Big Changes for the New Year?????

For 2012, I may or may not be making a big change in the way I scrapbook....we'll see how this plays out. I LOVE scrapbooking. It's a creative outlet for me and I relive the moment while I'm working with all the photos. My books have mostly been glorified photo albums, lots of photos and not much journaling (writing about the event). I still portray what's happening, mostly just facts. This summer a read a book written by a scrapbooker. I thought I was purchasing a book with sample pages to copy, but that's not how it turned out. That happens sometimes when you're not in a physical store and able to touch and look. Anyway, this woman encouraged the reader to get out of the photo album mode and make it more of a personal reflection of your life...a journal with photos. Not that I live that interesting of a life, but I may want/need to remember things years from now when my mind is going....oh, that's happening now!!!!!

I bought "Project Life", which is a scrapbook system that includes a binder (not too impressed with it, a little too industrial looking for my tastes), pages that you just slip your photos into (don't know how this will work because all the slots are horizontal and I sometimes take vertical), and pretty stuff that you can slip in to the slots to pretty it up. The big advantage is the options are limited so it should be faster...which means it should be easier and I'm more likely to keep up.

I have been feeling so stressed over my hobby that should be enjoyable. I can barely keep up with the albums for the boys...oh wait, I'm not keeping up....T is 4 months old and I'm only up to 2 months...and I don't even want to think how far behind I am with E.

So this new system encourages taking a photo every day. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be doing that. But I do want to get a little more of the every day and not just big/special events. For day one, January 1st, I took a photo of the first thing I see in the AM...well, other than my adorable husband (could be because he gets up so much earlier than me!)...and here it is......

This oak tree is in my backyard. It's a majestic tree. It's almost as wide as our lot. I can see it from every window on the back of my home. As you can see, right now it's naked, without leaves. Did you know that some oak trees keep their leaves and others drop them? Sometimes when I wake up I lay in my warm, cozy bed staring at this tree for as long as I can stay in bed. There's not much happening during this time of year...in the tree....although watching the colors change as the sun rises is beautiful. A time lapsed photo series would be awesome! During other seasons, mostly when the leaves are back, there's plenty of activity in the tree. It has it's own eco-system. There are several types of birds, squirrels, etc. It's very busy and entertaining. This is my most favorite thing about my home...oh, and that adorable husband I share it with is very cool too.

It's a MINIVAN!!!!!

The day after Christmas we all met up at the local Kia dealer to look at their model of van. I don't think it's called a minivan anymore, just a van. J has been driving the boys around in a two door VW Cabrio. It's pitiful to watch her load up the baby by rolling down the window, sliding him in to the seat, then climbing in to do the buckles, and then rolling the window back up. Al the while E is climbing over the seats to get to the driver's seat, pretend he's driving, pushing buttons, etc.

Everyone had done tons of research on the internet and talking to people. They narrowed it down to Kia, Toyota, and Honda. We were there for moral support, financial experience, and babysitting duty. The Kia was not impressive so we were off to Toyota. This was a hit, but we went to Honda too.

They decided on the Toyota so the negotiations were on. Dave took over and before we knew it a van had been purchased. I'm making it sound quick.....it wasn't.....it took ALL DAY.

E has the automatic doors all figured out and T no longer screams and wails.....and they're way safer than they were in that little Cabrio. We're all very pleased with the new addition.

Christmas 2011

Our busy season begins gearing up right after Thanksgiving. We begin to shut down our social calendar, just about the time everyone else begins to ramp it up. We've been through this drill for so many years, that it's just natural to us now. We doggedly work at not getting overwhelmed with parties and everything else that swallows you up during this time of year. I try to have all the cards and gifts wrapped up early too. My approach is to keep it as simple as possible, sticking to what is important to us. This is so difficult to do.

We're also not in to buying tons of gifts for the grandsons, especially while they're so young. Although we may have gone a bit overboard in the last couple of months with Ezra. Anyway.....I started a new tradition last year, I got PJ's for W, J, & E..all in red. They were rather stylish. Then I realized that they LOVE footed PJs. I think it has something to do with not turning up the heat in their home and camping. I found matching sets for W & J, and then scored matching sets for the boys at Costco!!!! Which turned out funny, because W's mom bought the boys PJ's at Costco!!! It's all good, the boys need plenty of PJ's. Don't they look cute and matching?!

We go to their home on Christmas morning to open gifts and have a breakfast of Swedish pancakes. Later in the evening we end up at our home for a big dinner of Prime Rib (which was a tad overdone this year), smoked Gouda mashed potatoes (which I may have gone a bit overboard with the cheese this year), lemon jello salad (special request of my MIL), Pillsbury refrigerator rolls (LOVE), asparagus (mixed this up, we usually have Dave's spectacular green beans). And for dessert, we break open the various gift tins we've received along with coffee (made from our new Keurig this year).

This year we did mix it up for Christmas Eve. The tradition is cioppino with bibs here at home. The kids were lighting the last Advent candle at their church, so we have postponed the cioppino (J may have had a mini fit over this) and joined them. I must say they were so cute. W, E, & T all had matching ties....T's was a bow tie! W was holding E while trying to read the scripture while E kept grabbing for the mic, then W was lighting the candle while E kept grabbing for the flame. This brought a chuckle to the entire congregation.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, spent time with family & friends, and thought about the birth of Jesus.