Studio Sara-Anne

Just a couple of the 600 plus pictures I took

touching base

Still not back yet, but we have had an amazing christmas. It has been so much fun and very relaxing. I have enjoyed being with my kids and family for the last 5 days and thankful that I have 5 more days left.

I managed to get all my projects out and complete. The albums were a huge hit, both my grandmother and Tommy and Jennifer loved theirs.

we went to a wondeful christmas eve service. It was really a great way to reflect on what we are celebrating.

Chris was pleased with my gifts but the best part was my kids. They were so thankful and appreciative. I had thought that maybe we would have some problems with Makaley...wanting more, but each gift they opened they oooed and ahhed and said "this is what I really wanted" it was so much fun.

Both Chris and I have had some sort of respitory crud, but it hasn't dampered things much. We've also mangaged to have a few nights out to ourselves as well. What a treat!

well, I better close for now. I have a ton of great pictures to share later and some more exciting news :)

Take care

I feel like I'm going crazy!!!!!

We had Micah tested for allergies...wow...in the short he is allergic to corn, mild milk and lots of trees and weeds. We are still awating the blood results back as well as the hair folicle.

I haven't been to bed before 2am this whole week. I really was hoping that Chris could find a sitter so we could just go out and have a nice quiet meal. No such luck. Oh well. I'm not sure I could make it through a dinner.

The kids and I have been running around like chickens. They have been so good, despite Makaley's tantrum in the Target, but other than that, they have been real troopers.

I got my gifts out!

I painted these cute stools for a lady at work. I loved how they came out.

I won't be posting much over the next two weeks. I hope everyone has a very safe and Merriest of Christmas'.

Here's a few pictures from Micah's adornments. I love them.

Rushing....

Don't have much time to post. Got so much to do here at work and Micah will be joining me in a couple of hours. He was so excited about Christmas vacation.

He made these adorable "Adornments" for me at school. There are 12 ornaments in all, each one has a significant meaning. I came home and he had put them all on the tree. And then he told me the story behind each one. It was so precious. I'm hoping to take pictures tonight and post them. He made this wreath with holly which was to symbolize the crown of thorns on Jesus' head. He made a andorable lion that symbolizes that Christ is the King...since the Lion is the king of the jungle. He had a candle which symbolized that Jesus is the light of the world. They were all very well made and I will cherrish them for years.

Here are the pictures of the ornaments that I made for teachers gifts using clear glass balls and alcohol inks. I love them and want a whole tree filled next year. They were so simple and inexpensive. I think it cost me $ .50 each after I purchased the inks.

Then I put them in these little bags that I decorated with stamps and a Marvy punch...as I've said before, love that punch!

Krazy Kids and Thankful Tuesdays

Okay, is it just me or does anyone else feel like at this time of the year someone tells their kids that it's okay for them to go CRAZY. I know the excitement of Christmas and presents and all the yummy stuff they are eating not to mention the thought of NO SCHOOL for two weeks, but it's like someone secretly spikes their chocolate milk. My kids are just not themselves...it's wild. They are both looking forward to having Mommy for almost two weeks. I'm so looking forward to my time away and with them. Today was Makaley's secret santa party and Micah's going away party for his teacher. I feel like we are all going in five thousand different directions.

So thankfully, I was able to get Micah scheduled for for his allergy testing for Thursday. That ought to be fun. They are testing him 4 ways...skin, blood, hair and urine. WOW!

Thankful that it always seems God gives me more hours in my days. I had a friend the other day say "Sara-anne, how do you do all you do?" And my answer is the Lord, I really believe he expands my time.

Thankful for the fact that Christmas break is almost here...right when we all need it.

Thankful that my Grandmother is out of the hosptial

Thankful that we have made it through this part of the year with nearly no illnesses...usually we are all suffering right now from respitory stuff

Thankful for family game night last night. Micah loves UNO and Daddy loves to beat him :)

Thankful for my Krazy kids...they are such a blessing, eventhough sometimes I feel like I want to pull my hair out...like yesterday when Micah spent over a hour setting up all his little army men...and then Makaley comes by and knocks them all down..Just to be mean. UGH! But thankful for them.

For those of you who pray, please pray for Micah's little friends Sarah...she has been his friend since birth. His mom and I met one day in the Kinkos and I had just had Micah and she was pregnant with Sarah. Through talking we found out that both our husbands are pastors, we both had the same OB and we delievered at the same hospital which was over a hour away. So we both felt that our meeting was God ordained and Micah and Sarah were inspeprable until we moved. We have gotten together periodicly over the last couple years. Last year, we went to Great Wolf Lodge together for Micah's birthday and were planning to do that again this year. Anyway, Sarah has been having these "brain fog" things where she kind of blanks out in the middle of a sentance or thought. Jenni called and said that they needed to do an MRI to rule out a brain tumor. As you can imagine her mom and dad are very nervous.

A couple of you have asked about my cards that I'm making...

Here's a sample

Our Christmas Card

I made 67 of these cards. whew! But I absolutely love them.

Not sure if the affect comes accross in the picture, but they are shaker cards.

Monday Monday

Well, I'm back at work after being off for nearly 3 days. It was good to be off, and I got so much accomplished, but taking time off during this crazy time of year means for being swamped when I get back. Not to mention I work at a church and this is the BUSY season!!!

