

Kits - Ziggle Designs (White Christmas & Effloresence)
WordArt - Elegant WordArt by Bethany (ME!!)
Quote - Lyn Winona (my mom :)

I got to talk to my hubby twice today :) Usually it's just once, and from about 6:30-7:00pm. But he called once during the day today, then at about 6. You know, its really nice to chat with your man :) And, I could hear laughing and joking going on in the background, and he kept laughing at something someone else was saying. You know what. I really miss his laugh. It brought the biggest smile to my face, just hearing him laughing and joking with his friends. I sure miss him.

I spent another fun day at Marens house, but this time, I remembered to bring my laptop home - LOL! It really was a busy day. Kids off to school at 8am. I had preschool in the morning, and bearly got Joe on his bus, lunch with Aunt Sue, Uncle Steve, Grandma Ida, and my Mom (and Jimmy, of course) at McDonalds (playland). Went to a resale store with Maren after that, then to the grocery stores, then to Marens house. Then back home at bedtime. My days are CRAZY busy, but it's sure making my little countdown ticker on the side of my blog ZOOM by :) Any day now, I'll have my hubby here for 2 WHOLE WEEKS, all to myself :) Can you tell I'm just a little bit excited - LOL

OK, no Aunt Shirley story today. Maybe tomorrow - LOL! My mom is gonna try and get a pic of her. You can't have a great blog story without pictures. I know, I know, I'm bad. Poor Aunt Shirley :)

This WordArt request comes from Hannah. What a cute saying :) Gotta make sure I get a real cute pic of Eme and her daddy at Christmas time. It would make a CUTE layout - see, that's when you know you're lost forever, when you start thinking about life in terms of "layouts'. Hehehehe. Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
Prince - Al Sandra
Daddy - Hursheys

Take Your Breath Away

So, I'm blogging from my mom's computer tonight (pre-publish, remember :). I accidentally left my laptop over at Maren's house yesterday. How did I POSSIBLY do that? I swear, I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached. hehehehe. I'd probably lose a kid if they didn't keep coming back on their own - LOL!

Now I'm at a loss as to what to do. What DID we do before the computer took over our lives? How did we possibly survive - LOL!

Well, tomorrow, I'm gonna blog about my great aunt who fell out of the motorhome on the interstate. Seriously! She's fine, got some bruises and such, but HOLY COW! How does one fall out of a moving motorhome on the interstate. Goodness! Yeah, so that story tomorrow :)

Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to download the zip file, but remember that you need to be logged into the gallery to get the WordArt. And don't forget to leave some love if you like my work :) thanks!!!

Aunt

So I watched Twilight the other night, and it was FABULOUS. I thought that Kristen Stewart was PERFECT as Bella. Exactly as I imagined her as I read the books. I even liked Edward. I just liked it all around :)

I went shopping at the thrift store today, and found some really fun clothes for my Birthday. My B-day is on the 12th, and since my hubby isn't gonna be here, I went shopping for him. Aren't I a nice wife - LOL! He got me (hehehe) 4 skirts, 3 sweaters, and a brown shirt. And only 2 of them were black - LOL! If you know me, you know how much black I own. LMBO! And all for about $30. I just LOVE thrift stores.

My friend Maren's hubby is Coast Guard, and he's on a training for the week, so of course, I've been at Marens non stop - LOL! I was at her house at noon-ish, then left for Cub Scouts at 5:30 ish, then was back after Cub Scouts, and left for home at 8:00 ish. We had SUCH a good time :) I'd definitely recommend getting a best girl friend. Never really had one of those before (well, since high school), and it's WONDERFUL :) Love ya, Maren!!!

This WordArt request is from Lindsay. I thought it was pretty cute. Most of you probably have aunt, or are an aunt (hehehe), so hopefully you can all use it :) Don't you just LOVE this font? LokiCola is one of my favorites. Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work :)

FONTS:
Aunt, hugs, secrets, love - LokiCola

Practice Baby

Another day is over, another new day is here. I think my ticker says 18 days till my sweetheart comes home for a visit. Woohoo!!! I'm starting to get excited.

