Whew! 2010 Scrapped

There's nothing like a deadline to get the creative juices flowing. I had a credit at Shutterfly that expired Tuesday night, and I worked feverishly to get my 2010 photo book ready to order in time. It came down to the wire, but I made it!

My computer is on its last leg of RAM, so it takes forever to open or save Photoshop documents. Since it has to put all its umph into Photoshop, I can't check my email or surf the net while waiting. So...
Computer running on fumes = No digital multi-tasking = Laundry done (bonus!).

This will be my first photo book of scrapbook layouts, and I can't wait to see it in person! Here are the new pages:





P.S. I've posted most of my layouts here on the blog, so if you're related to me, and you come to my house, I'll probably want to show you the book, so just pretend like you haven't already seen every page, and humor me by flipping through the real thing. :)

December Daily Album

I still need to get the last set of 4x6's printed, but I'm finished with all the journaling cards. This has been a great project, and I think we'll enjoy looking at the album throughout the year, and especially looking back next December. I'm so glad that I kept it simple. The most wonderful thing is that it's finished, and it's not even 2011 yet! I have plenty of room left in my album, and I hope to add to it next Christmas. Here's what it looks like in real life:

Here's the cover:

I stil need to figure out what to put in the little window. I'm thinking about doing a simple white card with the number 25 on it. The album came from Gordman's.

The journaling cards are literally 4x6 index cards with notebook lines. I bought a pack of 100 sometime in college I think, so I just dug them out of my desk drawer and put them to use. They fit perfectly in the picture pockets. Easy peasy lemon squeezy! :)


P.S. Scroll down to Day 18 to see a new scrapbook layout I just finished. :)

Day 25: Merry Christmas!

Photos: (I decided to do two pages for Christmas Day)



Story:
December 25, 2010
Braden got up at our pre-determined OK time to wake up (7:40), and was SO excited that Santa came and even left a thank-you note for the cookies and the drawing! He was thrilled to see a two-story Little People house (1990's "vintage") sitting on the hearth. We woke Cameron up, and took turns opening our stockings. Braden started playing with all the Little People stuff immediately. When he finally got around to opening his wrapped Santa gifts, it took us a few minutes to figure out that Santa gave us a Wii, and that it was already hooked up! Braden was really excited, but he wanted to finish opening presents before we played with it. Cameron's favorite thing was a cookie jar with counting cookies. The boys got me a new colorful umbrella, and David surprised me with a single-cup coffee maker. As soon as we were finished opening all the presents, we plugged it in, and I enjoyed a cup of hazlenut coffee. So nice!

David cooked us a big breakfast, and after we cleaned up all the wrapping debris and got Cameron down for a nap, we were finally ready to give the Wii a try. Braden had a blast creating his Mii character. We spent the evening playing Mario Kart, and David made meatloaf for dinner, which he decorated with ketchup for Jesus's birthday. I'm so thankful that we were able to spend the day at home. It's fun to travel and visit extended family, but I'm glad that we make it a point each year to spend Christmas together with just our little family. I love that we're building our own traditions, like going to the Christmas Eve service at church and reading the second chapter of Luke. A lot of people say that Christmas is about spending time with family, or it's all about giving. Those are good and important things, but they're not what Christmas is all about. Christmas is a time where we stop and recognize that Jesus is Lord. It's when we celebrate His birth, and the fact that He is the son of God, sent to Earth to save us. That's the true meaning of Christmas.

Day 24: Christmas Eve

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Story:
December 24, 2010
I love it when Christmas falls on a weekend because that means David has Christmas Eve off! He spent this morning shopping for groceries and some last-minute gifts. He only had time to make one batch of cookies, so he let Braden choose, and Braden picked chocolate chip. We went to church tonight for the Christmas Eve service. David played his trombone in an ensemble and sang "I Have Seen the Light" in a sextet. After church, we came home and enjoyed potato leek soup (Braden ate a corn dog). We snuggled up on the couch with the boys in their new Christmas pajamas, and David read Luke 2. We set out cookies and milk for Santa, carrots for the reindeer, and Braden left a picture he drew for Santa also. Then it was off to bed! This photo is not the best, but I like the story it tells - me balancing Cameron on one hip while getting a paper towel to wipe up the milk that Braden spilled when he was pouring it in the cup for Santa, and Braden (very enthusiastically) getting the carrots out of the fridge.

