Okay, Dad. I've updated just for you!!

We finally got our poor, little fake Christmas tree up and decorated. The kids were so much fun this year!! They were in absolute awe of the lights and pretty ornaments. Getting the ornaments and lights on the tree was quite a challenge, though. Heather especially wanted to play with each and every ornament --which created a BIG tantrum when I told her they had to be left on the tree.

Logan was eager to help, but fizzled out quickly. He was more interested in climbing in and out of the big plastic tubs all the Christmas stuff is stored in.

This picture of us is cute...too bad the 70's shag carpet couldn't be edited out :) We can't wait for our house to be finished. It is set on the foundation and the contractor has started working on

the ouside. As soon as it can be heated, they will finish the interior.

On a clear day, the view is breathtaking! Our builder really did a great job positioning the house to face the peaks. He also put in bigger windows so that we can enjoy the view. The guest room has windows looking at these mountains and then the view to the south. It's very pretty!

Mister Logan has decided that he would really like to be the boss of many things, including whether or not he wears mittens. It only lasted about 5 minutes, though, as he came back really quickly begging for them to be put on. I did this page as an assignment for www.scrapbookdreamer.com, using Around the Block winter papers.

This page layout uploaded really small, but you can click on it to make it bigger. These are the pictures from above. Bo Bunny press sponsored our DT at www.scrapbookdreamer.com this month, so I used their print papers, some BG chipboard and Petaloo flowers.

Hi Grandma :)

You are on the internet, curlers and all!!

I think this is my favorite picture from the whole Thanksgiving weekend. It just sums up the importance of grandparents in my children's lives. Neither kiddo had ever seen a piano, let alone play one before this minute. Here's their great-grandma with her awesome patience, teaching them not to pound. These small gifts of time and teaching may not be remembered by them in the future, but will leave a little lasting fingerprint on their personalities. Thanks Grandma!!

And speaking of fingers, isn't this just the most awesome picture?? Seasoned, experienced hands guiding new, two year old hands??? You can barely see Heather's tiny pointer finger in between her great grandmother's. I just love this! I am sure it will end up on a scrap page real shortly.

Annelise

This little girl is so cute and spunky and determined!! Who could resist those big blue eyes and big giggly grin??? Not me, obviously. I had more pics of her just playing than I did of both of my two put together!!

I am a guest designer at Kittys-Kloset.com this month. The owner, Jen, is just starting her online business--her site is REALLY cute. Lots of kitty schtuff :) check out the link to the left of the blog. These papers are SEI's Fruitstand collection found in her store.

I thought the strawberries went well

with the 'sweetheart' theme.

This second page was just for fun. NannyP (as I like to call her) is so photogenic, and her HUGE eyes really capture the light.

We got snow dumped on us tonight--almost 4 inches in just an hour. It is really pretty and white--looks almost like Christmas !!

Sneak Peeks at our new home

Here it is...what will become the new Allison home. We are more than impressed with the way it turned out. Jim at Propery Partners has seen to every little detail, including all new appliances!! We could only access a few rooms of the house, as the hall way and other parts are still sealed. The 2 halves will be set December 5th--and I plan on being there for some great pictures.

We hadn't planned on buying a manufactured home, but here in Pinedale, things are so expensive that this was our only option for a large enough home with enough bedrooms for all.


The kitchen is large and airy. I love the hood and all the tile work.










Our fireplace will definitely be the heart of the Living room. It is floor to ceiling (9 feet) tall and has a beautiful oak mantel. Too bad it won't be finished by Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We had so much fun during Thanksgiving. It was the first time that they 3 of us have all been together since before Jason's crash to celebrate a holiday. Missy AnnieP was adorable, almost walking, and very independent! She definitely will make her mark on the world :)

We ate some great food and really enjoyed the company of family. This is why we just dragged our 2 babies 1000 miles, to a cold and wintery place. I am positive now that it was worth it.

On another great note, our house arrived and is due to be set on the foundation Dec 5th or 7th. We ran up to the property and snuck a peek at the accessible rooms. The kitchen, dining room, master bed and bath are fabulous. It was a nice little boost, for sure.

