Some Christmas pics....

Thought I'd share some pics from Christmas!

Micah with Santa!


McKenna looking all embarrassed for some reason?!


Mara, who was last to get her gift from Santa. Santa even commented on how patient she had been!


My nephew, Jacob, with Santa!


Love this pic of my niece, Jenna, with Santa! She's just not too sure what to think of him....


And Asher wanted nothing to do with him....

:)

In search of.....

2 more scrappers interested in joining a new Stamp Club group that wants to start in January!! Let me know ASAP! :)

Teacher's Aide gifts!

I made little baskets and filled it with a baggie of choco chip cookies, white chocolate and regular chocolate covered pretzels, nuts, and chex mix for the teacher aides. How did I make the adorable little baskets, you ask?! Well, it's none other than the fabulous die Baskets and Blooms for the Sizzix Big Shot from Stampin' Up! ;) Every stinkin' thing (made of paper, that is) on this basket is on one die! I added some pearl or jewel brads and on one I added a little Prima flower and ribbon from my stash for the tag. Seriously, people, I love the Big Shot, but you couldn't tell, could ya?! LOL!! The paper is some old Basic Grey Christmas paper I've had for awhile (Figgy Pudding, maybe?)

Well, TFL!!! Hope everyone had a totally fabulous Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

Free Gifs and Animations

Teacher gifts!

Here's the gift bags I made for the girls' teacher's Christmas gifts! I got to play with my new Sizzix Big Shot (LOVE IT!!!) and the Top Note Die (double LOVE IT!!!). I even stamped tissue paper to go in the gift bag! (Steve actually liked it!)

I got each of the girls' teacher's one of the new debuted teacher sets in the current catalog. Super cute. They have little images like an elephant with a bow tied around it's trunk and says under it "Don't Forget". A little buzzing bee that says "Please Bee Neater", etc. I also got them 2 ink pads...one in Really Red and the other in Glorious Green.

Merry Christmas Eve!!! ;)

December scrappy goodness from BYOM!

December's kit at BYOM is October Afternoon and it's fantastic!! AC Thickers for the alphabet, cute little journaling tags, buttons...it's all good. OA took their sweet time delivering the stuff this month, so there's not going to be a newsletter, unfortch. But, guess what arrived on my doorstep this week?! The January BYOM kit and it freaking rocks. I can not wait to play! I think I'm feelin' my mojo coming back to me. :)

December is so flippin' crazy busy! I even did some last minute shopping tonite. You can't beat shopping 2 days before Christmas! I even picked up a little somethin' somethin' for me! A couple of new shirts to wear for the family Christmas Eve bash and to a New Year's par-tay! Some new jeans, adorable little black ballet flats, a scarf to match one of the shirts and 2 pairs of earrings to match the shirts. Woot! I <3>

Ok, learned me a new technique in PSE 6!! The photo of the layout up there was crooked. I straightened it! Holy crap and it was so easy! I LOVE PSE 6! It keeps kickin' my a$$ with all the cool stuff it can do!!!

Ice Castles

I just got done watching one of my favorite movies of all time....Ice Castles!!! Yes, I was like 3 years old when it came out, but I remember watching it when I was young....like 5! And, I've loved it ever since. It's kinda cheesy and predictable, but I still love it. I've watched this movie over and over and over again and I still cry!!!

Just thought I'd share. Everyone ready for Christmas?! It's almost 9 days away!!!

So stinkin' CUTE!!!

He's just the most cutest thing EVER! I never imagined I'd like him as much as I do! I mean, don't get me wrong, I really wanted him, but I had no idea I'd fall completely in love with him the way I did!

He's just so stinkin' cute!

I know, I've been in kind of a big scrappy schlump lately. I did just the December BYOM kit today and I'd love to play with it, but it's a crazy busy week and weekend. But, next week, I only work one day and then the weekend, so hopefully I'll be able to find some scrapping time next week and post some stuff! Stay tuned.....

Our Christmas photos!

We had our own little photo shoot for our Christmas card picture Tuesday evening. Yes, I really do belong to this family, although you wouldn't know it! Everyone else is blonde, but me! My girls all have straight hair and me, anything but! Crazy, isn't it?!

And, little Toby is in our family pic this year! He was such a good little puppy for this. I was holding him the whole time, going back and forth from my place in the pic to the camera (and trust me, it didn't take only one shot to get this pic!)

I love the pic of Micah giving Steve a kiss!

{Angie, I know you offered to take some pics, but I needed to figure out how to use the self timer anyway! I figured I'd mess around with some pics and if I couldn't get any decent ones, I'd give ya a call.}

A blog award!

One of my bestest friends, Tiffany, thought of me to pass this cute little award onto! Thanks, Tiffany, and right back at ya! ;)

On to the rules for this award:


1. Pick 10 people and pass the award to them.


2. Contact them and let them know you have chosen them and their blog for the award.


3. Link back to the person who gave you the award.


The 10 blogs below are the ones I have chosen for this award - please check them out - they are all amazing as well as the women who post them. In no particular order.....

1. Robyn

2. Krista

3. Keely

4. Ali

5. Liz

6. Shan

7. Laura

8. Tanisha

9. Dawn

10. Heather

Hello Kitty at BABW

We took our Hello Kitty freak to Build-a-Bear Workshop on Sunday to make a HK doll for her birthday. She had so much fun picking out the clothes....complete with HK undies, HK shoes and an all pink outfit! I didn't think the sweater matched the skirt that well, but McKenna informed me that "pink is pink, Mom". Duh, I guess. Anyway, she's happy, so I'm happy!

Talk about being smart.....somehow she totally figured out that this was a birthday suprise she was going to get on Sunday. My girls aren't that into BABW stuff. They just don't play with stuffed animals or dolls, so they haven't really done too many BABW bears. I thought she'd never figure it out! She knew we were going to be in Evansville for her suprise. A couple days before, we were watching TV and a BABW commercial came on. I didn't say anything at all. She turned to me and said "That's where we're going for my surprise." She was so matter-of-fact about it. It wasn't even a question. How in the world did she know?! Sometimes she just freaks me out....

Happy Birthday Kenna Wee!!!

I can't believe it. My little Kenna Wee is 8!! Holy cow, where in the world does the time go?! This little girl is just smart as a whip, I tell ya. Every day she amazes me with how much she knows and understands. It's not what a normal 8 year old should know. I swear she has a photographic memory. It's scary sometimes!

I will never forget the day I went into pre-term labor with her! I was in such denial or incredibly naive! LOL! I had laid down for a nap when I noticed I was having what I thought was possibly contractions. After a while I started timing them. They were coming about every 3-5 minutes. I called the hospital and they told me to come right in. At the time, I just thought if I got myself hydrated and laid down, they'd go away, but the girl in OB was adamant I come in. When I got to the hospital, the contractions wouldn't stop! They were every 3 minutes and meds were not working! At 30 weeks, this wasn't good. Dr. Hopf had transfer papers to IU Med Center signed and ready to go if the last dose of meds didn't help. Thank goodness, it worked! But, at a cost. Geesh. The mag sulfate put me out for several days. I couldn't move any part of my body by myself. I could hardly talk. It was a daze. Once the contractions slowed down enough to back off the mag sulfate, it was another day to get the rest of my coordination back! I remember that first evening Steve even had to feed me! Needless to say....it was bedrest from there on out.

I ended up being induced at 37 weeks due to pre-eclampsia. Labor and delivery wasn't too bad. I had an intrathecal that only took from the pubic bone down! So, I only felt labor, but not the delivery part. My Dr. was across the hall delivering another baby at the time I was ready to push! I remember the room and nurses all set and ready to go, just waiting for the Dr. to come in. They told me not to laugh, cough, or sneeze or they'd have to deliver her!!

Now, this part McKenna absolutely HATES to hear! When she came out she was PURPLE! She was the color of an eggplant! The nurses whisked her away thinking there was something wrong with her. There wasn't anything wrong, she just made a fast descent into the birth canal and bruised her whole head. Bless her heart. But, she was our little eggplant! LOL! I remember Grandma Peach being so worried about her when she saw her.

Well, my little blond hair, hazel eyed, skinny minny, headstrong, easily embarrassed, Hello Kitty freak, Happy 8th Birthday to you!!!! I love you!!!

I just found a new addiction.....

....and it's called Facebook! Yeah, yeah, I know, FB has been around for awhile. I've resisted. I thought blogging was enough. It's so NOT!! I'm hooked and I've only been signed up for 3 days. Oh boy.....

Only me.....

HowManyOfMe.com

There is 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Wow. Just one?! Seriously?!! NO!!! At least, on Facebook, there are 4 other Kelly Birrell's! What's up with that?

Pics from the "photo shoot" revealed!

As promised, here are some of my favorite pics from the "photo shoot"! I finally got the editing done today in between events at Mara's swim meet. I know, 10 pics is a lot to download just to read my blog this time, but considering I took around 190 pics, showing you 10 of my favorites isn't too bad, is it?! Can you tell it was like 32 degrees and overcast that day? We were all freezing, but I don't think it shows too badly in the pictures. Everyone just took it in stride and put up with it pretty well. They were all troopers. I love pics taken at the riverwalk. We didn't have to move very far to get all these great settings. Anyway....TFL! :)