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Well here is Amber’s Smilebox of her Dance Recital.

She looked SO CUTE!!! She had on a Santa apron, and a matching hair clip.

She did a great job. I was SO SO PROUD! I thought it was the most adorable thing I had ever seen. All the little girls dancing for everyone. The residents seemed to really enjoy it as well.

She is shy, so seeing her dance for everyone was adorable. She got distracted seeing us, and got a little behind, but she kept going. Now I cannot wait for the big one at the end of the year.

Did I say I was so proud? LOL!

I am SERIOUSLY bummed that I cannot get the video to load :C I have no idea why its still not working, when it has in the past.

I really hope to find a way to share it-cause it really is a must see.

OK my bragging mommy moment is over. But seriously-how adorable is she?

Hope you can view the Smilebox ok.

I have lots to do today, so I’m off and running. I did get some cool stuff done yesterday! So stay tuned.

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So here it is! The Smilebox with photos from the kids meeting with Santa Claus. It was such an awesome time. I included photos below, that I still wanted to share, but didn’t have the room, and I wanted to use this particular creation, as I am sure you will agree, its perfect.

I hope you have time to view it-grab the kids! I think they will be in awe 😀 of Santa. If they are on the border of believing this will reinforce it I think.

I’m totally bummed that the Smilebox will not let me load videos :C This feature has not worked for a while now-no matter how short it is. I SOOOOO hope I can find a way to share the video. Really cool.

So here it was 7pm, a knock at the door.

In walked Santa and Mrs Claus. They had their red toy sack, with lots of goodies.

Alexa was in shock, but she promptly introduced herself then invited them in to see our Christmas tree. Now that is shocking in itself.

He gave the kids each a special Christmas stocking, candy canes, covered lollipops, and reindeer antler’s, that were so cute.

Alexa also got a Magic Bell from Rudolph’s harness (since they change them yearly :D), a magic pen, so you can write letter’s to Santa, and they dont need to be sent in the mail, and the book Twas the Night Before Christmas, which was signed by the Author, and then Santa and the Mrs. Claus

He then delivered the children their most asked for toy! Who else would know what they wanted besides Santa himself?!

Click photos for larger view

Alexa got her Baby Alive doll-she wiggles, coo’s and drinks-then you know what-pee’s! YEAH! Another non-potty trained thing in the house right now! LOL!

Noah and Santa-love this photo. He is the first of my kids to willingly ever sit and chat with Santa

 He was quick to tell Santa that he was a good big brother and only belonged on the “NICE” list. He also tried to sell Alexa down the river by tattling on her, and saying she deserved “black rocks” for Christmas for being naughty, and that she never cleans up her room. Nice Noah!! I was  a little embarrassed, but you can’t deny he had a point! LOL! However, given Alexa’s treatments, she certainly deserves to be on the “nice” list :D, clean room or not.

Here we have Amber-she was not in love with Santa, but played along. She loved that he gave her a Dora candy cane-that matched her Hello Kitty jammies-kids!

Oh and Jason-My biggest kid 😀

 He looks cute, even with goofy antlers.

Then there was the goodbye. Alexa LOVED Mrs. Claus, and had no problem hugging her, but for Santa, she preferred a Hi-5

 Check out her expression! Too funny.

It was a wicked nice thing for Make a Wish to set up for our family. Especially for Santa who VOLUNTEER’S this time of year to go out house to house like this.

 They really do go above and beyond the “wish” that your child is granted, which is totally unnecessary, but what an amazing thing to do. They set up all these little things that make Alexa’s day’s that much more special. Times that we hope will over shadow the memories of long hospitalizations and scary procedure’s. It gives her reason’s to look forward to things, and do well during the tough things.

I want her to say “Hey remember when we got to do this!”, instead of “Oh I hated going to the hospital and having X done. I truly believe these will be the memories that stick out.

I have always supported MAW, and am so thankful to be able to share this stuff with you.

Thanks for reading and let me share more of my family with you 😀

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Oh what a day! Or should I say weekend.

Jason had been on a dog kick for a few months. Lots of online hours. After MUCH research we found a cockapoo (cross between a cockerspaniel and poodle) would better suit our family, wants and needs for a dog.

I didn’t want a big dog, too high maintenance, and it had to be good with other animals and of course KIDS. Also easy to train. That equals a cockapoo. We did meet other breeds of dogs as well, but the meeting confirmed our wish.

So I told you how Saturday we spent the day at the puppy place looking for dogs. I didn’t really care, till I met this one. Its so true what they say “The dog picks YOU.”

 I fell in LOVE with this one, I named Daisy, while on our visit.

NOT A GOOD THING TO NAME A DOG IF YOU AREN’T SURE YOU CAN HAVE IT.

From the second I saw her she was adorable, but more so, SWEET. She instantly sat in my lap, and nuzzled my neck. She got on her back for me to rub her belly. Im mean seriously turned me into a mushy gushy moron 😀 I was in love.

Then, to only to have Jason say ‘No, I don’t know if I want a dog”. After 2 1/2 hours of debating-we left without her. I thought I would cry.

What he REALLY meant was he didn’t want to spend $1,000 for a dog.

I was so upset we left without her. I thought I’d get over it, but totally could not. I was really upset. Even more so when we made several appointments today to see some other dogs (same breed), but a little cheaper. He said IF I didn’t like the others, he would consider calling to get “Daisy”.

I was already worried, as another couple was considering her while we were there. PLUS I didn’t want to settle. What is the point?

I had my heart set, and mind made up. Why even look at another dog, if this was the ONE I needed?

So, while on the phone with my mom, she told me she would help me get the dog 😀 How could Jason say No right?

I was over the moon happy! Jason was also happy cause he could actually get me the dog without really stressing. (Which WHY look at an expensive breed if you don’t plan on BUYING it?)

MEN!

So I called the breeder, and there was a family there looking at her. She asked if I would DEFINITELY be buying her, and if so I had to come within 45 min. Good thing they are 10 min. away.

Now imagine if I waited? That other family MIGHT have bought MY dog!

So thank you so much MOM! You are the best! Also, thanks Jay for finally caving. Next time don’t bring a family to meet dogs, if you aren’t ready to pay up! SERIOUSLY!!

So I would love you all to see my Christmas gift! I decided to get her instead of a fancy camera, photo editing software, and a graphic program. Well worth it I think 😀

I named her Daisy-cause she is so sweet,  soft,  gentle, and loving.

Jason wanted to name her COSTALOT-get it “cost a lot”. I did laugh  at that one!!

For the record, Noah tried his best to sway daddy by saying “Daddy I think you need to buy mommy that doggie. She is really sad. She might cry. I think you are being mean”

For Amber to say “Mommy daddy can’t buy you the dog. Its thousands of dollars. Do you have thousands of dollars. No one has thousands of dollars, so you can’t have it”

And she is THREE. A girl after her dad’s heart! LOL!

Thanks for reading my non-stamping related post. Also for the support.

Now I hope to get some eye candy done for ya!

Make a slide show, scrapbook, or ecard

Ok I know I promised a Smilebox of my kids at Thanksgiving. So here are the photos, and the pictures they drew for what they are Thankful for!

You REALLY have to view Alexa’s drawing of each of us! Its too cute! She even made us in our favorite colors. That the kind of stuff you save FOREVER!! I cried when I read her whole book. Especially when she said she was most thankful for Mrs. Darling! That is her teacher aid. HELLO ! Alexa what about MOMMY?!

Amber had a laminated place mat-on the back were photos of the family , and what she is thankful for. Like pocketbooks, and Dora stuff! LOL!

Noah’s class didn’t do anything except color Turkey’s! Um, unsure WHY! No Harvest Feast-nothing! Good thing is sent in cupcakes anyway 😀

He said he loves and and XBOX! SHOCKER!!!

Thanks for looking

I cannot believe my baby is 5 today!

Where did the time go? Anyone know? Seems like just yesterday I was in labor with him.

He has grown so much. You would never know he is only 5. He is a whole head taller than Alexa who is 3 years older than he. He is also the “caretaker” for the girls. He protects them, bosses them around, repremands them, and watches over them like a BIG brother would. He is my OCD child-which means not only is he a fabulous cleaner (*wink*) he knows where it all goes. Yes I am proud of that! Some woamn will LOVE him someday. Plus he loves ART! So should he marry a stamper-she will be in heaven.

