December Daily – Day 15

Posted on December 16, 2010 by daydesigns
Welcome to Day 15! Half way there!!
I’ll see how it goes after Christmas Day but right now I’m thinking that next year I will only do 25 days. Maybe 26 and include New Years Eve (Hogmanay as it’s called in the “Old Country”!) This is an enjoyable project but some days I struggle to find a story to tell. Stay tuned …
Today it’s all about Paige. It was her gymnastics Holiday Jingle – the annual Christmas show put on by Delta Gymnastics. We knew it was going to be a tough night for her as she suffers severe stage fright. Getting her to the gym was the challenge (as we expected) but once she was there she relaxed, had fun with her friends and put on a great show. I am attempting to upload some videos but it is taking FOREVER!!
Day 15:

I included the program.

I wanted to write Paige a letter and knew I wanted to say more than I could fit on the page if I hand wrote it. The letter reads:
Dear Paige,

Your Dad and I are SO PROUD of you!
Tonight you conquered your fear and performed in your gymnastics Holiday Jingle. Way to go!
I was very worried when you froze in your tracks yesterday. We were on our way home from watching Marley in her Christmas Concert and I mentioned that it would be your turn to perform next. You got so scared you could hardly walk home! Tonight you didn’t want to get changed, you didn’t want to go, you only wanted to cuddle in Daddy’s arms. I was very worried you’d miss out on something I knew you’d worked hard for.
You are so nervous getting up in front of others and showing them what you can do. I understand why you are like that – your Dad and I were like that at your age too – but you are so talented. You CAN do it! You DO do it!! And do it well!!
My hope for you is that you realize you can be brave. That you realize it’s okay to show off your accomplishments. That your fears don’t prevent you from doing things you really want to do – secretly, deep inside! That as your natural abilities develop and improve, you will WANT to show others what you have learned and what you can do. We all want to see it!!
Today you shone! Today my heart swelled with pride and I have never loved you more. You did it Paige! Good job!!
Love,
Mom

On the back of the main page I printed off two pictures from the show. None of my pictures turned out that great – the video is better. It’s finally finished uploading and I’ll figure out how to link it in another post.
That’s all … got to go, the kids are destroying my craft room!
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December Daily – Days 13 and 14

Posted on December 16, 2010 by daydesigns
I guess the catch-up bug didn’t stick around because I find myself posting 2 days at once again.
Darn it!
In my defense, I had trouble getting the girls letters to Santa to print properly yesterday otherwise I would have finished Day 13 then. Oh well. I had a brainstorm this morning so gave them another go.
Considering how interrupted my sleep was last night it’s surprising my brain had enough juice to remember my name, let alone figure out how to print 3 4″x6″ photos from a PDF document! Greg and I had one of those long talks late into the night that are great but seriously cut into your sleep time! Then LC woke up at around 2:30 and joined us in bed. Then Greg’s alarm went off and I felt like I had just got back to sleep!! Turned out I HAD! She’d been playing with his alarm clock earlier in the day and it was only 3:30AM!!! Greg didn’t figure this out until he was up, showered, dressed and fully awake! And LC too!
He’s napping as I type – poor guy!
Hmm … so’s LC …
Anyway, here’s my latest pages for you to peruse.
Day 13:

I wasn’t sure what to do with the girls today that I could put into this DD and then I read Ali’s post for the 12th about her kids letters to Santa and I knew I had my story! After they wrote their letters (LC and Paige got help from me but Marley did hers all by herself this year – so proud!), I scanned them and we put them in an envelope to post.
I toyed with how to add their letters into the album without adding huge bulk and eventually decided to print them off onto 4×6 photo paper. As I said above, I had problems with this initially but as you can see, made it work! I’d also come across a letter that Marley had written to Santa earlier in the month. One side has her requests for Santa, and the other has Paige’s. I LOVE that she can read now and is rapidly learning how to spell so writing her own letters and lists is becoming easier for her. I thought enclosing this example in an envelope seemed appropriate. Then I realized the front of the envelope would be a perfect place to do my journalling. Yes, even on little sleep and with the stresses of the season closing in on me, I can still come up some zingers!! 🙂
Journalling reads: “Today Marley, Paige and Christine sat down to write to Santa. It was so neat to see them first decorate their letters with stamps. I helped LC a little but she understands the concept of stamps and quickly covered the table and her hands! Paige only wanted to say “hi” to Santa in her letter. I had to prompt her a lot! Marley ran out of room for all the items on her wish list! She’s got 4 other lists scattered around the house!! Enclosed is a letter I found that she wrote earlier.”

