Happy Halloween!

I believe that you teach your children what holidays mean from a Christian perspective. Although some people believe that Halloween is a pagan holiday and it is wrong to celebrate it, I have taught my children that it is a time to have fun and create wonderful memories with your family. I was especially proud of Carmen this year because she was courageous enough to hand out Trick-or-Treating gospel tracts to each house she came to, and she actually received a "good girl" comment from one gentleman to which she handed a tract. Our family always meets at this favorite spot in Ashland and trick-or-treats. There is the infamous "donut" house where the owners make homemade donuts and hand them out to everybody, including adults. The line to their house stacks up down the street. Everybody loves those donuts. My personal favorite house is the "witch" house where this school teacher from Ashland decorates her porch and dresses up like a witch and makes each child come in to talk to her in order to receive their candy. That house is just so fun and a highlight of our Trick-or-Treating. The kids look forward to this every year and although 2 of my kids are now too old to Trick-or-Treat, they still wouldn't miss this for anything!

I have been blessed...God's so good to me!

We spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon, together... at the pumpkin patch, riding around our area seeing all the gorgeous Fall trees, and stopping just anywhere and taking photos. This was my favorite photo of the day. I love this photo because, in the midst of our busiest season of the year when we are running here and there to soccer and volleyball games and practices, I am reminded once again that my kids actually enjoy being together. One of my favorite songs is "I have been blessed, God's so good to me." There was a time 18 years ago when I didn't think that God was going to bless Mike and I with children, and now I look at this photo, and I am brought to tears. God did choose to give us four miracles and I never want to take that for granted! I love these kids with all my heart.

Scrapbook.com/Scrapjazz.com - New Products!

I love working with all the new products that Scrapbook.com and Scrapjazz.com have in their store. This month, I was in the mood for Halloween and Christmas both. The Doodlebug Monster Mania collection is just pure fun with those cute monsters. I still call my kids monsters so these papers were perfect. I also scrapped last year's Christmas card with the fun Echo Park Holly Jolly collection. Isn't that little reindeer adorable? I pulled out some Fall photos from last year and mixed Imaginisce and Crate for my I love Fall page. Finally, you can never get tired of using Jillibean Soup lines and their Apple Chowder Soup line is so gorgeous. I used some recent photos of Cara to complete a page with all the Jillibean goodies. Come on over to Scrapbook.com or Scrapjazz.com and check out the new products!

My favorite....

Yes...I actually took the kids out in this beautiful Fall season for photos on Sunday. We were rushed between church services, the rain drops were intermittent and Candace was having a fit about her hair getting wet, the gusts of wind came out of nowhere, and the kids were practicing to see who could "spit" the furthest. I know...I really should teach my kids manners some time. I have now gone through all the photos and salvaged some "okay" photos, but I have determined that this photo of the kids laughing, enjoying each other's company, and giving Mom a hard time, is my favorite of the day! I love these kids, even though they are a pain in the patootie sometimes. I wouldn't have them any other way. After all, these are the times they will remember 20 years from now....these will be the "good old days" when they look back over their childhood. I am so thankful for a close (sometimes too close) family. It is during this Fall season that I take extra time to be thankful for God's blessings to me. He has blessed me with the responsibility of raising these kids...and also the rewards of seeing them happy together.

Fall....my favorite time of year!

and I can never have too many Fall portraits of my kids! It is amazing to see how much they change from year to year! It's scary....really! Sigh. I'm afraid to blink because they will be grown and have families of their own before I know it. I'm so thankful for my family.

There's still time left....

Yep...there's still a couple of days left on My Creative Scrapbook's sketch site to win this fabulous prize package. Details are on the blog here:


http://mycreativesketches.blogspot.com/

My Creative Scrapbook's album kit was so much fun....and just packed full of goodies! Still a few days left for my Prima flower giveaway contest. Go on over to mycreativescrapbook.com, click on the Design Team gallery, count the # of projects, and post the # here or email me your results.

More goodness from My Creative Scrapbook....

Look how fun this kit is from My Creative Scrapbook. This is the creative kit and it is always packed full of wonderful embellishments. I was able to complete 6 very detailed pages this month and I still had stuff left over. Come on over to mycreativescrapbook.com. Check out the Design Team gallery. Count all the projects in that gallery and post the # here on my blog. I will send the lucky winner a Prima flower prize package. :)

My Creative Scrapbook's Album kit....

The album kit from My Creative Scrapbook was so versatile...and pretty! I loved the unique colors in this kit and that fabulous animal print pattern. Don't forget to come on over to mycreativescrapbook.com and count all the projects in this month's Design Team gallery. Post your # answer on my blog or email me and I'm giving away 1 Prima prize package to one person this month. This is an easy contest... so please play along!

My Creative Scrapbook....and a chance to win a prize!

Here are just three pages I created with My Creative Scrapbook's October creative kit. I loved this kit. It was fabulous to work with. How'd you like a chance to win a fabulous Prima flower package? Come on over to mycreativescrapbook.com and count all the cards/altered items/scrapbook pages in the design team gallery for October. Just post your answer here on my blog and your name will be entered to win this wonderful package. I can't wait to see how many responses I get....

Just for fun...!

I love scrapping just for fun, not worrying about the most perfect design, but just documenting the moments. That's what I did here in less than 45 minutes. We had such a great time at our Labor Day picnic and played volleyball and then a wild game of football. I was able to capture some fun expressions and that's what I love about this hobby.

Sneak peeks for My Creative Scrapbook

You are gonna love My Creative Scrapbook's creative kit for October! These fall papers and embellishments are so, so much fun! I can't wait to show you all my pages I made with this fabulous kit!