Today we visited Millbrook Tree Farm- a Thanksgiving weekend tradition that has been going for 6 years and counting!

We drive 45 minutes north to visit Millbrook every Christmas season with our dear friends the Carpenters to pick out our Christmas tree.

This is one of our first family "traditions" we created on our own.... and it is truly one of our favorite days of the year.

We have our special routine with the Carpenter family where we meet at Starbucks to pick up hot chocolate for the road and head to the tree farm.  Afterwards (or today it was before the tree farm) we eat at a family owned BBQ restaurant.   Nothing beats the smells of pine trees and BBQ!!!

I first met Melody when Jordan was eight days old.  She is a photographer in Indy and I had called her to photograph Jordan's newborn session.  Little did I know she had a little girl born only 6 weeks earlier and that they would become the best of friends.

They were calling each other "sissy" all day today :)

I so treasure our friendship Mel!

Our obligatory family photos in front of our Christmas trees.  Our husbands are such troopers to oblige to our photos/ tree indecisiveness / and prolonged chit chats in the tree farm fields.

Below you will see all of our family photos except for the first year we were there (ummm we had a 20 month old and almost 3 year old... family photo was not on the agenda i guess! lol!).  This was today (2014-2010).  and yes. we like to repeat vests.  frequently.

And below are the pics of all our kids together beginning with 2014 (2010 and 2009 were just of my kids (or just one kid), because, um, we were trying to just keep track of everyone at that point (see above). :)

it breaks my heart a little to see how much changes in a few short years.  the days are long but the weeks and years fly by don't they?

so thankful for these traditions!  What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?

Celebrate December

December is right around the corner and I am thrilled to be participating in Elle's Studio's Celebrate December event again this year.   Along with a few other amazing designers....

There will be tons of projects and inspiration using our Good Cheer and our exclusive kits and extra add ons!  I can't wait to share them with you!

Besides having giveaways throughout our event, where you’ll be able to do things like leave blog comments, like our facebook page, tag your instagram friends, etc. to be entered to win, we also have THREE GRAND PRIZES (show above) to give away.

To enter to WIN one of the THREE grand prizes just complete the following:
– Visit our Member Gallery- Log in and upload your project
– Tag the Elle’s Studio items used
– Make sure to write in the “description” that it is a “Celebrate December entry”

That’s it – we are keeping it super simple so everyone has a chance to enter! And, here’s the best part… you can start uploading NOW, and you can enter as many times as you want (must be a different project per entry)! The three GRAND PRIZE winners will be drawn on December 31st, 2014 and entries will all have a chance to be featured on our blog, even if they don’t win!

It’s going to be an incredible season and we can hardly wait for December to get here!

The fun begins December 1st-- make sure to swing by Elle's Studio to check it out! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

These two little turkeys wanted to stop by and say Happy Thanksgiving!!!



I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful and you are enjoying this holiday weekend.  We are just busy eating, watching movies, and spending time with family and friends.  I hosted a "Friendsgiving" last weekend and yesterday we had 28 at my mom and dad's house for Thanksgiving (and that's not even everyone in the family!)



 
Um, and apparently we all like Thanksgiving Props.  Or something.


 

In the meantime i have been having computer issues which is why it's been a little quiet around here.  Hopefully soon I will be up and running.

Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful!

Project Life

Today I am sharing  October 13-19 in my Project Life album.


On Thursday of this week we were on Fall Break, so we headed up north to Bear Lake, Michigan.  This is where Todd's godparents live and it's such a special place to us!   We kept our plans a secret and waited to tell the kids the night before we were leaving for the lake, and they were screaming as if they were going to Disney World!  It was GREAT.



We typically visit in the summer months (or winter before we had kids), but only one other time in the fall.  Fall in Michigan, i'm convinced, is just incredible.



