December Daily: Day Twenty-Four & Twenty-Five...DONE!

Day twenty-four-We were busy traveling to different family parties.  We started out with brunch at Grandma's house (hubby's side of the family), and then later in the evening we went to my aunts' house for dinner.  I was so excited to get to go to my aunts', as we have not been able to do this in a lot of years!

Day twenty-five-We started the morning off with a visit from Santa! I think it is cute that my sixth grader had the hardest time going to sleep, and was the first one in our room in the morning.  We opened the "Santa" gifts and stocking first, and then they got their presents from Bill and me.  The were crazy excited to open their very own iPads.  I am glad that I will no longer have to share mine with three boys. :)
They were also surprised to find an aquarium with their very own hermit crabs.  The video of them opening the ipads and seeing the hermit crabs is priceless!

Thanks for hanging with me while I completed my December Daily.  I think I am going to take the Project Life plunge, so you will have to put up with some more scrapbooking in the New Year!  I will soon be back to regular blog post with my cards, too!

Emily

December Daily: Day Twenty-Three

Day 23-We were able to celebrate Christmas with my hubby's extended family this year!  We had fun visiting with aunts, uncles and cousins that we normally do not see on a regular basis.  Aunt Cathy had a fun scavenger hunt for the younger kids, and the adults did a white elephant gift exchange.  Max and Luke fell asleep on the ride home! 
I am going to try to post Christmas Eve and Christmas day tomorrow or Sunday.  Once my kiddos are back in school next week, I hope to get back to my normal blogging routine.  It is nice to take a little break.

Thanks for stopping by,

Emily

December Daily: Day Twenty-one & Twenty-two

Day Twenty-one-Our first snow of the year! Just a dusting, but snow none the less.  We were also busy with Christmas parties at school.  Super lucky this year that Max and Luke's classroom's are right across the hall from each other.  It allows me to zoom back and forth and see them.  Max is making ornaments in the upper left corner, and Luke and his friends used toilet paper to decorate their friend as a snowman.  So cute!

Day twenty-two-Basketball, Taekwondo, and an evening of looking at our favorite local light displays and Nativity scenes.  We made sure to stop and get some peppermint mocha's and hot chocolates before we started our venture.  Now...let the crazy Christmas travels begin!  We will be traveling to five parties in the next four days. I haven't done this in a lot of years, but now that Max and Luke are older, we decided to give it a go.  Hopefully they will not be grumpy when Christmas actually arrives!

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

December Daily: Days Nineteen & Twenty

Day nineteen-We went to The Cincinnati Zoo's Festival of Lights.  I always enjoy seeing the lights, and this year we decided to stop and check out Santa.  I am so thankful we did, as the Santa at Bass Pro was kind of a scrooge!  This Santa was amazing, and was very attentive to my guys.  All three boys were excited to see some of Santa's reindeer.  I am upset, because I obviously did not have my flash on for the reindeer and Frosty photos.  Oh, well.  Still memories in the making!

Day twenty-A busy day!  I met my friend Tari for lunch, and then after school we had basketball and another Cub Scout Christmas party.  Max and Luke also brought me home some beautiful, homemade cards and ornaments!  I think the teacher's sent them home a day early, since we are supposed to get some snow, and everyone in this area freaks out at the mere mention of snow!  LOL!

I can not believe that Christmas is almost here! Are you ready? I am!

Emily

December Daily: Day eighteen

Please scroll down for my Heartfelt Creations post!

Day eighteen-I included a photo of Max and his speech therapist.  He took her a gift, and I wanted to include her in our album, as she has done so very much for Max. 
About a year and a half ago, we found out our insurance would no longer pay for speech therapy, because Max has developmental disabilities and not a medical diagnosis.  I remember feeling so sad and angry, as I knew that without insurance our visits to Children's hospital were $200 a visit!  I did some research and found a private practice of speech pathologists.  At $40 a visit, this was a bit cheaper then our co-pay at Children's hospital.  I was elated!  After several months, I knew that it was a blessing.  Ms. Carey is AMAZING at her job, and did more with Max in a couple of months, then the speech therapist at Children's had done in several years.  Do not get me wrong...I LOVE Children's hospital, and they have been wonderful to us in so many ways.  The only thing I have ever been unhappy with was the speech and OT.  It just goes to show that sometimes something awful can really turn into something wonderful!
I also made some cookie cutter fudge for my hubby to pass out to his employees.  In the past, I use the metal cookie cutters, but the colored ones are quite festive.  I just matched my baker's twine to the color of the cookie cutter.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my album!

Emily

December Daily: Day Sixteen & Day Seventeen

Day sixteen-We traveled to a local farm to partake in their Christmas walk.  The walk, has tons of lights and scripture that walks you through the life of Jesus.  I love doing this with the boys, as it reminds us all what Christmas is all about.  Afterwards, we have cookies and cocoa in the barn and listen to carolers.  This is something they always look forward to.  It is simple. fun. and did I mention free?  Yep.  Not too many light displays like this are free anymore, so big bonus.

 Day Seventeen-We headed to Bass Pro to see Santa! Max and Luke were so excited, and big brother Will was a very good sport about it.  I don't think the Santa was as authentic looking this year, but Max and Luke didn't seem to care!  They had fun writing letters to Santa and sticking them in the mailbox, and doing all of the fun activities.  Of course, we had to go check out the waterfall and the fish and the turtles while we were there. :)

Thanks for stopping by! I will have a Heartfelt Creations card for you tomorrow.

Emily

December Daily: Day Fifteen and a card!

