Catching Up

This week between Christmas and New Year always seems like a week of catching up. Catching up on the normal everyday part of life. Last week was so busy, and some things kind of fall to the wayside in order to wrap, bake, prepare for parties, etc… It’s not only catch up at home, but also at work. It’s year end time and for someone who runs all the “books” at work – that means making sure everything is in order by year end! I am also trying to catch up on my scrapbooking. I have only done about 4 LO’s total in the month of December – which for me is not very many! And of course the photos keep piling up because I take my camera to all of the Christmas festivities! So lots of catching up.

The kids and hubby are home all week too, so trying to spend lots of time with them as well!!! Tomorrow we are going to hit the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie – I think the girls will love it, because they love the first one! I always love a good theater movie as well, since we maybe go to the theater about 3 times a year!

Here are a few of the LO’s I have not shared yet – a few of them from late in November.

OK – off to get ready for 2010 – crazy that we are like 4 days away from 2010. I remember like it was yesterday ringing in 2000 – The Millennium! Happy New Year if I don’t get a chance to pop in here before that!

MandaKay

It’s Christmas Eve Day

I am so excited for the next two days! Last night I was reading the girls “Twas The Night Before Christmas”, and they had so many fun questions. I don’t like to play up the Santa thing too much, and we are pretty honest about how we answer things, but it is so fun to see the amazement and the excitement in their eyes! We read just as much and talk more about Jesus’ birth and the reason why we celebrate Christmas.

The girls were in a Christmas pageant last Sunday and they did great! They were darling. Selah was my little outgoing singer! Braelyn was a little more shy and reserved, but she still sang her little heart out for Jesus. She has a more nervous sense about her. Gracyn wanted every bit to be a part of it too, so I kind of let her stand there with the girls for a bit. I figured it couldn’t hurt!

We’ve done so much since I last wrote that I can’t possibly include all the pictures or write about all the fun stuff we’ve done lately. I did post a Dec. album in facebook with some of the fun stuff!

Today I get to go with hubby to run some errands and have lunch – his mom just called to see if we wanted to go out without kids and we gladly accepted! Thanks Mom H! We just have a few things to pick up – placemats I made digitally for the girls at Staples, bank, and who knows what else. For sure lunch and I have been craving Red Robin so I think we’ll hit that!

Tonight is party at my mom’s house with my family. Tomorrow morning is breakfast at Kyle’s parents after we do our Christmas morning stuff here. Then later we usually hit a movie with Kyle’s parents while my parents have the girls for naps!!! I am such a blessed person!

Merry Christmas to you all – I hope you enjoy your families and remember the REAL reason for the season!

A week's gone by...

and it's December already. Guess I better work on getting my blog stuff changed, huh?! Pumpkins are only good thru thanksgiving I suppose. Oh well. I can't believe we've gotten away with such nice weather right up to December 3! Seems like we always have had a good snowfall around Thanksgiving or sometime in November! I know they say it's coming tonight or tomorrow, but I am thankful that it has held off until now! Maybe just maybe it will make this winter seem a little shorter! A girl can hope! Can you tell I despise snow?! Why do I live in Michigan, you might ask, well I LOVE our spring, summer, and fall - that is why!

It's been kind of a busy week - felt like I haven't been home hardly at all! Monday and Tuesday nights we went to parades - christmas parade and parade of lights! The kids enjoyed those for sure! Last night was church night, which was fun! My group of kids got to make their own snack - mini bagel pizzas, and then they had so much fun making a little present for their parents! It was so fun to watch them all work so hard on them and have fun crafting! Glitter glue was a hit with them! Tonight is a little more laid back with just a few haircuts at home, and tomorrow is low key as well! We have been having dinner though every night as a family around our table still, which is really important to me! Love, after a busy day, sitting down to a meal together and finding out what everyone did that day! This weekend is our last "non-crazy" weekend before all the holiday weekends begin, so I think we will try to enjoy it! Going out on Sat. night with some friends while the kids have a sleepover at Grandpa and Grandma's! Thanks you guys! I so love living close to our parents and family - I definitely don't take that for granted and I love the kids getting to have the same type of moments/memories that I had with my family and grandparents growing up!

