So, the major holiday rush is over and I have a minute to update…but it could really be just a minute…one! It all depends on how long Joshua thinks he needs to sleep. These days it could be 5 minutes or 5 hours…I never know! So, the second I put him down, it’s a mad dash to see if I can eat something, go potty, and accomplish SOMETHING before he wakes up. Sometimes it’s yes…sometimes I hold it! (A girl’s gotta eat!!) Here’s a little photo of my cutie, goobery eyes and drooly mouth and all:

I hope you all had a lovely holiday and have plans to spend time with family to bring in the New Year. I have to share a tradition that a friend of mine got me hooked on!! Every New Year’s Day while my friend Carmen King’s husband watches sports, SHE has a card party! She invites friends over to make birthday cards for the entire year. Everyone brings goodies, their birthday list and supplies to share and they have a grand old time! Since I am super slow at paper crafting, I am going to need to make this a quarterly activity in order to get my whole year taken care of, but I got a head start and had a little shin-dig the week before Christmas! My sister (hi Christi!) and her husband (hi Phil!) have the same birthday and it’s right around the corner so their cards were the first to get done! Had lots of fun and will post them once the happy day has come and gone! Of course, if the mail gets delayed because of more snow storms in CO it may be a while!

Speaking of cards…I loved our Christmas card this year. The photo was of just the kids and for some reason I liked it much better than the family photos of years past. I can look at it and oooh and ahhh and not have to look at myself!

Now that it’s coming up on a new year, I decided to jot down a few things I’d like to accomplish. I’m not big on New Year’s Resolutions because for me the new year seems to start in September when the kids go back to school and we get into our routines again. But there are a few things I have been meaning to put on my to do list and this is a great opportunity. While Christmas shopping I discovered these little page marker sticky notes that have a word on them. I plan to use them as I flip through catalogs or magazines but they inspired me to make a little list to use on a scrapbook page.

Using manual modes on my camera kind of scares me, but I am determined to master it! Well…at least get kinda good at it. Here are a few photos I did recently using my new flash (speedlite 430ex) and playing with different settings. It seems I am partial to baby stuff lately…particularly feet.

And here is my latest layout using photos of my diaper bag. Strange, I know!

You can see the full size version and the journaling HERE

Have a Happy New Year and look for the new Digital Scrapbooking Magazine on newsstands soon!