How many Q-tips does it take to clean Heather's ears??

Answer: 3

She has been obsessed with clean ears for a few days. She know exactly where I

keep my scrapping q-tip stash, digs around til she finds them, and takes off at a high run. I guess clean ears are imporant to her....:)

Question #2--How do you get Logan to drink more water???

Answer: Disguise it as pepsi. As long as it's in a can, he'll drink it. If it's in anything else, it is likely to be dumped in the toy box, the dump truck, or simply on the floor accompanied by a tantrum, of course. How dare we ask him to drink water :)

As I was organizing my albums for 2006, I found that I had made pages with both kids, but for only one album. I've done these pictures before, but needed a set for Logan's Album. These were in September, just before we moved. American Crafts sponsored the DT at scrapbookdreamer.com this month, so I used some of their great papers and flowers!

I also realized, as I was organizing albums, that Heather's is STUFFED full of pages and Logan's is only about 3/4 of the way full. So, I definitely need to go back and do some more pages for him. Poor kid...

These two pages are of him from the same day. He was playing outside in the powdery dirt and in 5 minutes was CRUSTY!!

This is the other from the same afternoon--Logan in all his dirt encrusted glory!

Who says you can't eat fingerpaint??

We fingerpainted again, with much sucess :) Logan, of course, ate most of his paint and then proceeded to use his belly and the table as a canvas.

Heather painted her piece of paper with precision. She did get one little spot of paint on her--which she promptly asked me to remove lol. She's the only child I know that can stay clean while fingerpainting!!

I was hoping it would warm up-to at least 30 so that we could go outside and play in the snow, but I don't think that will happen this morning. It's about 24 and snowing pretty briskly. It really is pretty!

I haven't had snow like this since leaving Wyomin 8 years ago. It is such a strange site to me when there are 10 trucks with blades, skid-loaders with blades all over town frantically trying to keep up. My first thought was "why?" then I realized that when it snows here, it's here to stay. Not gone in 3 or 4 days like in Oregon. Guess I better get on my boots and go scoop some snow!! Both kids are stanging at the window--and have been for about 30 mintues, watching the big truck scrape snow out of the parking lot across the street. Logan even has a new word "cruck". Heather just says "hey mom, look at that truck moving snow" lol. well, not really, but her words are really starting to make sense! It will be fun to hear what she is thinking sometimes!

Snow, oh glorious snow!!

They said it would come, but I thought they were wrong after a week of 60 degree weather. We just got dumped on, big time!! There was over 6 inches of fresh, glittery powder on our front porch this morning. After living in Oregon where it hardly ever snowed, it seemed like a blizzard!! The locals just went about their business as if nothing was amiss.

And, speaking of locals, this town is the most untrusting, excludinig town I have EVER lived in!! wow. The newspaper interviewed a waitress last week--1/2 of a page worth--and she spent over half of her interview ragging on all the newcomers. She even had the audacity to say "I'm not sure how to exclude them from local events". Wow. I am hoping that it gets better soon! I know that this small town has been inundated with strangers and those hoping to make it rich quick off of the oil/gas boom. We will definitely have our work cut out for us!!


Dan is leaving for 4 days. It will be quiet without him around. The funny thing is, this is the most he's ever been home since we've been married! He comes home for lunch and for the most part is home by 5pm. It's been kinda nice! I know that it will end as his caseload increases.

No new scrapbook pages to share. The kids fingerpainted again today, so will have to get that uploaded tomorrow. I make sugar-free vanilla pudding (less sticky) and add justa smidge of food coloring. They can eat it, paint with it, coler themselves and each other...it doesn't matter!! I just toss 'em in the tub for a quick rinse and they're onto their next project.

It's monday....ugh.

13 layouts, 10 cards, and 1 altered project later, I'm all scrapped out. Mojo is sleeping in today--unfortunately because the doobers are napping early. They are both sick with fever, runny nose--the typical early winter viral schtuff.

Here are a couple pages of them in their tiny kilts that Great-grandma Urbigkeit made them. How's that for a little "travel back in time" moment?? They were so tiny, even here at 2 months old.