My mom and I sat down yesterday and calendared all of our December activities. Holy cow! There's a lot going on in the month of December, you know! I think we should split up the activities in December, and spread it throughout the rest of the year. Doesn't that sound like a good plan? LOL.

Church was good today. But really, I can't wait till my youngest is old enough to sit revently. My 5 year old has it MOSTLY down. My older kids do a pretty good job. But the 3 year old, oh my heck! Somedays I wonder why I got - hehehe. But I know, I know, there's a reason for my madness. I'm teaching my kids that mom thinks going to church is important. Even when she's not having fun. Even when she doesn't get anything out of it. Even when it's hard. Even when Dad's not there. We go to church. I know it'll be good in the long run.

In primary (kids age 3-11), we made a video of what we typically do on a Sunday at primary, to send to kids in India. We have an older missionary couple (The Eichelbergers - scroll down for some India pics) serving in India, and she asked if we'd do it. So of course we said yes :) The kids had a lot of fun making the video.

After church, we had a nice relaxing afternoon. And I even got to FINALLY get to my email inbox. I started with 103 messages, and got it down to 30ish. Not too bad, eh? I even did my freebie requests for the next week - ha! Some days I am on top of it all. Next project is freebies for the 2 weeks my hubby is here (did I mention that there's not internet at the cabin we're renting????), and the week I go to Georgia for graduation. Now THAT would be a real accomplishment :)

Hehehe, yeah, this one goes along with yesterdays WordArt, eh? But this one is a request. I just happens to fall back to back with another baby quote. Oh well, you guys like baby WordArt, right? This request is from Winifred. Hope you like it, girl!

Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

FONTS:
Practice - LandSpeedRecord
Baby - Stephanie Marie JF

I Replaced the Dog

We had a b-day party last night for my Aunt Sue. Happy Birthday, by the way!!! (LOVE you, Aunt Sue!) It was a lot of fun. I invited my friend, Maren, and her son Clay (Jacob's age). The grown ups were all watching the Oregon/Oregon State game. Any Duck/Beaver fans out there? Not much of a football fan, myself and my man likes Big 10 teams. So I didn't really care one way of the other. BUT, some in the room did.

In fact, my 12 year old nephew had a bet going with his teacher. If OSU won, the teacher was gonna take Nick out to lunch. BUT, if UofO won, Nick had to shave his head. And this boy has a TON of hair. Well, I think the final score was 65 (ducks) to 38 (beavers). Poor Nick. He was lamenting his failed bet all evening. Well, I guess that's why you don't bet - hehehe. But, I do think he'll look much nicer with his short hair cut. But then, I'm a bit partial to short haired men - LMBO!

I can't believe I blogged about football - my husband would be proud (even if it wasn't for his team - go Illini!)

You know what. I just LOVE the Christmas season. People are happy. People are thinking about the things that matter the most. Families are getting together. We rememeber the TRUE meaning and reason for Christmas. AND, there are a TON of great Christmas movies on TV. I know, how commercial of me, but have you guys WATCHED them? They are SO feel good :) Christmas AND love story. What could be better :)

Hey, I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who bought WordArt from me this weekend at the FARMERS MARKET SALE! You guys TOTALLY rock! I was worrying about Christmas last week, and wasn't quite sure what I was gonna do, but you girls TOTALLY took care of me :) The sales came pouring in, and it's gonna be a Merry Christmas this year - hehehe. AND, thanks for all of the kind words you girls left over at DST. You are TOO sweet :) *blushing*

So I was doing some research the other day for a new WordArt pack called "Infant Attitude WordArt pack", and only used 4 of the quotes. This is one that didn't make the pack, and I thought I'd give it to you guys :) And yes, I included the cat version, for all of you cat lovers - hehehe. Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
I, Replaced, The - Will&Grace
Cat- Stamped DSG

Retail Therapy

So, I decided to do some Black Friday Shopping. No, I didn't wake up at the butt crack of dawn (would have kinda liked to, but no), but we did go. After a morning at home, I loaded the kids up in the truck, and we drove an hour to the "city". We went to Coos Bay, and played at the park for an hour. It was the same park that we used to go to when my 2 oldest were little. That was kinda fun.

