Layout: "Spooktacular"

It's only November 3rd and I have all five Halloween layouts done from this year! Am I good or what? Anyway, this is the final Trick or Treat layout for 2011 - the family page.

Digital Kit: "Hot Halloween" by Lyndsay Riches Designs.

Layout: "Doggone Cute"

Logan decided to be Scooby Doo for Halloween (since his original idea of being a "slide" didn't work out). I tried to get the little ones to match (have Logan be a doctor or have Thurman be Shaggy), but they were adamant about their choices. They were adorable, anyway!

Digital Kit: "No Bones About It" by DigiLicious Designs and Kathy Winters Designs.

Layout: "House Calls"

Thurman was adorable in his doctor outfit for Trick or Treat this year! Although I spent way more on costumes than the candy they all got would have cost, the good time they had was priceless!

Digital Kit: "Fix Me Up Doc" by Kristin Aagard Designs.

Layout: "Sweet Gooey Apples"

Duane decided he would try making homemade (well, sort of - the mix was from a box) caramel apples. He and Abigail tried real hard, but they didn't set up very well, so they were a sticky mess. However, they were still sweet and tasty! He says maybe next time he'll just buy the pre-made ones!

Digital Kit: "Apple of my Eye" by Kristin Aagard Designs and Traci Reed Designs.

Layout: "Creepy"

I am on the ball this year! This is Gabriel's Trick or Treat layout for this year. He dressed as a grotesque "chef" - ick!

Digital Kit: "Jeepers Creepers" by Kristin Aagard Designs.

Layout: "Boo-tiful"

This is Abigail's Trick or Treat layout for this year. She was gorgeous as a dragonfly/fairy/Tinkerbell.

Digital Kit: "Hot Halloween" by Lyndsay Riches Designs.

Layout: "Rainbows & Raindrops"

This is the 2011 update page for the family album about Christian and Caleb. They are growing up way too fast!

Digital Kit: "Raindrops & Rainbows" by Suzy Q Scraps.

Layout: "52 of my Most Favorite Things"

Since there are so few photos of me or even anything about ME, I decided to make a layout about my favorite things at this point in my life. It will be fun to look at in the years to come - and hopefully my kids will enjoy it, too!

Digital Kit: "Love Monsters" by Suzy Q Scraps.

Layout: "Ticket to Ride (family)"

This is the layout of our trip to Del Grosso's for the family album. The journalling was tough for me, because I didn't want to sugar coat the day, saying how perfect it was - because it wasn't. Caleb refused to come with us, saying it would be too cold to get in the water (it wasn't) so he didn't want to come at all - he went to his dad's house instead. Duane had an attitude for most of the day because Logan got scared on the Tilt A Whirl with me and Abigail, yelling "I'm done, I'm done, I'm done" during the entire ride. He was perfectly safe and there wasn't anything I could do about it and it was pretty funny. Duane didn't appreciate my sense of humor so he ignored me and made rude comments the rest of the day, making it next to impossible for me to spend more time with the little ones. I tried to make the best of it with the older kids and still enjoyed spending time with them. I decided to include all this in the journalling. I think it makes for a much more meaningful layout. Because we all know that not everything worth remembering is perfect.

Digital Kit: "Amusement Park Fun" from Stuff to Scrap.

Layout: "Ticket to Ride"

We took the kids to Del Grossos last month. Gabriel and Christian had a blast on lots of rides and really loved the water park. Abigail hung out with me a lot and I enjoyed getting to go on a bunch of rides with her. She even talked me into going on the Free Fall - which I did NOT enjoy. I kept my eyes closed the entire time. Never again. Thurman and Logan had a great time going on all the kiddie rides - I even talked them into going on the Tilt A Whirl (one of my faves). Thurman loved it and even went on a 2nd time. Logan, however, did not like it so much. He yelled "I'm done, I'm done, I'm done!" the entire time. Abigail and I laughed like lunatics! (Okay, it's not like I could get him off the ride anyway and he was of course, perfectly safe.) Duane - who has no sense of humor - didn't appreciate our having a laugh at Logan's expense. Unfortunately, his attitude remained the rest of the day. However, I still enjoyed my time with the kids!

Digital Kit: "Amusement Park Fun" from Stuff to Scrap.

Layout: "Smile!"

