Christmas Highlights

Whew! What a busy weekend! We've had a nice Christmas holiday sharing time with both of our families. My last post was a few pics from time at my parents' house. These pics below are from the Simmons' get-together and the boys with their goodies on Sunday. :)
Kevin's mom collects angels. She has her entire tree decorated with angel ornaments. Despite the few spots where her lights weren't working, this tree is stunning in person!

I love this one. It is sparkly in person and just delicate and pretty on her tree.

After their beloved Eskie died in 2000, Kevin's mom found this Eskie angel ornament. It sort of has a new meaning to me this year since we no longer have our sweet Macy.

Riley and Jack got to meet Aunt Lisa (Kevin's sister) and Uncle Randy for the first time Saturday. They loved them both! Riley is easier to pick up since he's only 5 pounds right now so they snuggled with him before we left.

Uncle Randy got a good chin cleaning from little Riley. He had lots of puppy kisses to give!

Jack and Riley had vet appointments Saturday morning. Riley got his last puppy booster shots and was groggy most of the day. He slept 99% of the time we were over there. Jack was pretty gentle since his brother didn't feel good so he chewed toys and laid around, too. Oh, but that was only after he sniffed every square inch of the kitchen for crumbs! LOL! They were both so very good while we visited. OH and Jack weighs 20.1 pounds and was super healthy!

Super tired Jack among all the boxes and gift bags! He loved all the attention at Grandma and Gramps' house. The cats hid upstairs and we put up the baby gate so they wouldn't bug them.

Since they rested so much Saturday, the boys were up super early at 5am today! Kevin was up with us, but after things got really quiet, this is where I found him. Hmm...ya think he was watching the pups? Uh, no! LOL! I had opened the curtains and plugged in the tree. It was pitch black outside at 5am! We ended up napping in bed 'til about 9:30am. We didn't go to church. I made pancakes and we are going to hang out in our jammies all day. *snore*

The boys got quite the loot! Wow! Most of them are put up for a rainy day or when Jack won't tear up soft toys. See Riley's other new jacket on the bottom left? LOL! This isn't even all they got from both families. These boys are spoiled already! Good! They are so loved!

Jack got a Giggle Ball. It makes the silliest sound. Riley can't put it in his mouth, so Jack is a turkey and plays keep away. When he runs it goes "bloip, bloip, bloip". Yeah, say that fast three times. LOL!

This tug toy was in Jack's stocking. He already chewed through the yellow rope, so it's bye bye with the other toys for when they are older. He has super strong teeth!

Well, I'm off to do laundry and get things ready for my short work week. All three of my boys are napping. Whew! It's nuts here with two pups, but oh so joyous! :) I gotta go develop some pics so I can get to scrapbooking again! Whew! I'm behind on sharing anything crafty on my blog!

Hope each of you enjoyed a Christ-filled happy holiday season!

Merry CHRISTmas

Merry Christmas to you from Kevin, Natalie, Riley and Jack!

His birth is the true reason we celebrate.
A tiny baby was born so that we may be saved.
God loved us enough to allow His son to be born,
die on the cross for our sins and rise again.
That is truly the most precious gift of this season!
God Bless all of you and we wish you a Happy New Year!

Keeping the Peace

One Yorkichon in his kennel, plus one Eskie outside the kennel still equals feisty boys! I tell you what....I think Kevin and I have said "NO!", "QUIT!" and "STOP!" more times than not in hopes to keep these crazy dogs from snapping, nipping and biting. They play fight, but sometimes it gets out of hand and we have to keep the peace. LOL! They are nutty! I think each of them is trying to figure out who is the boss of this outfit! :)

They both still find ways to aggrevate each other despite attempts to give one the priviledge of being outside his kennel at quiet time. They are just like toddlers who need quiet time to regroup and quit bugging the other "brother". LOL! I let them do this long enough to capture the evidence of their love on camera. LOL!

I discovered today that the empty cardboard tube from the aluminum foil gets their attention. This isn't really used to hit the pups, but rather to hit my other hand and make a noise that gets their attention. I love that they have such energy and that they genuinely seem to like each other. However....gotta keep the peace in puppy land now. LOL!

This look says it all...ornery! When I dried Riley's hair Saturday, I must have brushed forward. His eyebrow hair keeps lopping forward and he looks like a grandpa! I have to take him to the groomer soon to get his facial hair trimmed nicely. Then, he and his real brother Tucker will have matching looks. :)

Jack and Riley both love rawhides. However....despite having SEVERAL to choose from, they fight to have the SAME one. Yep, it's time for growling, sneaking stealing or down right snarling when it comes to getting what the other has. Yikes! "NO!" "QUIT!" "STOP!"...and then some. LOL! Jack likes to tackle Riley and be rough and tough big brother. Riley likes to creep up and do a sly sneak attack to get what is literally in Jack's mouth. Whole lotta yelping going on if one gets the other's face too hard when biting. Ouch!

Ahhhhhhh....the bliss of harmony among brothers. This is an aerial shot of them in the hallway with DIFFERENT rawhides and perfectly peaceful. *sigh* LOLLLLLLL! Love my boys!