My mom and dad were gonna meet us down there after she got off work (Dad had the week off) at 1-ish. After the park, we decided to go to the movies. Now, I usually don't go to the movies, since they're SO expensive, but I figured that it was the day after Thanksgiving, and we hadn't been in a VERY long time, and I needed a break. So, we went to see "Bolt". Great movie! The kids were very good, too. I sat by Eme and Jim. Tom and Joe sat in front of us, and Jake sat off to the side a bit. The theater was only about 2/3 full, and all with families. So it was very kid friendly. I was a little worried, since I was taking 5 children to the theater by myself, but it tured out great :)

Then, we headed over to the Dollar Tree. I gave each kid a basket, and told them to pick out one present for each sibling, and parent. They each needed 6 things in their basket when they were done. With a little coaching, they picked out presents for everyone. It was pretty fun, but VERY hectic. My eyes were bugging a little when we finally got to the truck. Keeping track of that many kids and letting them have the freedom to browse was a very fine line - hehehe. But, I left with all 5 kids, so I count that as a success.

I decided that my next paycheck from Scraporchard would fund Christmas this year, and since my sales is going SO well, we went Santa shopping ($50 per child - what do you guys do?) Now, doing this with 5 children is a bit tricky. My parents had caught up with me at this point, and we all headed to Wal-Mart. Once in, we told the kids to look for things they'd like for Christmas from Santa. We put it in the cart, so that we could "write it down easier" for Santa. Good ploy, eh? We found stuff for Jim (from Cars, of course), Tom (Star Wars stuff), Joe (fakie GI Joes/Star Wars), and Eme (dolls, stuffed animals, and Littlest Pet Shop). Jacob wanted to save his money. I still can't believe we actually fooled them. Yeah, we're just putting it in the "we're thinking about it" cart - hehehehe.

I wasn't sure what Captain America and I were gonna get the kids this year, but decided to go with a family movie (Doctor Who Season 4) jogging suits, and jammie pants. Even Captain America and I got the jogging suits. They were pretty cool. Eme, Joe, and Jim's were only $4 (pants and jacket), and Captain America, mine, Tom's and Jakes were $8. The Christmas jammie pants (well, the little kids got jammie pants and tops) were pretty fun. Everyone needs new jammies every once in a while. Plus, Walmart had a TON of $2.00 movies, and who can pass up a movie for $2.00. Hmmmm, what else did I get. Oh yeah, a memory card for my camera, 2G for only $7.00, and an $8.00 pair of LEI jeans. That was a sweet deal :) That was it, I think.

We did dinner at Burger King, because it was close. The kids were STARVING, and it was the most quite we'd seem them all night. Wow, they were intent on that food. LOL! They each got crowns, and of course, Jimmy wanted me to wear his, so of course, I played along. I DO love wearing BK crowns, don't you know :)

We decided to hit K-Mart (although I'd already spent my wad) on the way home. On the way, we swung by Goodwill to let my mom look for something, and I went on in, leaving Jacob in charge of the kids for a few minutes. When I got back to the truck, I again noticed the crown on my head. Hehehehe. I bet the Goodwill ladies liked that - I didn't even have kids with me to play it off - LOL!

When we got to the KMart parking lot, I took off the crown, and Jacob said "Oh good, cause it doesn't really matter if you wear a crown to Goodwill, because no one shops there. But EVERYONE shops at KMart". Yeah, see, I teach my kids right. LMBO! Let's dress up to go to Wal-Mart/K-mart - hehehehe. Too funny.

Didn't really get anything at Kmart (besides pull-ups, which were on sale for $6.50, and something else. Can't remember now.)

Then, we headed home. The little kids all fell asleep. About 1/2 way home, while passing through Reedsport, a policeman pulled out behind me, and followed me through town. Then he pulled me over. Great. I KNEW I was going the speed limit, because I put the cruise on when I saw him pull out.

Well, he said that I kept going over the white line, and wanted to know if I'd been drinking - LMBO! Um, no, no alcohol for me. I just have a MONSTER of a truck, and it fades really bad. He took my license, registration, and insurance, and after a few minutes, let me go. He just said "Well, next time the police are behind you, make sure you drive straight". Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. At least I didn't get a ticket. That would have been a real downer on the trip - LOL!

