Need for Speed!!

I did two speed scraps in the last 24 hours and they were fun!! Thought I would share my Layouts - they will go next to each other in the completed album.

I also wanted to let you know about a fun little contest at GG Digital Designs. Head over to the blog and you can get a sneak peek at the new kit coming out this weekend - if you guess the name you win it!! It is sooo cute and I can't wait to show you what I scrapped with it!

Alrighty - that is enough playing around - I better go get some work done!

Unloading the dishwasher -

Music to my Ears

Yesterday the two oldest princesses had their very first piano recital! We were very generously gifted a piano in August (a dream come true for me!) and the girls started lessons in September. I know this totally sounds like an obnoxious mom thing (ok - it is but I don't do it often so bear with me) but they are doing REALLY well!!! I am amazed at what they have accomplished in just a few months. So in classic obnoxious mom fashion, and here for your viewing pleasure, is the duet they played together at the recital yesterday (and just be thankful I didn't put up all their solo pieces and gush about how Sarah even memorized hers!!).



Feel free to comment and tell me how gorgeous, talented and amazing my kids are - or poke fun at me for even posting it (hey, the grandparents want to see ok?).

A Proud Mama -

New Products and New Layouts!

Haynay released her new FABULOUS pack of templates today so that means I get to show you the layout that I did with them for the release! Here is the great template pack:

And here is my layout (which also uses her kit Football Fanatic!):

Plus, you can pick up an extra freebie template from Haynay on her blog.

Monica also released a new kit this weekend that is a great basic girls kit called - what else? - Basic Girl! Here is the kit:

And here is my layout for the release (it also uses her template pack Keepsake 12):

There are a few more in the works so check back soon and in the meantime join me for a couple of Speed Scraps this week at ScrapMatters! There are some great prizes so you don't want to miss out on the fun. There are two coming up:

Tuesday Night 6pm PST and

Wednesday Morning 9am PST.

Now, I am off to upload some video of Sarah and Abbie's first piano recital!! As soon as I get that done I will post it here - they were so cute and did a great job!!

See ya soon!

Speed Scrap Results

I have done quite a bit of scrapping this week (instead of house cleaning!) but I can't show most of it to you because the kits haven't been released yet. However, I can show you my Speed Scrap from tonight - it was a fun one!

Well, I better get to bed. I will need the rest because I am doing yoga with a bunch of Daisy scouts tomorrow afternoon!

Totally Tired -

Some Recent Layouts

Despite all the craziness around here lately I have gotten some scrapping done - it is my time to unwind and I would be MORE insane if I didn't have a chance to scrap! So here are a few of them that I really liked (click on the images if you want to see what kits were used).

This first one was a Tuesday Template Challenge at ScrapMatters. We were supposed to scrap our resolution for 2009. And look - a picture of me (I had to dig one up from 2004!).

These next few were done for Speed Scraps at ScrapMatters. I LOVE the Speed Scraps!! You get a layout done quickly and a freebie for doing it!

This was also for a Speed Scrap and I was pretty impressed with myself because I did a two-pager!!

Here is the LHS:

And here is the RHS:

This last one was for the release of Haynay's kit Be Still My Heart - it is sooo cute and on sale right now!!

Well, that is enough for now - if you want to join me for the next Speed Scrap at ScrapMatters it is tomorrow night, Wednesday 1/21 at 6pm PST. I will be there a little late but will be there for another great time!

Staying Scrappy -

Whew - Busy Week!

Wow was last week a busy one! First I went to South Carolina to help my mom go through some of my grandmothers things (mostly furniture). We made lots of progress and I picked out some things to keep. The girls REALLY made out though in the costume jewlery - my grandmother LOVED costume jewlery! They got tons of beads, fake rings and clip earrings to use for dress up play.

Drew did a great job holding down the fort but I was sure glad to get home. I worked the two days after getting back and then this weekend was Beka's birthday!!! I can't believe that she is 3 - where has the time gone??? We celebrated her birthday with a trip to the Children's Museum and then dinner at Red Robin. Our friends and their soon-to-be three year old joined us as well as our very favorite babysitter. It was a great time and Beka LOVED being the center of attention! She is a total CARS fanatic and so it was no surprise that she picked Lightning McQueen for her cake - I did cupcakes too but I didn't take a picture of those.

The girls were off of school today and we had a playdate this morning with some friends that we don't see very often so that was fun. Now it is back to normal (is there a normal?) but the countdown to Disney continues - 19 more days!!! I still have quite a bit of stuff to get done before we leave and I will probably start packing this weekend.

I am also working on some layouts for a few products that will be released in the next few weeks and I can't wait to show them to you - but not yet! Well, that's it for now but I will be back soon with new layouts.

Chugging Along -

I am a slacker!!

Wow did I slack over the Christmas/New Year Holiday! I am really going to be better so how about just a quick recap on what has been going on at the McDaniel house in the last month.

First off - the kids got an extra long vacation because of school closures due to the fact that we were SNOWED IN!! I missed three days of work and there were days we couldn't even leave the house. Seriously I have never seen anything like it in the 11 years that I have lived in the Seattle area - there were drifts in our backyard! We got two feet over the period of a week - check it out - CRAZY!

Then on the 23rd my Grandmother Johnson passed away. She would have been 94 in February and had been in and out of the hospital a lot this year so we are glad that she is no longer in pain but it was still very sad. I am headed to South Carolina this weekend to help my mom go through all of her things and Drew will be in charge of the three princesses for 5 days - say some prayers for him!

We did manage to get out on Christmas Eve for church and were so pleased with the culmination of our Advent Conspiracy efforts. We spent less than half of our Christmas budget and were able to make a donation in the amount of $425 to help fight AIDS - we will definately be doing this again in 2009. Here is a picture of the girls in the Christmas dresses - so cute!

On Christmas Day my in-laws arrived to visit for a week and we had a BLAST!! Lots of snow so we spent quite a few days hanging out at home in our pj's playing games but did manage to get out for a family movie (Bolt - so funny!) and Drew and I had a date night too - it was such a great relaxing week with family. And it was even better knowing that we will be together again really soon in Disney!

Now we are back in the swing of school, work and girls activities and I realized that we as of today we only have 30 DAYS UNTIL WE LEAVE FOR DISNEY!!!! I still have lots of stuff to finish up and the to-do lists are growing!! I have finished up the touring plans in the last week, made one last dinner ressie and the final tweek to the itinerary. Lots of stuff to print and laminate!! The girls are getting really excited and I put together a little countdown calandar for them to start today - it has pictures of things we are going to do while we are there behind each Mickey head:

Well, I guess that gets ya up to date! I did get some scrapping done over the break so I will post some of those tomorrow - off to get started packing!

No longer slacking -