smitten...

...nothing grabs at your heartstrings more than a sweet little baby...

their tinyness so perfectly detailed, their sweet new baby smell, their purity in their hearts radiating through their smiles...all little perfect packages fresh from God!!!

this is my cousin andrea's baby, alex, having a first visit with his great-grandpa!!! andrea and i lost touch through the years and have since this summer reconnected ( she found my blog!! how cool is that? ) and have been able to pick up our lost pieces of time and start where we left off! i think it's so wonderful that we have reconnected and that our kids will grow up knowing their cousins!

andrea brought baby alex and also little 2 1/2 year old eric to come and see grandma and grandpa and my mom on friday afternoon at mom's house!

grandpa was just smitten with the baby!

( who wasn't? ) grandma, mom, airiel and i were all taking our turns holding him and cuddling with him! he's just so sweet and such a good little baby boy!!

i LOVE this photo of grandpa and alex! it just makes me melt!

the last time we saw little eric was when he was just born at his baby shower!!! look at how big and handsome he is at TWO and a half!! he has these 'ladykiller' big blue eyes....and the sweetest little personality!! ...and he's also quite the ham!!!

it was a very happy visit for ALL of us and we're all so happy to have andrea back in our lives with her husband trevor and their beautiful little boys!!!

...if you look in eric's hand here, you will see he is holding his VERY FIRST SHORTBREAD COOKIE made by grandma!! ( he ended up going back for more! that a boy! )

:O)

Christmas catchUP!!!

WHEW!!!

are you feeling it too?

i think that today is the first day that i am actually pretty relaxed and 'unwound'...

i have been getting emails, and comments...about classes for scrapbooking, so i will start with a

NOTE FOR SCRAPBOOKERS:

i am finishing up my January 2008 newsletter over this weekend, thank you for being so patient with the holiday delay...and i must say that i am so excited to hear that you are all so anxiously awaiting to get back at your albums with all your holiday photos!!!

( and not to mention TARA with her gift certificates for my store she's eagerly wanting to shop with!!! )

January is The Scrappin Studio's 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY so there will be LOTS of great sales and surprises at the HALL CROP on January 11....stay tuned for your newsletters gals!

( and if you are interested in being added to my email list for monthly newsletters just send me a request at thegriffs@mts.net

so, back to Christmas...

i had a little car incident/accident just over a week before Christmas. i am just fine and so is the van. it wasn't a real 'accident' anyway, but it did send me for 7 trips to the physiotherapist to fix my shoulder! so i wasn't in physical or the mental state to go shopping and do my baking and preparing...i WANTED to, but couldn't make myself do it!!! so it was total crunch time a few days before Christamas ( especially since mike and i were having our family dinner at our house ) so i HAD to get things done...plus the kids giving me daily excited reminders with the santa countdown put the pressure on to get my butt in gear! i am always much better prepared than i was this year...oh well, it all worked out in the end as things always do!

so, i finished my running around on Christmas Eve DAY and raced home to make my cabbage rolls and had a little 'panic attack' when i saw THIS eyeballing my on my stove...

YIKES!!!!!!

it was cabbage roll crunch time now....

...after all the cooking, baking, wrapping and preparing were done, mike and i finally got to bed around 2am...not bad afterall!!

christmas morning was fun as always watching the kids ( once tyler got home ) rip through all their presents from us and SANTA...their excitement is always a payoff for the rush and late hours getting ready....so yes, happy, lucky, blessed kids christmas morning!!!

...the kids were soooooo stoked on getting this one! mike bought a snowmobile in the summer and he's been slowly getting all the equipment that he and the kids will need to ride warm and SAFELY!! they got their gloves, belaclava's and new helmet for Christmas and as you can see....pretty dang excited!!

we were happy to have grandma and grandpa with us at our place christmas day for dinner...i was worrying a bit about how comfortable grandpa would be, but he came in his usual witty good spirits and had a great long stay with us!!

( see Aunty Liz...your beautiful floral arrangement did indeed 'join us for dinner' and we held you with us in proxy!!! sorry you were unable to make it in for the holidays! )

...boxing day is always another FUN filled day at my mom's house! we have a yummy pot luck dinner with more gifts, a visit from 'Santa' and lots of fun games! tyler was really excited to see Santa come to grandma's house and have a visit with him, he even got to be his little elf and hand out candy canes!

yep, we all had a fabulous and happy christmas holiday together with our family and friends! it couldn't have been better!

late on boxing day evening, when my friends linda and dan, who live in kansas city, came to moms' for a visit, tyler was still being a 'good little elf' and brought us over some malibu rum jello shooters i made and brought over!! i had forgotten about them all night and then mom found them....so dan and i had a couple each ( can't let them go to waste you know! { GIGGLE } )

linda and dan are expecting their FIRST BABY in the lase spring 2008...sorry you didn't get to enjoy one lindee.... :O)

..so i am fully recovered now i think from the holidays...until new years eve....we are spending the day snowmobiling and tobogganing at the floodway with our friends and their kids, then back to our house for some new year celebrating!

what are you new years plans??

happiest holidays everyone!!!