He is also very sensitive and caring towards others. The teacher says he’s a joy to have in class and very likable amongst his peers. He is especially friendly/patient of other kids with behavior/other issue’s. THAT is what really makes me proud. Especially having a child with Special needs. As THAT parent you always hope for the kind and sweet caring child to befriend yours. I do expect that Noah should inhert that, having a sister like Alexa. When they are out of your home though, you just never know.

So I’m happy Noah is “that” person for his peers. It’s people like that, that make this world a good place.

I am including 2 Smileboxes for today. At Noah’s request. He LOVES seeing himself on the computer. He did professional modeling for a while at Model Inc in Boston Ma till he was about 18 months. He then began to NOT like it, so we stopped. He definitely “works” the camera!

The first one, is a postcard style, easily send-able, with a photo of him every year since birth.

I LOVE doing those. It shows a quick view of how much he has grown and changed. I still see my “baby” in there though.

Hope you like it.

Make a slide show, scrapbook or ecard

This next Smilebox is a re-cap of Noah’s party at the space center.

We had 11 kids, and they all seemed to have a blast.

They were able to play in a huge tunnel/slide playhouse, then got tokens to play all the games.

It was a great day for high energy kids. Noah felt so special and had so much fun with his friends. He didn’t want to leave :C

We had pizza, cake and ice cream. Best part, I only had to show up with the kids! They provided decorations, paper goods, cake and everything! Given our family issue’s that week (sick kids, ER visits and tooth pulling) it was a saviour to me.

Make a slide show, scrapbook or ecard

Thanks for looking!

I haven’t done a Smilebox in FOREVER it seems.

This one is a reflection of time.

I wanted to do something, to show each childs growth over the years. What better way to do that than with Christmas photos!

So, I did a quick Smilebox, only 5 pages. I was excited to find I had simalr first Christmas photos of Alexa and Amber!

It shows each child from their very first Christmas to present. It was a fast way to show how much they each have changed, and grown in this short time.

Makes me all sad and sappy, thinking someday, they will be grown, and I will be looking at their children.

Time has flown past. I cannot believe that I have 3 children who just yesterday seemed to be babies, but are these little “people”. Each one very different from the other, yet amazing.

Tomorrow comes so fast, and we never know what will be year to year.

Hope you enjoy watching.

Make a slide show, scrapbook or ecard

I made this Smilebox to share our photos from our Christmas photo shoot. What a cool thing to send to the family! Do you know that not only is it EASY, but PRINTABLE?? Now that is cool. NO POSTAGE! I like that idea too. Now I need to compile a family list of email addresses.

Those of you stressed for time may consider this option 😀

You can choose the number of photos, music, and background color! Even the style of snowflakes that fall! LOL!

 So here are all our photos. Its hard to get 3 kids happy at the same time, looking in the same direction!

We chose 2 photo collage’s that we felt captured our favorite’s.

Hope you like it.

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I wrote in an earlier post that I was determined to get my Christmas cards DONE by November. That meant an early Christmas photo shoot-and I actually followed through!

 Well, Im happy to say Im well on my way!!!

I have 25 postcards completed.

No need to rush. Im only needing 50ish more. My problem is, do I make more postcard style cards like this one?

 Meader Christmas postcard 2007

I loved the group shot, with the individual photos at the bottom. It already say’s Christmas 2007. I considered for a brief second-just sending the photo. But the stamper in me said Um, NO!

I used the NEW! Snowflake Serenade from Paper Trey Ink.

What do you think? Are they OK? Im thinking of making a “stepped-up” version to share. Afterall, I DO have PLENTY of time. RIGHT?

I could put another layer of white behind the main red layer-but, I wanted these to be SIMPLE-easily mass produced. Not too much going on. I definitely achieved that here. Maybe a bow at the top?????? HMMMMM.

I just put the 3 snowflakes on my block-strategically placed. Inked with white craft, then stamped twice on the red layer.

I attached my Christmas photo, then stamped the “With Love” sentiment, then the “Joy” in the corner-for balance. Our “With Love” is a personalized stamp by Stampin Up! that I had put all our names on, and use every year for our Christmas cards! Its fast, and easy, and is way nicer than my handwriting. I LOVE that idea!

This measures 3 1/2 X 5 1/5. Very simple to make.

Next I did an ornament of sorts-which I think would be a really nice and different thing to send in the mail instead of a card!

What do you think of this?

 Meader Family 2007 ornament

This was EASY! EASY! EASY! Nothing fancy here.

I just used my NEW! Spellbinder’s Nestabilities rectangle die!

On the back I stamped the largest snowflake from the set, in white craft ink-added a red adhesive rhinestone, and then our “With Love” sentiment. The ric rac adds to the scalloped appeal from the nestablility.

Decisions!!!

Thanks for looking-Id love your opinions, and to know what you plan on doing this year.

Is a Smilebox in your future? Or have you even thought about your Christmas cards? I REFUSE to do the mad dash this year! REFUSE!!

So let’s hear it!

This post will be stuck to the top for the month of October in honor of breast cancer awareness! Please scroll down to see new uploads for the month.

Slide shows, scrapbooks, photo ecards, and more

Do YOU have a blog? Did you go pink? (I didnt cause I couldnt figure it out with my type, but thats another story about my computer challenged nature!)

Have you been touched by cancer in any way, or believe in spreading the word?

I challenge all my blog Girls out there near and far-to go to Smilebox, and post this one to their blog! OR send it to a friend!

EDITING TO ADD: It doesnt have to be THIS one with MY face! LOL! I already got alot of emails asking about that! Just THIS DESIGN or there is ONE more you can do! Those are the special ones for the cause 😀

If you do let me know-by posting a link here! It only takes a few minutes, REALLY EASY, and FUN, and all procedes from the download of this go to Breast Cancer Awareness!! Smilebox teamed up with Lifetime Network to raise money for the cause!

Thanks for looking. And supporting research!

Id also love to hear if you know someone who has been diagnoised with cancer.

Everyone who downloads this smilebox style for breast cancer and shares the link here will be entered in a drawing for a surprise pack of ALL PINK goodies!

If you want to contribute to the box of pink goodies-let me know! The bigger the better!

Have faith-its a super box! Im not showing what you will get till a winner is randomly selected. Because when you have Cancer you have to have FAITH! I will pick on Oct. 31st-the last day of October.

You comments about cancer count as a entry as well as a Smilebox link-thats another entry!

Thanks everyone 😀

We never know if this will affect us personally!

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Well here it is! The much anticipated Smilebox of the Princess party! I couldnt get the video portion to work-but when I can you KNOW I will fill you all in!

I love how I was able to capture the moments of her party with this Smilebox.

The party went so perfect! I think they all had a great time. You could hear a pin drop during the craft time! And each girl gave Alexa her gift themself.

Most special to me was to see how accepted Alexa was, and her social interaction with the girls! I tell you these girls parents did an excellent job raising such lovely princesses!

To see Alexa as happy as she was was all I could ask for!

The girls made crowns, necklaces, and decorated jewelry boxes!

We used Alexa’s set and polyshrink, and the center charm for the necklaces, and for the top center of their boxes! It was really cool. Whatever wasnt done got sent home with them.

I’m so thankful for my mom who came to help me set up, and Jason did an amazing job too! He is in charge of the decorations-Im in charge of ordering him round! LOL! If it weren’t for them it never would have gone so smoothly.

He’s use to my stress over these things after all these years and takes it quite well 😀

The best part was when it was all over Alexa came out to me and gave me a huge hug and kiss and said “Thank you mommy for my party. It was so fun. It was the best ever.” Then another squeeze and kiss!

That melted my heart!

All I wanted was for her dream party to go well, and it went better than I could have hoped for!

Thanks for following our journey 😀 I cannot believe my baby is EIGHT!

Well here is the much promised Smilebox of Amber singing the Apple Poem she learned in Pre-school! After we went apple picking she sang it the whole ride home in the car. I knew I had to find a way to share it with everyone.

Truly a MOM moment.

Im not afraid to be one of those parents who GUSH over their kids! Dont we ALL think our kids are the cutest on the planet? So here I am saying it-she is adorable and would make the cutest commercial EVER! LOL!

Hope you like it. I know this is one of those moment that will be so precious when she is all grown up. You have to love the little kid voices they have.

If she stays this cute Im in BIG trouble.

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Thanks for lookin!