I have really fallen off the dieting/ exercise bandwagon this last part of this year, and it is really catching up with me. Last year on Dec. 13 I had started working out really well - doing Jillian's 30 -Day Shred workout and mixing it with elliptical and stuff. I also ate pretty good - drank water, just was all around more concious about health. I somewhat did it in preparation for the trip we took in January, but I wanted to really keep up with it. I had chose a word for me for 2009 and it was MOVE. The word had two meaning for me - the first was to make a concious MOVE towards Christ, and the 2nd was to MOVE as in excersice. I did so well for a while. Then I slacked. I have been thinking about why I fell off the bandwagon. There are a few reasons, and a few of them I am not sure how to remedy. Although I will always have excuses I guess. One reason is that in late February I got a promotion at work which meant I was going to work one whole extra day more than I was previously. That is when a slight decline in working out happened. I was still trying to eat well though. Thru the summer though I still had 2 days home when I didn't have to run kids here and there to preschool and stuff, so in the summer I tried to workout at least on those two day during the week and then on weekends when I could! Well end of August came around and now on my two days off I am getting kids off to schools, gymnastics, etc.... I feel like there is really no time. By the end of the day I want to just sit on the couch, watch t.v., and scrap. Of course sometime in all that busyness I have to keep the house up as well and provide dinners. I guess that is pretty normals, eh?! Anyway, so there is my story about why I have fallen off the bandwagon. All excuses really, but in all honesty I worked out everyday of this long weekend we had because Ididn't have to rush off to work or anything, so I could just get up, workout, and then shower for the day after that. I would have to get up at 6:15am in order to workout before leaving the house during the week, and I am just not commited enough to do that - not that much of a morning person. 7:00 I can do, but 6:15 is too early for me. All in all I need to remedy this somehow because I have definitely gained weight in the last 6 months and it is frustrating me lately. OK - enough dieting stuff - it really is no fun to talk about, is it?!

No new LO's to share - the December BYOC (Build your Own Collab) is going live at the Lilypad tomorrow, so I have a LO from that, but will have to share it later! :)

Oh wait, I lie - I found a few I haven't posted here yet! Lucky you! Hehehehehe!

Here is the advent calendar I made that we are doing with the girls:

One with the collab of Kate Hadfield and Shabby Miss Jenn:

And then one I did the December Journaling Challenge at The-Lilypad:

If you are ever needing inspiration on what to scrap or are just not sure what you want to scrap you should check out the challenges at The-Lilypad forums - they are great! I tend to get my LO scrapped much quicker when I have a springboard to start from!

OK - have a great rest of your week and weekend everyone!

Thanks for listening to me blab my mouth again!

Signing out,

MandaKay

Digi Black Friday!

So for those of you who went out shopping bright and early this morning……Did you have fun???!!! Did you get everything you had on your list???!!! Nina – I know you and Dino feel like you did well, so that is GREAT! And Sarah – sounds like you got pretty tired out, so hopefully that means you did well too! I stayed snug in bed and my girls and their cousin slept in their tent until 8:00am – that is a new record for my girls I think! I think they were just so tired from all the activity yesterday and not having a nap!

I put my tree up today, so I feel accomplished. I have a long to do list digital scrapping wise. I need to make my labels for my Christmas cards, get those ready to be mailed, make this advent calendar, send a few important emails, and tell you about these GREAT new kits!!! Shabby Miss Jenn – my most favorite SHABBY style designer teamed up with Kate Hadfield from The Lilypad, my most favorite doodle designer, teamed up to create this FABULOUS collab! I have yet to use it because I stay rather current on my scrapbooking and we haven’t had snow or anything yet, but I am itching to play with it – I am going to just have to scrap a non snow LO – like my love for hot chocolate!!! It’s such a yummy kit though!

And SMJ and TLP both have a bunch of new kits out today – and deals too for Black Friday! Those are my kind of black Friday sales – ones I can get from right here on my couch, warm and comfy in my sweater, and watch some HGTV while I do it! ;)

Here are a few LO’s I have done with the new goods!

SMJ kit – It’s Snowing

SMJ Kit – Sweet Holidays – a pic of my mother in laws table setting on a Sunday – love the simple elegance of it!

Now – I am off to play and create! Have a great Friday everyone!

Where did I leave off?!

I don’t really remember where I left off here. I probably should go and check! Oh yeah – a few weekends ago no – when Kyle was hunting, and I was scrapbooking! Seems like so long ago already. So much has happened since then of course! Kyle came home with his two deer – he was proud as a piper! He and Jeff (his buddy who got a 15 point buck!) thought they were rockstars! It is kind of fun to see them that excited about their sport and their achievement!

The girls were even proud of their daddy!

We’ve made our Christmas ornaments for this year – little porcelain ornaments that the girls painted with glitter paints!

And we’ve celebrated Thanksgiving!

Before Church – my three sweeties:

Before the 20 guests arrived – kids table:

Adults table:

The kids table with kids – 9 to be exact! So much fun, so many little minds!

The adult table – Had 11 adults total.

And once we cleaned up from this party we sat for a brief moment and headed to our next party!

Great conversation with family, I think we all took it pretty light on the food – most of us were still full from lunch!

My mom with Gracyn – Gracyn is all hot and sweaty from bouncing around!

It was an all out bounce party!!!

Selah, Braelyn, and their cousin Sadie – playing something – not sure what you call this?! I guess just rolling the ball to each other.