I stamped the main page with snowflakes in 3 different shades of green then mounted Paige’s letter onto patterned paper before putting it over the snowflakes. A few Santa embellishments later and the page was done!

Here is a close up of the letter inside the envelope. One thing I will say about Marley is that she had been surprisingly consistent in her many wish lists. The letters read thus (with all her punctuation, spelling and capitalization too!):
“To: Santa this Year I want a Moon Dough ice cream set. a gogomy walking pup. a Bardie video Girl. a zooles small playset. a candy cane. a justin Bieber cD. a silly bands set. a zhozho pet with houes. Love Marley and I love you more!”
“To: Santa. this Year I want: a oLivia Claus Book. a I have to go Book. aBoo hoo Bird Book. a Bad kitty vs uncLE Murray Book. a zhozho Pet with House. a Moon Dough Pizzakit. a Bardie fashion fairy tale Doll.
Love Paige”
She’s hilarious! I just hope she’s not super disapointed with what Santa actually ends up bringing!

The back of the page has Marley and LC’s letters  on it.
Day 14: 
Tuesday was the day of Marley’s Christmas Concert. Her school opens up the afternoon dress rehearsal to allow extended family to come and see it. I took the younger girls to this performance last year and Greg went to the evening performance. It worked well so we didn’t see any reason to change things this year!

On the back of the cover page (since it was a solid paper this time not a transparency) I adhered a 5×7 photo I took of the program boards. I’m not sure if they were handing out programs at the evening performance (forgot to ask Greg and he never said anything) but all they had in the afternoon were huge  boards on either side of the stage.
The main page has a cropped picture of the entire ensemble from the finale song as well as a shot of the back drop I took before things got going. The concert was only grades K – 4 which I thought was too bad – I’d have liked to see the older kids!

The back of the main page has two zoomed in shots of Marley. In the top photo she’s singing, in the bottom photo she (and her class) are wiggling their reindeer tails at us!! LOL! She was giggling last week that there was going to be a surprise during the concert. Guess this was it! The journalling strip talks about that and then I added a dimensional sticker of a reindeer.
I should be able to get todays page done tomorrow.
I think.
It will be about Paige’s Holiday Jingle, the annual Christmas show that Delta Gymnastics puts on. I have to say that Greg and I had concerns she would freak out and not go on. She did indeed freak out but at home before we left. Eventually we just had to grab her clothes, load her in the van and hope she’d have a change of heart once she got there. Sure enough she did and the show went really well! We were SO proud of her! We both struggled with shyness as children (Greg especially) so know what it takes to overcome nerves and perform our best. Way to go Paige! We love you!!
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December Daily – Day 12

Posted on December 13, 2010 by daydesigns
On the heels of such creative catching up-ness that I had yesterday, I was determined to get Day 12 finished today. I was Duty Parent this morning at Paige’s preschool which usually leaves me feeling wiped out. And I could nap right now, don’t get me wrong! But I also have a totally quiet house – Greg took Paige out to buy a Christmas present for Marley and LC is fast asleep. Time to take advantage and get some scrapping “work” done!!
Laundry is next.
So, without further ado …
Day 12:

Journalling reads: “Marley attended Taylor K’s Pirate themed birthday party today. The party was at 3:00PM and as of 12:30PM she had no costume! The eye patch, hook, cutlass, ring and bandana came from the Dollar store; the pants were found at a consignment store; and the shirt, vest, belt combo was found at the Bargain Shop. Not bad for a last minute throw together!! (Oh, and Paige said she was the parrot!!)
The chocolate ring around her mouth and Starbucks drink stick hanging out of it are thanks to a family Starbucks run Marley and I did on our way home.
2 kids hot chocolate (LC doesn’t get her own yet)
1 Caramel Apple Spice for Greg
1 Reduced Fat Eggnog Latte for me.
Yum!