Mom and I got the little kids to bed when we got home, then wrapped presents. We're taking the Santa presents to my Aunts house, so no one finds them - hehehe. I have a VERY sneaky 9 year old. When he was a little kid, we used to call him Sneaky Tom, and he's never grown out of it - hehehe. We stayed up WAY too late (it's 1:46am, and I'm still blogging - hehehe), but had a lot of fun. PLEASE, little kids, let me sleep in!

Anyway, I love shopping :) Which is why I made this WordArt :) Hope you all like it, and if you're anything like me, you can use this WordArt too! Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file :) Thanks!

FONT:
Retail - FontleroyBrown
Therapy - Felix Tilting

Sweet Time

So, how are we all doing today? Did we survive the food from yesterday? We had our "dinner" at 2pm, and my 7pm I was ready for another piece of pie, but that's all I had. Goodness, I ate a lot at dinner. I'm afraid to weigh today. Oh my - LOL! I did get TONS of pics of the food, though, and I'm SO excited about scrapping it. I just LOVE food - hehehe.

So, after Turkey dinner, we cam back home, and I think I must have had a little melt down. Maybe having my sweetheart gone for a major holiday was getting to me. Maybe being at a house that isn't my own for 122 days is finally taking it's toll. Maybe my kids were just tired and had too much sugar. I don't know. But I just needed a really good cry. Well, you kinda need a bedroom for that, now don't ya. I coudln't just cry at the kitchen table, with everyone coming and going. So, I had to wait for everyone to go to bed to get my "really good cry" in. Luckily, my hubbys was back from his evening out with the guys, and we "yahoo'ed" each other, and he let me cry to him, and I felt much better. Amazing, how good you feel after a really good cry :) I'm ready for the next 21 days until he gets here! I CAN DO THIS :)

Well, my Farmers Market is going FABULOUS! Hope you girls are having fun shopping there :) Any of you going out in the WEE early hours of morn to get a good sale? I did it last year, but am not gonna this year. My mom has to work, and I never did get ahold of my friend Maren to see what her plans were. Oh well, maybe next year :)

BUT, I am getting excited for Christmas. Now that Thanksgiving is officially over, it's time to the Christmas Season to start. I've tuned into the radio station that plays continuous Christmas songs, and my blog is all tricked out. Let the holidays begin!!!

This WordArt request is from Kim. I thought it fit my mood yesterday. I was ready for some happiness to finally find its way to me :) LOL. Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
Sweet- Hyrule
Time - Hursheys

Nobler and Stronger (And HAPPY THANKSGIVING)

Hey, don't forget to hop on over to Scraporchard and check out the "FARMERS MARKET" sale! All of my WordArt packs are in there, for $1 each! It's too good to pay by!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Hope that you guys are enjoying your day, spending time with your family and friends! My kids and I are going to my Aunts house. My Grandma, my parents, and my Aunts friends will be there. Should be a GREAT time :) Well, how could it not be with ALL THAT FOOD!!! LOL! I went to my friend Maren's house today to make Thanksgiving food. She's and her family are going to Reedsport (30 minutes away) for dinner with friends.

Anyway, we made stuffing for her dinner, a cheeseball for my dinner, an apple and apple berry pie for her dinner, and Deep Dish Oatmeal Pie for my dinner. Oh yeah, did I ever give you guys that recipe? I don't think I did. Here it is, in case I forget again - LOL!We had a GREAT time :) I enjoy Maren, and am SO glad that I found her as a friend! I haven't really had a "girl" friend that I called all the time, and did stuff with, and shared stuff with before. This is AWESOME. So Maren, if you're reading this, I'm SO glad that we're friends! Everone should have a friend just like you!!!

My hubby is eating Thanksgiving dinner in the cafeteria with all the guys. I sure wish he was here with us. But, its only about 24 days till he comes home for X-Mas. I'm gonna keep that in mind tomorrow :)

OK, sad news here. My friend, LD, the graphic designer/cowboy, was injured a few months ago on one of his horses, and suffered a complication a few weeks ago from it. The poor guy! He had an aneurism, then a stroke.