And now those three little tired girls are sleeping in this fort that Kyle made for them today! Fun stuff! These are the things I did when I was growing up with my cousins! Love it!

So so many things to be thankful for and I am trying not to take a single one of my blessings or hardships for granted! Wish Thanksgiving was more ingrained in my mind like this daily! Simply put: I am Thankful for a God who loves me, friends who put up with me, a family I adore, and so much more! (from my facebook status today!)

I am looking forward to a weekend of recovering and relaxing with my husband and kiddos! No black Friday shopping for me – no money, and I don’t really shop to begin with, so shopping when it’s totally hectic and chaotic is just not something I’ve ever wanted to do! How about you – big plans for the weekend?!

MandaKay

Layout heavy post

What a great weekend! As I sit here on Sunday night I can’t help but be thankful for a great weekend! I had a great Friday and Saturday scrapbooking – got a ton done, felt very accomplished, and the food was awesome! We had movie night on Sat. night with the girls – the movie UP

(which we saw in the theater). Today was lunch at my mom’s and just a nice relaxing day! The best part of my day though was when Kyle called to tell me that he shot an 11 point buck! He was so excited – I loved hearing his excitement. He so deserved it and I know it just made his year. And then tonight he called and said that this hunting thing is getting expensive because he shot a 7 point buck! He filled his tags on opening day! He also saw an albino deer, which is pretty amazing! I think his words this morning were “I just had the most incredible morning!”. I think I got a little misty eyed when he said that! I’m such a geek, I know, but I am so happy for him!

So here are the LO’s I worked on this weekend! I did a variety of LO’s – some quickpages from the Lilypad blog hop, Lilypad goodie LO’s and some other fun stuff too! You will notice I am addicted to Karah Fredricks Open Book word bits – they are so great and she didn’t miss a single word I don’t think! I put them on like 3 or 4 LO’s this weekend!

This one is totally not my usual style – I don’t usually “do” fantasy style/extraction LO’s but I got to playing around and did one for some reason.

Hope you all had a great weekend and also hope you have a great week!

MandaKay

Randomness

It's Thursday! For me, that means that tomorrow is the weekend! I love having Friday's off! I can't believe we are almost to the middle of November either! I say it every year, every month, really every week - but time really does fly! I always look forward to Thanksgiving! Kyle's birthday is also in November - the 22nd. But so is hunting - I don't always look forward to that, but oh well. I know Kyle loves it! I am going to a scrapbook overnighter this weekend, so I am looking forward to that! Nice hotel, good food, fellowship, scrapbooking, no kids, it just doesn't get any better than that! My sister Kim and sister-in-law Selena are coming with me - I love them for coming with me! :) We will have a good time I am sure!

We've remained relatively healthy thus far this season, so that is nice. I really am just waiting though for something. My girls have had a slight cough, but nothing more than a cold type cough. They don't seem bothered by it and there are never any other symptoms of anything. I've been trying to get them to bed on time every night so that they get lots of sleep and of course we always stay on course with our vitamins every morning, and then lots of reminders to wash hands! It's so funny to see hand sanitizer now everywhere you go. Every room in church has it, every room at school has it, the stores, my car, my purse, my house, my office. Who knows if it helps, but it's just kind of funny to me! So, I continue to thank God for our continued health, and to ask Him to continue to keep us healthy!

The girls are growing up so fast, it's so fun to watch! I sometimes find it hard to believe that I have a 5 yr. old, a 3 yr. old, and a 2 yr. old. Gracyn - the 2 yr. old is just so much fun! I never really got to enjoy Braelyn and Selah at age 2 because I had a newborn to tend to with both of them. Gracyn is so fun loving and great at playing! Braelyn is doing good in school. Some days she doesn't want to go, but she never really fights it so that is good. I know she likes it when she is there, she is just my child who loves to stay home with Mom or Dad. Selah loves school, the little amount that she is there at least! Selah is also doing gymnastics and she really likes it! Her teacher is fabulous and does really well teaching the little girls lots of things. Selah does a running somersault and lots of little tumbling and balancing things!

Thank you to those of you who hopped over to my blog for iDSD - it was so fun to be involved in a blog hop for The-Lilypad! I was totally intimidated to make a quickpage figuring that no one would want a quickpage from me anyway, so I wasn't going to do it - I was just going to hand out the coupon from Amy, but last minute I decided to make the quickpage off of my LO. It was downloaded almost 200 times - so that is pretty cool! If you downloaded it and create a page with it I would LOVE to see it - I will probably fall right off my chair if I ever see it in a gallery or someones scrapbook!

I guess that's it for today. I hope you all have a great weekend. I am sure I will have lots of LO's to share (at least I hope I get a ton done!) when I pop in next week!

MandaKay