We had a good weekend...the kids and I baked lots of goodies on saturday and I finished:

my christmas cards (which I absolutely love
all 10 of the teachers gifts (I made these georgous glass ornaments, I'll post all of it tomorrow)
3 sets of cards for gifts (love the monogram stamp and marvy punches)
a chipboard wedding album for my cousin
these adorable placemats for my kids
gift tags and my wrapping paper.

Whew, I can't believe I got that all done. Now I need to get all the gifts wrapped and in the mail and cards addressed.

I also painted in worship, (picture below) people had the chance to win the painting and this girl who just moved into an apartment won...she was so exctited. Not sure why she wanted a 4 ft by 6ft painting of the nativity...but oh well.

Redskins won...Yippee...I didn't see the game since I was partying...but I'm so glad.

Chris preached --the little old ladies love him there!

Back to catch up on lots of work.

Who Knew???

So I spent the morning at Micah's school for his Christmas program. We had been going over the songs and he was ready. As we walked out the door he said, "mom, I need to wear red or green!" okay, rushed back int eh house, thankfully a red long sleeve shirt was laundered yesterday.

So I get to school, found my seat, sat through the elementary band (which is pure torture) I'm really sorry if you have 3-5th grade children and they play in their school band...and I'm sure that if that is you, then you can enjoy the gradeschool band, but it is very painful if you don't have a cuttie pattootie to cheer on. Anyway, then the 1st and 2nd grade chorus came on stage and low and behold my dear son has a speaking part and nails it!!! Yes, Micah said his lines (a total shock to me) and the whole place laughed. He did such a great job, I was so proud of him, but I had no idea!!!! He didn't tell me. All that time we spent talking about the program he never once told me that he was the only first grader with a speaking part.

Who knew!!!

Here are a couple more christmas pictures...I just love them!

Check out this site

I absolutely love the way this church is advertising and reaching people during the Christmas season. I think this is awesome!

Check this out!

I've been playing with my camera and I'm loving what I'm learning. All this stuff about ISO and white balance and such. WOW. so much to learn.

spent the morning with some scrapbook girls...got a lot done on my Christmas cards. It was fun to catch up with them and just hang out. Still shooting to get them out by Monday...

Micah's new teacher started today, I'm praying the transition goes smoothly.

Looking forward to Saturday when I have nothing planned except to hang out with the kids. Friday and Sunday are swamped, but Saturday is our day. We are going to bake lots of yummies!!!

Blessings,

More Randomness

I just sent off 4 pictures (I'll show them below) that I'm having blown up into 11x14 prints and then matting them and framing them and putting them over my couch. I'm excited becuase I need to ad some new life to my livingroom... I really want to paint the room, but we are probably going to move in the fall of 08 and I just feel like "why bother"

Has anyone told God that it is winter???
Here was what was on our local tv station WRAL

The calendar says it's December, but Mother Nature is having none of that!
Today's high of 81° at RDU shattered the old record high temperature of 72°, set in 1972. It also set the all-time record high for the entire month of December, breaking the previous record of 80°, set on the 7th and 8th of December 1998.
A very summerlike pattern has taken hold across the southeast, thanks to an area of high pressure centered around the island of Bermuda. Frequent weather watchers may recall that a "Bermuda High" is a common feature around these parts during the summertime. It's showing up out of season, and the results are following suit. Temperatures more akin to what we expect in May were the rule today, and more of the same is in the forecast through mid-week.
Here's a look at the record high temperatures for RDU through Friday, as well as the WRAL forecast highs for the same days. If the forecast verifies, we'll break at least three records at RDU this week:

Here is what my brother in law wrote in response:
Patience grasshopper. We just got 3" of snow and that "Bermuda High" mentioned in the article may mean warm weather right now, but it also will mean a negative North Atlantic Oscillation and will help to steer Miller A storms up the East Coast instead of letting them go out to sea. Both the GFS and the Canadian (GGEM) models at noon today we're suggesting significant snow for the East Coast this weekend. Possible wintry precip down that way though mostly of the frozen rain/sleet/mix variety this weekend. Hopefully the models will hold on to that idea and you'll see that popping up in your forecasts by tomorrow. The snow will come.

Your weather-geek brother-in-law,
Casey

I sure hope he's right

I'm right on track with my Christmas cards. I worked a bunch on them last night, so I really feel that I will be able to finish them by the first of next week. Gathering all the addresses is another whole story

I've had a couple of people ask me about blogging and is it easy and how I started and such. The answer is yes, it's very easy. You would sign up with a blog host such as Typepad.com or Wordpress.com or blogspot.com. They all have templates that you can use and it's very easy to ad pictures or files. The cost is minimal especially if you only want one blog. I love blogging, I love reading others blogs. I find it a great way for me to journal my every day happenings with my family.

I can not believe that Christmas is less than two weeks away!!! Can you?

My sweet mother in law sent the children a small package yesterday and in it was christmas pillowcases for the kids to help them "dream" of Christmas. I thought that was so sweet. they are really cute. She does such great work and I wish I could get her to start her own buisness. She's an awesome seamstress and I think she could make a killing doing custom window treatments and such for all those huge beach homes.

Speaking of beach homes, for Christmas, I'm painting Aunt Janet and Uncle Tom's sign for their beach home. One of Aunt Janets sayings in her sweet southern draw is "Mercy!!!" So they are naming their cottage/home "Mer-Sea" isn't that adorable.

Blessings,