Happy Halloween!

We took the boys to Kristy's house in downtown Chambersburg for some trick-or-treating fun. Here's a few pics of my boys...Enjoy!

And one more....

I'm going to Texas...

In nine days, I'm flying down to San Antonio for a weekend of scrappping goodness courtesy of Fiskars!! I got my hand-made luggage tag yesterday as well as a final check-list...I can't believe it's happening so soon!

When I got the email last month, it was literally the day of Dad's heart surgery. That had been a BAD week and I initially thought the email was a cruel joke. So I emailed and then called one of the lead Fiskateers (a Fiskars brand ambassador) and found out it was for real. Out of the 2400+ Fiskateers, I was chosen to go to Texas for a weekend training session - all expenses paid! It still seems hard to believe!

Once I'm trained, I'll get to demonstrate Fiskars products at various craft stores and expos. What a fun job! I'll also get to teach others how to become Fiskars demonstrators (if anyone is interested, training will be in Chambersburg in February).

The 50 gals that were chosen to go are doing a tag swap...I'm STILL working on mine. I am just not an assembly-line scrapper, so I have to force myself to work on these. Hopefully I'll get them done this weekend. Otherwise I'll finish them on the plane if I have to!!

If anyone is not yet a Fiskateer (and is a crafty sort of person) check out their site: http://www.fiskateers.com.

In other news, there is some very cool happenings at Scrap-Diner coming next month. I'll be posting the exciting news next week!!

Happy music day...

Yesterday my new David Phelps cds finally came!! The boys and I watched the cd/dvd combo yesterday afternoon...so good! He's got some real honest narration in there as well - I love that!

And the Christmas cd...AMAZING!! I'm listening to it right now. Wow! Seriously, if you're not familiar with David Phelps, check out his website. Just a phenomenal voice...I'm so thankful he has chosen to use his talent to honor our Lord.

Just cause I can...

One more of the boys...

A little test...

Just checking a link.

http://www.davidphelps.com/ram/videos/Just_As_I_Am2.ram

I'm going to test one more thing....let's see if this link works

http://www.davidphelps.com/ram/videos/glory.ram

Happy Monday...

I know, I know...today's Tuesday, BUT we had some happy news yesterday and I didn't get a chance to blog about it yet. First, Will lost ANOTHER tooth!!!! A little bit after they went to bed, Christian came running out telling me that Will was bleeding from his head. When I got to the bathroom, Max was already with Will. After a couple minutes with a washcloth, he was good as new! I took some pictures, but they're on my other memory card, so I'll upload later.

For my happy news, yesterday I got a voicemail from the owner of the local scrapbook store. She started doing monthly page contests. Basically, you buy a page kit, and then have to return it to the store by a given date. She then puts the completed pages on display and customers vote on them. Well, I won the contest for September!!! So my page will be on display in the store for another month!! I'm pretty excited! I won a gift certificate to the store, so Max is happy about that!

Here's a link to my page that won: http://www.scrap-diner.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=673&ppuser=40

So today I'm going to pick up my gift certificate and drop off my page for the October contest.

This is my October layout...this one goes way back - it's a wedding picture!

This page took me forever...I hand-cut the flowers from a piece of patterned paper. And the rub-ons were being less than cooperative. But it's done and I really like it. I tried something new, which was cool. For the word "on" in the title, I did some two-tone rub-on work. I wasn't sure if it would work out (not a good thing when the rest of your layout is about finished) but I'm really pleased with the result. Here's a close-up:

And finally, I'm trying something new with the blog. I'm attempting to add some video...keep your fingers crossed that it works!

Will lost his first tooth!

My baby lost a tooth his first tooth last night! I can't believe it - a week after his 5th birthday! And he's got another one on the way out!

Here's a before shot:

And here's the after:

I think he was the most excited about getting money from the tooth fairy! This morning when he recovered his dollar he was a bit disappointed - he wanted a 10-spot! :)

So now he's wiggling the other bottom tooth...I wouldn't be surprised if that one comes out early next week.

