rating the Christmas presents

This one for Dave. HIT!

Bendaroos for both girls. HIT!

Crayola Glow Dome. MISS! Pretty much useless on all accounts, however, the Glow Station is fun and well made.

Guitar. BIG HIT!

Band Hero for the family. HIT x 100! The song choices are fun and ones you know.
Zhu Zhu pet from Uncle Rick. HIT! To view excitement live, click video here.
As you can see, our family was blessed this Holiday.

2 more pages complete

I think I may have shared one half of this last week. I love the versatility of the laptop but I have some major things to learn on PSE. Couple that with my attempts to scrapbook without a mouse and only using the laptop pad and I am handicapped for sure. So while I work out the kinks, my pages might not have all the bells and whistles but I have decided to call them good and move on. Forward progress!
I am pretty sure these two additions to my Shutterfly album put me above 30 pages. I really want to work through these and order it pretty quickly so I can begin using the same strategy for 2010. I am going to pick one kit and basically use that as the basis again. I have an idea of what that basic kit will be. I'll share soon.

scenes from Christmas

The morning...it began at 6:17 courtesy of Olivia, first kid up!

My two smiley girls holding the gifts they gave each other. Great minds think pretty much alike, eh? (Same girls are currently fighting over markers, really loudly, like the end of the world is looming).

Skipper the dog enjoying his first Christmas. He did sorta open the package (funny, b/c normally he can shred the entire Sunday newspaper in under 4 minutes) and was most intrigued by all things squeaky...especially the $1 sheep from Walmart.

The girls receiving Band Hero at Dave's parents later that night. I mean what is not to love? It features Taylor Swift you know. (and for the older crowd: the Go Gos, Jackson 5, YMCA).

And I will end with this very sweet girl, loving on her Dad :)

It's almost here...

Just one more day! Just ask my kids, they know :)
Above is the way the final card came out. Only red, not pink. Only the mailing labels mostly fell off. So most people did not get a card in the mail. And you know what? It has been OK. Just in case, I am sending it out into the blogosphere for all to receive with this post.
Have a very Merry Holiday.

A 37" flat screen has already been gifted to Dave as I had no way of getting it out of the van. I survived a flawless, Christmas Eve purchase at Walmart. It is a Christmas miracle :) I am wondering if procrastination is not a bad thing after all?

Smart Talk Connected Conversations

Remember last year when I attended talks given by Billie Jean King and Diane Keaton (and got to meet Diane in person!)? Well, the 2010 dates and speakers have been announced:

Valerie Bertinelli-Jan 27
Ann Compton-Feb 25
Patricia Heaton-Mar 15
Lee Woodruff-April 29
Helen Hunt-May 26

For details on their topics, pictures of these beautiful women and how you can get tickets, please check out their new website ::HERE::.
I am looking forward to attending a few of these myself. Heck, a subscription could make a good holiday gift, right?! Hint.