Gabriel Turns 3!

 So things have been really busy here, but I wanted to share pictures from Gabe's birthday on 12/27/11 and from his party on 01/01/12. Once again the immediate family got to enjoy a day off on his actual birthday and celebrated all day at Easton. Here is a photo recap:

We woke Gabe up early and he opened Grandma Mary and PaPa Rick's card first.

Grandma Nancy and PaPa Dan stopped by early on their way out of town to visit with my Aunt Betty in Virginia. Love Gabe's grumpy face, he wasn't quite awake yet. They gave him a gift card to Half Price books, which purchased 2 movies and 8 new books!

His first Birthday gift from Mommy and Daddy was a brand new mow-mow just like Daddy's.

Our first stop at Easton was to get a new stuffie at Build-a-Bear, this year his choice was this super cute fox.

So we waited in a very long line...

Then finally it was Gabe's turn to bring his fox, Finney, to life. Here he is picking out his heart, he also chose a beating heart for him.

Here Gabe is with his new friend Finney the fox, special thanks to Grandma Mary and Papa Rick- this was his choice with his birthday money.

Then we headed to eat at the Cheesecake Factory, thanks to two saved up gift cards from my boss.

Me and Aspen at our late lunch.

Daddy tells Gabe a surprise is coming after we ate...

Then surprise they brought Gabe a Birthday piece of cheesecake and sang to him!

Yummy, here is Gabe and his oreo birthday cheesecake.

One of the reasons we love to visit Easton this time of the year, it is beautiful.

Another shot from the sidewalk.

After such a big day Gabe was asleep before we left the parking garage. What a great day!

Then we celebrated his birthday with my Mom's birthday on New Years Day and here are the photos from that event:

Gabe's Birthday pumpkin pie, yummy.

Here is Gabe using his new Doctor kit on Daddy.

Dr. Gabriel gives Daddy a shot in the chest, Ouch!

Well that's it for now, I will share some projects soon!

Reminisce Party Contest

Reminisce is having a party contest over on their blog here. As soon as I saw their new Monkey Adventures line I knew it was perfect for my 2 year old son Gabriel. So I have created a double layout from his birthday photos. He is absolutely crazy about trains right now so this line was a perfect fit.



 Materials Used: Reminisce Monkey Adventures 12x12 Cardstock Sticker sheet and Reminisce Monkey Adventures diecut sticker quotes; Jillibean Soup/Red Sugar Staples (polka dot base) and White Bean Soup/Pepper to taste (green plaid) with Alphabean Stickers in Glazed Green and Roasted Red; Navy Blue Cardstock, Red Cardstock and med. blue cardstock; Assorted black buttons

Gabe got train gifts, a train cake and even train party favors. We also celebrated Grandmas Birthday the same day, so the middle car of the cake train is filled with flowers and says "Grandma". Here are some more close up photos:

How cute is that Monkey Train? Let me know what you think! If your interested in the contest you have to enter by April 7th.

Aspen's Sweet Sixteen

So my baby girl is now officially sixteen, can't believe it- the years have flown by. This weekend we threw her a  big Sweet Sixteen party complete with over 60 guests, D.J. (my brother Stace), 3 tier cake, ice sculpture, black lights, several gifts and yes, a car.  Her Dad got her a 2000 Black Honda Prelude, she was so surprised and very excited. Still can't get used to the fact that she will be driving herself around soon. She hopes to take her drivers test this week and get her license. Wow, what a week this has been. Thank goodness we had lots of help with the party preparations and several family and friends that helped us pull it all off. A special thank you to all of them for their efforts. We tried to keep costs down by doing most everything ourselves and Scott's work donated the banquet hall. Anyhow enough with the talk, the pictures say it better:



Aspen and her Dad in her new car.



The cake that Aspen chose, Grandma baked and I decorated.



Aspen with her little brother Billy.



All the kids at the party.



The ice sculpture, by the talented French Chef Marc.



Perhaps the rowdiest kid at the party, Aspen's littlest brother Gabe rolling on the floor.



Make a Wish

  Those are just a few of the highlights, hope to make some great layouts with the photos. Happy Monday!

Embossing Challenge & Tutorial at Scrap and Stamp

This week is an embossing challenge over at Scrap and Stamp, there's even a tutorial. So don't wait, check it out now here. This weeks sponsor is Sassy Studio Designs, you can find them here.

For my layout I chose photos from my husbands birthday last year, he wasn't real excited to hear that I was posting it on my blog. It was a surprise party and as you can see in the photos we did surprise him. I used Coredinations cardstock and followed the tutorial to create some really neat birthday candles at the bottom. I love the color combo and how it turned out.

 Materials Used: Bo Bunny: Double Dot Purple base, Peacock Lane Stripe, polka dot, green grid & purple grid, Block Party/green arrow sticker & "40" stickers: Coredinations Green & Blue Cardstock; Jillibean Soup: Monster Stew Journal Sprout, green twine & Green/White Bakers twine; Green silk ribbon; McGill Star Punch, 3D pop up dots; Stampin Up Music Notes stamp, Colorbok/Green glitter letter stickers, Cuttlebug Cut & emboss Birthday Candles, sanding block.

Thanks for stopping by, please leave a comment!

Celebrate

Here is this weeks Scrap and Stamp Challenge layout, the challenge was to scrap a Birthday. The sponsor this week is MelJens Designs, their website is here.  I chose Gabe's first birthday and used four photos and just for fun I made three out of four black and white so that my favorite one would stand out. I really love this Pink Paislee paper line/Starlite very patriotic on one side and pastel on the other, so versatile. This will also be my second class in June layout at B&B, along with a card and a pocket calendar.

I love how the pinwheels turned out, there is a great tutorial on how to make them at the Jillibean Soup website here.
Well gotta run have a great weekend!