I found this picture in my stash, blew it up and put it with some chatterbox papers. It looks a little crooked, but i wanted Grandma's handwriting to remain with the picture :) I obviosly need a new corner rounder.

Missy Heather LOVES to sort little picky things, such as buttons! She'll do this for hours a day! I have lots of pics of this, so I put them all on one page.

And one last page--of all my favorite things of the moment:) If you are a scrapper, I'd really recommend you start a 'book of me' and fill it with just pages of your own life. So often the mommas become the family history recorders, and never end up with their own history recorded. Put in your top 10 favorites, your thoughts, feelings, and how much a gallon of milk costs. Your great grandchildren will have MUCH fun reading through all of this!! (everyone keeps asking me what the clock stands for--it's stopped at 7pm. Bedtime at our house tehehehe)

Come join the fun!!!

The online crop at www.scrapbookdreamer.com is in full swing!! Come on over and joing the fun!! These are a great way to dig out your supplies and your stack of "I really don't want to scrap these pictures" pictures and go to work! The first 2 images are some cards I've made. I also am trying to get some of my older, little kit pictures onto pages and into my albums. I don't know that I'll ever be caught up, especially since Dan has now conceded to letting me do his too :) (not to worry Linda, I'll scan/copy them and preserve the originals)

Aren't I just adorable in my red boots?? I must be about 1 in this picture.

Me at 2...take a closer look. It is so weird to see me as a mix of my children--not the other way around!!

Here's my momma being a new momma. I couldn't lighten or do much with this picture, so I just put it on bright papers to try to lighten it that way. Love this picture...Amy looks so much like her!!

And lastly, the 4 generations of the Deveraux women. Me, Grandma Pearl Deveraux Graham, Great-Grandma Mary Ellen Deveraux, and my mom. Love the fall colors of this picture!!

WEll..I'm off to do some more scrapping!! Dan is having some daddy time with the doobers so I can have a bit of a break. It's only 20 degrees today and grey, windy and icky. So, I foresee lots of play-doh, markers, and if we're brave, fingerpainting ;)

Good thursday morning!!

This age is so much fun. A little challenging, but just fun!! They are learning new words everyday and objects like crayons are no longer tasteful treats. Just a couple weeks ago Logan wouldn't color. He'd just play " momma pick up my 25 crayons off the floor". Now, he's holding the crayon and drawing. Isn't it funny when something just clicks?? Heather has been coloring for months. Her fine motor skill are outstanding.

Mom and Bill are here for a couple days. We are taking the kids to storytime and then out for a drive to look at the progress on our new home. I made a big pot of baked potato soup and a loaf of fresh bread for lunch. Then...nothing else planned for the day.

So Thankful...

Well, it's after midnight and here I am. We still do not have a hot water heater, even though the plumber *promised* he'd put it in before going home. hmmm..so I'm scrapping and that makes me happy. Almost as happy as my 3 inch, lukewarm bath.

Here's my sweet Heather, just gazing off into somewhere..I created this layout as part of an assignment to use these 3Bugs in a Rug papers at scrapbookdreamer.com.

Jackson Pictures!

I took the kids to the park today--and guess what was standing in the kiddie fishing pond?? Our friend the moose that visited a couple weeks ago. This is her calf. Both were about 30-40 yards away and just paid no mind to us or the cars going by. The locals were even less upset...

This poor critter was hanging in a home decor boutique in Jackson. I'm thinking there are some of us that can relate ;)

One of the 4 large antler arches in Jackson's town center.

This is just us standing under the very famous arch in Jackson Hole town center. These have been collected by boy scouts from the feeding refuge just outside of town. There are 4 of these huge arches.

And last, the super famouse Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. Anyone who has ever been to Jackson has probably sat in their saddle bar stools.

Anyone have a cheap water heater they can overnight to Pinedale???

Ours blew up. Not just a little leak, but a huge ole gushing, floor drenching blow out. It will be so nice to live in a house that has something...anything newer than copyrighted in 1932!!!