On the back of the page I printed off a full body shot of Marley to show off her costume to it’s fullest. She spent the entire photo shoot in this pose. Saying “Arrr!!” the whole time too (so I added that onto my main page.) I think we’ve got next Hallowe’en covered!! Whoot Whoot!!
Well, I managed to get a load of wash in while the photos uploaded and now I think I will fold a load while I wait for Greg and Paige to get home. Hopefully they get back before I have to wake up LC to pick Marley up from school. I do so hate to wake her up in the afternoons!!
I’m not sure what I’m going to document for today. I didn’t take any pictures at preschool but suppose I could add in some artwork or something. Hmm … will put my thinking cap on!!
Bye for now!
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December Daily – Days 8 – 11

Posted on December 12, 2010 by daydesigns
I fell a bit behind – life got busy and I had a couple of “low” days – but I’m all caught up now!
Here we go …
Day 8:

This was the start of my low period. I wasn’t feeling very creative so thought a page of journalling would be enough. On the back of the cover page I stuck the note from the girls’ Advent Calendar – they got to make finger puppets. And then I decided to add the price tag from our Christmas Tree. Ali had talked about how she wished she’d included the price of the tree each year and I thought that sounded like a good idea. It will be interesting to see how much extra we pay each year!
As an aside I think I’ll add some comments about our tree choice too. We got a Noble Fir and I love its bushiness. There are tons of branches for all of our ornaments. The one thing I’d look for next year is a bit more fullness at the top. We’ve got this incredibly tall, thin top and with the lit star at the tippy top and then nothing for a good foot, it looks a bit odd. We’re also having trouble getting it to stand straight. Ah well, as long as it doesn’t fall over I can deal with a bit of a lean!
I thought about including my journalling but have decided not to. If you’re really interested you can leave a comment and I’ll email it to you. (Or you can just stop by and read it for yourself!) I typed it out after starting to hand write it and running out of room! I could have written more too but decided not to bring the tone of the book down too much!! It’s one thing to document “Real life” to have as a reference later, it’s quite another to use this as a personal journal to whine, complain and generally vent!

On the back of the journalling page I used a piece of patterened paper and added a picture of Marley’s Charlie Brown Christmas tree. When she came back from getting the tree with Greg she had a handful of fir branches. She proceeded to tie them together to make her own tree. She then made ornaments using these stencils I purchased from Scholastics. I was grumpy so not impressed with the mess of pine needles she was leaving behind, but I have to give her credit for all the work she went to. She is such a creative little girl! Love that!!
Oh, and I called it a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree because that’s what it reminded me of at the time. Remember, I was feeling a bit sorry for myself and I felt it looked like how I was feeling. A bit ragged and chaotic. But someone loved it enough to give it a home!
 Day 9:
The girls got to make Christmas Cookies today and decorate the tree with Greg.
But the big story of the day was that LC and I got to watch Paige’s ballet class.

I went around the house today (Sunday the 12th) and took some pictures of random ornaments/decorations to intersperse here and later (you’ll see). I also had a ton of pictures of Paige – who could resist such cuteness?! But I learned from my Day 4 entry and only included a few. One big one on the first page, then 2 on the back. I also added a little journalling and the word ‘Joy’ as it really describes how Paige feels when she dances. She was looking pretty serious in most pictures because she was concentrating really hard, and also a bit nervous having to perform in front of all the parents, but every now and then her smile lit up her face as she forgot about us and just enjoyed the momement.

Day 10: 
This was Marley’s day to show off for the parents! I forgot her ballet shoes at home (boy did I feel bad about that!! on today of all days!) which is why she’s tight-less. As with yesterday, I put one big picture of Marley on the main page and two on the back. (I also stuck the note from their Advent calendar onto the back of the cover page. Paige got to decorate some of the Christmas cookies after preschool. Marley had to wait until Saturday to decorate hers.)
I wasn’t able to get as many pictures of Marley as I did of Paige which was unfortunate. The viewing arrangements were tighter and Marley was often in a spot I couldn’t see very well. Or she had her back to me. OR … as I wrote about in the journalling strip I added to the second page … I was busy trying to keep LC from joining in!! She was SO good when we watched Paige the day before but this day just would not sit still. I eventually had to take her out into the waiting area!
Instead of a second picture of Marley I decided to document LC’s behaviour. I think it’s part of the story of the day and should be remembered! She loves to play with cell phones (she’s already destroyed one of my cells) so in an attempt to keep her quiet I gave her my phone. Well, she very quickly figured out that sliding the keypad out unlocks the phone as well as making a cool noise! Then I had to keep a watchful eye to make sure she didn’t actually figure out how to text someone! If you received a gibberish text on Friday I apologize!!

