Ouhh la la, Christmas.

I know it's not even Halloween yet but I saw this cute idea the other day while I was blog hopping and I couldn't resist..so here is my version!

Isn't that the cutest? You can pop candies, trinkets, little messages, whatever your heart desires in the muffin tin and the magnets are strong enough to keep everything in place! Annd it was so simple to make! All you need is; 24 cup muffin tin, thin magnets cut in to 2.25" squares, a few pieces of coordinating papers cut into 2" squares, then some numbers & embellishments to give the Advent calendar it's finishing touches. The calendar I did above is less traditional, so I am trying a more traditional approach with the colors you see below as well. It's such a versatile idea; you could do circles instead of squares, add some ribbon for it to hang from, make it horizontal instead of vertical, and the embellishment options are endless! I'm just so tickled!

Aside from my little calendar adventures, I did manage to finish a few lingering pages for our 2009 album.

Delightful, 03.22.09: Oh my papa, finding the words is hard…so I think I’ll start with some things I don’t want to forget.

1. Every morning when I wake up he greets me with: “Well good morning princess”
2. When Nana’s talking up a storm at the stove top, Papa will stand behind her moving his lips and make funny faces because he can’t get a word in edge wise.
3. He often says, “I wouldn’t pay a penny for her, but I wouldn’t sell her for a million dollars” when referring to my nana. He adores my nana.
4. He loves talking about the civil war.
5. He loves to show you all the goodies in his safe. Growing up in a farm family with no indoor plumbing and ten siblings he has a right to be proud of serving in the Air Force, raising five kids and living comfortably in retirement.
6. His parents eloped across the state border to get married back in the day.
7. Every night before bed he winds the clock his mother bought at age 16 from an auction.
8. Papa looked like Elvis when he was younger; handsome and confident.
9. Papa is a collector, pencil sharpeners, bottles, newspapers…his house is filled with garage sale finds, along with his shed and his attic. But he can tell you a story about each one, or at least a story from each item’s time period. He’s a wonderful story teller.

I love him from his head down to his toes. His shaky hands that make you want to hold him, his tearful eyes as he told me how proud he is of the woman I’ve become, the hop in his step and cheerful whistles as he wanders about the yard trying to be useful. I love how he is always attempting to make you laugh and is so endearing you can’t help but smile. I love you Papa, and I hope we get to spend many more years together. Layout design inspired by Elizabeth Kartchner.

Summer Camping, 07.10-12.09: Camping in a new way. Sleeping on an RV, taking hot showers at night, turning on the heat in the morning…yet able to sit around the campfire with smores, walk in nature soaking up sun and chat with our ‘real’ camping friends day and night. Yep, I think I could get used to that. I didn’t have too many shots around the campsite but I did love these particular ones. Sean and Andrew have the identical stance, too cute. Then Plop and her bonnet; Sean always flips her ears up, but while going through pictures the other day I realized this is the only shot I have of him doing it. I guess I’m usually too quick to remedy her appearance. Lastly, the flowers – we had beautiful weather our whole trip and I think that this encompasses it.

Well life isn't all fun and crafts, I signed up for the first of four tests of the CPA exam today. It feels good to have a date in mind, but also makes me a bit anxious. Many hours listening to lectures, trying my hand at practice questions and hoping I'm on track. Come Oct. 29th we'll find out if I did enough though! Then I can tweak my practices for the following three exams, oh the fun that lies ahead.

This past weekend Sean did have some real fun though, paintballing. Him and a buddy headed out to a local course for a few hours and I am still hearing about his aches and pains. He had a few good welts but apparently all the woes were worth it. Sneaking up on unsuspecting opponents, taking out four at a time...the joys of capture the flag and paint balls. I took a more chill approach playing a round of bingo with my mother. Our game consisted of cheetos, chocolate and dobbing. hehe

That's about it for this evening, just trying to keep warm in our cold little home.