On to other happenings...the whole family has been fighting nasty colds this past week or so. Well, the boys are starting to feel better - they're just sick enough to be cranky. And with the colds plus the huge weather change, they've been cooped up for too many days. So they've started to get creative. Yesterday I walked in to this in my bedroom:

Christian spilled a drink on my bed so I had pulled the sheets off. They boys thought it would be fun to decorate with golf balls.

It's been a long time...

It has been way too long since my last post. Dad has had heart surgery - twice, Will has turned 5, and we're planning a move to Georgia!! Not to mention all my scrapbooking goodness!

I need to get caught up...so I'll start with some happy scrapbooking news. I have been invited to be on my first design team!! I'm so thrilled and excited to be working with the gals at Scrap-Diner! Check out the link at the right of the page - you can see some of my work over there!

Happy Birthday Max...

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Max,
Happy Birthday to you.

My honey is 31 today...if you are reading this, leave a comment wishing Max a Happy Birthday!

P.S. Andrew is feeling much better. Prayer definitely works!

AHA January Sale-A-Bration...

I'm so excited! Tomorrow at 1 pm ET, At Home America's HUGE January Sale-A-Bration goes live! I've got my wish list, and I'm planning on placing my order as soon as possible! I just found out the sale is going to include about 200 items up to 80% off! I LOVE a sale!!!

You can check out the sale tomorrow afternoon; there will be a link at www.athome.com/dawnhopkins. Please email me if you're interested in purchasing anything. To place an order, I'll need $150 in sales, so talk to your friends about ordering together. Once you get the $150, email me and I'll place the order. You also get a great bonus - free $$$ to spend in the new catalog (there's a link on the bottom of the above website) PLUS a half-price item! How cool is that?

The sale is first come, first serve, so you'll want to place your orders quick to make sure your favorite items don't sell out! Because of the sale and taking inventory, etc., orders won't be shipped until the 22nd, but I think that's a small price to pay for those deals! :)

There's a couple other specials running right now; just email me and I'll send you a pdf file. In a nutshell, though, here they are:

• if you spend $50 or more, you can buy a Surprise Package (worth $50) for only $9.99
• if you spend $75 or more, you can purchase the Real Deal (a set of two adorable vases featured on the back page of the 2007 catalog) for only $9.99
• if you're the one collecting the orders, you're eligible for some fabulous deals if you collect $300 or more at one time

I think that's all for my commercial right now. I'll post later if I've forgotten anything!

Max's Birthday eve...

Tonight, we went out to dinner with Mom and Dad and Kristy and Cameron for Max's birthday. We went to our new favorite place to take the boys - Fuddruckers. Yummy hamburgers - and hot dog for Will! After dinner, we picked up Max's ice cream cake from Brusters - oreo ice cream "pie". It looks so good, but we're saving it for tomorrow.

Poor Andrew has been a bit sick tonight. He's been spitting up quite a bit. He doesn't have a fever, though, and his spirits are up, so we're hoping and praying that it's just a sour stomach. I hate it when my baby's are sick. :(

Of course, being sick doesn't keep this one out of trouble. I left Andrew on my bed drinking a bottle of sugar water and came back to the little stinker trying to get on the computer! I guess he's taking after Will!

New Year's Eve...

For New Year's Eve, Aunt Wanda aka Aunt Peaches, Uncle Roy aka Uncle Lucky, Jenny, Rob, Tyler and Conner came up. The boys enjoyed playing with their cousins; it's amazing to see 5 boys all within a few years of each other. Mom and Dad outdid themselves with food this year - we had filet mignon and crab cakes for dinner on the 31st. Then for lunch on New Year's Day, we had even more steak and crab cakes, plus some shrimp that Max and I steamed (so proud of ourselves for that one!). Out of 5 pounds of shrimp, only a small ziplock bag-full was left over. This family can definitely put away the seafood!

Christmas morning, part two..