Day 11:
Our 4th Annual Christmas Open House!
The journalling tag on the cover page says: ” When we moved into this house in 2007 we knew that it was perfect to host large gatherings. That year we held a House Warming combination Christmas Open House. It was so much fun that we made it one of our traditions. 2010 marks the 4th Annual Open House. It wasn’t as well attended as we’d hoped but one of our guests called it the “event of the year” so I think we’ll keep it on the calendar for 2011!”

I added some more of those pictures I took today of Christmas decor and some rub ons and embellishments on patterned paper. The main page was perfect for my shot of the food table. We generally buy a few appies and ask that people bring something to share. The table was a lot more full than this shortly after the picture was taken but I got so busy in my hostessing duties that I didn’t get to take many more pictures that night.
On the back page is a rare family picture! It may show up on a couple of family calendars this year!!

Paige isn’t smiling which is pretty much par for the course. She had the additional excuse of being super tired by the time this picture was taken. She and Marley had swimming lessons in the morning and then she went to the birthday party of one of the boys in her preschool just before our party. To say she was in serious need of a quiet cuddle is an understatement!
Well, there you have it. I’ve got the pictures from today downloaded and hope to have a bit of time tomorrow to put together Day 12. Marley went to a Pirate themed birthday party!!
Thanks for checking in with me again. See you soon!
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December Daily – Day 7

Posted on December 8, 2010 by daydesigns
Here we go …
Day 7:

I used the note from the girls advent calendar as a place to tuck in some hidden journalling. I realize now I should have taken a picture of it … oops! You use the poinsettia embellishment to pull out the little red tag. The journalling reads: “Last year we didn’t make a gingerbread house but when I saw this kit at Michael’s, I knew we could do it this year. Marley and Paige each decorated one side of the roof. LC ‘helped’ by eating the candy and sticking her fingers in the icing. Silly girl!”
I took a picture of LC at Easter time with about, oh, I don’t know, a DOZEN mini eggs in her mouth and the biggest grin on her face. I got a similar one of her yesterday with her mouth full of little candy balls!! 
She does love her some candy!!
For this page I did up a collage in Picasa and then printed it at 5×7. I decided to let the pictures speak for themselves so just did some doodling around the edge of the picture.
Thanks for popping by!
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December Daily – Day 6

Posted on December 7, 2010 by daydesigns
Wow, I’m in shock! I got my Day 6 done!!
Let me show you quickly just in case it’s all a dream!
Day 6:

Yesterday was another one of those days without a real focus. But on the heels of my last post I decided to just pick one thing and write about it. We were hosting Paige’s preschool’s General Meeting for December which is potluck so I knew it was time to make my first (of many) round of shortbread. I remembered to grab my camera and voila! Simple, to the point and easy to finish!!
One annoying side note is that I bought more photo paper yesterday and bought the wrong type. Grr!! I mistakenly picked up the HP Everyday Photo Paper instead of their Advanced Photo Paper. It’s thin and doesn’t hold colours well and generally sucks!! I will return to London Drugs tomorrow and get better paper. Until then, this page stands with wimpy paper. Sigh!
Okay, must go make dinner …
See you tomorrow?
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December Daily – Days 1 – 5 are done!!