Welcome Home Jack

What a day! Jack arrived about 12:15pm with Don from Tender Loving Canine Rescue. I cried immediately once I saw him get out of the SUV Don was driving. I was beside myself with the idea of having another Eskie in our home again. Seeing a face like Macy's made me weep....in grief and in joy. Jack is such a blessing and happy addition to our family! His original name was Jack, then the rescue changed it to Jax. We will call him Jack, after Kevin's beloved grandpa.
This pose reminds me of the one I added to the post about Macy's passing. Gotta love those white Eskie eyelashes! Being a boy... Jack is taller, has a larger face and is super strong! He knows a lot of basic obedience commands and I had to say "heel" when he pulled on the leash. He is well-behaved and is a loving and tender boy. Jack also has pink on his nose and one pink spot on the lower rim of his right eye that makes him very easy to pick out of a crowd of Eskies. LOL! His fur is absolutely luscious! I could eat it! Well, not really...just rub my nose in it and give him tons of Mommy kisses!

The boys played hard! Here they are playing with a toy that lasted about 3 minutes in Jack's jaws. I thought I had bought tough toys, but this one got chewed in half in record time. Wow! We have had to remove all soft and stuffed toys from the boys so that Jack doesn't destroy them. Poor Riley will have to like all the hard toys while they both get through the chewing puppy stage. I got a Kong and Nylabone that can't be chewed in half! Maybe someday they can have the soft snuggly stuffed ones again. For now it's squeaky ones and hard ones.

This is one of Riley's toys that Jack chewed the tassels off of....LOL! It's now just a naked blue bone for them to play with. Here they are in the spare room getting more acquainted before the tassels got chewed off. They had some snarly moments and had to be separated at times. Riley and Jack have had a lot of change today and both have to learn boundaries with each other, learn to share toys and chewies and not bite each other too hard. We heard a few yelps and had to each grab a pup to end the snarly wrestling match. Eek! I think Riley is protecting his things and territory and Jack has figured out already that he's bigger and can pounce Riley's head!

Thank you Lord for the blessing of our new baby boy Eskie. He's such a sweet, sweet boy! He loves his rawhide bone that is chicken flavored. Yum!

Big boy checking out the neighborhood. The woodwork was already marked up some from Macy's nails, so now Jack can continue the "guard dog" pose and make some more marks. LOL! He is super energetic and curious. He will need lots of walks and playing time.

Excuse the eye booger on the right eye, but here you can see the pink rim on his right eye. That's his unique mark that let's me know he's mine. :)

This morning to get ready for Big Brother....Riley had a good bath and brushing. Isn't he such a handsome little brother? LOL! He was so worn out after his bath and getting dried with the hair dryer that he took a nap! I figured out if I put Riley up on the toilet seat he will stay still for grooming. Except for the leap he took over my shoulder today. He landed and we both looked at each other like "what just happened?". He is fast! LOL! I also discovered the trick to cutting his nails is to do it while he sleeps. When he's asleep he ignores everything and can't bite me!

Two brothers wrestling by the Christmas tree. Neither of them bugs the tree! Yeah!

Mr. Mischievous! Gotta love that look! He will get used to the camera REAL quick. I'm a scrapbooker who loves to take pics of her babies!

I might not be blogging too much this week with the pups getting adjusted and the Christmas to-do list and get-togethers. Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas! Thanks so much for reading my blog and letting me share my blessings on here with you!

Another Winter Card

Just a short post as I'm super tired and typing this on Thursday night. Riley is already sound asleep and I hope to be REALLY soon. :) I made this with Whisper White cardstock, Mellow Moss textured cardstock, a retired stamp set and some paper and ribbon from a retired scrappin' kit. I added Stickles for some shine!

At this angle, you can see where I added the Stickles.

Another picture of Mr. Ornery. He's been nuts the last two days. See those teeth? Ouch is all I can say! He uses them!! He's really smiling here because he's excited to meet his "maybe big brother" tomorrow. I'll post updates this weekend. Enjoy your Friday! Thanks for stopping by...

Funky Christmas

A funky card with a funky color combo

deserves a funky song!

Click HERE then click the play arrow

on the first song. Enjoy!

Cherish Page

Excuse the flash glare. When I took the pic without the flash, the cardstock looked an odd purple color. With the flash, it truly looked like Purely Pomegranate cardstock. I had done all but the journaling on this page way back in September. I finally journaled on Monday night. Julie and Josh had gone to Cancun in April 2008 and I decided to create this page about them. The whole color scheme started with Josh's pink shirt. Gotta love a guy who wears pink with a smile! LOL! *click to see the stamped floral background and other details up close*

Some details are the layered title piece using a flower, some punches and a fabric word tag. I also added some unique ribbon using Sticky Strip, then some buttons with linen thread stitching in the centers.

