Author: Lois Houston

I'm a sweet tea drinkin' southern gal who loves to cook, bake, crochet, and read. Check out my blog for posts about parenting, faith, books, crafts, planning, baking, cooking, and life in general.

That mischievous little elf…

Our Elf on the Shelf has been much into the mischief this year…

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While he was getting used to us, he hung out in our wreath.

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Then, I guess he got comfy, because he TP'ed MB's bedroom

(no pictures for that one,
although it was fun to hear the kids when they woke up!)

Then, he decided to take Barbie on a date:

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I guess he figured he was welcome to do whatever he wanted then…

So he ate a little snack:

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That is… ate a snack while perched on the ledge above our 2-story foyer

(we think he must’ve flown up there)

It’s a good thing Santa comes tomorrow night.

There is no telling what mischief he would get into if he stayed too much longer.

Digital Scrapbooking Goodies for the Holidays

Merry Christmas to all of you! This may be my last post this week – I have company on the way (arriving any minute) and then a week full of festivities planned. I am sure you are not going to have any more time to sit still and surf the web than I am, so we will just plan to see each other again after the 25th, okay?

Before I leave you, here are some links to some of the digital goodness I have stumbled across this holiday season. Even if you are not a digital scrapbooker, you can download and print these out to use in your traditional scrapbooking.

Enjoy!

  • Digital Doodles from Scrappy Fairy (I love these)
  • Be Merry mini kit from Digital Freebies
  • This beautiful Winter Wonderland from Jenallyson.  She is opening a new shop Design House Digital and has a freebie on that webite, too, if you sign up for her mailing list.
  • Kolette Hall always has beautiful downloads. There are several on her site that are holiday-themed. I printed a few out last week and added them to my last-minute decorating. I just printed them at 5×7 and stuck them in some black frames. Very classy, very nice.
  • Here is a beautiful 2010 Calendar you can print out and gussy up to give as a last minute gift (or keep for yourself!)
  • The Shabby Princess has some gorgeous downloads. She has a shop, too, with a sale going on right now. I love her designs.

Oh, and if you are a Creative Memories digital user, you can still use these. Just import them into your program as your own digital content.

Ok, hope that gets you started.

I have to go make final preparations…

Merry Christmas to all, and to all Good Night! 🙂

Digital Scrapbooking Goodies for the Holidays

Merry Christmas to all of you! This may be my last post this week – I have company on the way (arriving any minute) and then a week full of festivities planned. I am sure you are not going to have any more time to sit still and surf the web than I am, so we will just plan to see each other again after the 25th, okay?

Before I leave you, here are some links to some of the digital goodness I have stumbled across this holiday season. Even if you are not a digital scrapbooker, you can download and print these out to use in your traditional scrapbooking.

Enjoy!

  • Digital Doodles from Scrappy Fairy (I love these)
  • Be Merry mini kit from Digital Freebies
  • This beautiful Winter Wonderland from Jenallyson.  She is opening a new shop Design House Digital and has a freebie on that webite, too, if you sign up for her mailing list.
  • Kolette Hall always has beautiful downloads. There are several on her site that are holiday-themed. I printed a few out last week and added them to my last-minute decorating. I just printed them at 5×7 and stuck them in some black frames. Very classy, very nice.
  • Here is a beautiful 2010 Calendar you can print out and gussy up to give as a last minute gift (or keep for yourself!)
  • The Shabby Princess has some gorgeous downloads. She has a shop, too, with a sale going on right now. I love her designs.

Oh, and if you are a Creative Memories digital user, you can still use these. Just import them into your program as your own digital content.

Ok, hope that gets you started.

I have to go make final preparations…

Merry Christmas to all, and to all Good Night! 🙂

Friday Five on Saturday

Well, as we say in the South, I’m a day late and a dollar short.

Sorry I missed the Friday Five yesterday. I was so caught up in catching up on my JYC album that this totally slipped my mind.  But, as I sit here this morning sipping my tea and eating the yummy breakfast SuperMan made for me, I have been surfing my favorite blogs.

I have some awesome holiday ideas to share with you.

Without further adieu, here are my Five Favorite New Holiday Ideas.  I may not make any of them anytime soon, but they are way cool and totally cute.

1. Tiny Gingerbread Houses perched on a mug: These are so cute!  I saw these over at the Simply Handmade blog, but she found them on the Not Martha blog. Both are awesome and worth visiting.

2. Anonymous Christmas Elf: This is such a neat idea! All it really takes is some creativity, a little time, and a tiny bit of money. I will be doing this next year for sure.

3. Truffles: I found this one on the Sorta Crunchy blog. Still thinking it may be worth trying as we have some serious chocoholics here.

4. This one is not necessarily holiday-related, but I like the idea because one of the challenges during the school break is keeping your kids occupied so you don’t hear the dreaded “I’m bored!”  My oldest has been asking to scrap digitally and I’ve just not gotten brave enough to let her yet.  But this article gives some great tips – I think I may just give her a go.

5. And the last one – totally cute idea, especially if you have little people who want to play with your nativity scene all through Advent: A wooden block nativity as seen over at the Pioneer Woman’s blog. What? You’ve never read her blog? What are you waiting for?