Day 23: Christmas Eve Eve

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December 23, 2010
We stayed home today and David went to work. Cameron can now say "Bye-Bye" correctly (instead of "Dye-Dye"). His favorite toy from this past weekend is Braden's empty M&M's tube. He calls it "Gee-Mee-Mee," which I think means "Green M&M's." He loves it. I've been singing a few Christmas carols to the boys at night before bed, and I remembered the other night that when Braden was 3, he kept saying, "Sleepy Had-uh-lee Bee," which I finally translated as, "Sleep in heavenly peace," which meant he wanted me to sing "Silent Night." So cute. I tell him a story every night before bed - usually some memory from childhood, or when David and I were dating, or something from when he was really little, so I told him that story one night this week. He though it was hilarious. This picture is from 2007 (when Braden was 3), helping Daddy make Snickerdoodles - an activity they'll be repeating tomorrow.

Day 22: Making Crayons

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December 22, 2010
Braden got a crayon maker from Nanny for Christmas, so we tried it out today. It was slightly more complicated than I anticipated, but it all worked out, and we now have four stubby swirly green/yellow and red/blue crayons. Braden worked on a Phonics page while we waited for the wax to melt. We had to melt it more than once because I didn't notice when the little lightbulb went out. So, what should have taken us about 30 minutes, took almost an hour. That's how my attempts at crafting usually go. Also, Cameron has figured out how to make his little ride-on toy go forward (he was previously a backwards only driver).

Day 21

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December 21, 2010
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I finally got all the stockings hung. I had to rig a contraption with sticky hooks and fishing line so that the weight of the stockings would be supported by something other than the heavy pewter hangers. The daughter of a friend of ours pulled a stocking hanger down on her head not too long ago, and Cameron almost did the same thing last Christmas. So, safety first! I stayed up until almost 3 AM last night wrapping presents. That was one of my goals while Braden and David were away. I didn't want to stay up that late, but it feels so good to have it all done now! And hopefully this means I won't be pulling an all-nighter on Christmas Eve. Sidenote: Today's the first day of winter, but we had unseasonably warm weather (high near 60).

Day 20: Evening with Cameron

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December 20, 2010
David took Braden to Malvern for a quick visit. Grammie ended up being admitted to the hospital this afternoon, though, so Braden didn't get to visit her today. While they were gone, I addressed most of our Christmas cards and spent some one-on-one time with Cameron. He's been really cranky lately, and I think it's because we don't spend enough time with him. There's always so much going on and so many things to do, that we rarely take the time to just sit on the floor and be silly with him, and he needs that so much. We had fun together tonight, and it made us both so happy. I know I need to make playing with him a daily priority. It's hard, especially when school is in session, but I know he needs me (and I need him!). He had a lot of fun standing on the stool and brushing his teeth.

Day 19: Braden's Choir Concert

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December 19, 2010
We spent our day at home today and worked on clearing out some clutter to make room for all the new toys the boys got / will get for Christmas. This afternoon, our sweet little neighbor friend, Carlee Ann, brought over some baked goodies for us. This evening, we headed to church for the children's choir performances. Braden's Kindergarten choir sang two songs, "J is for Jesus" and "Hurry, Hurry, Hurry [to Bethlehem]." They held up signs for each word in "J is for Jesus." Braden's sign was "Emmanuel." He was a little nervous on the way to church, but he did a great job. He was so proud to wear his dress shirt, jacket, and tie. He looked so handsome and grown up! Cameron sat with us during the concert, and was excited to see Bubby up on stage. We ate dinner afterward at Dixie Café. We all ate catfish. :)

