Merry Christmas

Love,
The Clearys

40th Anniversary

mom and dad

the main street confectionery

the castle

brody's favorite ride was the carousel (his favorite "show" was the Country Bear Jamboree)
riley's favorite thing to do was the Shooting gallery and his favorite ride was Pirate's of the Carribean.

We celebrated my parents 40th wedding anniversary at Disney World for the past 5 days. Riley and of course Brody had never been to WDW before and as you can imagine they had a wonderful time. We spent the first evening exploring the resorts and enjoying all the Christmas decorations...which were AMAZING. The following couple of days we spent at the parks and at the resort (which was amazing in itself). Today we spent the morning at Downtown Disney at the T-Rex store and fossil dig as well as the Lego store...I think the boys had just as much fun there as they did yesterday at Animal Kingdom. All in all we had a wonderful time watching the kids experience Disney for the first time!

xoxo

nikki

Cosmo Cricket LO's

( the stamps I used in the above LO is "journey to France" by Tweety Jill)

Paper is Cosmo Cricket...other rick rack, felt, DMC floss, staples and ink.
TFL
dream.design.create.
nikki

Polar Express

When Karen asked me to create a mini album using the Creative Imaginations train, I wasn't sure what I was going to do... but when I started playing...it just started to come together. I painted the train blue on both the front and back. I used the Creative Imaginations Lionel train paper and embellishments to decorate the front of the train. I also used the CI Creative Cafe bling for the center of the wheels on the train. For the back I covered it in orange cardstock and stamped a journal stamp all the way down the train...I also stamped train, travel images all over the journaling lines before I journaled. Then I wrote all about Riley's love for Thomas the Train, Polar Express, and our fun adventure when we all went and rode the FL Gulf Coast railroad train...I gathered photos that might not have been the best to "scrap" and used just the heads to place in my "windows" of the train. TFL.

dream.design.create.

nikki

Some misc LO's and projects...

papers, letter stickers. Other: buttons, fabric, sewing machine, pen.

Arctic frog papers, American Crafts flowers, MM chipboard...other buttons and sewing machine.

Creative Cafe accordian Christmas ornaments (all products except DMC floss are Creative Cafe).

TFL

dream.design.create.

nikki

angels from heaven

This LO is very special to me. My uncle sent this postcard out to all of our family after Grandma died last year and this is what it says " I love you all dearly, now don't shed a tear, I'm spending my Christmas with Jesus this year." I wanted to make a special LO to cherish the picture of my Grandma and Grandpa.
The papers and stamps are all from Tweety Jill Publications in her "Collage paper pack". Chipboard is Tim Holtz. Other is buttons, tags, die cut flowers, music sheet (which was my grandmothers), cardboard, coffee dyed lace. Title is "angels" from target and "in" is MM letter stickers. TFL
dream.design.create.
nikki

tis the season...

When walking by the new My Mind's Eye papers and embellishments (at K2 scrapbook studio), it doesn't scream Christmas...but the worked beautifully for my two Christmas/winter themed LO's. The added glitter on the paper is perfect!! I created an adorable Christmas party invitation but it is not pictured, cause I forgot to take a picture of it. :( So you will just have to go to the store to check it out in person. LOL!! TFL

dream.design.create.

nikki

Digital Freebie update...

If you are into digital or hybrid scrapbooking, you need to check out Designer Digitals (in the freebie section) and Weeds and Wildflowers Designs (on their blog) from now till Christmas. They are giving away a freebie a day and everything is adorable. The only catch, you have to check back every day cause the download button expires!
xoxo
dream.design.digi create.
nikki

Luxe LO's

I ran across these pictures of Rileyand Brody this past summer and was in the mood to scrap them. I went to my paper stash and found these Luxe papers and wow, what a perfect match! I love the simple clean lines of both these LO's. Stamps are Autumn Leaves, orange title is Arctic Frog. Other: buttons and sewing machine. TFL

xoxo

nikki

Prima boy LO's

The second I saw these Prima papers at K2 scrapbook studio, I knew they would be perfect for this Halloween! The flowers and also Prima, the smaller circle and outerspace stamps are from Autumn Leaves (K2 has only 1 set left...) and the large circle stamp is from the "it kit". "cherish" stamp and ghost star is Heidi Swapp. The titles are American Crafts thickers, MM letter stickers. Bling: Creative Cafe. Other: rick rack, ribbon, sewing machine, paper clips and tags. TFL
dream.design.create.

nikki

"hangin out"

lately when Riley has been playing outside he wants to climb trees... we do not have very many "climbing" trees, but he wants to try anyway! These photos are of him in our orange tree yesterday afternoon.

xoxo

nikki

Happy Birthday Brody

happy birthday to you...happy birthday to you...happy birthday dear brody....happy birthday to you! (to see more photos of our fun day go to www.lorifrailing.blogspot.com )
xoxo
mama

the legacy trail

Sean goofing off....running down the trail while Riley tried his best to keep up!
Brody on his scooter...

