december daily {days 18-25}

first, let me say, I've loved doing this album.  It was definitely a challenge for me & I was really excited that I completed it.  Next year, though, I'm going to simplify for sure.  Photo a day.  I found that as soon as the rush of all the Christmas to-do's hit me {school parties, wrapping, last minute holiday whatever & kids home} I basically just had to drop it & wait until after Christmas to complete it.  I really wanted to include more in those last days, but it would have just been too much for the book {plus I was just ready for it to be done}.  I'm planning on layouts to tell a more complete story of our Christmas Eve & Christmas & also want to make a mini for our Elf, Jessie & his daily happenings.  So anyway, here it is...

12.18.11

on this day I dove into wrapping. of course I had a little "helper" too.  I added in a page I made from a brown lunch bag, which was what I used for a lot of our wrapping.

12.19.11

on this day, Evan's class had a gingerbread house day {his teacher has been doing this with her class for years... it's so much fun}. I went to help him out & loved what we created together :)

12.20.11

on this day I was in gift-making mode.  the kids' last day of school was the next day {which included Christmas parties} so I HAD to get the teacher gifts made! I didn't send out too many actual cards, but wanted to include the card I had sent out & the photo of the kids I had included in them somewhere in the book, so this is where it ended up.

12.21.11

on this day, there was so much going on! seriously if I included it all, it would probably be 6 pages... Christmas parties, babysitting, Christmas concert & best of all... grandma & grandpa came home!  The photo of Evan & my mom is priceless... he was SO excited to see her!  The back of the page is a folded program from Evan's concert with his name circled.  The concerts/plays at our elementary school are always the best.  We are so lucky to have an incredible music director!

12.22.11

on this day we did tons of baking & making!  Lydia had been asking me constantly about making cookies for Santa, so that's what we did!  I was messing around with a few things for this page on my Silouette sd.  I cut the from banner, but it didn't cut all the way through, so I just peeled away the letters & included it anyway :)  I also made the cookies for santa title that I made up with a font on my computer. 

12.23.11

this was a not-so-happy day. although it was my moms birthday, we also spent the night at my aunt Betty's visitation, who had passed away a few days before.  on the upside, it was great to be able to see all of our family.  I included 2 pictures I captured while we were visiting of Lydia & Collin with cousins we don't get to see too often.  this was the reason my parents made the trip back from Texas as well, which was a major bonus for us as well, as we weren't planning on getting to spend Christmas with them this year {which would have been a first}.

12.24.11

I always have LOVED Christmas Eve... for as long as I can remember, it has been when my family celebrates together.  We start with mass, then supper & then PRESENTS!  We've changed it up over the years a little, but it still is my favorite.  Again, this one could go on for pages & pages, but I kept it super short.  The day started with my aunt's funeral & then went onto church with Dan's dad & then fun with the Klesner family at my sisters.  Then home to get ready for Santa!  The picture is our tree that night after Santa had made his way to our house... :)

12.25.11

on this day... it was Christmas!  Since we've had kids, this is our day to spend together at home.  It always starts with the kids waking us up at the crack of dawn & excitedly ripping through stockings & presents. This is followed by a homemade breakfast, lots of assembling, playing & relaxing. This Christmas we did something new & had Dan's family over that night for supper.  It was great to get everyone together, with his family in all different directions, it's nice to be able to see everyone & have a relaxed time to visit.

done.

{robyn}

december daily {days 10-13}

playing catch up again :)

12.10.11

on this day we took a quick trip to the mall to let the boys pick out a few things they had on their lists.  at their age, sometimes it's easier to let them to that.  They both picked out air soft guns & Evan picked out a wooden baseball bat that was on his list.  We finished it off with dinner at the Olive Garden. The present was something Lydia brought home from school & since I had the blank page, I decided to add that in here.

12.11.11

on this day, the kids spent the morning outside playing, riding 4 wheelers & sledding with Dan.  In the afternoon Collin had a chorus concert that Dan & I went too.  It was really awesome.

12.12.11

on this day... well not much happened! Lydia did have me help write a letter to Santa, so I made this little envelope to put that in. 

12.13.11

on thhis day, again, not much.  I used another picture I took when I first decorated the house of the nativity that Dan bought me several years ago.  It's something I just love.

so that's all for right now.  I'm a few days back on this, but plan to catch up quickly.  I'm trying not to overthink it. 