We visited apple orchards, made applesauce, and played games 24/7.   It was 30 degrees outside- perfect board game weather :)



I included a Becky Higgins 6x12 insert to highlight two of my favorite photos.   The apples because they were so vibrant and were a big part o the weekend, the photo of Jonah and Jordan walking down the road holding hands.   yes it may have been staged, but i still love it. :)



I mostly used Elle's Studio's Sycamore Lane collection, and the November and October kits.



As I catch up this fall, I am ALL about keeping my spreads fairly simple.  For me it just makes sense as I am catching up and also working on other travel albums.


Thanks for swinging by today!

Project Life was created by Becky Higgins as a way to simplify how you document life and preserve memories. Photo pockets used in my Project Life are created by Becky and can be found here. You can read all of my Project Life posts here.

Sycamore Lane Paper Collection	Letter & Number Stickers- Red	Sycamore Lane- Cork Shapes	Miscellaneous Cork Bits
Sycamore Lane- Journaling Tags	November 2014 Kit	October 2014 Kit

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Project Life

Today I am sharing the week of October 6-12 in my Project Life album.



I am jumping all around on the dates documented in efforts to get caught up.   I have yet to document much of September, but I know I am most inspired to create recent events so I am moving forward and will fill in the gaps as time allows.    Fall is so much fun to document, and I wanted to take the time to get the month of October in my album before the holidays approach!!!



I primarily used Elle's Studio's November 2014 kit and the 2014 Calendar Papers.  I love that these calendar papers can be used the entire year, and it's an excellent paper pack to purchase if you are needing to do some catching up for 2014!


Some fun things documented this week: the Blood Moon, a visit with family and meeting a new cousin, fall leaves, sunsets, Jordan deciding she loves to text, and Jonah falling in love with reading.   I love documenting fall. :)


Project Life was created by Becky Higgins as a way to simplify how you document life and preserve memories. Photo pockets used in my Project Life are created by Becky and can be found here. You can read all of my Project Life posts here.

To our Veterans....

Thank you.



Thank you for your service, and your sacrifice.

Thank you for protecting us at all cost.

Thank you for your selflessness, for even spending time away from your own family, to protect ours.

Thank you doesn't seem enough to express our gratitude for what you have done for our country.




God Bless you and God Bless the USA!

We did a fun activity last night where the kids wrote out some of our family members who have served in the military, when they served, and where they served.  It was a great opportunity to learn about veterans and family history.

Carve

Halloween eve you could find us in the garage at Todd's work bench.



Carving our grocery store pumpkins.  (schedules and a week+ of sickness meant no pumpkin patch)



But that didn't seem to matter.



in the least.



Memories were made and Uncle Si pumpkins (with beards) were carved.



Thanks to this guy. ^^^^



Even though it seems like the holiday season has begun,



I love to hold on to fall, and the pumpkins, as long as possible!



Happy Friday!

Project Life | Documenting Halloween

Today I am sharing a page in Jordan's Childhood Project Life Album.



I am still working on her album from last year, so as this Halloween spread was created last week, it's from last year's Halloween (because she was OF course dressed up like a Frozen character!)



I pretty much stuck to only Elle's Studio's Halloween Ephemera Pack, October Afternoon Witch Hazel Stickers, and Becky Higgins' Project Life Holiday Mini Kit.  They worked perfectly together.



I misted the wood veneer bat black- and placed it in the title pocket so that the bats looked scattered across the page (spooky!).   I preserved the fall leaf by using this method--- I have been doing this for several years and leaves from years ago still look fresh and colorful.



I hope this inspires you to get those Halloween photos documented before we head into the Holiday Season!

Also linking up over at The Mom Creative Today (a great inspiration resource for Project Life). 

Project Life was created by Becky Higgins as a way to simplify how you document life and preserve memories. Photo pockets used in my Project Life are created by Becky and can be found here. You can read all of my Project Life posts here.

Halloween Ephemera Pack

My Favorites Exclusive Stamp

InLinkz.com