Lovely Cruise

mothball charlie

Mothball Charlie will re-open on Monday, January 5th.  I will begin taking custom orders for pet portraits on the 5th as well.  I am thinking about doing more with the pet portraits (pendants, stationery, tags, notebooks etc.).  I have some experimenting to do first.  :) 

oh joy

This might be my favorite photo that I took of our holidays this year.  I never get many good photos of all of our festivities.  I guess I'm just too busy with everything and I also want to just live the moments instead of being obsessed with taking photos of them. 

We had a nice Christmas (and Hanukah, obviously).  :)  I'm a little under the weather today, or I'd write more about it.  Unfortunately the cold I've been fighting for weeks, has turned into a sinus infection.  Seems like a great way to ring in the new year...  Oh joy. 

merry, merry

JDRF journaling stamp

It Kit Studio is selling this stamp designed by my friend Becca.  100% of sales will go directly to the JDRF.  This wonderful journaling stamp set is only $10.  For every stamp set you purchase Kelly (It Kit owner) will put two, yes two, tickets into a drawing for a new Making Memories Slice machine.  (I own one and I love it).  But wait, there's much more.  Kelly is having a HUGE sale at It Kit, everything (except for the JDRF stamp set) is at least 50% off and for every $10 you spend you get an entry into the Slice drawing.  Buy a stamp set and fill up your cart with some scrappy goodness and you'll quickly have several entries in the drawing... 

JDRF is such a worthy cause.  It's quickly become near and dear to my heart because of Becca.  And this is a great way to show your support.  THANKS!!!

teacher gifts

On Wednesday my friend Lisa mentioned that she was giving her sons' teachers their gifts on Thursday because she was afraid that school might be canceled on Friday due to weather.  It's a good thing I have smart friends, because I did the same only because of her.  Otherwise I would have scrambled today getting them done, only for school to be canceled.  And school is canceled tomorrow and my teacher gifts were given today.  Hurrah!  I actually had my stuff together for once...  I made the tins that I linked to a couple weeks ago from the Hero Arts blog.  Instead of using stamped images on the magnets, the boys made little drawings.  I think they are cute and the teachers loved them.  Two handmade gifts down, several more to go... 

have a very merry...

After bagels today Ella and I went to my mom's to work on my super secret project.  I've wanted to take photos of my mom's Christmas decorations in the daylight for years and was so proud of myself for actually remembering my camera.  Beautiful, aren't they?

best new holiday music

I am absolutely LOVING "The Hotel Cafe presents:  Winter Songs."  You can check it out here. It's a great combination of new music and the classics. 

Gingerbread day

Besta went to the boys' school on Friday afternoon to participate in the kindergarten gingerbread house making event with Sam.  When Charlie was in kindergarten I asked her to do it since I didn't think taking a baby and a 3.5 yr old with me would be so helpful.  So it quickly became a tradition for Besta to go to the gingerbread day.  It appears that they had a lot of fun.  How could you not have fun with unlimited amounts of candy, frosting and graham crackers?  And the end result is fabulous.  Might just be my favorite decoration this year.  

We had a good, but crazy busy weekend.  It started Friday with me finally starting a super-secret present, which I have to do at a super-secret location.  This is one present that a week ago I didn't know if I'd be able to pull off, but one that I knew I had too.  The recipient rarely reads my blog, but you never know, so I have to be vague.  It felt great to get going on it and hopefully it will done in the next couple of days. 
David came home on the early side, well early for him, and we went out and bought our tree.  This is the third year we've gone to the Shriner's on 84th.  They are the nicest guys and it's kind of become our tradition.  We bought a beautiful tree!  The little people were so excited to decorate.  In true Denise fashion, my lights didn't work, but luckily this year I discovered this before I got them on the tree.  Last year, the lights worked, but once I got them up half of them stopped working.  It was not a pleasant situation...  After my discovery David ran to Target and bought a bunch of new lights.  Our tree is definitely a kid tree, with most of the decorations on the bottom half!  I need to do a little re-arranging, or maybe I'll just leave it. 
Saturday I finished up my last custom pet portrait order, and worked on decorating the rest of the house.  I think I'm about done.  The day went by so quickly that before we knew it, it was time to get ready for David's office Christmas party.  The kids were spending the night at Besta's and she said to bring them over before we got dressed, but we totally ran out of time and had to drop them off on our way downtown.  We went to a little pre-party which was held in one of the apartment buildings across the street from Durham.  The view of the Old Market and all of the holiday lights was amazing.  The party was at the Durham, it was beautiful and fun to see the huge Christmas tree they have.  David works with so many great people, and in the 2 1/2 years we've lived here we've quickly become good friends with many of them.  That makes those events so much more enjoyable. 
Sunday morning we went to Besta's for breakfast and after hurriedly came home to make crab dip for our neighborhood party and get ready to attend a holiday concert with my mom and a group of her good friends.  I dashed out the door, picked her up and we headed to the Holland.  The concert was amazing.  I really enjoyed it.  After the concert my mom's friend's son and his partner hosted a little party for all of us in a condo at the Brandeis building.  The condo was so cool!  I couldn't stay for longer than a glass of wine, because we had our neighborhood party, but was so glad I got to spend some time there.  I dashed home, we dropped off the kids at the house that hosted the babysitters, and we headed to the second house (we missed the first house because of the concert).  It was fun to see the neighbors we knew and meet a lot of new ones.  Really, really great people.  Whew.  We came home and collapsed.  I'm having a hard time getting anything accomplished today and this cold weather really isn't helping.  And now the boys will home in less than an hour.  Hopefully after this slow day, my batteries will be re-charged and tomorrow I'll get a lot more stuff crossed off my list.  Like the 10 calendars I need to make for family and friends, the teachers' gifts, the remaining gifts I need to purchase, getting my house clean before my mother-in-law arrives, a little more baking, and finishing my super-secret present.  Diet coke, anyone? 

in his own words

I am a student.

I wonder if I will be a football player.

I hear my sister cry.

I see my brother playing video games.

I want to meet Joe Ganz.

I am a brother.

I pretend that I am a Indian.

I feel my globe when I spin it.

I touch my football helmet.

I worry about losing my brother and sister.

I cry about Huskers losing.

I am a Ambassador at Western Hills.

I understand when I get in trouble.

I say that I am not the best.

I dream that I won the soccer game.

I try to do my best.

I hope that I will be a football player.

I am a loving cousin.