He's really one of the nicest guys that I've met, and LOVES his family (especially his wife), and is so sweet. I really feel for the poor thing! His wife and him are SO in love, it's the cutest thing I've ever seen. He buys custom WordArts for her all the time. The lovey dovey kind that we just WISH our men would do for us.

So, this WordArt is for him. I really hope that he gets better quickly. His wife is gonna read this to him, so if you all would PRETTY PLEASE leave him a note of encouragement, I'd really appreciate it :) Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
Nobler - York Script ES
Stronger - Will&Grace

AND, since it's Thanksgiving, and I'm SO thankful for all of you, I made you a SECOND WordArt today. Hope you guys like it :) Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
Happy - KonTiki Enchanted JF
Thanksgiving - Will&Grace

FARMERS MARKET!!!!

OK, you guys! Talk about a BLACK FRIDAY sale! You know how at the Orchard, occassionally we have a "Farmers Market", where everything in there is ONLY $1? Well, it's back for the Holiday. Starting at Midnight on Wednesday (yeah, that's today), and ending on Sunday, we're having our Farmers Market. AND,

I'm putting ALL of my stuff in there! That's right!!!!!!!!! Everything (minus CU and Custom Wordart) will be in there, all for only $1!!! You can't beat that, right????

So, starting at Midnight tonight, BUY SOME WORDART, best price ever - LMBO!!! Here's the list of all of my wordart packs that each sell for $1.00.

Emily Bronte
Doodly XMas
Wedding Invitation
Reading
Simple Home
Simple Family
Thanksgiving dinner
Simple Thanks
Simple Thanksgiving
Simple Autumn
Pumpkin
Christmas Card
Holiday Card
Monkey Business
Religious Christmas Card
Military 1
Hoceky
Deployment 1
Outdoor Phrases
Christmas Phrases
Say Cheese
Overcoming Trials
Dog
Inspirational
Inspirational 2
Home 2
New Brother/Sister
Dickens Christmas
Getting Hurt 2
Getting Hurt 1
Getting Sick
Halloween ABC's
Halloween 3
Halloween 2
Halloween 1
Family Page
Education
2009 Script Calendar
2009 Basic Calendar
Mother Page
Freedom
Emerson Friendship
Birthday Page
Kid Page
Literary Halloween
Friendship
Love Cluster
Inner Self
Season Cluster
Family Cluster
Child Spiral
First Day of School
Baby II
Newborn
Work Attitude
Secret Identity
Birthday Attitude
Busy
Dulcet
Pool
Standards of Success
Swimmer Attitude
Sports Attitude
Attitude Mega
Pregnancy Attitude
Travel
Vacation
Military
Nature
Sweetness
Time
LDS
Parenthood
Good Night
She Dreams
Life's Lessons
Children
Laughter
Country Stars Patriotic
Kid Attitude
Princess Attitude
And You Smell Like One Too
Teen Attitude
White Wedding
SK8
Toddler Attitude
Baby Attitude
Ethans Backyard
Girls
Loss and Death
Boys
Grandmas Lap
Love
Friends Mini
Families Mini
Babies Mini
Sports
Fancy Pants
Hamptons
In Bloom
Doldrums
French Quarters
Friends
Babies

Holy cow, what is that, like over 110 WordArt packs? OMGosh! When did I possibly find the time to make that many Wordart packs - LOL! Hopefully my kids aren't terrible neglected - LOL!

So, click HERE to go to the Orchard (just look for the "Farmers Market" link on the left hand side of the page - starting at Midnight Wednesday night), and pick up some of my FANTABULOUS WordArt, and at a GRAND price :) Try it, I know you'll LOVE it ! hehehe.

Cutest Little Baby Face

The little kids and I went to the library yesterday for story time. WOW, it was fun. About 5 other moms with young kids from church were there too. It was a TON of fun. We should do this everyone Tuesday - LOL! I also had 2 more parent/teacher conferences. Emeline is doing SPECTACULAR! And even Jacob is doing great. Well, he needs to be more organized. THAT's an understatement. But she said that he's a very nice, polite, and engaging child. I'm SO glad that's the way he is at school. I see glimpses of that at home, but we get a lot of the fighting, angry, willfull child at home. Thanks goodness someone else sees what a GREAT kid I know Jacob is :)

My hubby has been out in the field for the past few days, doing training exercises (um, not camping - hehehe). He's been sending picture messages of him and his buddies. Wow, men in uniforms with sunglasses and big guns. What's not to love - LMBO! I've always loved a man in uniform, and now I have one all to myself (well, if he ever gets done with trainings!!!).

