A Lacey Funny....

Since Christmas brought many new and inrtiguing dolls to Lacey, we have had many occasions to replace the batteries in these new little loved ones. Most of the batteries are replaced by opening the back of the doll. Well, Lacey was lying on her tummy while I was buttoning up the back of her dress. When I was finished buttoning, I asked her to get up so I could put on her shoes. Her response, "No, I'm just too tired." I encourged her to get up again and her response, "I'm just too tired to move." With a little more insistance I told her to get up. "Mommy, I'm too tired. I don't work. You just need to put new batteries in my butt."

Don't ever think they aren't looking, listening and absorbing every moment of every day! My little sponge dosen't miss a thing!

Honor Roll Boys!

Congrats to my fellas, who all made the honor roll again.
Caleb - all "A's" (two 99's!!) and one "B"
Dylan - all "A's" and one "B"
Cody - three "A's" and three "B's"

Keep it up guys, maybe one of you will buy your mom a mansion and a BMW.

Build-A-Bear

I'm on a roll today - two posts! LOL Lacey's Christmas gift from Uncle Dale and Aunt Moriah was a trip to Build-A-Bear. I had never been before so it was fun for me too! Lacey had a great time choosing her animal - she picked a puppy. She and Aunt Moriah picked out an adorable fairy costume for her puppy and a make-up set. Lacey has been doing the puppy's make-up all day. Thanks Uncle Dale and Aunt Moriah. Lacey loves her puppy. Thanks Aunt Moriah for a fun day!

Baby, it's cold outside!

Yes, it's a no school, frosty, toe-chilling, snow day! This is the first snow Lacey has ever seen, so we bundled up and headed out before breakfast! It wasn't long before everyone wanted some warm, buttermilk biscuits and hot chocolate! Fine by me!! Though COLD, snow is beautiful, and one day of it is wonderful.

Where are you Summer?

I am NOT a lover of cold weather. I dread it. I would love to live in a world of perpetual summertime. Okay, maybe not with humidity and bugs, but lots of warmth. That being said, I do love those mysterious, cloudy, overcast days. You know, the ones that whisper of a nice afternoon thunderstorm. There's nothing like sitting on the front porch watching the rain slowly track its wet footprints onto your sidewalk. But thunderstorms are for summer too, and here we are in the midst of Brrrrrrr. I'm trying to be positive, so here are some nice things about COLD - blankets, love them all, especially the handmade quilted variety. Scarves, because they make COLD at least a bit festive, and finally, warm soups and hot chocolate. These help thaw cold bones, like mine. It could be worse, we could live in ALASKA. Travis just had to spend four days in Alaska for work. I could feel the glacial breeze via cell phone! I'm glad he's home and warm with us. Here are a few snapshots he sent from the cell phone.

I stashed Lacey's little doll in Trav's suitcase. She got a big kick out of seeing her baby all over Alaska!

Look for LuLu Belle!

Lacey and our Easter outfit are in the Daff-A-Deals ad in the January edition of "Columbia Northeast" magazine and in the January "Palmetto Parent." I may scan the actual ad, but this is the outfit. Thanks for looking!

WHAT?

Blogger must not like me. I checked my "moderate comments" section and there were 25comments I needed to moderate that I'd never seen. They usually come in my email - but not these! WOW! I apologize to all of you that made comments that never got posted. I did have fun reading them all though! Thanks for the comments, friends!

Making Photo Collages

Lots of my fellow blogees have asked how I made my little photo collages in my Christmas post so I thought I post a tutorial of sorts here. First, download “Picasa” if you don't have it. It's free and it's wonderful. It's the way I've organized my photos for years and they keep upgrading and adding features. Did I mention it's FREE?
1. Here's the link:
http://picasa.google.com/
2. After you've moved your photos to Picasa, you'll need to select the photos you want to collage. Click on the photo, then on the little green thumbtack icon to HOLD the photos you want to collage.

3. With the pictures selected click on Create > Picture Collage... (top, left corner)
4. A dialog box will open with several options;
*Type: Select the collage type you wish to create – LOTS of possibilities here. Play with it until you like one.
Finally, click "create."
DONE!
Your collage is saved as one photo – you can upoad to Blogger as normal. I love these collages. I'm sick to death of slow loading slideshows!

December 2008

December 2008 came and went in a flash. A flash of parties, family outings, WORK, and shopping. The entire month was simply full of more than I could keep up with. I look forward to a 2009 with much excitement and anticipation. Blank pages are ready to be written on, and I'm excited to be the author. Life is good.

Some random shots from various Christmas activities: