Digital Scrapbooking Continues...

So, I have been working little by little with the digital scrapbooking. Here are two pages that I completed today and wanted to share them with you. This could really become an addiction but is a lot of fun. I'm going to pull out all of my "traditional" scrapbooking stuff to start working on those albums. My goal for 2009 is to have all photo albums complete with "traditional" scrapping through the year 2007. From there, the kids books will go to digital and I will continue "traditional" scrapping for our family album. Now, I just need to learn how to work my scanner better so that I can scan school pictures for the girls' albums. Doing all of this scrapping on the computer is going to save me from storing so much stuff. Oh for the day!

Digital Scrapbooking

Okay, so I think I'm getting hooked. My sis-in-law has introduced me to digital scrapbooking. This is amazing. I can't believe how quickly, once I figured the program out, I completed 2 pages. Folks this is going to be fun and fast! If only I could complete my traditional scrapbooking pages this quick. We are using the Adobe Photoshop Elements program. I am currently just using the trial program...free for 30 days. I'm thinking I may need to purchase this program!! We are getting our FREE scrapbooking kits from www.digiscrapdepot.com. The best part...you never run out of your favorite paper and embellishments!

As you can see, on page 1 I kept the pictures the way they were (no cropping, etc.). Once I started page 2, I was figuring out more of the tools. I could go back and change page 1 but I think it's fun to be able to look back and see what I've been learning along the way.

Got "zert"?

So, last night we asked the kids to get their pajamas on and the next thing we hear coming from Ethan's room is, "Do we have any zert?" Jason and I broke out laughing. Of course, we knew exactly what he meant but had some fun with it for awhile, convincing him that we don't have zert in our house. The girls eventually caught on to what Ethan was asking for and went running for the freezer. I love how kids come up with their own words for things. We tried for awhile to get Ethan to say DESSERT but it just kept coming out "zert". Oh I love this little guy! (He likes to remind me that he is not little, he is a big boy. He will always be my baby!) He sure does keep us laughing!!

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve was spent at the VanWerven home with friends from church. We had wonderful food, great fellowship and played games.

Jason and Galen Cosler participated in a game of bowling on the Wii with some of the boys. This picture is Jason getting a strike and Brenna cheering for him.
The girls played Apples to Apples with EmmaRae VanWerven and Olivia TenKley. It was neat to see all of the kids get along so well.

The room of true competiton. Every game is guys against gals and full of laughter.

We celebrate the new year with sparkling cider and watching channel 4's coverage of the fireworks at the Seattle Space Needle.

Extended Silves family

The BIG Silves family Christmas has always been on Christmas day but with there being so many of us it is getting harder and harder to have everyone there on Christmas day. So, this year, we had Christmas with the Silves family on the 28th. And, almost everyone was there. And, instead of doing a big meal, everyone brought appetizers. It was perfect! Here are a few pictures of the day.

The girls got Password Journals from Great-Grandma Silves.

Great-Grandma Silves gave Ethan a scooter. He was so excited. He has been wanting his very own scooter and is now riding it around the house...hope the snow goes away soon!

Wayne opening his gift from Great-Grandma Silves.

Wayne helping Weston open his present. That's what a big brother is for, right?!

The Christmas parties are now officially over for our family. It was a fun year with the kids but I'm glad the going, going, going is over. Hope you all had a wonderful, Christ filled Christmas!!

White Christmas

We woke up Christmas morning to even more snow than we had going to bed on Christmas Eve...I think it snowed all night. In spots of our yard, depending on where it had drifted from before, it was close to 3 feet deep. The 4 foot fence between us and one of our neighbors had just over a foot still above snow.

Here are some pictures from our sliding door first thing Christmas morning...

I took a picture of our house as we were leaving to go to Grandma Groen's for lunch on Christmas day.

On our way to Grandma's house...me with my new coffee cup!! Peek-a-boo Alyssa, we see you! (She's peeking from over my right shoulder to get in the picture.)

The sun came out after lunch and it was so beautiful beaming down on the snow. I had to take a picture. We have decided that this is a great postcard picture. This was taken from Grandma's front porch, shooting down towards the creek.

When we got home from Grandma's, Jason shoveled the sidewalk...you can get a good idea of how deep the snow was along the sidewalk...no, this does not include what he shoveled off...that snow is on the other side of the sidewalk.

Jason and the kids went out to play...Daddy and Ethan got into a snowball fight.

The snow was too deep for Ethan to walk in so he had to crawl through it.

Jason put Ethan straight down into the snow so we could see how deep it really was on him...it came up to his arm pits, no wonder he couldn't walk in it.

Alyssa went down on her knees to get through the snow as well. She said it was too hard to walk through and didn't want to fall any more.

Brenna tromping through the snow coming to the patio...it's just above her knees here.

Christmas morning

Christmas morning was very laid back at our house. It was so nice to take our time. The kids went through their stockings and then we had caramel rolls for breakfast. We got everything from breakfast and then headed to the Christmas tree for gifts. It was fun to take our time and watch the kids open their gifts. Ethan was great! He was very excited about every gift he opened.
Ethan with his gifts...

Alyssa with her gifts...

Brenna with her gifts... (the girls got a portable DVD player to share)

Alyssa painted this "self-portrait" for us at school. This was her gift to us. I will treasure it forever!