Day 18: Christmas with My Family

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December 18, 2010
We drove to my hometown this morning and had Christmas dinner with everyone at Dad and Carole's house (Michelle, Jamie, Dalton, Tori, Haley, Brayden, Bailey, Aaron, Darla, and Joel). The kids were so excited to open ALL the presents. Cameron (who turned 22 months old today) wasn't that into it, though, and we ended up bringing two presents home for him that were still wrapped. We spent the evening at my grandma's house, and had a little impromptu Christmas for the boys and my cousin Justin's son, Noah. Billy and Ben came over too. My mom ended up getting sick, and didn't drive down. We left Gradma's house a little after 8:00 PM and made it home by 11:00. It was really nice to be home and get to sleep in our own beds.

I just finished (12.30.10) a two-page scrapbook layout of some of the pictures from our visit. Click on the image to view it larger.

Click here to view it in Flickr and read the credits for all the scrapbooking supplies I used.

Day 17: Family Movie Night

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Story:
December 17, 2010
I took the boys shopping at Target this morning to get some Christmas gifts for our littlest cousins, Noah and Joel. The rest of the day, I did laundry and tried to get ready to go spend the weekend with my side of the family. David brought home pizza for dinner. Braden wanted to watch Wall-E for our family movie night because it was on TV. David and I weren't really in the mood for Wall-E, so we voted for Beauty and the Beast. David loves to sing like Gaston. At some point during the evening, we figured out that we didn't have anything packed, the laundry wasn't finished, and there was no way we were going to be ready to leave by 8 AM. So, we decided to just go down for the day and not stay overnight. We've never gone and come back in the same day with the boys, so we'll see how that goes!

Day 16: Last Day of School!

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December 16, 2010
Today was the last day of school before Christmas break! Woo-Hoo! We had a fun day at school. I got a lot of nice gifts from my sweet first graders and Braden wrote us some Christmas cards and made a cute ornament with his picture on it. We had an easy, calm class party (really, we did!), and I got to go visit Braden's class party for a few minutes. Cameron's preschool class had a party, too. I'm not sure what they ate, but whatever it was, it was all over his shirt! David had to work late, but once he got home and the boys were in bed, we enjoyed a yummy take-out dinner from our favorite Thai restaurant and watched our taped Christmas episode of Psych (one of our favorite shows).

Day 15

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I didn't take any pictures today, so I'll use one from yesterday. David's eyebrows are white because he dressed up as Santa for his work Christmas party, which was right before Cameron's program. We wrapped Christmas gifts today for some of our little cousins who we'll see this weekend. Tonight was Braden's last church choir rehearsal before their performance coming up on Sunday. They got to practice on stage in the sanctuary. Braden held up his "Emmanuel" sign at just the right time, but the rest of the time, he was trying to pull his jacket collar up as high as he could to hide his face. When it was time to go home, the nursery ladies went on and on about how sweet Cameron was.

Day 14: Cameron's Program

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December 14, 2010
I am so thankful we all got to go to Cameron's program this afternoon! He came out on stage with his class and sat down on the top step. He looked so big! Then he saw us and started crying and saying, "Mommy, Daddy, Bubby!" It was pitiful. :( His sweet teacher scooped him up, though, and tried to get him involved in the songs. Braden made silly faces at him, trying to get him to smile. By the last song, Cam was doing the motions with the big kids. It was precious. I love all the songs they sang. My favorite was "There is Room in My Heart for Jesus." When we got home tonight, Braden had a special present for us. He wanted us to "gather together" to open it. It was a little wooden star ornament he painted yellow on one side and glued salt all over the other side. His teacher wrote his name on it and attached this verse: "Be salt and light in a lost world." Matthew 5:13-16.

Day 13: Basketball Practice (and a Scrapbook Page!!)