( keep those cameras going!!! )

:O)

Merry Christmas

..everyone!!!!

I promise to post a longer one tomorrow with pic's and holiday stories...

i just wanted to wish all my friends and family a very Merry Chirstmas and a warm 'n fuzzy holiday with all your loved ones!!

i can't believe it's Boxing day today and Christmas was already YESTERDAY!!! wowsers...why does the time always seem to just fly by when you're having fun!

...keep having fun...

:O)

busy at school!

thought i'd share a few pic's from the kids' christmas concert at school yesterday...

"The Littlest Reindeer"

...courtney's in the green shirt with the elf hat...'hi rachel' ( courtney's good friend in the back row, far left! )

...tyler's first school concert...great singing buddy!!!

...and this is tyler with his little sweetheart, Alexi...they are inseperable in school!

...and tyler's class group photo before the debut..

'cheeseburgers'

...and today at school courtney shared her highland dancing with her classmates with a little performance in the classroom! she did her first championship 6 step fling ( in public ) for them as well as a sword dance and finished with a hornpipe! great job courtney!

her teacher, 'mr. d' and classmates were happy to see her dance for them and share such a big part of her life for multicultural week!!!

...'mr.d' and courtney...

and i am off to get wrapping some gifts and check my lists and then off to work...

the fun never ends!!!!

:O)

...lookie lookie...

...i am still kinda bummed about what is going on with 'my cousin' right now. i don't know why she has decided to do this to me, especially right before chirstmas. she's on some kick right now for sending me emails that are now just plain old out of hand and uncalled for. i have asked her to stop emailing me. why does every family have to have a butthead in it? blah...enough about that, it's a bummer!

life goes on and i do not have time for immature selfish people!

LOOKIE at what i got from LEIGH ANN!!!!

i ordered them from last week and stopped by last night to pick them up...

aren't they purty?????

i love 'em and they will add an extra sweet touch to my newly added PINK to our chrtistmas tree this year!!!!

tyler was eager to hang them in specially chosen places on the tree to show them off!

...and this is just a normal, typical activity of playtime that happened this afternoon at home...

watching the kids play and be happy makes me happy!

they look so innocent!!!!

:O)

..well, i'm off to the kids' school for their second christmas concert tonight...it was soooooo cute!! i loved all the music chosen for it, it's very bubbly and happy!!

:O)

...is everybody going crazy?

...i seem to find myself shaking my head in disbelief at how insensitive people can be...

i don't think that the hectic pace and craziness of the holidays are to blame because people themselves are to be held responsible for their own actions, right?

maybe i'm wrong but i am going through a bit of a dilema with someone right now who received our 'happy family' christmas letter in their card and had the nerve to email me and basically shoot me down for sharing our families activities and excitement about our Scotland trip next summer! between the mean and hurtful lines written, it came down to the fact that this person doesn't think i had spent enough phone or visiting time on her. a distant family member no less!!

we only see each other once a year sometime over the holidays when I go to visit her!! so there's really no reason for her to hold a grudge for not visiting...she never came to visit us and we are really just not that close for her to behave like this?

we emailed each other regularly and kept up to speed on things that way. her kids are all grown up and you would think that knowing what it's like having two little ones at home and all our busy schedules that a person would understand that i have a very busy life. i email and talk on the phone when i have opportunities. i cannot drop my life at every beck and call.

people who are close with me and want to chat know when the best time to call me is. they respect that. and i respect everyone else's busy schedule and availability to me as well.

why can't we all just get along???? hahahaha!!!!

