The Twelve Days of Christmas

   One of our favorite traditions during the Christmas season is to take gifts to a family or two for each of the twelve days of Christmas.  Its been a couple of years since we did this and I'd forgotten how much fun it can be.
   I made up some tags using Gennifer Bursett's frame and cute present from her Here Comes Santa collab.
   We change things up a little each time, depending on the goodies we can find and this year has been the best by far.  Here is what we are doing:

1. Partridges and Pears  (we gave cornish hens and fresh pears)
2. Turtle Doves ( I made turtle puppets out of fabric and felt, then put boxes of dove soap in each one) - they turned out so cute!
3. We always give Hershey's Kisses for this one (french hens :)
4. There was a sale on Angry Bird's block game so we reworked this one to fit. 
5. For golden rings - gold bangle bracelets and gold $ coins.
6. The geese laid Silly Putty eggs this year.
7. Schwan's ice cream is our typical this day.
8. My favorite - The milk maids slept in so we found a bunch of "milk duds"
9. We have a surplus of ballet shoes, so we're doing that instead of music this year.
10. The lords are leaping after they finish off their plate of homemade candy.
11. For pipers piping we will be giving little flutes
12. On the last day we gift a drum and a big "Merry Christmas"

   Here are a few of the photos I've snapped and an example of our tags.  

(I used Karla Dudley's Framed frames)

(Gennifer Bursett's Here Comes Santa collab)

I'd love to hear what you guys think, or what your traditions are that you do together as families!  Merry Christmas!

Crisis adverted

   Not only have things been crazy busy lately, but we've had our fair share of drama as well.  Last Saturday Aubrei realized that the camera she had checked out for her publications class wasn't here at home.  Yeah, can you say "tense weekend"?
   Well, Monday rolled around and I took Brei to the high school that morning with specific instructions to find that camera!  (She thought she had left it on some tables where she was with some friends after school Friday).  That afternoon she comes home with a price quote from her teacher for the Canon camera and bag for $1,300.  

   Having given her a chance to fix this, her Dad and I are now "highly motivated" from the thought of paying that much for a camera that we will never be able to use!  We promptly enlisted the help of the principal and the janitors.

   The next morning Aubrei checked in the principal's office and was shown the missing camera that had been found.  

   Needless to say, we are very thankful that the camera was found and for the help received.  I've been working on tags for our 12 day of Christmas (I'll be posting soon) so I whipped up a note, picked up some lifesavers from the store and sent these goodies to the high school with Brei.

Here is how they turned out:

(frame and present element by Gennifer Bursett, part of the Here Comes Santa collab.)

Things have been a little crazy around here lately, with all the sicknesses making their rounds.  I'm optimistic that this week will be much better! :)

I've been scrappin' a lot and forgetting to share, sorry.  I'm hoping to get to our Halloween pics this week - we got some great pictures!

This is Ainsli's first day of 3rd grade:

You can see credits here.

This page was for a challenge and it definitely took me out of my comfort zone, but I love it and how it showcases my love for these special guys so well.

See credits here.

 This page was for one of our retiring designers.  The picture is of the contents of just one of the dance supply boxes that we've been receiving thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Priest's support.  Dance has become quite a commitment (Aubrei requires a lot of expensive shoes, etc.) and we sure appreciate their help.

Credits are here.

I did this page for this week's 4play challenge at DHD.  The picture is of my sweet boy relaxin' this summer with Grandpa Priest's new kitty.  I love that I captured this!

See credits here.

Despite our colds, things are going well for us and I'm constantly reminded of how extremely blessed I am to be living this life with those I love.  Our kids are amazing (I'm not biased) and I have a wonderful husband to share this all with.  Heavenly Father has blessed me far more than I deserve, but I'm not complaining - just trying to pay it forward. :)

Digital Scrapbooking Day -

It's time for Digital Scrapbooking Day and as part of the celebration at Design House Digital, the designers have an awesome collaboration kit called Daydream Believer.

Here’s the kicker - Its free!  FREE!  And, to make it even easier, you don’t have to download pieces at a bunch of different blogs!  It’s all right here in the shop at DHD.  All you have to do is follow along on the blog hop to grab the letters that make up the coupon code, and then download the kit at your convenience. 

My letter for the code is:

Next in the blog hop is Mye.  If you run into problems along the way, head back to the DHD blog post.

Wait!!  That's not all!  

I also created a quickpage for you to download.  I'd love to see how it turns out if you use it!  (Click here or on the image to download).

And here is my original layout of my sweet daughter . . .

Don’t forget to grab your letter for the code to get the amazing Daydream Believer kit for free and have fun scrapping this weekend!!!

DSD Blog Hop tomorrow . . .

Check back tomorrow to get your letter for the free code and to download the quickpage I made using this great collaboration kit!

Winners . . . Better late than never!

Sorry it took me so long to post the winners of the stitchings, but time is getting away from me again.  So here they are:

Missy - Boo!
Beatrice - Home
Aria - Bats

If you ladies could get me your addresses I will get these in the mail soon!  Hope you are all enjoying fall like we are!

13 Days of Halloween and a giveaway!!

My hybrid project is on the DHD blog today (go there for the tutorial and list of credits) - so I thought I'd share it here too.  I'm giving away all three stitchings, so if you are interested leave a comment letting me know the one you would like.  I'll be picking 3 winners on October 13th, the last day of our blog series.  

My Mom was able to come for Aubrei's last volleyball game this past week.  We had so much fun with her here.  She makes us all feel loved and special.  Aubrei's team won and it was so nice to watch her having fun and playing her best.  Brodyn got to show Grandma his preschool and even introduced her to his teacher (like he was a mini grownup) - he was so excited!  Ainsli got to pick her Halloween costume and look through lots of fun books and magazines and had a ball!

We miss Grandma and Grandpa all the time, but I'm very thankful that when we get to be together that it is special and filled with precious memories.  More than anything, my kids know that my parents love them and that is priceless.  

Now I think I will go start another project!

Happy Halloween!