Vote for my Shutterfly book! :)

Check out my book in the Shutterfly Best Gift Ever Contest!

I've entered a Shutterfly contest! My parents went on a trip to Alaska. My dad took lots of pictures and tons of them were great and really interesting! But, they sat in envelopes after they were developed, and I had no idea what some of the pictures showed.

I got the idea to make a Shutterfly book of the pictures for Christmas. I got my mom to put the pictures from their trip on a disc ... she assumed I'd do digital scrapbooking with them ... and started a book. Then I got my parents' friends' email address in Alaska and asked them for help. They helped me with the captions, and even contributed some more pictures so that the book could include pictures of my dad, who otherwise would have been missing due to being behind the camera the whole time.

The scenery was breath-taking, and the trip was very special to my parents. It was an amazing feeling to see them open the gift at Christmas!

It would be awesome if you would vote for me ... please check out the above link to see it!

A Christmas re-cap ...

I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked, but here are some pictures to re-cap Christmas morning at home, Christmas morning at my In-Law's, and Christmas morning at my parents' house.

At home:

At the In-Law's:

At my parents' house

It was a very busy day, and I wasn't feeling the greatest, but I enjoyed being with everyone. The kids were spoiled, as usual, and they are very happy.


Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year everyone!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ...

Well, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas ... on my blog.  Not at home yet.  I was thinking about setting up the Christmas tree today since I wasn't able to go shopping, but my husband doesn't think it should be up yet ... it's not even December 1st, you know.  Um ... Christmas is less than a month away.  I don't think it's too early.

For some reason, I'm more into Christmas this year than usual.  The last couple of years, I've been the one delaying the tree being put up because I just wasn't in the spirit. I'm glad that I'm more into it this year.  We've already been through the park to see the lights.  They are really pretty, though there are a lot of the LED lights replacing the less energy efficient ones ... and I think that is great ... except the LED lights are really, really bright.  I would love to see an invention of LED lights that aren't quite so bright ... get on that, will you? :)

The kids looked through the Kmart toy catalog today that was in my room somehow.  They pointed at nearly every item in the book.  Chase pointed at a remote control car ... that he already owns in a different color and has forgotten about.  It probably just needs batteries.  Julia wants anything girly, and a few typical boy toys too.  I was surprised when she pointed at Hot Wheels car track stuff.  Seriously?  You want that?  But, I didn't say that because I of course do not want to support those stereo-types.  They are already all to aware of them on their own.

They won't be getting many of the items they were pointing at, but that's ok.  I know they will be super happy with what they well we ... I mean wii ... are getting.  (Thanks, Mom)  I have a feeling we're going to have a rather electronic focused Christmas this year, though I plan to give hints to my husband's side of the family regarding non-electronic toys ... like Kung Zhu track stuff for Blake and Chase, and Zhu Zhu/Barbie stuff for Julia (she's feeling left out regarding Zhu Zhus).  I am hoping to goodness to avoid any little plastic figurines, and please oh please, no more NERF guns/ swords!!!

I participated in the Scrappers Give Thanks project this year.  See this post to see what I made, and see this site to see what was accomplished.  Thanks to the help of hundreds of people, and thanks to help from Persnickety Prints, 2000 digital and/or paper-pieced cards have been made to be delivered to children's hospitals!  It's an awesome project.  Oh yeah!  I re-read my post after publishing, and realized I forgot to share that I won something in the give-away!  I didn't participate in order to win a prize, but it's pretty cool that I did.  I won a membership to a subscription site called Scrap Happy.  I'll let you know what I think once I learn more about it!

I am setting a goal to make cards for next year's project throughout the year, so that I can have a big contribution next fall.  Maybe you'll join me!

Well, Blogger is starting to have some issues as I type this, so I am going to sign out.  Good time to visit the Powder Room and head to bed to read a book (ahem, Breaking Dawn ... again)!

Thanks for stopping by,

How to tackle Mount Washmore

Mount Washmore is one of the most frustrating things I deal with on a day to day basis. But, I think Ana White may have a solution with this project: Laundry Basket Dresser I think that would make my laundry area a lot neater, and it might even encourage laundry to be managed more quickly! I also love the possibilities of other ways to use it. One commenter suggested that it could be used to hold recycling bins ... and then I thought about the idea of having a place to store sports stuff, and the list goes on and on.