anyway, i think that the reason this is bothering me so much is because i went through this EXACT same ordeal over a year ago with someone who i was friends with for over 20 years. she emailed me on my birthday and dropped a huge bombshell from out of the blue and did the same hurtful personal attack based on the fact that she didn't think i called her enough or spent enough time with her! she dragged up every painful thing from my childhood to hurt me and didn't stop, she just acted as if though she was God himself and passed judgement on me and everything i have gone through in my life. she tore me to pieces and said things she will never ever be able to take back. and i have often wondered about something....i saw one time that she had misquoted something that i said as being the last words she ever heard from me...when in fact i had written an email back right away to her at the time, in my defense ( alhtough after over 20 years i never thought i'd be having to defend myself to her thinking she was my friend....some friend, huh? )

i think that letter was intercepted and withheld by her husband....i suppose i will never know the truth.

anyway, i didn't mean to ramble on here about the past, but i just don't understand why people have to have such a hurtful nature in them? when this happened with my 'friend' it wasn't during the holdiays, so i can't even give her that excuse for going coo-coo, that just came out of her emotional explosion and the need to hurt someone i guess!!!

do you have any 'issues' like this that you're dealing with that's bumming out your holidays? any crazy people in your life trying to make you miserable? or is it just me thinking that everyone is going crazy over small stuff????

or is it indeed the pressure and anxiety of preparing for the holidays? if so, i'm holidaying in mexico from now on!!! LOL!!!!!

tell me what you think...share your stories!!!

:O)

Grandma's shortbread, toys and swimming!!

wow....has it really been over a week since my last post?

i, like everyone else i'm sure, have been crazy hectic trying to keep up with the kids' activities coming to an end for Christmas break...and of course all the extra things that need to get done before then too!!!

did i ever tell you how much i HATE shopping??

this Chirstmas is a tough one in particular as i am walking around in the stores aimlessly with no 'wish lists' from anybody so i am uninspired with no ideas of what the people on my list would like!!

i am DEFINATELY a 'list person' ....without one, i just don't function very well!!! LOL!!!

this past week brought my little tyler's last Crocodile swimming lesson session to an end, and he didn't pass it. what a BUMMER it is to try and explain to a 5 year old why he didn't get his 'sticker' on his report card after 10 weeks of lessons! he really tried hard and gave it his best so we told him that we are very proud of him and for trying so hard...and of course by bedtime he had forgotten all about it!

courtney had her last dance workshop lesson for the break on saturday (yippee!! ) so my tuesdays, saturdays and sundays are now free until january! this week ends her manta swimming for the break too, so that will free up my mondays and wednesdays til the new year as well!!!

sooooo, if you wanna get together for a visit, out for a drink, check out a movie, go for dinner....now's the time!!! LMAO!!!!

schoool is also quickly coming to Christmas break as well...this friday is their last day. wednesday is their concert at school and today courtney is having a "multi cultural' lunch in her classroom...i'd be willing to bet that she comes home with a tummy ache today after school!!! and she is excited to share her Highland dancing for multi cultural week with her classmates on thursday morning when she will be performing for them in full costume!! ( yes, there will be pictures! ) { GIGGLE }

so, in honor of todays special school lunch, i asked Grandma if she could make some of her YUMMY SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD cookies that courtney could bring for the lunch!!

i dug out my beautiful serving plate i got from my MOL a few years ago to present them on and to our delight, found that Nana even iced and decorated the cookies for the kids!! i almost didn't want to give them away.....MMmmmmm!!!

...on friday at the school, the kids got to 'shop' in a school hosted TOY SALE where everything was only .25! it was sooooo cute to see courtney and tyler come home with their cute little shopping bags all decorated with their shopping for each other!! tyler told courtney on thursday that he saw a TY monkey that he wanted and went to get it on friday but someone had bought it...he was soooo disappointed! when they opened their special bags, he was delighted to find that special little monkey in his bag that courtney bought for him!!! makes me feel so good to see that the kids are starting to take thoughtfulness to heart and do sweet little things for each other!! ( for a while anyway, then it's back to bickering.... )
...courtney had a 'black and purple' swim meet on wednesday night. it went okay until towards the end...she had a fit, i mean a crying fit, about swimming the last lap because it was something she hadn't tried before! no matter how much encouragement from the coaches and myself, she refused to try it. i was upset and disappointed that she made such an ordeal about it but, oh well, she's still just a kid and what are ya gonna do? she was on the black team, which did win the meet, but we didn't leave in a very happy mood!!!!
...one of those days right?....

well, i think that about brings us up to speed....

i have LOTS to do still to finish preparing for Christmas so i better go check my LIST for more things to do!!!

:O)

christmas card sweatshop...

well, at least it felt like a sweatshop!

today i made our family's christmas cards to mail out in the next day or two...i decided i wanted to dry emboss on vellum paper using a brass stencil...

what an idiot!

i have permanent cramps in my wrist now from doing the embossing!!!