Ok, that is it for me. I have five batches of cookies to bake today and company coming tomorrow and Tuesday. Lots to do. No more computer time for me.

Christmas Traditions, New and Old

I have decided that the only way I am going to finish this Journal Your Christmas album is to do it digitally. I can't seem to find the time to journal, scheme the page design and then actually sit down and do it. Especially since the kids will be home from school after today – once they are home "real" scrapbooking ends for me. Too many little fingers in the stash!

I am working on documenting our Christmas Traditions.  I think I am going to end up with four (!) pages about this because we have a few new ones to capture as well as a few old ones I want to record. This book is going to be HUGE when I finish, but with the digital pages, at least it won't be bulky or heavy.

Here is my Traditions (new) page. I'll add the "old" one later when I get it done. I am waiting to take a photo on Christmas Eve for that page.

Christmas Traditions - new Pages are done with Creative Memories' StoryBook Creator Plus and their Frost kit.

MB has been asking for an Elf on the Shelf this year. I think a lot of the kids in her class must have them and she has been hearing stories about the antics of the elves.

So, one Saturday while I was out with Ang, we got one. MB was so very excited and read the story to Ang right away. Now, our Elf, Jingle, makes a nightly journey to Santa's to report on the girls' behavior. Then he picks a spot to perch for the day and keep an eye on things. You never know where Jingle will turn up. The lights, the wreath,  the bookcase. He is a crafty elf.

Let there be light(s)

Every year, we tweak our outdoor decorations just a little. This year, we did something totally different. Colored lights (for the girls) on the shrubs and SuperMan added lights to the Tulip Tree. I love it. It looks like an outdoor Christmas tree.

We also have little bitty trees on the front porch. I have seen that for years and loved it so I splurged last Christmas and added them to the decor. I think next year I will add some decorations to them (when the puppy isn't such a puppy and hopefully won't eat them all!)

Let There Be Light Pages are done with Creative Memories' StoryBook Creator Plus and their Frost kit.

SuperMan also got all of my garlands and wreath lights working this year so we have a lot of lights in the house, too. It makes things very festive and I am keeping them on pretty much all the time. I like the glow!

The stockings on the mantle are from one of my trips to the UK with work (years ago) and every time I pull them out I remember shopping in Harrod's with Mom and getting them.

I hope your holidays are filled with light, love and good memories, too!

Color and Loveliness

Look at this.

If you love color like I do, you are probably salivating now.

How pretty are these?

I can just imagine taking them and festooning them with some ribbons and stickers and brightly colored papers… and tucking them in my purse to pull out whenever I need to jot a note or an appointment down.

Sigh.

Just lovely.

Santa? Do you hear me? I love these.

Oh, Grow Up! (just not so fast)

Today was a little bittersweet for me. 

My youngest daughter (5) had a Holiday program at school. They sang carols and did a few recitations for all of the parents, showed off their artwork and then we had a “reception” where we shared donuts and muffins.

I loved it.  She did such a good job and all of the kids were so adorable. (I love this age) The little boys with their energy just bursting from their little bodies, straining against the structure of standing in a row and reciting in time with the rest of the class… The little girls with their fancy dresses and pretty hairdos, smiling at their mommies and daddies and waving occasionally to be sure they are still paying attention to them.

It was heaven.

And yet, it was a little sad for me.

I couldn’t help but think that this was probably my last Christmas program I’d get to see (at least until the grandkids come along).  So, while I was reveling in every moment, there was a part of me that wanted to hit the “Pause” button.  Stop! Wait! This can’t be it!  Let’s go back a year or two.

Isn’t that funny? 

When our kids are little and dependent on us for EVERYTHING all we can think about is that we can’t wait for them to get bigger so that they can do things for themselves.  We push, we nudge, we cajole and we threaten.

And then, one day, you wake up from the everyday and realize that that time is here.  And, I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I’m ready!

One girl entering her pre-teen years, thinking she knows it all already; the other learning she can be independent and it’s ok. Don’t get me wrong… I love it for them. I am proud of my girls.  I am so excited to see their growth and development, to cheer their accomplishments.

I’m just not ready to give up my babies yet.

I know what is coming. I have seen it with friends.  Next, I become the “mean mom” who doesn’t let her stay up all night, texting with friends on her cell phone.  Or the mom who won’t let her meet friends and hang out at the mall (all alone) (as if!)

I’m still enjoying being the mom they WANT to be with. The mom they think is cool (and that they think actually KNOWS stuff)  I’m not ready to give that up.

I want babies to snuggle in my lap, rock to sleep, and kiss their boo-boos.

So, it’s bittersweet. 

While I’m so proud of them and can’t wait to see what they will become, I’m going to miss these little girls of mine.  I love them an awful lot.

What’s for dinner?

What’s for dinner at your house tonight?

I have been trying to come up with something creative, appetizing and quick/easy for us tonight. My attention has been a little distracted the past week with a little person who is under the weather (hence the less-frequent-than-normal posts, too.)Pizza poppers baked close up

I just stumbled across this recipe for Stuffed Pizza Bites on a blog I follow: Our Best Bites (have you heard of them? If not, you should check them out – they have a lot of yummy recipes.

I’ll post some pictures and let you know how the munchkins and SuperMan like it tonight.