I used a wavy journaling template to draw pencil lines. I wrote the journaling, then erased the pencil lines. I decided I wanted something different than the same 'ol straight journaling lines. *click this pic to read the journaling up close* It is lovingly signed "Nanny" since that is what Julie, Brooke and Charles call me. My own brother even calls me that now. :)

Thanks for stopping by. I'll have another Christmas card to share tomorrow.

Rustic Happy Holidays

I used literally all scraps to make this card. Even the folded card base (Blue Bayou) was in my scraps container. The ledger paper and the holiday patterned strip looked like they might coordinate. Then, I figured kraft cardstock with very vanilla craft ink would keep with the rustic look of those images. And, I knew I wanted a circular sentiment then remembered I had this retired set called Riveting. So, that became my card... The inked edges and linen thread details finished it off. *click for a closer look at the background* I used Versamark ink and a larger snowflake stamp to create a "what's that?" background. You know how I love to do that! Just stamp the image, ink it again and stamp it again....repeat. It makes a unique background that no longer looks like the original image.

I love linen thread as it is so easy to use for sewn details on a project. Trust me...other than fixing the tear in Riley's favorite stuffed toy or sewing on a button is about all the other "sewing" I can do. I am not gifted in that department at all! LOL!

See how I stamped the sentiment twice? Once on kraft, then punched out the center. And, again on the Chocolate Chip cardstock and punched out with a larger circle punch. Layer the two for a different look than just chocolate chip on kraft and nothing peeking through the middle. I like the peeking thing for a contrast.

This is the reason I got to stamp Monday night....somebody had a nap on Daddy's lap in the basement. *snore* He flip flops in his sleep so much that he was in 18 positions during this one nap. He was this way, then upside down, then in the area between Kevin's leg and the arm rest. Such a funny boy! You can see that crazy part on top of his head again!!! After about the fourth picture, Kevin gave me the "aren't you done yet?!" look. LOL!

Hi, I'm even cute when I'm tired! LOL! Thanks for stopping by to see my cute face today! *snore*

OH, and by the way...I am getting excited to meet Jax on Saturday!

He might be my new big brother!

Peace Hope Joy

Click for a closer look to see the background. I stamped the same snowflake image in Versamark onto the Bashful Blue cardstock, then some speckles with the Ballet Blue ink. The only other details are the heat embossed tag and the scalloped edge (looks crooked here since the one side of the card was more open when I took the pic). See more details below...

I have an entire package of these plastic glittery tags that I have never used. I came across them on Sunday night in my stash and decided to make a card. I used Versamark ink and white embossing powder for the snowflake. I added some ribbon to the top, dimensional foam on the back, then added it to the card.

Here you can see how I cut off some of the card front so I

could add the scalloped edge and the greeting.

This is the greeting I added inside.

All of our snow has melted and we now have a rainy, soggy yard. Icky for taking Riley out to potty. We had a good weekend and so glad we got the tree up, etc. Just a few more gifts to buy and wrap and then I can sit back and enjoy the rest of the Christmas season. Wow....it's just 10 days away!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a good week! Here's a little Elvis song to make you smile. If I linked it right, you'll have a page come up, then choose the version that is 2:09 long (classic version). When you sing along, be sure to have one side of your mouth just right so it's like him. LOL! :)

The Reason For The Season

There is only one reason we celebrate this season in our family. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son. That whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 How wonderful to celebrate the hope, joy and peace of this season!

Here's our tree this year. We have used the same lights, colored balls and ornaments each year since we were married. In fact, we used one of the gift cards received at our wedding to purchase most of what you see here way back when. We add at least one or two ornaments each year. I have to make two new ones for the "boy pups". :)

I think Kevin's sister gave us this glass nativity. I added a tea light candle behind it to illuminate the precious baby Jesus. In the "tree lit" living room it just glows beautifully.

The hutch in the living room becomes a place to display the nativity scene and to hang the stockings. I have to get one more little one just in case Jax is here for Christmas. *wink*

I love this ornament. It reminds me of the real cross that our Savior was nailed to so that we may be "white as snow". How humbling to be reminded of His love for us during this season.

I jokingly added this real rubber stamp of my name as the "ornament of the year" for me a few years ago. :)

This one was given to Kevin and I by my friend Christie on our first Christmas in 2000.

I still added all of Macy's ornaments this year and will from now on. It was bittersweet to pull each one out and add it to the tree, but it is also a blessing to remember her sweet face. :)

Little Curious Riley had to check out the jingle bell candy cane. Most ornaments were hung higher than this on purpose, but for this pic I hung it lower. He also had to "ruffle" the tree skirt as if he were finding a perfect spot to nap. He was tired at that time, too. LOL! I'll be curious to see how he reacts to wrapped packages. We will only be buying 4 gifts for Kevin's side, then 2 Angel Tree gifts to take to the program at church. Despite the "bare" spot under the tree, I must say that we have much bigger and better gifts than those that can be wrapped and put under the tree. We have peace, hope, love, joy and forgiveness....all because He was born on that first Christmas morning. Thanks be to God for the TRUE Reason for the Season!

Have a listen to a wonderful song HERE. May each of you have a blessed Christmas season filled with many reminders of why we truly celebrate.