Posted on December 6, 2010 by daydesigns
I got some time last night to work on my December Daily … finally. Plus, while I am still producing copiuous amounts of stuff best left unmentioned, I do not feel quite so fuzzy in my head. Concentration comes slightly easier now!
I admit to feeling more than a little daunted at how this book is going to come together. What kind of look do I want it to have? What pictures do I include? How do I fit in the journalling? Etc, etc, etc. Once I got stuck in though it was pretty smooth. Ali has been posting her finished days and they look so beautiful! Part of me wants to be able to have mine look like that but my story is different so my book must be different. It’s got to be mine!
I have realized that my rings are not going to be large enough after all. Hmmm …
So, without further ado, here are Days 1 – 5.
Day 1:
Wherever possible, I’ve added in the little notes from the girls advent calendar. December 1st said “Today … let’s put up the Christmas Decorations!” As I’ve already said, dressing the mantel was about as far as my energy levels allowed me to get!
I got confused and thought that December 1st was actually Monday (even though it clearly says Wednesday – I blame the head cold!) so started talking about our busy weekend etc then had to cover my mistake. Hence the red flower and black ribbon.
Oops!
These are the types of things that make it “one of a kind”, right?
These things probably wouldn’t happen if I did each day as it happens!!
A close up of the back of Day 1. The picture of LC is one of those ones that you’re not sure will work when you’re taking it but when you check them out on the computer it’s better than you imagined! 
Day 2:
I thought the first Eggnog latte of the season needed a special page all to itself! 
The advent calendar promised beaded ornaments and they worked so hard and made such cute creations that I just had to include them. This snowman is mine but later you’ll see a brown letter “P” and a Santa head. It was an entire Santa at one time but LC “played” with it a little too hard! 
Here is the back of Day 2 and those ornaments I was talking about. I gave LC the chance to try out the beads but she was more interested in eating them!  
A close up of their work. 
Day 3: 
It was kind of a nothing day as we were all feeling pretty sick. Greg took a sick day from work. I did a bit of Christmas shopping. Marley had her usual crazy Friday of ballet and soccer after school. After dinner we made popcorn and watched some Christmas movies. I decided to simply journal our activities and cover the back with some matching patterned paper and call it a day. 
Day 4:
Today was a really full day. The girls got to try out some paint books from the advent calendar. I decided to include a couple examples – above is LC’s and below is one of Marley’s. She did several! Paige tended to get so much water on the paper that she ended up ripping it to shreds.
We started the day with pancakes  – the girls got theirs in the shape of snowmen! 

“Daddy’s comment: ‘Where was mine?!’ Sorry Daddy, they’re only for little girls named Marley & Paige.”
LC doesn’t like cooked blueberries so she just got plain pancakes. Maybe next year!
After breakfast, and swimming lessons for Marley and Paige, we went to Abbotsford to spend the afternoon with Ammee and Poppa (a.k.a. Don and Ina Graham). First I have to mention that it was a gorgeous day! Cold but sunny and clear. The Mountains looked spectacular as I was driving out there.  
Don and Ina have just moved into their new place and this was the view from their deck. Mount Baker in all its splendour!! Awesome!!  
The main event was a trip to the Apple Barn. Cousin Miles also came and the 4 kids played in the barn while we waited for the train to Santa’s Workshop.
Paige and Miles helped Marley on the mini zip line while LC played on one of the many tractor trikes.
Then the older ones bounced on the massive marshmallow-like trampoline while LC got to know a couple of llamas. Finally the train arrived and it was time to load up for the trip to the North Pole. Unfortunately, LC was none too happy to get on the tractor driven train and when we ended up sitting waiting for them to fix a flat tire, she almost lost it! But once we got going she calmed down. 
Then we arrived at Santa’s Worshop where they got to warm up, play and decorate a cookie. LC found a rocking horse and THEN she smiled! I had a lot of pictures I wanted to include (you know me and my inability to pick only one or two pictures!) so I created an extra page with this tab. 
The back of the picture of LC left lots of room to journal. I really like the way it looks. 
 Day 5:
The last couple pictures from Day 4 are of the young train driver. He was really good with the kids and got them building a tower out of blocks. I even managed to capture it mid-fall! 
Day 5 was another nothing day. I was super tired after all the activity of the day before and also due to lack of sleep. Greg was snoring/breathing particularly loudly in my face that night so when LC woke up crying I decided to move into the bed in her room. She likes to snuggle with one of us in there so … I hoped it would allow me to sleep. I was wrong.
She squirmed, she kicked, she coughed, she snored. At 5:00AM I had a coughing fit of my own and gave up the pretense of sleep altogether. I tried to nap after everyone had finally woken up but LC kept coming in to check on me.
The long and short of it was that I was in a VERY foul mood for much of the day! In the late afternoon/evening, having finally moved enough things into my newly re-jigged scrap room/office, I started working on this project and found my good mood again. Funny that! It takes getting your hands dirty to clean your mind of the bad thoughts!
I rigged up the self timer and decided that would be my story for the day. Not the most flattering picture of me but … it is what it is. 
And then I journalled on the patterned paper that I stuck to the back of Day 5. Called myself Mama the Grouch – hee, hee!
I kind of just had a brainwave (that Ali has been telling us forEVER) … in the attempt to keep my December Daily from being a foot thick by the time I’m done, I am going to try to pick one story to tell each day. Like today will be about baking my first batch of shortbread. Not about taking the kids to school, going grocery shopping, cleaning the house, having the preschool monthly meeting here at our house … etc, etc, etc! What a concept! 🙂
Okay, thanks for sticking with me. See you tomorrow … hopefully!
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