This is Logan's three-year-old layout. He is growing up so fast - all of the kids are.

Digital Kit - "Sunshine" by Suzy Q Scraps.

Layout: "Summer Ice"

This is a layout about the worse ice storm I've ever experienced. It happened just a couple nights ago. Although I usually love a good storm, I hope never to have another one like this was!

Digital Kit: "Snow Buddies" by Just So Scrappy

Layout: "Look Whoo Just Turned Four"

I love how this fun page turned out. It's so much fun using the bright kid colors and the cute owl embellishment. It's hard to use the "cutesy" stuff for the older kids.

Digital Kit: "Wild About Valentines" - a collab by Keep Scrappin Designs and Designs by Tater.

 

Layout: "Twelve"

This is Abigail's twelve-year-old layout. I have so much fun doing hers because I can use girly colors and accents! It gets challenging to do five boys' albums and the family album because I can't use feminine stuff! I am finishing up with the 8.5x11" layouts and moving to strictly all 12x12" layouts. For some reason, the smaller size albums and refills cost about three times as much and it's getting harder and harder to find layout ideas for that size page. Plus since I take so many photos and have so much to write about, the smaller pages just aren't giving me enough room to include everything I want to include.

Digital Kit: "Kisses" by Kristin Aagard.

Layout: "Yummy"

Abigail was so proud of the gingerbread house she made! It was beautiful and even had Santa in his sled with reindeer pulling it. It was sad to see her dismantling it, but we all loved the yummy treat!

Digital Kit: "Just for the Girls" by Gettin' Scrappy with Britt

Layout: "Hanging Around"

This is Gabriel's layout from our trip to Lakemont Park last year. I loved the cute little monkeys and even though it's a little more kid-like, I thought they worked well for the layout.

Digital Kit: "Monkey See, Monkey Do" by CRK.

"Rockin' Times at Lakemont Park"

This was the family layout for last summer's trip to Lakemont Park in Altoona, PA. We had a blast, the weather was perfect, no crowds and yummy, gooey New York style pizza. What more can you ask for?

Digital Kit: "Love Rocks" - a Scrap Orchard Mega Collab

Layout: "Boo Crew"

This is the Halloween layout from 2010. Duane borrowed his brother-in-law's 4-wheeler and a trailer and rode me and the boys around in (embarrassing) "style". The older kids were too embarrassed and preferred to Trick or Treat without us old people!

Digital Kit: "Too Cute to Spook" by Suzy Q Scraps.

Layout: "Big Boy Beds"

I finally got these photos posted from last July. We got the little ones their very own "big boy beds". They are bunk beds, but since they wouldn't stay off the top bunk (even without the ladder), we were afraid someone would get hurt, so we ended up putting them both in their room as regular beds. Someday, when they are older, we'll put them back together as bunk beds!

Digital Kit: "iLove" by Suzy Q Scraps and Ziggle Designs.

Layout: "Christmas Time 2010"

I'm starting to catch up a little bit. This is the family Christmas layout from this past Christmas. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family! :)

Digital Kit: "Santa's Workshop" by Kristin Aagard and Kay Miller Designs.

Layout: "Christian"

I'm working on layouts about each of the kids. This one is Christian's. I can't believe how grown up he is already - I hardly feel old enough!

Digital Kit: "Girlfriend" by Shanmomto4 Designs.

Layout: "Seriously Snowed"

Since it seems that everyone else in the US is getting snow and we aren't, my two little ones decided to make their own in their room with baby powder. I should have known they were being too quiet! When will I learn?

Digital Kit: "Snow Buddies" by Just So Scrappy.

Layout: "Busted!"

Two of my older boys and a neighborhood friend who was spending the night decided it would be a good idea to sneak out of the house in the middle of the night and go wandering through Hagerstown. Of course, they knew it was against OUR rules (we last saw them going downstairs "to bed"), but what they didn't know is that it's also against the law (there is a 10pm curfew). They were terrified when cops came upon them, questioned them, frisked them and drove them home. Not fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang again. It was the same cop (now she was REALLY unhappy) bringing Caleb home. He apparently knew the other boys had sneaked out and since he couldn't sleep, he figured he'd go out for a walk through Funkstown. We weren't too harsh on them as I think the police put the fear of God into them.

Digital Kits: "Jailbird" and "Busted" both by Kristin Aagard.