The kids and I watched "Flicka" last night. What a nice movie. It was a great time :) Watch it if ya get the chance. What little kid doesn't like a movie about horses :)

Switching gears :) I know I'm not crazy (yeah, I know what you're thinking - shame on you!), but I can't seem to find who requested this one. I KNOW that I saw it in my inbox. Oh well. Whoever you are, I hope you like it :)

Well, looking back over my files, I've already done this one. LOL! And it wasn't even that long ago - it was NOVEMBER - hehehe. I'm getting too old for this - hehehe. But, this looks different from the other one, so here we go. I think I might even like this one better :)

Click HERE to go to scraporchard to download the zip file, and remember, you need to be logged into the gallery in order to get the WordArt :) Thanks! And as always, leave some love if you like my work.

Scrapbooks

OK, ok, I know that some of you have given me awards, and you think that I'm a HORRID friend, because I haven't done anything with them. I'm SO sorry, but you know how it is when life gets away from you. Or, I could just say that I was saving them all up so that I could post them all at once. Yeah, that sounds MUCH better. Like I planned it that way, yeah! We'll go with that excuse...er... answer, I mean. I meant to do it :) hehehe.

So, here are the awards that I've gotten since ... um... like JULY, so instead of doing them each separately, I'll just try and combine them all. They usually carry some sort of stipulation where you have to say, what, like 7 things about yourself? I can do that - hehehe. Here goes:

1. I ROCK at making fires - seriously. If you want someone to go camping with you, and need an expert fire maker, I'm your girl - LOL! Everyone needs a good skill, right?

2. I HATE talking on the phone. Phone phobia, more like it. I don't mind talking if someone else calls me, that's cool. But don't ask me to call you, or else I'll get an almost panic attack - hehehe. My shyness comes out then. You knew I was shy, right?

3. I was a band geek in school. Hey, don't knock it till you try it! You might like being a band geek too! Definetly keeps one out of trouble - hehehe. No one invites the band geek out to the drinking parties, now do they - hehehe. I just LOVE the clarinet, and enjoyed all the time I spent in music over my 4 years of high school.

4. I've never tried alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs. Really. Not even a sip. (if you don't believe me, ready #3 - LOL). And I don't really feel like I'm missing anything - hehehe.

5. Um, my life is such an open book, I don't even know what else to tell you all - hehehe. Let's see. Oh, here's a good one. I have issues with wearing white shoes with jeans. I know, I know, I'm weird. What can I say. I feel like I'm saying "LOOK AT MY FEET" or something. Yet I can see that it looks cute on other people. I know, I'm weird. It probably doesn't help that my feet are a SIZE 9 1/2.

6. I don't like my food to touch, unless it's meat/potatoes/gravy. I don't want my corn mingling with my rice, or my green beans touching my potatoes, or stuff like that. Food should stay on it's own section of the plate - hehehe.

7. One more. These are hard. Here's a dumb one. I don't like banana flavor. But I do like Banana bread, and firm bananas. Other than that, not so much. Banana pudding - yuck. Banana ice cream - gross. Banana candy - no thanks. At least that's SOME treats that don't tempt me - hehehe.

OK, looking back on the list of 7, those were lame - oh well. Now you know a little bit more about me. I bet you were just DYING to know those things - hehehe.

So, I'm supposed to go and give this out to 7 other people, and make them do it all over again. But, since I'm SUCH a slacker, we'll just call it good. Sorry :) Consider yourselves all spared. hehehehehe.

We had Parent Teacher conferences yesterday and today. I went to Joe's yesterday. He's doing well. Much better from the beginning of the year. I know that some days it's hard for me to function, I don't know how the litte buggers are managing. Must be hard to be living at someone elses house, with none of your stuff, and still function all day at school. Kudos to them. Today is Eme and Jakes (Tom's teacher had a death in the family, and is rescheduling them for December).