( suck it up, i know...)

i don't think most people realize just how long it takes to make about 35 cards from scratch with all the measuring and cutting and gluing....and then for those of us who are total suckers like me and feel you need to buy that cute christmas stationary to type out your family's christmas update letters on...there's another hour typing and printing out your letters on top of the cards...oh, but then you must have everyone in the family sign it themselves for that personal touch since you typed the letter and did not write it out...

oh, and don't forget the time to pick out and print off that photo of the kids that must go out too!

AND LET'S NOT EVEN GET ON THE TOPIC OF $$$ FOR POSTAGE!!!

BUT...

even though i just spent the last 5 hours making cards, typing letters, addressing envelopes and signing my name, picking pictures and more than likely sound like a BIG, HUGE SCROOGE,

i love how they turn out in the end and how happy i feel walking into the post office to drop them all off to find their way to my family!

anyway...ta-daa!

did you MAKE your christmas cards this year????

:O)

the kids love it!

...i was inspired to make up a cute little 'help yourself' christmas candy display and here's how it turned out!!!

tyler hasn't seen the last addition i finished with this morning yet...ROSEBUD chocolates! he loves those! i can almost hear him when they come home for lunch soon!

hee hee.

i LUV christmas!!!

:O)

ADDED: tree by day!

o christmas tree....

...well, we did it!

we finished setting up our beautiful christmas tree last night with the kids!

...NEW to our tree this year is an added touch of pearlized pink! YUM!

busy weekend!!!

WOW!

this weekend was totally Kra-ZZZZ!!!

this was the weekend of courtney's highland dance christmas concert on sunday, and to add more holiday stress, it was also the Manitoba Highland Dancers Association christmas concert too on saturday!

so, we had rehersal saturday morning for our dance schools concert, then rush off to the MHDA concert in the afternoon, and then yesterday was our dance school's concert!!

it's always such a mad rush having both events the same weekend, but now that they are both over and done with for another year, i can tell you that the concerts ( especially our school's concert ) was just amazing and beautiful!! there' SO MUCH work that goes into planning, organizing and preparing for this event, but bottom line is the girls just love their dance numbers and all the costumes and in particular their 'shining time' on stage!

they all did a super job and i always feel a real sense of pride and an overwhelming rush of love of the dance whenever i see those kids up performing! they are all so talented and work very hard at perfection and i commend all of them for every ounce of effort they put into their dancing! they have the most perfected dance teacher in the world who has been teaching for almost 40 years now, and even though sometimes its all a bit overwhelming, she demands and gives only the best for our girls!!!

...our family sold 21 tickets to our family and friends who were able to come out and enjoy courrney's concert this year!!! so i thank you all so much for coming to attend and share such a huge part of our family's lives with us ( and for such a fun event as well...it's not all competition! )

to our elated surprise last week, i was told that Grandma and Grandpa were definately still coming!!! Grandpa said he wouldn't miss it for the world! I was so happy he was willing to sacrifice a little discomfort for the afternoon to see his great-grandaughter kick up her heels!

( thank you, thank you for coming with us Papa!!! )

...because we are travelling with the dance school next summer to Scotland, one of the fundraising tables at the concert yesterday was a craft table ( besides the wine draw, scottish auction, and bake sale tables...)

so i kept myself busy making a bunch of little scrapbooking projects 'n such and i just loved how these recycled pringles chips containers worked out!!! i altered them into piggy banks, hopeful to sell for the kids going overseas to start their penny pinching for their trip!

( here's courtney and her Papa first...MELT! )

...and here's some random pic's of courntey's dances during the concert...

***NOTE TO COURTNEY'S DANCE PALS***

DO YOU SEE YOURSELF???

(just click on the photo to see it larger )

:o)

...guess what?

our little man was asked if he'd like to dance in a number this year again!!!

here he is struttin' his stuff with 2 new little wee ones to

"Down by the Station"...

way to go tyler!!!! good job!!!

...this is the FINALE when all the dancers of the school come out at the end and finish up the dance...and then get a special north pole visitor bearing gifts for all the dancers!!!

...what a great concert!! i am grateful for the blessing of ability for our children to be healthy and active and participate in something so special, for the wonderful support of our families to attend and see our kids having fun and being happy!

NOW, we are 3 days behind 'trditional schedule' of finishing putting up our chirstmas tree and decorating our house...( can't imagine why...{GIGGLE} )

so, i'm off to it and hopefully i'll be posting some chirstmas tree pictures tomorrow!!

:O)