Christmas... Is It really over?

Wow!!! Is Christmas really over?!? The week before Christmas was so busy with preparations and celebrations of Christs birth that time flew and I needed it to slow down and let me enjoy these sweet moments a little more before they were gone.

Tinker Bell had her Christmas production at her MDO. She did great and was ready to pose as soon as she saw the camera. You don't think many pictures have been taken of her do you? She relished the idea that we (the whole family, Nana & Papa Hicks and Papa G (Nana G was home sick)), were there to see and hear her sing to Jesus. It is rare that there are moments just about her but when there are, she loves it!

The rest of our week was about Christmas preparations. Nana G and Aunt Mouse came over to make Christmas cookies. It is a family tradition that we have done ever since I can remember. Growing up, my Grandmother would always join us and have a new sweet treat for us to try but since moving to TN she hasn't been able to be with us as much. Even though we had a blast making cookies, it definitely wasn't the same without Grandma. We called her and told her that she was missed and that she better be here next year! In her place, the new sweet twins graciously agreed to step in and not let us concentrate on missing Grandma too much. It was nice to hear the sweet sounds of a baby in the house again. Boy do I miss those noises!

Christmas Eve followed our normal tradition of celebrating with Big Foot's family. For each celebration through out the year we rotate homes so one person doesn't end up doing all the work. Christmas is our time of the year and I love it! I still have a lot to do in the decorating arena but I love filling our house with love and laughter that will hopefully last forever after.

Big Foot's family definitely knows how to bring out the laughs, especially Aunt TT! Very few times in the last 10 years can I think of a time that she didn't have us laughing about something. Laughter is good for the soul but hard on the cheeks! :) Here is a great picture that sums up the night. Whiz kid is opening up one of his presents - a Transformer with Piderman looking on. Aunt TT is in the back ground. Her facial expression says it all!!! What a fun time!!!

Christmas morning - really already? Yep, Christmas morning was already here and the kids were ready! Big Foot and I lay in the bed listening as the kids get up to scope out all that Santa brought them or in Bruisers case to see if Santa brought him anything. Bruiser had been warned that Santa is always watching and, well, there may have been some things that he saw that would have put his name on the naughty list. It was a gamble and we didn't know for sure what would happen ;) Santa must have seen at least one thing that kept his name on the nice list because there were a few presents under the tree for him. The kids then go over to the stockings and have great fun seeing whose stocking is the fullest. You can hear the kids patting at the stockings and giggling with delight. Then all the sudden it gets quiet. I hear them pat and then pat again and then silence. I hear Whiz Kid say, "Santa didn't bring Mommy anything for her stocking!" Princess comes running into our room and informs me that Santa has come and brought lots of presents but "I'm sorry, Mommy - he didn't bring you anything for your stocking!" The look on her face let me know she was wondering if Mommy wasn't good enough to make the nice list this year but she was gracious enough not to say anything. :)

Big Foot and I had not planned on getting each other anything for Christmas but I had gotten him a few things for his stocking which made it all the more noticeable that Mommy didn't have anything. I assure Princess that I am o.k.. Christmas is about giving and about Jesus and I was happy to see all that they had received! Mike and I finally get out of bed and walk out with the kids as they excitingly wait for us to begin our tradition of reading the Christmas story and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Now it's time to open the stockings first. Everyone rushes to open them up and see what Santa has left. As I am watching the scene unfold before me, a sweet little card is brought to me that says To: Heather From: Whiz Kid. I open it up to read: "I'm sorry you did not get a present from Santa, but here is one!" and below is a cut out heart that had written inside it I "heart" You. OK, now tell me that is not the best Christmas present ever!!!! That is definitely one for the scrapbook! I tried to take a picture of it to show you but it was written very faintly on white paper and doesn't show up very well in a picture but let me just tell you - it was PRECIOUS!!! I just love that kid!!! My Christmas is complete!!!

The rest of our day was spent with my family as the tradition continues with steak and eggs for brunch and presents with them This year we had two new members join us! Needless to say, we all had a wonderful Christmas and I hope you did too!!!

Though it may be a day or too late, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!

I love Christmas time!

I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted here. I have sat down many times to post pictures and the happenings of our crazy yet blessed life and just have never managed to complete my post.