OK, so I've been forgetting to do this the last couple of posts. I got an email from Doreen, who wanted to know how to change the color of a WordArt using PSE6. Well, girls, I use CS2. Anyone know how to do this, and wanna help out Doreen? Just leave a link, or directions, or something in the comment section. Thanks, you guys!

This WordArt request is from Kittie. What a cute saying :) I'll bet, that since you all digiscrap, that you all have use of THIS one :) hehehe. Click on the image below to go to my 4shared account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks, girls :)

OR, click HERE to go to a different location to download the WordArt. 4Shared was having issues this morning, so I'm trying out someplace new. What do you think of the new place?

FONTS:
Scrapbooks - Stamped DSG

Laughter

So, I made it through another day :) I hate being sick. I got through singing time at church, and the kids learned the 2nd verse of our Christmas Song. That was good. I didn't have a huge giant coughing fit like I thought I would (forgot my cough drops). That was good. Jimmy had a HUGE poopy accident in his nursery class. That, not so good. You know the kind I'm talking about. The "just throw the undies away" kind of accident. Yeah, gross. I know. Good thing I didn't puke - hehehe.

I tried to watch the movie from last night, but fell asleep again. Sick, warm fires, and movies just don't mesh so well. And, since I know that my mom reads my blog, MOM, just read the normal text - ignore the small print! My kids were PERFECT while I was sick (spilled the Amish friendship bread starter pack on the kitched floor). My little angels (also spilled orange juice concentrate in their bedroom). Perfect in every way (a roll of toilet paper and water in a bathroom sink don't really mix).

I'm making the flyers for our Ward Xmas party this year. Wanna see? I thought they were pretty cool. Sick or not, I still like making flyers - hehehe.




This WordArt request is from Mari. I thought it was a nice one. Click on the image below to go to my 4shared account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
Laughter - Grinched

Be The World

OK, gotta be honest with you guys. I'm not feeling the best tonight (pre-publish, remember). I sure hope I'm not catching what Jacob had (he's feeling all better, thank GOODNESS!) I took some fake Nyquil, and I think it's starting to kick in. I have a nice burning in my stomach, and I'm getting a bit light headed. So, hopefully the WordArt is fine. Never design under the influence - LMBO! You never know what it'll turn out looking like - hehehe.

Today was a good day :) We spent a relaxing morning at home, watching TV, and letting the kids take turns on the computer. We did a little organizing, and I have to say, that the house looked better at the end of the day than at the beginning. That's always a good thing - LOL.

We decided to have a pizza/movie night. We got a take and bake from Papa Murphys, and rented "Star Wars: Clone Wars" and "The Forgotten Kingdom". Star Wars was a no brainer, giving our families LOVE of the movies. It was pretty good. We all watched that one together. The pizza was pretty good too! I think it was my first time having pizza since staring the diet back in April. Or maybe I had it one other time. Can't remember :) Anyway, it was pretty tasty.

Then, after the little kids went to bed, we watched "The Forgotten Kindgom". Well, the big boys did. Captain America called, and he and I chatted. I think that all of the talking made me miss him, and since I was feeling a little under the weather anyway, there were a lot of tears. I usually just turn off my feelings, which makes life a lot easier to deal with, but not tonight. You know, a good cry is REALLY good every once in a while. Especially when you're best friend is on the other end of the line, telling you that he loves you, and that every thing is gonna be ok. You know, I know that everything IS gonna be ok. It might be hard now, but I know that it's gonna work out :) Less than a month before he comes back for a visit :)

As for "The Forgotten Kindgom", I got to watch the last 15 minutes, and I must say, it was pretty good. It had Jet Li, and Jackie Chen, both of which I enjoy. It's more "fantasy" than some Kung Foo movies, which serves me well :) Me and my sci-fi, you know! I'm watching (well, kind of) while I post this, and it's really pretty good. I'll have to watch it again tomorrow with the kids.

OK, back to WordArt before the drugs TOTALLY do me under :) This WordArt request is from Beth. Hope you like it, girl. And also hope that I did it right - LOL! Things are getting a bit fuzzy - hehehehe. I think it's time to walk away from the computer - LMBO!

FONTS:
Be, the - Rambler Script JF
World - Pussycat