Day Fifteen-We went out to dinner with our neighbors to The Melting Pot.  We usually do this every year around the holidays.  I love The Melting Pot.  Always a fun atmosphere, and it is nice to be able to hang out for a few hours over the many courses they serve.  It gives you plenty of time to talk and laugh.  Now that I am looking at the photo of the layout and typing this, I realize I forgot to cover up the "25" with my "15"!  I have a circle all stamped and ready to go with the new date. Oh, well.  You get the idea...

I also wanted to share a quick and easy Christmas card I made using some of the "handmade holiday" papers from Simple Stories.  Love the homespun feel, and this card literally took a couple of minutes to put together.  Love that!

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

December Daily: 12-12-12

Please scroll down for my FWF post!

Day twelve!  Nothing momentous on this day.  The boys played games on the iPad and iPods, while Bill and I watched the 12-12-12 Sandy Relief concert on TV.  The concert was really quite awesome!  I stayed up well past midnight watching it.  I was excited to see Roger Waters perform, but I felt like the showstopper was The Who.  They were amazing! Check out Roger Daltrey's abs. Not too shabby for a 68 year old! I thought it would be fun to include a photo from the concert of them performing.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

December Daily: Day Three & Day Four

Hello! Today I can share day 3 and Day 4 with you all.  Day three shows photos of some of the Christmas decor in my dining room.  I LOVE Christmas and decorating.  This year I put up three trees, but I actually own five.  I am still reluctant to pull out some of my things.  Maybe next year when Max and Luke are seven...

Day 4 is all about our beloved Christmas books.  My boys have always looked forward to a Christmas story before bed.  This year I wrapped them all up and put them under the tree.  Each night, they take turns unwrapping a book.  It has been fun to see them try and guess which is their favorite.  After they open a book, I put them in a big basket so that they can look at them and we can read them some more!  They think it is fun to unwrap a "gift" each night, and it doesn't cost a thing, as they are books that have been in our collection for quite some time.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Emily

December Daily: Day Two

Day two is done! I am on a roll (no pun intended)! Will had a football skating party at a local roller rink.  They ordered pizza, and also had their awards ceremony.  Will was super unsteady at first, but he was a trooper and kept trying!  He was much improved by the end of the evening.  I took a photo of a pair of skates and used Instagram to make it look a bit more retro.  I love that instagram photos are perfect for the 4x4 pockets in this album!  I also included a "motion" type photo of will zooming past me in the lower left corner.  The stamped sentiments are from Unity, and the letters and numbers are from a few The Stamps Of Life sets.

I bought a new printer last night! I think it will make printing out photos a lot easier, and it is an "air" printer, so I can print from my iphone! HOORAY!

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

December Daily: Cover and Day 1

Here it is! My December Daily album ready to go.  I went with a Simple Stories album this year.  I like the different pockets and sizes that are available.  I thought it may make it a little easier, and less stressful.  So far, so good!  I bought the Homemade Holiday papers, but am realizing that there are some events that I may not want to use Christmas themed papers or colors for.  No worries...I can mix it up, and the leftovers can be used on cards.

 Here is day one!  Will had his big FLL tournament which was an all day event.  Grandma watched Max and Luke and took them out to lunch and to see Rise Of The Guardians, which they loved.  I left a space next to the journaling about the movie, so that I can add some of the ticket stubs.  They are currently in Grandma's purse!
I am finding that with the page protectors, it is very hard to get a decent photo of the layouts.  Because there are multiple pockets, it is not like I can just photograph the layout first.  Something I will think about for next year.  I am off to buy another ink cartridge for my printer today.  I was going to wait and just have my photographs developed each week and pick them up and add them into the album, but that is just not as much fun!  So...I will continue to print them at home, even though it is rather costly!

Thanks for stopping by,

Emily

Tradefish Designs-Let It Snow!

Hello! Today I have a card using the fabulous set, Sentiments of The Season from Tradefish Designs.  I pulled out some of my 25 Days of Christmas paper from Simple Stories.  I added some glitter to the paper designs and some burgundy crepe paper at the bottom with some green satin ribbon to finish it off. I distressed the edges of my paper with some scissors. Remember...all stamps are 50% off at Tradefish Designs!

Thanks for stopping by,

Emily

Jingle....

Hello!  Today I have a card in honor of my sweet friend, Tenia!  She is the featured stamper over on SCS today.  I chose THIS card in her gallery to be inspired by.  I really loved the layout of this card.  I centered my vertical banner, changed the colors and papers, but kept the general layout of her card.  I used some DP from Simple Stories 25 Days Of Christmas collection.  I used the Sugared embossing folder from Sizzix.  I then sponged distress inks over the raised pattern.  I added some green burlap twine from May Arts and a rusty jingle bell.

Are you all ready for the holidays?  I don't have to do anything for Thanksgiving.  My mom always puts on a wonderful Thanksgiving spread every year.  I show up with my side dish and enjoy the day.  So nice when you have kids to not have to worry about a big shin dig for lots of people.  As far as Christmas...totally not ready!  My kids haven't really given me a lot of ideas this year.  Usually, I am almost done with shopping by now!  I am going to start my decorating tomorrow! LOVE decorating the house for Christmas.  I usually clean each room really good and then put out the decorations for each room.  Tomorrow, I will start with my dining room.  My dining room is shabby chic in decor and so is the tree.  Fun, frilly and girly!  I am going to make some new vintage ornaments for the tree this year. Will try to post some photos this week of my holiday decor!

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily