Christmas - Home

I was going to try to get caught up but I'm still very slow at making my layouts. I still have to listen to the tutorial and then try and do what she said. Slow but I'm learning. Colin is coming down with a cold and didn't sleep well last night so I was very tired today. I did this layout and then needed a nap.

day 24 - the middle

I am slowly getting caught up. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with Aaron's parents. Lauren was able to help Mimi make our Christmas morning cake. It was very sweet. I'm hoping that will be a new tradition.

Day 24 - the first half and the end

Aaron got me Photoshop Elements for Christmas and I am trying to learn how to us the program. This layout doesn't do the program justice but it's my first try. I just want to get caught up before the new year. We had a great Christmas. I will have more layouts later.

No Tears

I know I haven't posted Christmas yet but I got Photoshop Elements for Christmas and am trying to learn to use it before I do Christmas. I wanted to post for today because Lauren got her ears pierced. This is something she has been talking about for a long time. This was totally her idea. She did great. There were no tears just smiles. The third picture on the right side is them actually piercing her ears. That was as upset as she got. It was very cool because my sister and family happened to be in the mall and were able to be with us. A great day for my little girl.

Day 23 - borrowed from 19

I've had a few comments about my advent calendar. Mine was a gift from my mother-in-law and we have loved it this year. She ordered it from a catalogue but I also found it on-line. This is the only web site but it had a decent price. My kids love building the nativity set each day. For all that are interested here is a link.
http://www.stpatricksguild.com/browse.cfm/4,11451.html

So today was a nothing special day but I had some cute pictures from Friday when David and Lindsey were babysitting so I'm borrowing those for today. Once again I fall back on that this is my daily album. Sometimes it has been hard to limit my pictures so today was a good excuse to use some pictures from a few days ago. The one snow pictures is from today.

Day 22 - Lazy

If you are reading my blog for the first time today please note there are two posts today.

After such a busy weekend it seemed like a nice idea to stay home today, of course as I'm writing this I'm thinking a little outing would have been nice. Nothing very Christmas like today but got house stuff done. The kids played great this morning but are ready for a break now.

Day 21 - VERY busy

Today was very busy. We had Lauren's Christmas program at church in the morning. Came home for lunch and then Mary, Lauren and I headed to the Nutcracker ballet in the afternoon. We got home and headed out a little later for our bible study Christmas party. It was a very full day but filled with great memories.

The kids were told to yell the word go. I think they got it.

Day 20 - Alyssa is 8

My niece, Alyssa, turned eight on Saturday. It was a great party for a great girl.

Day 19 - more snow

I feel a little like a broken record saying there was more snow and no school but that was case again today. The nice change was it was warmer and continued to get warmer and melt the snow. Neither Lindsey or David (Lindsey's boyfriend) had school today so they headed down yesterday afternoon and volunteered to watch the kids while Aaron and I went to his company Christmas party. This was the first time Aaron and I had gotten dressed up and gone out since I was pregnant with Lauren. It was a nice party and the weather wasn't bad when we left. Hopefully we will be heading to Alyssa's party today. My niece turns 8 today. WOW how did that happen.

Day 17 and 18 - one week to go

WOW one week until Christmas. I'm always amazed at how fast it arrives. Our weather has been so hit and miss this week that we didn't know if there would be school today. Thankfully all of the ugliness didn't show so Lauren's show was still on. It has been a new experience going to public school, especially around Christmas. The absence of Christ is so obvious. I feel like I need to make sure Lauren understands that he isn't absent from our Christmas. She is such a smart little girl that she tells me on a regular basis that we have Christmas to celebrate Jesus' birthday.

The little girl next to Lauren isn't standing on a box. There really is just that much height difference.

Day 16

I'm still a day behind but thought I would post for yesterday before I got more behind. It was so cold yesterday. We never got above freezing. The pictures showing the temps, show the outside temp on the top. There was lots of ice everywhere and still no school. Thankfully we thawed a bit today and Lauren made it to school.

Fifteen and Snow

We finally got the snow that had been forecast. I'm already ready for it to melt. It makes life difficult here because we end up stuck at our house. The weather is going to be so cold that it may be awhile before we thaw out.

Day Fourteen

Narnia is over. It has been wonderful but a huge time commitment for this time of year. We had a very full weekend and I can't believe just one more weekend and then it will be the week of Christmas. We are home today with snow on the ground.

