Journaling my Christmas- Day 1

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I have been journaling like crazy today!  I've joined Shimelle's Journal your Christmas.  The first assignment was to write your manifesto for your book/blog.  I totally misunderstood it and practically wrote a book.  Then I realized it was supposed to be a short mission statement.  I ended up using most of the one she wrote but tweaked it a bit to make it my own. I'm very disappointed in how my Sharpie bled on my page.  I'm trying to figure out how to fix it without making it look worse. (written out below picture)

It reads: A holiday season dedicated to making the very best memories. More time spent smiling, laughing, loving and enjoying being in the moment. Dedicated to more sparkle, magic and more gratitude. And more time embracing what's most important this very *special* Christmas. (Looks like I left out a word as well.) In the words of Winnie the Pooh, "Oh Bother!" I also want to add a title using some little dark brown or black letters, which I have to find.

And this would be what I wrote before realizing it was supposed to be small:

So this is Christmas!

Oh how I love this time of year. The decorations, the Christmas smells, the Christmas giving spirit in the air. People tend to be nicer, tend to see more smiles. Oh and there are endless activities.  Yes it's busy! But it is oh so fun!

 

I don't participate in the elf on the shelf but I love to hear stories of what others have done with this mischievous thing. I love the idea of Santa and even though my kids don't believe I still like to play!

 

I'm making this book/blog to capture a glimpse into my favorite time of year.  It probably won't be daily, but who knows I might surprise myself. My intentions are to journal my Christmas and some of my favorite things this season.  My hope is to capture a picture a day of something I love. (That by the way takes up a whole page in a lined spiral notebook.  I guess it wasn't as long as I thought.)

 

 

Day 1

Advent Calendar reads: Home Depot Craft & bake a new type of cookie

 

 

 Every Christmas Eve I give the kids new pajamas to wear on Christmas morning. Due to getting the wrong size at first, I had to have Ashley try on some to find out just what size she needed.  So she picked these out and knew I was getting them.  She asked me if she had a sleepover if she could wear them because she doesn't have any and she didn't want to wear a Daddy t-shirt at a friend's house.  I could understand why and I said, yes.  However, I was not expecting her to ask if the sleepover was at our house. Last night Ashley had a friend spend the night. She asked and they were given to her in full knowledge that she will not be opening them on Christmas Eve.

 

  We had to move the nativity to take out the fold out bed. The fold out bed of course is a treat for the kids to sleep on.  The boys made up a rule for however many days Ashley gets to sleep on it they get to sleep on it for that many days as well.  So tonight they get to sleep on it. But it is being put away tomorrow so I can get my house back in order!

 

  This morning Mason, Ashley, Abby and I headed to Home Depot for their once a month craft.  I looked up to see what the project would be and saw they were making frames. So before we left I took a few pictures of the girls so they would have something to put in them. Mason really doesn't like doing the crafts.  I think it is because he doesn't like getting paint on him.  So I got to make one!  I don't have a picture in mine, I'm still trying to figure out what to put in it. The kids keep telling me to put a picture of my favorite kid in it. LOL! They fight over who is my favorite. And when one does something special for me they always say, "I'm your favorite, right?"

 

Here is Ashley working on hers:

 

 

Here she is with her friend showing their creations (Cropped out friend for privacy)

And here is Ashley with a picture in her frame (friend face blurred)

 

Aussie has Chinese on Saturdays and today was his final exam for the semester.  This determines whether he moves on to the next grade.  Since he will not be there next week, his test was graded today.  He got an A-.  I think that is pretty darn awesome!

 

Part 2 of today's activity was to bake a new cookie.  I found this delicious looking cookie on Pinterest that I attempted to make.

It is called Lemon Melting Moments.  Doesn't that sound good? Well mine was far from perfect.

 

 

They may have looked bad but they still tasted pretty good!

 

In my attempt to find a picture for my frame, I made a little Santa hat for my kitties.  They were less than pleased. 

 

 This is Lucky scrambling for her life!

And as you can tell by the lack of picture, Kiki would have NOTHING to do with it- we only got blurred pictures of that attempt.

 

Other happenings today. The silicone sheet I put in the dishwasher slipped down and caught on fire. Thankfully, I caught it when I did and was able to easily put the fire out.

 

I started making Ashley's skirt for the play she is in next week.  I also started on another skirt from an adult blouse that she saw that she loved.  I just have to put the elastic in both of them, but I need her awake to measure her.  So I'll finish both of them up tomorrow.

 

There are a couple of crafts that I'm anxious to make, but I really need to get to a craft store and I wasn't able to go today.  This is going to be a very busy week!

 

Hoping to enjoy every bit of it!



News last night

It's not very long at all but my kids do make a cameo on last night's news. The rest of today's post will come a bit later today!

Mars Rovers and Gingerbread Houses

It's been a long day and I am TIRED!  But I will probably be up another hour blogging and editing pictures. It's 1:23AM- let's see just how long it will take me.

Today started out with me teaching my Science class.  We are studying Astronomy and today in class we made edible Mars Rovers.

 Here's what I made:

And here is one one of the boys made:

It was certainly a big hit!  They all had a lot of fun!

Then I got a call from Ms. Cori. She is the owner/director of The Theater Bug. She had been asked if a group of kids could perform tonight from the Cabaret camp she is doing right now at the Family Wash.  My kids are not in this camp, but several of the people in it couldn't be there.  So she desperately called and asked if my kids could perform tonight.  They met at 5:30, learned a song and performed it at 6:30!  Mason had a little solo part and he nailed it!  They *might* be on the news.  I'm not sure which news station was there but they filmed them singing. With the video camera right in my way, I didn't get many pictures.

Even Ashley's friend got to participate and she had a blast even though she is quite shy.

So tonight Ashley's friend is spending the night.  Aussie had to study for a Chinese final exam tomorrow and that left Mason out.  He was pretty sad!  So Mason and I had a little Mother-Son time.  I had some materials leftover from class today so we made some "gingerbread" houses.

Here they are alongside my December Advent calendar.  I made it a couple of years ago.  I put little slips of paper in each box that has an activity a day.  Some are a given such as the Christmas play they are performing in and then some are activities we plan to do such as going to Opryland and see the lights. Not everything is an activity outside the house.  A couple of them are rent a movie or make cookies.

You know what is in tomorrow's box?

I'll give you a hint...It's the first Saturday of the month.

I already told Ashley we will go at 10:00, so she better not wake me up earlier!

And I'm done...2:36AM over an hour. Ha! I'm ready for bed!

It's Christmas Time!!! and I'm decorated!

It's one of my favorite times of the year. I just love Christmas!

This year decorating was surprisingly easy. The way I put things away last year made a HUGE difference.

This is our main tree in the family room. Ashley (mostly) and Mason decorated it. I helped with the ribbon, star and ornaments at the top. It's no Martha Stewart but I love looking at it!

It turns out that I asked Greg to bring in the wrong box.  I kept thinking this sure is a little tree.  I wasn't planning on it, but I now have a tree in my bedroom.

 And this is MY tree, that is in the living room.  It's my snowman tree.  I just love it! Tall and slender- apparently like I like my men. (Yes, I'm talking about my husband!) LOL!

 I brought out my nativity this year. I absolutely love this one! I was afraid that it would get broken in years past, but I think it will be ok this year.

  

 And did you know I collect snowmen?  Well at least I used to.  I no longer buy them, but I still receive them as gifts which I am quite happy with! They make me smile!

 Hmmmm...what to do?  I did have all my Santas on this table, but there wasn't enough to fill the table and I still had snowmen left over, so I combined them.  I hope it is cute and not tacky looking! Ashley and Mason have called dibs on several of them when it's time for me to get rid of them.

The kittys have been less than helpful! When I first put the trees up they all climbed up into them.  I wish I had taken pictures, but I thought I would have another chance to do so.  After I decorated them, they don't climb up in them.  I'm tickled!

  BUT...someone does pull the ribbon and the beads off all the trees. Who could it be? #1 innocent looking Lucky #2 Sly looking Izzy or #3 Guilty looking Kiki?

My bets are on #2! (mostly) but #1 as well.

I've got to teach class tomorrow, so I better go to bed.  But I'll leave you with this impressive art piece that Ashley created today. I think she did a pretty amazing job!  OH..and I'm also REALLY super proud of her today.  She told me today that she really felt like she should help the Wares (our older neighbors).  So she went over to their house and asked them if they needed help doing anything.  She helped them put Christmas lights up in their yard.  That's my girl!

Birthday Cake/ Day Off

Hmmmm...I thought I was going to go to bed early tonight, like 3 hours ago.  But yet I sit looking at the dirty dishes wanting to do anything else but them.  So...Ha! I'll blog.

Sunday was my birthday!  I had the best weekend!  I already blogged about scrapbooking but Sunday morning I was greeted with my birthday cake...

