11/24/12 THANKFUL

Just finished enjoying the major blessing of having both of our daughters & their families here for the holiday.

The cousins got new outfits for Thanksgiving

But Lincoln wasn't so sure he liked sharing Grandpa with Chloe.

Grandpa tried to protect Chloe from the Grammarazzi

Lincoln tried his first dill pickle

Chloe loved being with mama at Gramma & Grampa's

El & Chuck announced that grandbaby #3 is...

a boy! Cooper Lewis Hendricks, due April 7, 2013!

Grandpa got his Chloe fix

The cousins bonded

Christmas photos were accomplished beautifully by our resident professional photographer

And a good time was had by all :~D

111712 A Peculiar Date Day

Today the Deer Widows Weekend Scrapbooking & Stamping Show 

was right up the road at the Birch Run Expo Center. 

With only a 2 hour window to be gone from home it was a bit of a scramble.

This was Martha, one of the greeters! 

She really dressed for the occasion, lol

And every time I hit a scrapbook event, I run into my friend, Becky!

(I am really, really bad at selfies, btw...)

The crop area - with shopping right at your elbow.

Well, sometimes these hold-the-camera-as-high-as-you-can & 

hope-for-a-decent-shot photos don't exactly do the subject justice. 

This is just a small sampling of the smorgasbord of scrappy goodness.

This was totally my favorite booth - 

all the yummy stuff: Prima, 7 Gypsies, Jenni Bowlin...

My haul - some older stuff but all inspiringly good deals.

My fave? These charming ladies! I have the PERFECT photos to use these with - 

some fashion shots my mom had taken when she was, if I remember correctly, 19.

I'm tempted to send one to the first 3 comments left on this post - 

email your snail mail addy if you're interested!

My knight in shining armor/chaffeur hung out with a Starbucks double caramel macchiato 

and some magazines while I was shopping, then off to Menards to look at 

anagalypta wallpaper for the kitchen ceiling & E6000 to repair some broken china. 

Take out lunch from Red Lobster rounded off our date day!

111212 - 80% Recovered from SHOtime LOAD!

Well, October was a great scrappy month for a wonderful EXCLUSIVE band of LOADsters over at ScrapHappy!  Our fearless leader, Lain Ehmann, let the inmates run the asylum and Lynnette & I had a ball co-producing this extravaganza.

Dubbed S.H.O.time LOAD for ScrapHappyOnly LayOutADay we went with an entertainment theme. Just shy of 1,900 layouts were posted in October! 5 different random prizes were awarded & a grand prize of $31.00 as a reward for 31 straight days of scrapping was won by one lucky participant!

Here's a quick view of my 31, although they weren't all accomplished on time due to a flu outbreak at our house (ugh!).

Take a closer look on my Flickr set. As always, LOAD gets me to stretch in new directions, and takes me to stories that would never have been documented otherwise. And I meet & get to know some wonderful new friends who inspire me with their creative, innovative, revealing, stunning, hilarious & artistic peeks into their hearts & lives. Love ya, LOADsistas!