{robyn}

december daily {day 1}

I was excited to get started on my December daily today... had to do the dreaded Wal-Mart run this morning though, so I got a little later start than I would have liked.  I did get to pick up some things there to use on it, so that was a bonus!

I found this cute bias tape that's going to be a great addition to the mini. love.

then I found this mini sewing machine!  I've been wanting to get one for my paper projects {I really don't think I'd use it for much else}, so I thought I'd give this a whirl.  It only does straight stitches, but it's small & doesn't take up much room, which is always a bonus. Plus it was only $20, so that was cool.

now... on to day one!

here's the cover page

& a {not so good} shot of the double page spread.

page 1. Day one on the Advent calendar was for the kids to pick out their favorite treat from our little grocery store in town.  The card is from the freebies I put up yesterday.  The "a few of my favorite things" is from a Gap mailer I got in the mail yesterday.

I cut an envelope down from another piece of mail to do my journaling on, added the bias tape & stitched it to the inside edge of the page.

the envelope flips up to reveal the full 2nd page. These are photos from picking up Evan from the elementary school. The picture of the picture of him in a Santa hat that was on the classroom door, Lydia playing teacher while waiting for Evan & a photo of the oranges we got & a label from the pickup of fruit & cheese. Nothing too exciting for our first day, but I had fun documenting it anyway.

{robyn}

Happy December!

can you believe it? of course december with young kids in the house is the most anticipated month of the year, so we've been getting lots of updates from our 4 year old about it :)  Evan {9} woke up this morning & told his dad "happy december"! Which in turn, sent Lydia into MERRY CHRISTMAS month!!! lol.  unfortunately I've failed once again at getting an advent calendar together for the kids, but I may hurry & get a few things together today yet... maybe it will be an evening or after school suprise?

one thing I've been working on for december is my december daily {made oh so famous by miss ali edwards}.  this is my first year doing it {I'm not counting last year when I made a measly 3-4 digi pages}.  I started mine around thanksgiving, rounding up papers & elements from my older paper stash & my newest papers from My Mind's Eye & also some of my digi products that I printed out!

i started out putting together my cover. i made it pretty simple with some of my kraft funday elements, more may be added later, who knows. I modified a chipboard book cover i had bought last year when i bought my zutter.  i'm using binder rings to hold everything together.

i than went through my papers i had picked out & cut them to 5x7" {some may be different} & backed ones that didn't suit me. this is a partial lineup.

then i started with my number pages... i'll add in extra pages each day as needed.  i'm anticipating them being mostly plain kraft with photos & embellishements added as i like.

there's my peeks at my pages. i'll try to keep up with the blog & post my pages as much as i can.  i'm trying to make this as stress free as possible on myself & i've already decided that i'm probably going to be taking most of my pictures with my iPhone.  it just is always there & i've gotten so much better at documenting the everyday stuff because of it... that makes me happy. 

i've got my workspace all cleaned up & ready to go this morning... can't wait to get started!

are you joining in?

{robyn}

halloween hoopla!

tonight the kids' school has something they call Halloween Hoopla... basically an inside trick or treat where everyone decorates a space & gives out treats in a safe & fun environment.  as always we {okay, me} procrastinated & couldn't decide if we were going or not, but today I thought, it will be fun for the kids to get to be with their friends & we'll get to see lots of people we enjoy seeing as well!  I had picked up a few non-candy items like pencils, erasers & stickers, but then decided to print out a sheet for the kids {or parents} to pick up that they can cut out & make a cool decoration at home together.  

seriously people, this is so easy to do... I used my Not So Freaky Banner kit to put this together.  I just opened up my photoshop document to be letter size {8.5x11} & placed each banner {they were sized down 37% from original} to fit on the sheet.  If I feel really ambitious, I may cut them all out too!  I think it will be something fun & different, plus some local advertisement for pink trike design ;)

I also decided to put together a little mini book they can cut out & add some little photos too, totally something the kids could do by themselves or with mom or dad :)  after the photos are added you can just punch some holes at the top & add ribbon or string or you could just staple it too!  

this was made with the Not So Freaky banner kit, Jen Allyson's poloroid frames & Deena Rutters Superstition word art.

hope to see lots of our Holy Trinity Elementary friends there...

{robyn}