We went on a quick trip to Jackson and met up with Jason and Dad. Did a little shopping and sightseeing. It was fun but a little chilly. I'm glad we came home early, or this place would have been floating down Pine street! I'll upload the pics tomorrow. Think elk horn arches :)

I did a couple "use up my stash" pages that turned out very cute. I forget they will be placed at the top of this post, so it won't make sense til you get here...sorry. I'm too lazy to retype all of this!

ONLINE Crop with great prizes November 10-12

Scrapbookdreamer.com is ONE!! Come on over for a fun weekend on online scrapping. Find a sitter and put pizza delivery on your fast dial...

Welcome to our 1st ANNIVERSARY CROP!! I am thrilled that you could join us and help us celebrate the one year anniversary of our brick and mortar store at 620 N Broadway in Pittsburg, KS. If you are in the neighborhood, stop in on Sunday, the 12th of November from 10-7:00 for demonstrations and door prizes. Our online crop starts November 10th and goes through the 12th. Everyone is eligble for prizes even the DT!

Grand Prize is to be announced:Our Sponsor list is growing all the time and this list will be updated as we hear:
Cain & Company
Notions Marketing
American Crafts
Poly-Tools
All My Memories
Creativity Inc.
My Minds Eye

Shopping List: This is a list of items you may not have on hand all the time so I want you to have a chance to get them in before our crop begins. I don't want you to miss a chance to get your name in the drawing!BlingThis list may change so keep checking back! These items do not have to be purchased at ScrapbookDreamer.com. I just want you to know what they are.

Rules:Keep watching for this information as I will edit it as needed!!! I will post challenges on Friday November 10th, 2006. The rules will be in each challenge. I can tell you that the more you participate the better your chances!Since the DT is eligible for this prize too, I will be posting all the challenges myself. This way it is fair to everyone and the DT will learn what needs to be done at the same time everyone else does.Good luck to everyone and let's have some fun with this!!! Keep watching this post as I will edit it as things change.

Laura

SHIPPING:If you live outside the US you will receive the shipping credit of 6.00 but will be responsible for any charges above that. This goes for Alaska and Hawaii too.

Thank God for Magic Erasers!!!

I think the pictures are self explainatory!

TGIF!!

Wow--it's friday already! The weeks are just flying by. This weekend is our fifth anniversary. We are heading to Jackson Hole for a day of shopping, exploring, and eating!! My how we miss having someplace to eat besides "Sara's Cafe".

Our thoughts are with mom and Bill today. (they know why). We are hoping everything turns out just peachy.

AND...it's official!! We signed the contract on our new home, which will be done by February first. The builder said 'hopefully sooner' which will be really nice, considering what we are living in right now!!


This is poor Logan--he was TERRIFIED of the pumpkins...even before they were carved! Poor baby. he had huge alligator tears for awhile. Even bribing,

An another starring Logan--I just wanted to play around with the settings on my camera, and Logan just wanted to run in the crunchy snow. So, it was a perfect match :)

Jlyne Hanback will be at scrapbookdreamer.com!

Scrapbookdreamer.com is hosting a chat with Jlyne Hanback!! Be sure to register in the forums and chatroom--then be ready for a very informative, fun chat!!

Chat with Jlyne Hanback! November 8th 10pm EST in our Chat room! Jlyne Hanback is a free-lance scrapbook artist and enjoys many different types of paper crafting. She has been published in virtually every major scrapbooking publication, and has designed for Chatterbox for the last four years. She has most recently been added to the BHG (Scrapbooks, Etc. Magazine) staff as a Creative Team member for 2007. She has extensive writing and editing experience, having been an assistant editor for two different paper arts magazines. She has had numerous papercrafting articles published in various magazines, as well as a short story in the new “Chicken Soup for the Scrapbooker's Soul” book. Jlyne enjoys finding new ways to use supplies creatively, and also enjoys all aspects of photography. She and her husband also pioneered ScrapSubmit.com and enjoy helping other artists get published. She truly loves working with other people, and teaches scrapbooking/paper arts classes across the country at events such as CKU and others.