May 18th

This is a very special page for me. The picture was taken on Christmas Day. G had shoveled the walk in preperation for my parents arrival. My parents have spent Christmas breakfast with us every years since we have been back in Oregon, 11 years. It is truely one of my favorite times at Christmas. My parents called that morning and told me that they couldn't get out of their road because of the snow & ice. I was so sad & yes I did shed a couple tears. It just seemed to me that is wasn't Christmas morning without my parents there to share it with.

We ended up getting together the day after Christmas at my parent's house and had pizza & exchanged gifts. But to me it just didn't seem right. My Dad gave me a poem that night after Christmas, and yes I cried! I don't know if you can read the words or not but it basically told me that it didn't matter what day we celebrated Christmas (there was more to it than that but that was the jist)! My parents are great & they do so much for us. That poem was just what I needed! Thanks Dad!

May 4th

Wow it's Monday again & a rainy one at that. Great scrapbooking weather! My page for today has a picture of my girl at the beach when she was little. My Dad took this picture (thanks Dad)!

New Scrapbook Pages Done!

My Love page doesn't even have a picture & it's ok. There are no rules when it comes to scrapbooking. I had a story to tell but no pictures to go with it. I felt the story was important enough to tell even without pictures!

I took this picture a few weeks ago at the beach. This was the only good weather day we had & I caught Spencer in a rare walking moment!

Both my kids love to climb the trees at my parents house. This was taken last November. He's wearing his shirt from Africa. When he first got it he said it made him run faster. But who knows, maybe it also makes him climb trees higher.

This picture was from the same beach trip a few weeks ago. I had never seen snow on the beach, until this day! What a beautiful thing. There wasn't much but it was enough to make me happy. And G was happy when we got out of the snow on the pass coming home!

New Article Almost Done!

Ok, so I have to admit it has been WAY too long since I have put a new article on Shoestring. Valentine's Day is just around the corner so in a few short days check out my site to see my ideas for Valentine's gift giving on a Shoestring budget!
Oh and by the way, I did the snow dance all weekend and still had to go to school today, bummer! We did have around 2 inches but most of it melted by lunch time.

Baby, It's Still Cold Outside!

The snow is coming down again & honestly I am lovin' it! Summer is still my favorite season but I LOVE snow. The kids and I are home again from school & depending on if the weather man is right, we may be out all week. I braved the roads today (so proud of myself) and creeped down to Safeway for milk. My truck is safely back it in garage & I'm happy to be back home.
I wanted to share with you my top 10 snow memories. Some are recent & some are not but they all are vivid in my memory!

10. Lexi's snow glasses. She was only 6 & we were living in Sherwood when a huge snow storm hit. She wanted to be outside but she had to have her "Snow Glasses" on to keep the snow out of her eyes. They were adorable heart shaped sunglasses with pink lenses.

9. Snow drifts so high they almost covered the swing set. This was the same year as the "Snow Glasses" & we had drifts over 5 feet high! The kids and I were snowed in for three weeks but man was it beautiful!

8. Walking around Washington DC with my brother over Thanksgiving in the snow! The city was so peaceful and quiet.

7. Walking to class at University of Oregon, in the snow, wearing shorts. Heck, I couldn't do that now, I must have been crazy!

6. Joann Lang shoveling our driveway (the bus stop), clearing all our beautiful snow away. She was trying to be a nice neighbor but I thought it ruined the look. But what did I know, I was probably only 8 years old.

5. Snowmobiling with G in Bend on our honeymoon. I had never snowmobiled before and unfortunately haven't since but it was so much fun.

4. The truck that just wouldn't stop. OK, it wasn't our truck but we saw this guy in a big truck on a driveway that slopped down to his house. He was going slow but just couldn't stop. We could just imagine what "wonderful" things were coming out of his mouth as he was sliding down his steep driveway not able to stop until he smacked into his new garage door! We felt kinda bad for him because it was a brand new house, they hadn't even lived there for a month. But honestly it was funny (sorry, not nice I know)!

3. Skiing Keystone with my best friend Kathy, her husband Greg & G. We flew out to Colorado when Spencer was just 2, meeting Kathy, Greg & "Grandma" Joann at the condo Kathy owned. One morning we left Spencer & Lexi with "Grandma" Joann and had the best day of skiing EVER! The weather was beautiful, the views were amazing & I even skied pretty good!

2. Lexi sliding across the ice. The same year we had the snow drifts & the "Snow Glasses" we had an ice storm. That storm brought about 2 inches of ice on top of our massive amounts of snow already on the ground. G took Lexi by one arm and one leg & flung her across the yard. She looked like a pink hockey puck just gliding across the ice on her tummy. The funniest part was watching her try to get back to G to have him do it again. It was so slippery she had to crawl. That still makes me giggle.

And my #1 snow memory happened when we were living in Alabama (Yep, you heard me right)! We had snow in Alabama! It started snowing one afternoon & by 3:00 that day the schools were closed for the next day & the Governor had declared it a State of Emergency! Stores were packed & people were literally freaking out!

So there you go, my top ten snow memories! I have many more from my past & hopefully more to come. Enjoy the snow!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Christmas is just around the corner & it has snowed (with possibly more to come)! The kids & I were out of school yesterday & today. We will see what tomorrow brings. The weather man says more snow tomorrow but we all know they are not always right. I spent time yesterday working on some Christmas gifts & I can actually say that I believe I will get them all done in time.

The tree is up & decorated 3/4 of the way (I ran out of lights & you just can't scrimp on lights). But other than the gifts I am making, I haven't even begun to shop. So, the holiday stress is starting to hit hard! My Grammie told me once that every Mother gets one good Christmas cry every year. I might have to borrow some this year. I am the planner who likes to be prepared & this year is anything but planned. But we are making it and we will have a wonderful Christmas!