Where does the time go??

It's already November. It's time to do the Christmas shopping...the weather is getting cooler. My children are growing like crazy...AND Will's 4-month deployment is creeping closer and closer every day. Six months ago, it seemed like we had all kinds of time before he leaves. But then I blinked and here we are, already preparing for when he leaves. So crazy. Where does the time go? This time of year always puts me in a bit of a nostalgic mood. I have been strolling down memory lane back to when Caitlynn was born and spending all that time in the NICU. And to look at her now, you'd never know that she ever had any problems. She's such a beautiful girl. And then my little Hayley...feels like yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital wrapped up in the same green blanket that she drags everywhere now. Ahh...the memories. I wish I could freeze time and just squeeze out some extra moments with them while they are little. There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day.

I sent out Christmas lists to the grandparents over the weekend, and am expecting to get their wishlists back from them this week so I can start shopping hopefully next weekend. Will is on a ten day EAS starting on Thursday, so it'll be just me and the kiddos for the weekend. I had all sorts of scrapbooking/stamping stuff on my list. I'm very excited! I have such a hard time spending money on myself, so I always look forward to Christmas and my birthday. I would much rather spend money on other people...just the way I am. But I could use some fun new stuff to play with!

Speaking of playing, I did get a couple cards done this weekend. Here is one of them...

Let me know what you think...all feedback is much appreciated. I actually cased the general idea for this one from the SCS gallery. just trying to get a handle on what looks good before I design my own--though I did do several tweaks to the original design. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.