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December 13, 2010
We spent our day at home today. We didn't do a whole lot other than Braden's Friday/Monday school work. I meant to clean up the house and do some laundry, but it didn't happen. I did manage to eat about a dozen Christmas cookies, though! Cameron has a runny nose and a cough. I'm worried that he won't get to go to school tomorrow, and will miss his first preschool Christmas program. We'll see. Braden had his second Upward basketball practice tonight. I think he really likes it. They'll start playing games in January. I finished (maybe) a scrapbook page about Operation Christmas Child that I've been working on for a couple of weeks now. I've been having "scrapper's block," but I think maybe I can move on now! :)

I won't be including it in the December Daily album, but here's the page I did tonight:

Day 12: Home Again

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December 12, 2010
This morning at breakfast, the innkeeper told us that the high winds last night kept the Showboat from being able to dock, and all the dinner cruise passengers had to spend the night out on the lake! All their cars were still in the parking lot when we left town this morning, as well as a news crew. Exciting! (Glad it wasn't me.) We met my dad in Harrison to pick up the boys, ate lunch at Wendy's, and headed home. The boys were glad to be home, and we spent the evening watching "The Polar Express" and eating pizza (all except David, who had a stomach ache ever since Macaroni Grill). We all enoyed our weekend away, but now it's back to work with a very busy week!

Day 11: Weekend Trip Day 2

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December 11, 2010
We were pretty tired when we got up for breakfast this morning. We went to bed late, and someone in the room next to us was snoring like a chainsaw. We did everything we wanted to do in Branson yesterday, so we weren't sure what to do today. The outlet malls were packed, so we went back to our room and took a nap. Then we ate lunch at Panera, drove around and found a new shopping area, bought some stuff at Target, took another nap, and had dinner at Macaroni Grill. It kept getting colder throughout the day, and by dinner time it was freezing, and the wind was CRAZY.
I thought the huge Christmas trees at the Landing were literally going to blow over on top of us. After dinner, we went back to the Bradford House, drank hot chocolate, played cards, and saw a few snow flurries.

Day 10: Weekend Trip Day 1

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December 10, 2010
We left straight from Cameron's Christmas program rehearsal and headed to Harrison to meet Paw Paw at the rest stop. The boys were excited to see him and spend the weekend with him and Nanny while David and I went to Branson. The boys got to go to Grandma's birthday dinner that night at Justin's house (which we didn't know about until after we had planned our trip). David and I had a fun day in Branson. We did a little shopping, had a late lunch of soup, salad, and breadsticks at Olive Garden, saw the lights at Silver Dollar City (with about a million other people), and watched Harry Potter #7 part 1 on the IMAX screen. We also saw the IMAX movie "Hubble" again, which is really good.

Day 9: Brinner

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December 9, 2010
Thursday = School day. The last day of teaching the science elective - Yea!! Only two more school days until Christmas Break! After school today, we started packing our bags. The boys are going to Nanny and Paw Paw's while David and I spend a weekend in Branson. Tonight, the boys enjoyed "brinner" (breakfast for dinner) while I went to the annual faculty Christmas party. It was entertaining, and I came home with some left-over cream puffs and a pair of jingle bell earrings. Tomorrow morning = Cameron's Christmas program rehearsal and then off to Harrison!

Day 8: Busy Wednesday

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December 8, 2010 *Happy Birthday to Grandma!*
Wednesdays are always a little hectic. Today we did Braden's school work and then got busy cleaning out his closet. That took ALL morning. I tried to work on a scrapbook page during nap, but the creative juices just weren't flowing. David was in a "strategic thinking" class all day, so I took Braden and Cameron to church (David usually takes Braden, and Cam and I stay home). It ended up being pretty fun. I got to make a giant birthday candle for Braden's Christmas program and visit with some friends, and I think Cameron had a good time in the nursery, too.

Note: The photo was actually taken on Monday before we left for "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" show.