I thought the idea was so cool, and it looks pretty easy, so I thought I'd share! :)

Scrappers Give Thanks ...

I've made two (... and now three as of 1:30 Sunday morning) cards so far for Scrappers Give Thanks ... I know I can do better than that.  But, you can do better too ... all you need to do is create at least one 4x6 (vertical orientation) post-card type card that is geared at a child.  The goal is to brighten their day as they are in the hospital.  You can learn more about Scrappers Give Thanks by clicking the link on the right side of my blog, or by clicking on this logo:

Here are peeks at the three cards I've made so far ...

Made with Sweet Christmas by Connie Prince

Made with Sunbeams and Daydreams by Connie Prince

Made with I Wuff You by Connie Prince

Thank you for helping make a difference!
~Melinda

Cool and rainy turns into a beautiful fall day ....

Recently, after a cool, early morning soccer game (with a win!), and being locked out of my car by my own doing (Thanks again, Angela for rescuing us!), we went to my parents' house for brunch and pumpkin picking.  My mom called me and invited us out ... while I was locked out of my car.  Ahem.  Anyway, she said she felt bad about missing the kids' soccer game, but it was just too chilly.  I didn't blame her at all.  But, she fed us yummy pancakes, and the kids ran around and played ... I could not complain. :)  You may recognize some of these photos from my current blog header.  I liked them just a little bit. :)

My mom (and dad) are now raising chickens.  They started early in the spring.  My mom also started raising honey bees then, but that's something to share about another time.  The chickens are used to people being around.  They followed us around pretty much all day.  It was kind of neat, and they are actually kind of cute to watch and listen to.  I had a LOT of fun taking pictures of the chickens, the one rooster (George), and the kids.  My kids made a big leaf pile and of course I had to document that.  We also got our pumpkins and gourds from my parents' garden, and Blake helped my mom cut down corn stalks for a nice ... whatever those are called.  I have a smallish bundle by my front steps with all the pumpkins and gourds around it.

The statue in the upper right is by my parents' dog Katie's grave.  *cry*  My daughter got all weepy after they visited her, and I did too.  Thankfully, the kids had already run off to play and didn't see me.

The kids also got to ride on the 4-wheelers on my parents' property.  Blake's has a governor in it so that it can't go very fast, and a safety strap.  They LOVE going for rides on  the 4-wheelers.  It really was a gorgeous day after the initial chilliness and even a little bit of rain.  We stayed there most of the day!  I know Tyler enjoyed the me-time, too.

Thank you to the CoffeeShop Blog (see the blogs I follow on the right-hand side for a link-up) for the photo template that I used in my post today, and to Linda for letting me know about them!  I can see easily that I will share more photos in my posts going forward!

It's getting close to bed time, so I am going to close.  Thanks for visiting!

In the orchard ...

I was very frustrated with our visit to the orchards this year. We had to rush a little bit because we went after work instead of on the weekend, and the kids went straight from the car to the apple cider inside, and then straight back into the car. No pictures by the apple trees, and no pictures by the pumpkins. BUT, honestly I shouldn't complain. We are fortunate to have apple orchards that are not very far away from home.

Thankfully, I have been able to get some great orchard pictures in the past. The I Heart Faces site is having a photo challenge this week regarding orchard pictures. The trick ... I can only pick ONE picture ... so here is my photo for Week 42's challenge:

 This is my oldest son exploring the applie apple orchard (I always type applie by mistake, ugh) when he was 3 years old.  We had just eaten some apple pie ... can you see the spoon in his hand? :)  The lighting was perfect and the colors were vibrant.  There are two others that go with this one that have never been trumped for a favorite orchard picture (of my own) yet. But, I keep trying every year!  Unfortunately, the orchard where I took this photo went under new ownership a few  years ago, and we can't walk among the trees like this anymore.  But, last year I did sneak over and snap a few pictures by one when they left the gate open ... you can see those pictures HERE.

I can't wait to see everyone's orchard pictures!  This is my first entry for the I Heart Faces challenge ... I hope that my little man had enough of his face showing for this to count! :)

Thanks for visiting!