This past weekend the boys were anxious to be outside... the weather was beautiful and so we decided to do an outdoor actvity! The last time we were on the legacy trail, Brody rode in a stroller...so this was a treat for him to go on his 3-wheel scooter! We had lots of laughs...

xoxo

nikki

your love warms me up...

I went online this morning to look for some Christmas themed digital quick pages (QP) and I found the one above (for free) at Weeds and Wildflowers Design...I just love their stuff, it is so me! TFL

dream.design.create.

nikki

first icecream cone

We decided to take the kids for ice cream the other night... Well, we usually order a cup for Brody and help him eat it with a spoon. But, after seeing Riley order a cone, he wanted nothing but... So we said what the heck, have fun! Well, he enjoyed every lick, bite, taste...everything about it!

xoxo

nikki

Thanksgiving

Our family shared such a nice thanksgivng day... we woke up to our kids at 6:15 (ok, maybe that isn't so great) calling out mamma and daddy..they came running into our room and jumped in bed with us. We all got up a few minutes later and I made pancakes for the kids and bagel sandwiches for Sean and me. I spent the morning finishing up the laundry, sorting out baby clothes, and cleaning up the house while Sean finished painting the nursery (I painted half of it on Tuesday and by the time I was done my back was killing me and I had had enough).

The color is just perfect...so girly. I got that great shabby chic armoire from my parents when they rearranged their bedroom this past week...the timing was perfect.

After Brody naped we packed up the car and headed for my brother's house for thanksgiving dinner. Here is what was on the menu...

Appetizers of hot apple cider, cheese, crackers, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and pumpkin soup with apple/cranberry relish served with cinnamon sugar toast (I make this EVERY year per everyone's request... so I thought I would share the recipes here. This recipe is where I get the soup and toast from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cream-of-Pumpkin-Soup/Detail.aspx, and I took the relish from this recipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/pumpkin-soup-with-chili-cran-apple-relish-recipe/index.html ) ENJOY!!

Dinner was turkey breast (rubbed down with a butter sage...it makes my mouth water thinking of it), mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, flaky buttery biscuits, cranberry/pineapple/apple jello sauce and a delicious sweet potato casserole.

Our dessert spread was spectacular! We had french vanilla coffee and hot apple cider with chocolate pecan pie, pumpkin bars, pumpkin bread, ice cream and cream cheese/caramel/toffee apple dip (Here is the recipe for the apple dip! Mix 2, 8 oz packages of softened cream cheese with 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Spread into a large pie plate (you could use a smaller casserole dish if you didn't have a pie plate), pour caramel sauce over the top, and sprinkle with a crushed up toffee bar. Serve with sliced apples).

My only regret is that I didn't take pictures of any of our food...

Hope you (my friends and family) all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day as well. I have so much to be thankful for and I am glad we have such a special day dedicated to helping us stop and remember what is truly important in our lives!

xoxo

nikki

When did my baby grow up???

After taking these pictures of Riley the other night on Sharky's pier, I had to ask myself "When did my baby grow up"? He looks so much older than he is. I love you big guy.

xoxo

nikki

Me and my Hubby

Sean and I wanted to get away for a couple of days, so I made reservations at my favorite little place on Anna Maria Island. It is so nice to be able to drive 45 minutes north but feel like you are in a different place entirely. We spent the weekend fishing, reading, sitting by the pool, eating out at some nice restaurants and just enjoying each others company. (When you have two young kiddos you can hardly have a normal conversation let alone enjoy each others company.) I finished "Nights in Rodanthe" in one afternoon/evening...it was so nice to read without any interruption. Sean and I shared some really good laughs, but most of all we came back refreshed and ready to jump back into the swing of things. Looking forward to our next getaway....

xoxo

nikki

Crazy Girls

These girls have been my friends for over 15 years...we have shared so much together, but it seems like since we got married and started having children those times are fewer and further between. But we decided that we would try and get together one afternoon a month to catch up and just hang out. We leave the kiddos at home with the dad's and we take some time to ourselves... the last time we met we decided to "brown bag" it and go to Fort Desoto Park. It was the best! We sat around a picnic table, eating dinner and laughing so hard we were all crying. I am so glad I brought my camera...even if it captured some crazy, goofy girls.

i love you guys.

xoxo

nikki

Bad Hair Day!!

xoxo

nikki

Did you get out and...

VOTE!!

I did!
xoxo
nikki

A special dinner...

My mom graduated from USF with her master's degree this past summer. To celebrate, my dad wanted to take us to dinner at Burn's Steakhouse. (Since I wasn't feeling so great then, we waited till now.) It was worth the wait. I would recommend Burns over any steak house around here! We had so much fun. Our waiter was hysterical and kept us laughing through dinner. Then we had a tour of the kitchen as well as their amazing wine cellar. After that we went upstairs to the dessert room, where we ate inside of a wine barrell or cask (each dessert table is very private...you can hardly see anyone one else)...very cool. Over all, we all enjoyed our meal, the dessert, but most of all the company.

Congratulations Mom!!!! We are so proud of you and we all love you so much.

xoxo

nikki

IT'S A...

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
xoxo
nikki