Life here at the Hicks house has been a huge whirlwind lately. We finally put up our Christmas tree last week. We had hoped to get a real tree this year but that just didn't happen. The kids love to help decorate the tree,so much so that there is usually no room for mommy to help so.... this year I let them do all the work. Whiz kid of course was the master mind behind the tree. The perfectionist in him (like his daddy) requires him to plan and prepare to make it perfect. Everyone else was happy to get all the pieces out and hand them to him to put the tree together. The decorating part was a group effort. Princess was our decorating deva. She loves to decorate and definitely has her own style of things. They definitely had fun putting the tree up. Can you tell?

We have been busy making Christmas cookies and carmel corn (which o.k., I usually make for Halloween but we all love it so much I thought we would make some more.). The kids love helping and it's good math and fractions, right?! Here the boys spent a day with me making cookies and the girls were with their Nana G making cookies with her.

I had my annual Christmas workshop last Friday here at the house and we had a lot of fun. We all played Catch Phrase to try and loosen everyone up a bit and to help everyone get to know each other a little more. I think the actual workshop opened people up a more than the game but we all had fun. I was also able to reward my customers who brought pictures for their layouts to 10 workshops over this past year with a FREE 12x12 Album. I love doing that. It is just an extra perk I give to my customers because I love how it feels to get my layouts complete. With everyone's busy schedule it is hard to get the photos printed to the sizes needed for the layouts but this gives them an added incentive.

Well, tonight continues the Christmas celebration. Tinkerbell has her Christmas production and we will all get to celebrate with her. I love this time of the year!

Hello from Florida!

We have finally had a chance to get away and what a get away it has been. We are in Florida enjoying Disney World and all it's wonderful friends and rides. The kids are having a blast - especially the biggest kid of them all - my husband.

Here is daughter of Eve, Tinker Bell, meeting Prince Caspian.

Of course, mom and dad had to meet him too and hear about all his many adventures! Whiz Kid is the only kid that truly understands his story as he is the only one who has read the books, therefore has watched the movie (a rule in our house - read the book first and then you can watch the movie). However, He has talked about it and played it out so many times in front of the others that they were excited to meet him and knew much of his story.

All the kids have been having a blast. They all seem to be fearless when it comes to rides -rides at least that are fast and turn upside down. However, the dark ones that have somewhat off scary tone to it - not so much. The Tower of Terror at MGM was fine for Bruiser and Princess but Whiz Kid and Tinker Bell not so much. I think it bothered Tinker Bell only because it bothered Whiz Kid but boy was he up set. He was sobbing at the end of the ride. I felt so bad but there was little to control him. An Asian lady who worked at the end of the ride was sweet enough to come and try and help. Aunt Traci - this picture is for you.

She wrote everyone's name on their arm (except for Whiz Kid - she did Master) in Mandarin. All the kids immediately thought of Aunt Traci. I know, I know it's not the same but...

I do have to brag on Whiz Kid a bit though. After a fun filled day on the other rides, he was ready to tackle the tower again. This time he covered his ears from the music and video (ride was based on the show "The Twilight Zone") and loved the ride itself.

Well, my biggest kid, my husband, is not one to be left out. He has been enjoying every ride and all the thrills of the park. However, upon shopping the stores in Disney, we came upon a hat that was the true statement of my husband -

Off to bed and on to visit Animal Kingdom tomorrow! Woohoo!!!

New Heartfelt Die Cuts!

I was sitting here, going through Close to My Hearts awesome artwork on the consultants bulletin boards and found a great display of our new Heartfelt Die Cuts thanks to Helen Onulak. There are so many great options and things to create with this kit but unfortunately our newest Idea Book doesn't showcase them as well as I wish they did. Believe it or not, there are over 160 pieces included in just one package. The options are endless!!! Look at all that you get!

Here are the die cuts in Twilight. I love the swirls, the snowflakes and the stars! The snowflakes were used in the idea book in several different designs - just add a little Bonding Memories Glue and Prism Glitter and they sparkle beautifully!!!

The Chocolate cuts are so cute and so make me think of the Twitterpated paper when I see them. I love the Bambi. I actually saw one in our yard yesterday - it took me a minute to make sure it was a deer because it was so small I thought it was a dog. It was so sweet and wonderful. A definite smile from heaven!!!

