Wowzer! Wednesday

Today for our Wowzer! Wednesday blog feature, we're highlighting a couple of kids that "wowed" us.

Okay, so they happen to be related to us... closely... but we're not biased at all! ;-) Yah, right!

Anyway, Kayla and Jacob both decided to play along with us in our color challenge this month. They both did a wowzer of a job and they love it when we feature them on our blog, so we obliged them. =)

Here's Kayla hard at work for the color challenge.

She made 3 cards for the color challenge! Wowzer!! =)
Jacob used what remained from the supplies Kayla brought home and seriously went to work (hey, he was using SCRAPS!!).
He made this very nice picture... very creative!
The color challenge is still open and we'd love to see what you can create with the colors we've picked out. Click HERE to get all the details!

That's all for today, folks! Join us next week for another Wowzer! Wednesday where we'll be featuring more "wow" creativity and talent!

What We've Been Up To

From Adriel:

Besides cards, that is! =) This time of the year there are just other fun things to do that grab our attention.

The kids made "faux" gingerbread houses (with graham crackers)... these were our budget gingerbread houses. Cheap graham crackers, candy from the dollar store, tube frosting (probably the most expensive element)... still just as fun! The kids were busy for quite a while decorating their houses. While they decorated, we got some baking done. =)

We visited a Christmas Trains lights display... these people are really into trains and their whole backyard was pretty much dedicated to the display. I took pictures before it got dark, but at night time it was lit up. Very cute! =)

Had to show off my Christmas rolls... I baked them ahead of time and put them in the freezer. Of course, I sampled one first... with butter on it. It was yum-yum-yummy!

We hope you're enjoying the fun things that make this time of the year special to you, even if it's just sitting on the couch! Whatever makes it special, enjoy yourself and if we don't pop in here before the 25th, have a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!

Apple Picking

From Adriel:

It has been AGES since I posted on our blog! I've been MIA for a couple of weeks... took a bunch of pictures today of new stuff! Will share that soon... today I wanted to share pictures with you of our apple picking last weekend. =)

We went down to Willcox to pick apples!

We picked Granny Smith apples.

Some of us sampled them while in the orchard (with permission).

Did I mention we picked apples? Yup! 100 pounds of them! =)

Afterward, some of us had homemade Pumpkin Pie ice cream.

Others in our party chose the homemade apple pie.

We also ate apple-smoked burgers under the apple trees, but I have no picture of that. ;-)

The next day we washed all of our apples and cooked a bunch to make applesauce (which went into containers and into the freezer), kept a few for caramel apples and baked apples, and the rest we used our handy dandy apple corer, peeler, slicer tool. It's an amazing invention and we wouldn't have done all that apple discecting if we didn't have one! Our sliced apples when into ziploc bags (8 apples in each) with a little bit of sugar and some absorbic acid (to prevent browning) and into the freezer. We were able to crank out 24 bags of apples... long enough to last us for awhile! Now, when we want to make an apple pie or an apple crisp (or something apple-y), we have the apples all ready to go! All sliced and peeled! =)

BTW, if you are into apples, you really should have one of these. It's a wonder! Watch it in action HERE. =D

My Birthday Card

From Heidi...I was surprised this year to receive a birthday card from my husband that he made himself...what a treat! I have to share his card creation with all of you. He's been a graphic designer since I met him (over 30 years!! We just celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary yesterday!). When he started graphics, everything was done manually...lots of cut and pasting. The graphic industry has changed so much over the 30 years, now everything is done electronically. He misses the hands-on cutting and pasting...there's just something about manipulating paper that is fun! So, he surprised me this year with a "cut and pasted" card.He really is a wonderful friend. We've hit bumps along our 30 years, but I am thankful that we are better friends today than we when we first started our journey together. We've had to walk through some of the hardest times together over the last 4 years, but those times have made us appreciate one another all the more. It is a gift from the Lord to have someone you can trust and lean on through difficult times. I thought he was a keeper in the beginning, but now I know he is. Thanks for letting me share!

Elegant Favor Box

From Adriel:

I usually can move my pictures around, but Blogger has been acting up on me lately, namely with pictures, and the picture is stuck at the top of this post. (I don't know why I feel the need to explain the placement of the photo, but I just do). I made this box using my Matchbox die for the Big Shot. I also used a stamp from the Matchbox Messages set. My daughter, Kayla, likes to make these little boxes. She's becoming quite the stamper and paper crafter!

Speaking of my daughter, she was fine the day after her day of being sick with the flu. We prayed for her and I really believe the Lord touched her body and helped her get well quickly. She was pretty sick on Saturday, with vomiting a few times in the early AM and not eating very much for the entire day and just sitting with the fever & chills and a stomach ache. She was not herself at all, as she is very energetic and perky and cheerful most of the time. Sunday she was hungry and was back to herself. I was surprised at such a quick recovery. I thanked the Lord with her Sunday evening. =) I know that God's answer is sometimes "no" and we don't always understand and He is still worthy of our praise and worship. But sometimes His answer is "yes" and I just wanted to give God the credit and glory He deserves. God is a good God, no matter what His answer is. =)

Not Much Going On...

From Adriel:

Well, today definitely looks different than I would've thought it would look like.

My 8-year-old daughter woke me up at 3:40am this morning letting me know she had thrown up. What a way to wake up... after asking her a few questions, I found out she had thrown up in her bed. Yuck! Okay, I needed to get up and change the bedding. Then she told me she was sorry, but she had missed the toilet. What?! I tackled the bedding first... red colored vomit is not a pretty sight, let me tell you. Threw the soiled linens in the washer and started it. Took a peek at the bathroom. OH MY GOODNESS!!! It was all over the toilet seat, and was sprayed on the shower curtain, the floor and the wall. I guess we were dealing with projectile vomit! I wanted to cry. I didn't even know where to start cleaning it up! I left the bathroom to compose myself and process the mess... I also needed to spray the carpet by Kayla's bed, because, yes, the mess was on the carpet, too. Where wasn't it? =P My husband woke up around that time and helped me out with the mess. Cleaning up vomit is not on his top favorites (is it on anyone's?), so this was very nice of him. =) Well, got the mess cleaned up, but the poor thing threw up a couple more times during the early morning and I think she must have the flu. Anyway, I know you wanted to know all of this, so that's why I'm sharing! =D

Really, this is just what's going on... for real! I'm sure you feel like eating that yummy lunch or dinner you were planning on making right after you were done on the computer. Sorry! =P

Have a nice weekend! If you go out, wash your hands! I guess there's something going around. =)

Disneyland Trip

From Adriel:

I got back a couple of days ago from a 5-day Disneyland trip with my family. I think we got enough Disneyland to last us for awhile! LOL! =) We had a great time spending time together and just having fun. That sounds kind of shallow, but the time together relaxing was so good for us! =)

I just wanted to share a few pictures of our trip with you...

We got to see Mickey!

The kids got lollipops!

Goofy & Friends!

In line for the Finding Nemo submarine ride.

Got a bunch more, but that's enough! =)

It is amazing how great Disneyland looks after all these years. It looks the same (with additional rides and attractions, of course) as it did when I was a kid. Music is playing everywhere and it's so clean. Every night after the fireworks on Main Street, there's this mouse-shaped confetti all over the street. They have vacuums and clean it all up every night! They create the same amazing experience every day for new customers. The crowd control people are calm and patient, even though the crowd is not. Almost every employee that I had contact with was pleasant. How do they do it?!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you're all having a nice weekend! =)