After opening gifts at our house, we headed to Mom & Dad's. Christian got a Radio Flyer tricycle, which he thoroughly enjoyed driving all over the basement. Will was a crazy man, ripping open presents left and right! Christian took a much more leisurely approach to Christmas, opening one at a time and studying each gift! Andrew just sat back and enjoyed the mayhem!

I got a sewing machine from Mom & Dad; Mom tried to teach me how to sew, but I'm pretty pathetic - and I'm just sewing on paper at this point! For now, I'm going to use the machine for my scrapbooking, but I hope to move to actual fabric at some point! :) Max got me some beautiful jewelry - a diamond necklace AND a sapphire and diamond ring! I don't know what I did to deserve all that, but I'm not complaining! :)

Max got a whole bunch of goodies for Christmas - books and dvds and games and clothes and candles and a giftcard for the video game store. I think he was a happy camper too! Now I'm stumped as to what to get him for his birthday! Any ideas, please email me - and soon - the big day is tomorrow!

Christmas morning, part one...

Christmas morning at our house...

Christmas Eve pics...

It seems like forever since I've posted, but these past few weeks have been crazy hectic. We didn't even send out Christmas cards this year. I'm VERY glad 2007 has come - more than I can say.

We took these pictures of the boys on Christmas Eve - had to bribe Will and Christian with presents to pose with their baby brother. None of the photos turned out "perfect", but I love the interactions between the boys that were captured. And notice the finished new floors in the living room. My body has finally stopped aching from installing them, but the finished product was definitely worth it.

In a couple of the pictures, you can see some little trees. We decided against putting up the big tree this year, but we put up a set of three smaller trees - one for each boy. Will and Christian put all the ornaments on, and seemed tickled to have trees that were their size. I felt guilty for not having the big tree up, but they were happy, so I guess all is well. :)

some christmas pics and demolition, day one...

So yesterday I took the boys to Mom's to try to take some Christmas pictures - "try" being the operative word. Between Mom and me dozens of photos were taken, yet not one was good enough for the Christmas card. I guess we'll try again this week at home. I was hoping to get the cards done before Christmas this year, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Max and I are in the middle of some do-it-yourself home improvements right now. We're replacing the (rather nasty) carpet in our living room with hardwood laminate flooring. The video demonstration looked pretty easy, so we're keeping our fingers crossed that it goes well. We'll start laying the actual flooring tomorrow evening; hopefully we'll finish up on Monday.

I've been enjoying ripping out the old carpet and padding, and Will & Christian have been wonderful helpers! They've been taking some of the smaller pieces of garbage to the trash piles for us. Max just wants the whole process to be finished already! :)


That's about all for tonight. Will and Christian are playing on my Nintendo DS, but I think bedtime's coming up VERY soon. And dear Andrew is fussing for his nightime bottle and veggies! Talk to you soon!

(I apologize that the pictures are not in order - I've been battling with this thing for a while now, and it's just not doing what I want tonight! Ugh!)

we're back...

After a bout with a stomach bug last week, I'm feeling back to normal. We've had a busy past few days around here. This weekend we headed to Lancaster with the family to visit Thomas. The boys had a blast - they got to ride right behind Thomas and get their picture with him and, of course, get some new Thomas toys. :)

The crowds were insane - I had no idea there were many Thomas fans out there! Max and I are thinking of taking the boys back in the spring on a non-Thomas day so the boys can see all that the railroad offers.













On Sunday, we did a little shopping at the Point Park Mall. I thought Andrew was so cute "driving" the stroller, so I had to share this picture. :)

We visited "Build-A-Bear" and all three boys got some animals (a bear for Will, a koala for Christian, and a puppy for Andrew). I'd post a picture, but the koala has gone missing. Once he's found, I'll post a pic of all three boys with their new friends.

When we got home from our trip, there was a package on our porch. When the boys saw that there were presents inside, they went to work on the wrapping paper! What a happy surprise for them - two Dr Seuss books from Aunt Ceil and Uncle Tony! Thank you so much!!!





