Santa Came Early!

Hmmm, what are all these things under the tree??



Wow! All of these gifts are for me?



Look at this!



And this!



Bailey even got to open his stocking.



Can you smile for the camera with your presents, Gracie?



That's not a smile, that's a fish face :)



Look at the camera, Gracie.



Wait, did you see these??



Or these?

Merry Christmas from the Malackos

Hope you're enjoying the holiday season. We're so close to ready, it's scary. Definitely, by tomorrow...... (yikes!)



Here's a little e-Christmas card. We're not photogenic, but we're festive and that's what counts, right? :)



And a picture of Gracie, who is beside herself with excitement and can not keep her hair in a ponytail for the life of her. I believe there's also gingerbread on her face in this shot.

I know everyone is heading out to visit family or for Christmas parties or other festivities, so be safe, enjoy, and we'll see you in the new year!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

We had fun decorating the Christmas tree with Gracie this year.











Gracie's favourite ornament is one with a recorded message from Grams and Papa.



The Malackos





Merry Christmas!

Kaisercraft Goodies

I love the direction Kaisercraft is heading in, lately. They have such beautiful papers and embellishments, it makes me drool a little every time I get near their displays in scrapbooking stores.

Here are a few projects I've done using a few of their newer lines.

Smitten is one of my favourite layouts I've done lately. I like the elegant look. It's a bit of a departure from my usual baby-themed layouts, but of course, it still uses up my enormous stash of Gracie photos.



I needed to balance the layout because the large, flower element was so eye-catching, so I rolled back the edges of the papers to get just a hint of red on the second page and made sure to add lots of bling there as well.

I enjoyed using these papers so much, I used the leftovers to make this little card. The big flowers on the back of the paper were so eye-catching, so I fussy-cut one out and altered it a little to make my own, 3-dimensional blossom. I added some glossy accents to look like dew as well. The petals were curled around a pencil to give them more dimension. Just fun!



In Sweet Relief, I made my own thick alphas using my cricut. I simply cut five copies of each letter and glued them together, to get the dimension I wanted, with the freedom to create the font I wanted and use the paper that coordinated.



Whoo Loves U, uses my favourite paper by Kaisercraft. Owls are so cute, and they're everywhere now. I love the look of banners, so I had to throw one in, and do a little distressing, too.



And this is a wall hanging using a few scraps from other projects and a cheap-o IKEA frame. Perfect for my scrap room.

Merry Christmas!!

A few pictures from a Christmas party. Gracie loves Santa! She waves at every Santa in the mall, every Santa decoration, even the Santa on my Christmas tea towel.

More pictures of the girls:

Having a Tea Party





Gracie all packed up and ready to head off to school (yikes! I'm not ready for that!)

Visitors

We had visitors this week, Brad's sister, Tara, and her little girl, Paige. What a nice week! The girls slept at different times, but they had fun while they were awake, and we had a good visit.

These are a few pics from a trip to the waterpark.





Little fish



Gracie showing Paige how the toys work.







Splashers!



Gracie needed a little nap part way through. "I'll just lay down here..."



Trying to keep Gracie warm, I put a swimsuit under her little splash suit.... perhaps I should've chose one without a skirt... it looks a little uncomfortable doesn't it??

Bath time

Gracie Swinging

This was taken a few weeks ago, on Brad's phone. Just a fun trip to the park with dad.

Going A Little Stir Crazy

If she could talk, I believe she'd be saying, "Let me out!" Apparently, she's grown too big for gates...

What I've Been Reading

I haven't posted on what I've been reading since July, I believe, so the list is long.....

These are the books that I can remember reading lately. It's been a cold fall/winter, so it's a long list :)


Really good, and it was kind of a science fiction novel, which isn't like me.... Only problem, it was over 700 pages and I'm quite sure I'll need to read about 12 more sequels to get to the end of the story.



This is one of the only pieces of non-fiction I've read lately. I liked Sue Monk Kidd's novel, The Secret Life of Bees and this story of her and her daughter is interesting, but not one of my favourites.

The Stieg Larsson trilogy:





The first one was pretty violent, but I thought they were a great read! Unique and definitely page turners.


Janet Evanovich always writes a good, funny book. They're turning the first one into a movie with Katherine Heigl and Sherri Shepherd, should be good.


A new one from Jeffrey Deaver featuring one of my favourite serial characters, Lincoln Rhyme. Remember him from the movie, The Bone Collector? (Played by Denzel Washington)


a great book. Who knew life as a Carney was so interesting?


This is the third book of Joshilyn Jackson's I've read this year. I like her style, it's a little gritty, but captivating.


Wow. Deep, disturbing, and very unique.


Wally Lamb is a fantastic author, but this felt like an anticlimatic ending. I read hundreds of pages and then it was just over....

My Book Club books:

I've got to say, these haven't been favourites, but it's interesting to read books that I wouldn't choose myself. I like meeting, but I hope we get some better material this month.



A story of life in Northern Canada and the staff of a radio station. Interesting imagery, but not the best story.


A story of sisters who lived different lives. It was interesting because the book was narrated by both sisters, so each chapter was a different take on the story.


Probably my favourite book club book so far. It's a story about what would have been. Basically, after the first chapter, the book splits and offers two options for the protagonist's life after her friend's birthday. I liked the ending, because it merged her life back together so you can decide which path she chose....


A strange murder mystery set in Quebec. Key word, strange.

If you've read any of these, I'd love to know what you thought...