Our Christmas Card 2011

Be Jolly Christmas Card

Create personalized Christmas card designs at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Merry Christmas!  This year we decided to have Brandy take some pictures for us in November.  We absolutely love them!  We did a few outside and then went into a friend's setup garage studio.  These turned out so great and I am so happy we went inside.  Vince would not sit still to get a  family picture outside.  There was too much to explore.  I ordered cards from Shutterfly and Tiny Prints this year.  I can never decide so I just choose two designs :)  I did front and back photos and just switched them between the two cards. 



Tiny Prints

Are you working in your Christmas planner yet?  I have yet to formalize mine but with so many ideas swirling I know I need to get it put into one spot quickly.  I also need to drag out my old laptop to get my Christmas card list off it.  I organizede them last year but since Santa brought a new computer I haven't switched my list over.  Speaking of cards, have you seen the Tiny Prints cards yet this year?  Here's my favorite.  I spotted it a few weeks ago and then looking back this week it was still my favorite.  I love the different patterns of letters and the cheerful yet homemade look to it.  I know I've posted some other cards from Shutterfly already this year but I love to get a few different card designs.  I can't pick just one! 

Christmas Card

And I'm a sucker for a good address label, especially when it matches my cards, so I'll have to get a few of these:

Address Label

And to really match all my Christmas paraphanelia wouldn't it be great to have these customized gift labels?!

 

Gift Tag

Tiny Prints has cards, notebooks, calendars, and lots of fun things to look at.  One of my sorority sisters posted her new business cards that she had just ordered from Tiny Prints.  They were gorgeous, very sophisticated, but fun! 

So, do you send out multiple designs or one single Christmas card each year?

Giveaway Winners

This morning I randomly picked the three winners of the Shutterfly cards. I wrote each entry on a piece of paper.


I folded them up, scrambled them around, and blindly picked three names.



Congratulations! I'll be emailing you the code for your 25 Free Christmas cards.

Christmas Cards & a Giveaway

Christmas time is coming!  Christmas time is coming!  Christmas time is coming and I've got to order cards.  I LOVE Christmas cards.  It is so fun to look at all the different designs each year and carefully select our family card.  I've been looking at Shutterfly lately (while making my Halloween Photo Book) and trying to figure out which card to use.  I ordered from them last year and the quality of their cards is outstanding.  They are thick cardstock and great picture quality.  Theirs are so much better than the typical photo paper cards.  Last year we had lots of pictures and lots of updates on our Christmas card.  We told about Vince and changes in my job and all about Grant.  This year I want to do something different.  I think we'll just do something very colorful and happy.  We are having so much fun with Vince as he learns and discovers each day.  I want to show that happy one year old spirit off with a fun, colorful card.  Here are some of my top pics.  I don't have the photo yet, so it will probably just be a matter of plugging the final photo into each one to decide.

 {Be Jolly}

 {Dove of Peace}

 {Rainbow Greetings}

{Stripes in Color}

December is also a big birthday month in my family, so I may be also ordering some birthday invitations.  They are adorable!

Okay, so who would like 25 FREE 5x7 Christmas cards from Shutterfly? 



Shutterfly has given me the opportunity to share with 3 readers. 

To enter, just comment to this post and tell me which Shuttefly card design is your favorite. 

For additional entries:

1. Link this giveaway post to Facebook and leave a comment here letting me know you did that.

2. Tweet about this giveaway (with link) and leave a comment here letting me know you did that.

This giveaway will end Sunday, November 6 at 11:00 p.m.

31 Days of Thanks: Day 4

NOTE: Days of Thanks will continue Nov. 5 with day 5.  Thanks!

Today I'm thankful for my roots!  I have lived in Kentucky my whole life, well within a two-mile radius my entire life.  When I wasn't living in my hometown I spent four great years in Lexington at the University of Kentucky.  Here's a post I never got around to posting earlier, my accent vlog, there's no denying my roots!

Accent Vlog (9/1/11)
I loved watching some of the accent vlogs posted on Jenna's blog.  So last night I had Grant watch Jenna's husband's vlog and he agreed to do it!  So here are our accent vlogs.  Here is mine, I'll have to figure out why Gran'ts won't load correctly.  I think it's so funny to hear yourself on video, I sound kinda country I guess.  Western Kentucky accent :)

I wish the list of words to say had included huge.  Grant never pronounces the "h" in huge. I think it's the oddest thing.

So here's our my vlog.  Go back to Jenna's and watch everybody else's too!

So, what do you think?  Is this a Southern or Country accent?

31 Day of Thanks: Day 3

Thankful for all our military men and women.  And to the families who are left behind.

31 Days of Thanks:Day 2

Today, I am thankful to have my first draft for my literature review turned in!  I am currently working on my Master's degree in Elementary Education.  I'm in the Research class, which they say is the toughest one I'll have.   I'm glad this is the toughest one and that I'll be finished with it in December, yay!!! 

Today was a great day at church.  Lots of my Sunday school girls performed in the worhsip this morning.  They are such a blessing! 

This afternoon my wonderful husband worked around the house and cleaned up my car while I was busy writing.  I am definitely thankful for him!