And last but not least, it looks like we might finally be moving! Yippee!!! We went to a neighborhood that we looked at a LONG time ago (before I was even pregnant with Andrew). We found a great lot and a fabulous floor plan. So we're thinking of auctioning the house early next year (we're meeting with the auctioneer next week!) and building a brand new house! We're praying that all works out this time. I'll keep you posted.

All this leads to my last picture. We're doing a bit of painting to get the house ready to sell, so we went to Lowe's today. While we were waiting for the paint to get mixed, we visited the organization aisle. I've been looking for some canvas totes for a while now, which I found at half price! Plus, we found this great unit for the boys' room. It's called "cubeicals" by Closetmaid, and it's so cute. You buy the canvas drawers separate (under $6 a piece) and they have a whole range of colors. Will and Christian helped put the piece together, and I have to admit, it turned out pretty cute!

I need to get dinner going so I'll sign off for now.

Dawn

P.S. I've been crazy busy adding things to the ebay store. If you have a minute check it out (http://stores.ebay.com/blessingsandgifts).

I think I'm caught up...

As was pointed out by my sister, I've been a bit behind on my blogging. I think I'm pretty much caught up now. This morning we went and had the stitches out. It turns out one of them fell out on its own, so he only had four removed. Three of them came out very easy, but the fourth one had a scab around it so it was a little more difficult. Christian was so brave (again). He only got fidgety during the last stitch. The pediatrician let him sit in my lap, which was super nice of her. I'm just glad the whole ordeal is about over!

The doctor said we won't know for about a year if there will be a scar or not. We're praying for no scar, so please join us.

On to other news, Andrew is crawling around all over the place now. He moves more in reverse than forward, but that's okay. He's even learned to change direction! I'm so proud of my baby, but he's growing up way too fast.

Will's head is healing very well (thank the Lord) - there's hardly any indication that there was once a huge cut on his head. I don't have any pictures, but it looks much better than I ever expected. :)

That's about it. I've got to get creative today...I'm entering a contest online. Right now there are only five entries and they're picking three winners, so my odds are pretty good. I'll post once I've finished my creation - though right now I still have no idea what it'll be! :)

I'm trying to sell a bunch of scrapbooking stuff on ebay. I went through my stash and cleaned out, plus I had some goodies that I bought to resell. So we're running 14 auctions now - I think there will be almost 100 lots total. Scary!!! If you're interested, email me and I'll send pictures of what I have.

My poor Usborne e-show is pathetic...no orders yet. At this point, if you order, you're pretty much guaranteed free or half-price books, so go for it! Please email if you need recommendations for books. The website for the show is http://www.ubah.com/HOS74337, so please check it out.

That's about it for now. We're going to see Thomas on Saturday - the boys are already pretty excited. I'll post once the adventure is over! :)

Thanksgiving adventures...

Everything seems to be an adventure in the Hopkins' household. We went up to Aunt Emily's & Uncle Jim's for Thanksgiving dinner, which was delicious as usual. :)

Will enjoyed spending time with cousin Kenny. They both have a shared love of Thomas the Tank Engine and the movie "Cars".

And while Max and I enjoyed spending time with the family, the real "highlight" of the evening involved Christian. Big brother Will got tired and cranky and threw a pool ball at Christian's face. So we ended up in the ER for 5 stitches! I prayed for a nice doctor, and we got a very kind, gentle doctor. He and the nurse were quite impressed with how calm Christian was during the procedure (Mommy was definitely more upset than him!).

Beyond being very swollen and multiple colors of black, blue, and purple, by Friday morning (when these pictures were taken) Christian was back to his normal rambunctious self!

Aunt Emily's scrapbook...

Here is Aunt Emily's scrapbook, in six parts. We presented it to her on Thanksgiving just after dinner, and I think she really liked it. :)





The blank tags located throughout the book are for Emily and Jim to write down their memories. Enjoy!