Sicknesses and Visits

Brad was away for two weeks for work, so Gracie and I have been busy.

My parents came up for a few days while my dad was in a conference and we went to West Edmonton Mall for a day of shopping. It was a blast.



Gracie loved trying on headbands and rocking out to the music in the stores so much that she was too wired to nap until we were on our way home. Poor thing isn't used to so much excitement. She's got shopping legs though. Definitely going to be more shopping trips in her future.







We happened to pass by the sea lion's pool when they were performing and Gracie LOVED it. She was so busy clapping for them and whipping her head around to look at us and the sea lions and the people standing around her, it was hard to get a picture, but they definitely made her happy.

The next day, my mom got sick and then a few days later, my dad and Gracie went down, but everyone is better now. That makes 3 sicknesses in our house since New Years. 2011 is the year of the flu in our house.

Buy stocks in disinfectant if you want to make some quick cash, because I'm helping the economy by power bleaching everything. Again.

Cosmo Cricket Layouts

Here are a few layouts I've done using Cosmo Cricket supplies. They're fun and fresh and versatile.










Remember to vote for me here, so I can play with their stuff even more!!

One of Gracie's favourite Christmas presents is this super fun tent! Gracie could play in it for hours. She's all ready played in it so much, that it's now a teepee, instead of a dome tent.....




Unfortunately, this one has to be returned, but we're getting another one. This is a big hit!

Help make me a Design Team member

If you follow this link and leave a comment stating that 'Kelly Malacko should be on your design team', I may just win a spot to design for Cosmo Cricket ....

Cosmo Cricket


PS. If you're a scrapbooker, you may want to enter, too.

Quick, be crafty!

That seems to be my motto these days. Now that we're mostly through with the unlucky beginning of 2011, I'm hoping to get back to my craft.

To catch you up, we've all ready been plagued by colds, flu bugs, furnace break-downs, multiple feet of snow, new braces (yup, on my 34 year-old hubby), two different cones on my dogs head, ointment and antibiotics for said dog, and all of the business of day to day living. Wow!

Here's some of the things I created in between.

Salsababies is a quick layout using scraps and a piece of Luxe paper I had in my stash. I think the bright colours help create a festive mood, which is good, because the class was a lot of fun!



Another layout capturing Gracie's love of berries. I don't know why I love the sticky, purple cheek shots, but I do.



I thought this cardstock from Core-dinations went well with the theme, since it's got a bunch of embossed cherries on it. I love the look of the embossed images sanded to make them stand out more.

Dressed to Move is another two pager. Best way to deal with my love of cramming in lots of photos!



For these pictures, I just wanted to highlight the cute outfit. I found the background paper in the discount bin and knew they'd be perfect for this. Simple and cute, with the focus on the photos and the outfit in particular.

Christmas Layout

Here's a quick layout from last year's Christmas trip to the farm and Gracie's new sleigh.

The end is near! This is the last post recapping our Christmas trip!

Here's a few of the girls pretending it's nap time.




I can't wait until these two really can have sleepovers.

And, a cute, little Christmas Elf.



Bunny slippers, and piglet pjs, both Christmas gifts! Looking good!

And that wraps up our Christmas Trip!

Enjoying the Farm

It finally warmed up enough over Christmas so we could take a quick, ten minute walk outside.

Dancing Queen

Gracie had so much fun with Grams' snowmen. This one, from Great Uncle Charlie, dances and sings, so it was a hit. Gracie loved to dance a long with it.











Check out her cute outfit from Gramma Gay and Grandad, and her Christmas Hairdo courtesy of Grams.

Christmas Hairdos and Lego Towers

Gracie has got long enough hair for little ponytails and things now, which is fun, but it's almost impossible to keep them in her hair.

She usually looks super cute and put together for about ten minutes, if we're lucky, and then her hair gets pulled out and then the mop is back.

Grams is a good hair dresser. She lets the girls splash their toes in the sink and play with bubbles while she does it.





Check out the Grams Extraordinaire, Christmas Hairdo!!





Grams and Gracie also got to build a lot of towers while we were at their house. Grams builds them and Gracie destroys them. A perfect pair!

New Toys and Christmas Decorations

Gracie had a lot of fun playing at the farm.

She liked Jada's new doctor kit. Check out Curtis' face in the background, I think he liked the doctor's kit, too :)



She loved the snowmen that Grams and Papa have all over the house, especially this one, which is just her size.





And, she loved the new to her, police bike!! Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Sackett gave this to Jada, and now that she's outgrown it a bit, Curtis and Brandi passed it on to Gracie. It was a big hit!



For some reason, she prefers to ride the bike backwards.



But she got the hang of it.



Was that a little hug at the end for her new, fun toy?? Cute.

Christmas Day at Grandma Sackett's

We spent Boxing Day travelling from Lethbridge to Crossfield, with a few quick stops at malls to check out Boxing Day deals and then had our second Christmas at my Grandma's on the 27th.

It was great. Lots of family and new food :), more presents and visiting. My uncle rented out the curling rink in town and we curled a few games, which was a great idea. Good to get out of the house and stop eating for a few minutes....

Here are a few pictures of that day (not many unfortunately, and not the greatest pictures, but it's what I got).

Gracie got to eat a whole sugar cookie man because Grams made one just for her, with her name on it and everything. She was quite happy!





Then she got to open presents, presents and more presents!






And so did I! Meagan painted this little burnt out bulb for me. How cute is this little snowman??



The Great Granddaughters who could make it, Maddie and Gracie. Jada was missing, because William had just been born in Medicine Hat.





Thanks Rhonda (or Kate) for these pictures. I forget which one of you took them....

Christmas Day!

Three posts into this recap, and we're only at Christmas....

We had a jam-packed Christmas Day.

A yummy breakfast and supper, and tons of snacks, numerous gift openings, some exercise (what?), time on Gramma Gay's new piano, baths, and a gingerbread house decorating contest.

The kids loved opening presents and had to help everyone else out, too.









Exercise???



Playing with toys (new and old)





Definitely musical...



Bath Time for the little ones.



The three gingerbread house masterpieces. They were done in record time, and all of them held together. Very impressive.







I'm not going to say which one is mine, but it did have a stained glass window on it. Unfortunately, my idea to spell 'ho, ho, ho' on said window, turned into a window with 'HO' written on it... not so festive... perhaps offensive... definitely too ambitious for a timed gingerbread house decorating contest!

Thanks for such a fun day!