Lastly, our fish fry at church tonight was a great time.  I love watching Vince explore new things and new people.  He's back in a "friendly" stage again where he'll go to most people.  He seems to especially like men.  I don't know if it's because they're funny, funny looking, or what! LOL

I'm glad I'm taking time to write these things down.  It's the small things in life that make up our life :)

31 Days of Thanks: Day 1

So today I'm linking up with the Nester and starting a 31 days series.  I am going to blog the next 31 days about taking moments in each busy day to notice the things around me that I am thankful for.  I think it is so easy to be caught up in the busyness of life that I often forget all I have to be thankful for.  I want to cherish all the cuddles and giggles with my baby, I want to get excited when my husband and I can have actual conversations!  I want to remember this time in my life and keep these memories.  I hope through this series I will also inspire some others to look around at what you're thankful for.

Today, I am thankful for time with family.  We took a family trip to Reed's Orchard to help my mother-in-law Sherry celebrate her birthday.  We had lots of fun!  Vince wore a "Bones" shirt with a light-up basketball on it.  Grant had a dancing skeleton in his college days and his parents still have it.  Its named "Bones" and now Vince loves to push it and dance with him.  You can see Vince pointing to his shirt in one of the pictures below.  We had a great time on the huge tube slides there.  They had a great incline so we went fast.  Vince rode down with each of us.  We shot out so quickly that there weren't any good pictures, but we loved it. 

See you tomorrow for Day 2!

Four years ago

Four years ago today, July 20, 2007, I had lunch with my Mammaw Eloise for the last time.  We celebrated her birthday at Catfish Dock, her favorite restaurant.  We are both very cold natured and had our jackets on in the restaurant.  I'd taken mine off for the picture outside.  I'll always remember how cold it was that day!  We laughed about never going anywhere without a jacket.  I would leave for a trip to Florida and receive word six days later that Mammaw had passed away.  The breath was knocked out of me.  It was totally unexpected and I couldn't even breathe when Grant told me.  He and mom had been talking on the phone back and forth that day.  I sensed something was up, and couldn't take it any longer.  Everything went through my head as to whether someone had gotten bad health news or a car accident.  I knew that they wouldn't be calling like this unless it was urgent. 
I've missed Mammaw constantly since she's been gone.  She was such a funny person and very easy going.  I hope I'm a lot like her.  As time goes on the pain isn't as bad, but it shows itself in new ways.  I wish more than anything that she could meet Vince.  Oh, she would just LOVE him.  I'd love to still be able to go over to her house and sit on the sofa to ask her about cooking, growing up, talk about crafting, and UK basketball.  I know she's in the best place of all, heaven.  She's getting to celebrate with Pappaw Fred and Jesus :)

Happy Birthday Mammaw!  I love you.

In Daddy's Clothes

Vince tried on some of Daddy's baby clothes at Grana's the other day.  Isn't he sweet?!

Vince & Kermit

We've been cooped inside for most of March.  So even though we weren't feeling our greatest, Vince and I caught a ride with Aunt Brooke and Grammy to go shopping yesterday.  Brooke was wanting to get her three boys some Adidas outfits and I looked for Vince, Grant and myself.  Vince ended up getting two pairs of khaki pants (a size for now and one for later), a safari outfit for our day at Animal Kingdom, and Grammy got him a first Easter onesie and bib.  I started and finished my search for a post-baby swim suit.  I also got Grant part of his birthday gift for later this month... shh!

While waiting on Brooke to finish up Vince got to meet a special friend to his Cousin Jake.  Jake was born 22 days after me and he was in love with Kermit when he was little.  Vince sat with Kermit a minute and I got some pics.  He is really content with being able to sit up and feed himself when we go out.  I'm glad of that because I like to go!






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Cheering on the Cats!

Our whole town (state) has shut down for the night...


We're cheering on our Cats! 
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A Good Morning

The cats won last night?

YES!!!!!

Spring is Here

We've had our front door closed all winter keeping the cold air out.  Vince was thrilled when I opened the door up to a wonderful Spring day!

RSV

Vince (and many other babies in our town) was admitted to the hospital on his 9-month birthday for RSV.  He was given breathing treatments around the clock, I/V fluids  and lots of Pedialyte (non-flavored) bottles.  We stayed Wednesday afternoon through Saturday morning.  The nurses and Dr. Billie were wonderful to us and we were so blessed by our local hospital.

Vince absolutely hated his I/V.  We kept this baby sock on it to try and keep him from pulling (or biting) it.  

Toys from home kept him a little bit happier.  We took the legs off his baby i-Pad we called it.  

He got lots of balloons and stuffed animals - he loved them!

A mommy's view

I am an official mom now... this is my view whenever I have to take a tinkle!  They always say you'll never have anymore alone time...

Power Lifting

Grant has been working out and power lifting this year.  He loves having his guy time!

The last Saturday in February they had a Power Lifting competition at the local gym.  It was fun to watch them test their strength!  I was so proud of my strong man!

Grant won third place in the dead lift!

Here is the team - the PoweR zone.  Where personal records are meant to be broken!

36 Weeks

Here's my boy, Vince Charming!

He loves making funny faces!  While I'm putting makeup on he gets up against the mirror on the door and makes faces at himself.  He makes himself laugh!

Mirror Mirror

Mirror, mirror



On the wall,
whose the fairest of them all?




Mommy!




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Valentine

Will you be my Valentine?

Love,
Vince

Splish! Splash!

Vince was taking a bath!



First bath in the big tub - 1/11/11



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