Thirteen

Today started the actual Narnia performances. Lauren loved performing. At the time of this post she has done one performance and we are about to head to another tonight and then one more tomorrow. I'm praying the weather holds until we get home tomorrow. The kids have put in a lot of work and I would hate for the weather to cancel their performances. I forgot to mention in my other post that Lauren is on the left side of the stage in the yellow wings. Amanda is on the right in the other yellow wings. Well we are about to leave again.

Twelve and Counting

I realize I am once again a day behind but I do have day twelve done. I was very excited to have our Christmas cards in the mail. We had Narnia again last night. It was the full dress rehearsal. Lauren didn't have to be there until 6:00 but we thought it would be fun to watch so we got there at 4:30 like everyone else but they didn't start until 6:00. It was 8:00 before we left. I told her she could come sit with me on Sunday and finish the story. It isn't the easiest to follow if you have never heard of Narnia so we shall see what she decides. It is trying to snow right now so driving could be interesting today.

Eleven - Two Weeks To Go

After a fun lunch with my Grandma it was time for a rest for me. Colin has been getting up very early this week. Today was 3:30 a.m. He sleeps but I didn't much today. I'm not sure what is going on but it needs to end now. It was my turn to take the girls to Narnia because Jen was suppose to have a meeting. Tonight they put on their costumes. I took a video and some pictures but the pictures didn't work. I will try again tomorrow. Lauren is loving Narnia but I'm ready for it to be done. For those of you who haven't figured it out yet Christmas is in two weeks. Wow how did that happen. Hope everyone is getting all ready.

This is just a little part of their dance.

Day Ten

I did two posts today. It took me a few days but I am now caught up for my daily album. Today was the only day Lauren doesn't have Narnia practice but she had normal dance class today. I used that opportunity to practice putting a bun in her hair.

Catch Up

I was doing so good at posting daily and then life happens and I got busy. Here is day 8 and 9. Day 10 isn't over so technically I'm not late, yet. Lauren has her Narnia production this weekend so all this week she needs to be at the local community college for practice. Tonight is the only night she doesn't have practice. This will be the only dinner we will have together with the four of us this week, and I had to turn something down to have tonight. I love Christmas time but don't enjoy being quite this busy. Stay tuned day 10 is coming.

Disco Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Seven

We didn't do anything very Christmasy (I'm sure that's a word somewhere) so I decided to highlight our tree.

Happy Birthday

Today is my sister-in-law, Anna's birthday. We had the privilege of seeing them last month. We miss you. Hope you have a great day. Stay tuned for my day 7 post.

Saturday the Sixth

Today was another great day. Jen, Mary and I made centerpieces at my church. Lauren had Narnia practice this afternoon and then we (meaning Aaron) put up the rest of the lights. We ended the day with Michael and Mary coming over for dinner. This time of year is so busy but this daily album had helped me to focus on something each day.

five for five

Today we tried pictures again. Not so great but at least we tried. For those of you who also receive Christmas cards from me don't act surprised if some of the pictures look familiar. Colin and Lauren got to use my little camera to take some pictures. Colin took both of the ones with Lauren and I. I had to explain that he needed to be able to see our heads and then he did great.

This dress was my niece, Athena's dress. She had her picture taken in this pose so Lauren wanted hers done just like it. She also wanted it on my blog so everyone could see the beautiful dress. Thanks Anna for sending us this one.

Number Four

Well so far I have made it for all four days. Today we put up some of the outside lights that I can reach. It's a start so hopefully Aaron will find some time this weekend to do the rest.

Day Three

Well I didn't have much to talk about today so here is what we did on day three.

The Reson for the Season

It was Colin's turn to open the door on the advent calendar and he got a shepherd for the nativity scene. Lauren realized today that Colin would get to open the door with baby Jesus so she decided to let Colin go again tomorrow. She really wants to put baby Jesus in the scene. I figured Colin won't care this year so, sure why not. I love being aware of what is going on each day so I can do my daily album.

Day One

I'm trying to do a December daily album which means there should be a post from me every day until Christmas. No promises. I may end up with a few on some days. I'm excited to try this.

This picture is just for Cheryl. Finally after 2 1/2 years a picture where he isn't crying. Such progress.