Thank you Greg for making breakfast and thank you Ashley for making it my birthday panCAKE!

We went to eat at Logan's, one of my favorite restaurants for lunch after church.

Then Greg hired a babysitter and took me to see the new James Bond movie, Starfall.

It was great! However, I was so tired I had to keep popping Listerine breath strips in my mouth to stay awake. We were going to see an earlier show, but our babysitter forgot.  So we still went out but much later.

Now I must not think about how much all of that cost.  Seriously it was fabulous, but was it worth as much as we spent? It makes me really nervous!

Anyway, let's talk about today. When I got up this morning I didn't intend to take the day off. But we did and it felt great! I needed a rest from the constant going this weekend. And hey, it IS a postal and bank holiday today.  I'm already prepared for tomorrow's school so we won't be taking off tomorrow too.

I did get a little scrapbooking in today. Just a little.  Here is the page I did:

The journaling says:

It was picture day; the wind was blowing like crazy. Just yesterday it was warm and today it turned chilly. The photographer’s, a friend of mine, SD card was misbehaving. She asked if I had one with me. I didn't  but I did have my camera with me (an older version Canon with a CF card). So with my camera body and her lens she took our pictures.  The great part about it is we got to keep my pictures for free!  I had to edit them, but I can do that.  Was this the perfect picture? Did she happen to catch all of us right at the right moment when the wind died down and everyone smiling? I "should" say yes. She did happen to catch us when the wind wasn't blowing, but one of us wasn't very happy when the shot was taken.  I had to switch a head.  Can you figure out which one? Should this be our Christmas card? That is of course if I send out cards this year. (Maybe to just family)

Here is a close up on the picture:

Then I had the kids write what they wanted for Christmas on these tags:

I'll probably decorate the page and tags a little more and journal on it in December but here is what the page looks like so far:

It's 2AM and the dishes are still there. :(

I guess I better go do them and then hop into bed!

Have a great day!

Birthday Scrapbooking Bash!

Seriously, I am too wired to go to bed.  It is nearly 3AM and yep I've got to be up early for church!

I've had so much fun over the last two days.  I went over to my friend, Doris' house and scrapbooked liked nobody's business!  I got to her house around 6:30 Friday evening and stayed until 3:00AM.  Then went back today and stayed until 1:00 AM.

My friend Tammy came too and Friday night she brought her friend Denise.  It was a hoot!  We talked about all kinds of funny stuff!  We talked about THIS!  And they introduced me to Sweet Brown. I don't know how many times I've watched it over and over again.  It just cracks me up!  And people are making songs out of this news report!  Here is one of them.

Anyway, even with all this laughing I still managed to start and "finish" a mini scrapbook.  I absolutely love it!  I say "finish" with quotes because I made all the pages for a December daily book.  So now when December comes all I have to do is put the pictures in it and journal. Viola!
Here is a picture of the front cover.  I'll post more as I complete it in December.

Also on Saturday night, they gave me a birthday cupcake!  What fun!

Alright, I'm starting to wind down so I better go to bed!  Talk to you soon!

Misc. from last weekend

Do you think it is about time for me to blog?

 

One of my friends just adopted a baby girl.  The Dad is a BIG BIG motorcycle person, like he has been featured in some magazines.  Anyway, when I saw this idea I knew I had to make it for them.

 

The wheels are made of diapers, the bumpers are bibs, the headlight is a bottle, the handles is made of a receiving blanket and baby socks.

 I missed their baby shower so I left it at the desk at church.  I wish I could have seen their face when they saw it.

 Last Sunday night was trunk or treat at our church.  I'm very proud to say I spent $0 on Halloween this year.  Ashley is princess Zelda from the Legend of Zelda video game.  I had made her dress for her 6th birthday.  So you can imagine it needed to be adjusted for a 10 year old.  I think I added about 6 inches to the back.  It wasn't very long but she just added leggings.

Mason and Aussie were characters from Minecraft- another video building game.  Their costumes were quite easy to make from boxes.

And the little indian is their friend Edie who apparently thought she was family when I said I wanted a family shot.  That's fine, she's funny.

Mason as an Enderman from Minecraft.

 Aussie is a ghast from Minecraft.

 Also over last weekend we went to Germantown.  Another theater company put on Greg and Wes's original play, Twilight of the gods.  They had a talk back with the authors and it went really well. The play was well received!  They did pay for a hotel room for us and of course that was the highlight for the kids.

Have a great weekend!