The olive cuts are awesome for Fall and Christmas too! Add our new Glitter Brads on the trees to spice things up and give them a true Christmasy feel - they look amazing! I love how versatile these are! Give them a try and let me see what you can do with them! I can't wait to see!

Scrapbooking Up a Storm

The last few weeks have been so busy! Last weekend was my all day crop. We had a great time, ate A LOT of food, sang and scrapped the day away.



As I was having fun scrapbooking the rest of the family was doing a walk for another half of our family. My nephew was diagnosed with Autism a couple years back and so the whole family did a walk at the Nashville SpeedWay in support of him. It was a mere 40 to 45 degrees outside and was freezing! I know, I know - to my family in New York, this is nothing but to us new southerners - it is cold!!!! Here are a few pictures of my poor family during their walk. It is amazing how resilient kids are.

Last night was my monthly workshop. We had a blast. It was a smaller group than usual, but sometimes that means that people will come out of their shell more and the evening comes a live! Ms. Kris was a blast to watch as she created her layouts.

We had such a good laugh at Kris's expense as she had made her own pair of bifocals. She refuses to go to a stronger pair of lenses for her glasses so will double up the pairs of glasses she wears when she HAS to. She was hilarious!!!

We had a blast making our Twitterpated layouts. Here are some photos of the layouts we created.

I'm having a hard time coming up with just the right title for this layout. Any ideas? If you can come up with the perfect title for me, post a comment with your title suggestion and you will win a FREE stamp set.

Here are pictures of next months main layout and alternative cards.

To find out how to join me on November 20th to create this layout and/or cards, check out my website at http://www.heatherhicks.myctmh.com/. Would love to laugh and scrap the night away with you too!

I'll be Twitterpated!

I love our new Twitterpated papers! You will see many posts here soon showing several different layouts using our new Twitterpated papers. Tomorrow night I have private Workshop at a customers home. The hostess requested the theme to be a back to school layout. Here is what I came up with.

I hope you like it. It isn't your traditional back to school layout but I thought it was a fun layout non the less.

I've mentioned before that I am in a swap with some other very talented consultants so I thought I would show off the Twitterpated layout and a card that Amanda DesJardin created.



Here is something else that I have been working. I will have more coming soon but this is our new card "Around the Holidays". Here I have changed the cards into an ornamanet/card that can be used as a quick Christmas gift and card all rolled into one. These are so fun and easy to do and almost everything shown here came in the kit, including the ribbon and 3D Foam Squares.

Beautiful Bella!

Last Friday I had my monthly workshop where we all created 3 double-page layouts in 4 hours. I love CTMH's papers from this paper pack. They are gorgeous and so feminine but can be used for any age. Also, don't think that because I do so many workshops and crops that I am caught up on my scrapbooking. Here is a layout we created where my pictures are from Father's Day 2007. Sweet TinkerBell is so young and still innocent in these pictures :). Was she really ever innocent? As much as I love to be caught up on my scrapbooks, sometimes it works out really well when I'm not. I usually have a great assortment of pictures to choose from for my layouts and I love how the pictures and the papers come together.

Here's another layout that you can definitely tell are a little old. This layout is a special day with Princess during her Muffins with Mom day at her Mother's Day Out class. These pictures are from May 2006. If you look really closely, you can see Tinkerbell in the background of the 3rd picture in her baby carrier. Princess was about to turn 5 here. Doing these layouts was so much fun because it let me relive these memories. It is hard to believe how quickly they grow up but these layouts prove that time flies!

The last layout here using the Bella papers was actually the first layout we did at the workshop. My sweet friend, Barb Carrico, created this layout and did such a great job. It shows off many of the other colors and papers of Bella. Here you can see just how much Princess has grown up. This layout displays her pictures from her 7th birthday party from earlier this year. She is getting so big so quickly!

Finally, I wanted to show off a cute card that I received this week from a customer of mine, Pat Norman. Isn't this such a cute and lively card!?! I love the warm colors and fun feeling to it. Thanks Pat! This card definitely brightened my day!

Can you hear the cow bell ringing?