Black Friday

As promised (I know you have all been waiting) here are my pictures from black Friday. We had a wonderful and successful shopping trip this year. This is always a fun day for just us girls. I know many of you reading this think I'm crazy and well I am a little but it is tons of fun and now I'm almost done shopping. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year and hope that all of you did also. As part of our tradition my mom and sisters and I and we invited Jen to come also, went shopping VERY early this morning. I will work on getting more posted but am going to have an early bed time. For those of you who don't normally leave comments I would love to hear how you spent your Thanksgiving. More later.

Stone Soup

I got to attend a Stone Soup making party today in Lauren's classroom. It was really a trail mix that only a kindergartner would love but we called it stone soup. It had chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, M&M (plain and peanut), cheerios (plain and honey nut), apple cereal (looked like fruit loops), chex cereal, and marshmallows. The kids loved doing it and really seemed to understand that the important part was everyone sharing what they had to make something really yummy.

The third try...

Well this is my second post today so please keep reading.

I got a call this afternoon to say Colin's glasses were ready. We've had them for 3 hours and they aren't broken. They are made of titanium and supposedly more durable. We shall see. He is doing okay about keeping them on but still tries to look over the top. These frames are almost impossible for him to do that but he will continue to try. I'm hoping these glasses last longer. I will keep everyone posted.

Lauren and I went to a local paint your own pottery place to make Mimi a birthday present but couldn't post about it because she reads my blog. I had taken pictures but had to get my layout finished. I think it turned out very nice. It was a fun time for just her and me.

Toot'n His Own Horn

Colin loves to play Grand Daddy Bill's (Aaron's Grandpa) old horn. He even figured out how to make the horn play some noise. There is also a lot of spit that comes along with him playing.

Daisy Project

Lauren had Daisies (Girl Scouts) today and made this adorable cornucopia. She loves Daisies and is always looking forward to Mondays. It is now proudly displayed on our table.

Thankful Project

Our pastor was talking about being thankful today and it got me thinking about something I could do with my family so we could spend some time talking about what we were thankful for. This is what I came up with. I made a little page on my computer and printed it. Then we traced our hands and wrote what we were thankful for. Lauren wrote family, Colin said Frank (from the movie Cars. He is the combine), I wrote time together, and Aaron said afternoon naps. We are going to do a new hand each day until Thanksgiving. I hope this is fun.

Layouts

I've been working on a few more layouts. I copied the one of Lauren from my sister. I love looking at how my kids have changed.

Glasses Saga Continues

Please Note: There are two posts for today.

Colin got his glasses on Tuesday. On Wednesday I had to take him in to get them adjusted. Today I had to get the lens put back in. Aaron had tried but the screw got stripped. At 4:10 today Colin broke his frames. He took the hinge part and bent it the wrong way and it busted off. His new frames came in so I rushed down before they closed. We liked the new ones so we traded in the old ones and ordered the new frames. The lab is closed from Wednesday until Monday so it will be more then a week before the new frames come in. He was actually starting to do a little better with them and now it will be like starting over. I'm not sure this is going to work. Lauren has worn glasses for almost 5 years and has never broken a single pair. Colin only made it 4 days. Please pray for us.

1 Year

Mary we love you and are so blessed to have you with us and in our lives. You are our walking miracle and we are all so thankful to God for that. Just wanted to let you know how much you mean to your family. Thanks for being our MIMI. It's been a year!!!!! Thanksgiving will be much yummier this year.

More Pictures

I got another layout done from this past weekend. I will probably do a few more in time.

My sister Cheryl tagged me a few days. Which means I had to go find my fourth album and my fourth picture or something like that. This is what I came up with. Lauren is just over 2 and would love to say cheese for the camera.

We went back to the eye doctor again to get Colin's glasses adjusted because he is looking over the top of them. The tech said that is impossible to fix because of where the bridge is on these frames so we ordered another new pair. They should be in a few days and we will see. The saga continues...

Finally Here

So I got the call today that Colin's glasses were in. We got them late this afternoon and have already had more trouble keeping them on him for four hours then we have with Lauren for five years. He keeps them on for awhile and then asks if he can be done. I think this will be an ongoing battle. We are still trying to get them adjusted right. I may need to take him back in tomorrow.