Well, Soccer season has started and the cow bells are a ringin'- can you hear them? The kids have started playing and our Saturday's are now fully devoted to the love of the game. We spent all day last Saturday at the fields and left with a little tan when it was all said and done. My sweet hubby's family tradition was always to ring a cow bell when ever he scored a touchdown in football, so.... we of course had to carry that tradition over to all our sports. My wonderful grandfather heard about this tradition and went out to the barn and got an old cow bell that he had used over 50 years ago on his farm. Theirs no better cow bell out there!!!

Princess and Bruiser are having so much fun in soccer. Bruiser is a natural player for sure. He has sooooo much energy and loves the game! He takes the ball and out runs all the other players. The picture above shows him about to score his 5th goal of the day. He was so excited and proud -can you tell?

Princess has been chosen to play goalie during almost every game. She is a little timid, as she doesn't like the possibility of getting her fingers stepped on, but she's doing great! Her team name is the Roosters so our bell is fitting right in!

Needless to say, both teams won their games and the cow bell hasn't stopped ringing. The funny part is when any of our old team mates from previous years are at the field, they hear the bell and know we are there. We have seen so many of our old friends - it's great! See, now don't you feel like you need a cow bell too!?!

Whiz kid had his first football game this Saturday too! Their team name is the NY Giants which is hilarious if you know anything about me! Got to love it! He's playing flag football this year because that is all that mommy could handle. Daddy is an assistant coach and re-living his younger days. It is so neat to watch "all 5" of my kids having so much fun. Actually, poor little Tinker Bell isn't having as much fun as the everyone else but she enjoys all the drinks Papa G brings :).

So, on Saturday, if you hear the cow bells a ringin' come on down and join the fun!

The New Idea Book is Here!

Close to My Heart has just released their newest idea book and catalog on September 1st and I am having so much fun playing with all their new products.

I am in an amazing swap with four other women where we each create a layout and cards with one of the new paper packs and swap with each other.

I got to work with our new Jingle papers and had so much fun creating the layout above and a few cards. This paper has such fun colors and twinkling patterns that the ideas are endless.

Both of these cards were created using our new Wishes Card book. I always struggle making cards - I guess I am just use to working with a bigger canvas but working with the Originals and Wishes Card Books has made creating cards so much easier! The Wishes card above has the wishes part slide off where you can create another title underneath and then add your message inside the card. Hope you like!

Want to get your hands on the newest idea book or one of the Card books I mentioned before- e-mail me at HeatherHicks@MyCTMH.com. Check back for more layouts and cards using the other new paper packs in the next few days!

The BIG 35!!!!

Nope it's not my day but my sweet husbands special day. A few days ago we were able to celebrate Mike's birthday. I learned from his 30th birthday not to have a big celebration. He had such a hard time turning 30 that he was down for the entire year. It wasn't until earlier this year that he explained it to me. "I felt like I couldn't be a kid anymore. I had graduated from the 20's and had to be an adult now!" Well, an adult he must be,especially with 4 kids!!! Yes, he must be an adult, HOWEVER, he still acts like one of the kids 98.8% of the time. No matter what, he is still my honey and I love him. He keeps me laughing when the kids don't, which isn't often, but at least it's adult humor!

Happy Birthday, sweetheart!

Tinker Bell goes to school

Ah, what an exciting day! Tinker Bell had her first day of Preschool. Mommy was really nervous as Bell hasn't been wanting to go to her class at church for several months now and will only go with her big brother, Bruiser. She was solo today and I was really nervous on how she would handle it. But God is in control. She got an amazing teacher - actually the one that Whiz Kid had his first year of Preschool. She is amazing and after Bell's first few nervous minutes she settled in and did great.

Bruiser was so great encouraging her about going to his "old" school. She packed her backpack, made her lunch and got her favorite jacket on "because it might rain."

She was just so stinkin' cute!!! Don't you just want to squeeze those cheeks!?!

I can't believe how big my kids have gotten. It is so hard to believe that Bell is already so big. My baby is growing up! I don't have any real babies any more!!! Ugh - I just might cry!

Well, like I said, She had a great day at school and was so happy when I came to pick her up. She ran to me, all excited to tell me all about her day!!! I was so proud of her! Way to go sweet girl!!!