December Daily - 2017

Can you believe tomorrow is already December 1st? I can't.

This holiday season, I feel very settled and content. Last holiday season was an absolute blur... 

I was working, and the closer Christmas got, the busier I was. The days were busy, the nights were busy [with extra curricular kid stuff] I wasn't in an overly happy space. In fact, I'm pretty sure looking back, I was pretty miserable. 

Last year I was totally rushed. Shopping was last minute and stressful. I did absolutely NO baking, much to my kids horror. 

This year is a different story. 

I actually have a good chunk of my Christmas shopping done. Already. And it's November 29th. Yay me. 

I've already made my first batch of Gingersnaps. They didn't stand a chance. They were mostly consumed. But this year is looking pretty promising compared to last year. 

I have also put my foundation pages together for this years December Daily album. This year I went back to Ali Edwards December Daily album, though I didn't order the entire kit. 

I ordered this year and last years Paislee Press mini kits. I love them. 

I did have a mix up however. I thought I'd ordered an Ali Edward 6x8 binder. When the box arrived, no binder.  I checked out my bill, and no binder. So, I had to scramble a little bit. I did manage to find a 6x8 binder on Scrapbook.com. I love the ones Ali offers, because they are 6 rings [check out page protectors you can see this new binder is only 2 rings] The 6 rings definitely gives you a bit more stability. However, I'm using what I've got. 

I have created a title page, and my intention page. [I attempted to write out my intentions in my own hand writing. But I hated it. So I typed it instead. Now, to figure out how to run journal cards manually through our new printer] Wish me luck! 

Here is my title page. Loving it. 

On the back side of the title page, I printed off this calendar. For now, it's just printed off blank and included in the album pocket for now, but I plan to include everything that happens in our month. [Which will be a lot, I know that already]

This calendar is a freebie that can be downloaded, along with a few other styles, to download, click here: Stitch in Time. So generous, and I love the van with the tree on top. It's my favourite. 

This years colour combination is going to be a mixture of red/black/white. 

I will try my best to keep up with pages here. 

[Of course, the first 3 days of December, I'm out of town in a ringette tourney] I'll have some catching up to do when I get home. 

I'm really looking forward to putting this album together this year. 

Looking Back

This past week I went back to my very first blog post. It was November of 2008. Nine years ago. Nine. Years. Ago.

My, how different our lives look 9 years later.

Nine years ago my now 15 and 12 year old kids were 6 and 3. One was in grade one, the other a year away from starting preschool.

Today they are in high school and junior high school. It truly seems unbelievable to me.  

I first started to blog, because I wanted to document and capture our 'every day'. When you're 'in it', the days often sometimes seem monotonous. 

When you have the ability to step away and look back at the every days... 

To see how far you've come. 

How things have changed. 

How your kids have grown... 

I actually had my posts from 2008 through 2012 printed and bound in a soft covered book. I have no idea what company I went through to do this. Believe it or not, there is no company information anywhere on the books.  

With the start of my project life albums, I cut down on my blogging considerably. 

Once I was creating PL albums, I was capturing the 'every days' that I'd previously blogged about. It seemed redundant to blog about it, or have books printed. Especially since I basically had all the hard copies of the photos and stories, in albums in the living room.

I have never wavered on this documenting thing. 

I still love it. As much now, as much as when I first began. 

My kids still sit and look through albums. They have memories of things, that have stayed with them, because they can read about them. The little stories that have made up our days. 

I love working with paper.  

I love working in PSE on the computer. 

I love capturing our stories. Still. 

And, if anyone out there, who's reading this, can tell me how on earth, I created this photo... I would love to know. Because I can't for the life of me, figure it out again... 

All I know is that it was saved as a .gif. But really, how did I get it to look like it was snowing?

I researched everything. All I did was end up with a virus on my computer. [Thanks to Mason, that situation has been rectified]

That's all I've got. Just a little bit of rambling for a friday.

PL2017 - Weeks 35 and 36

I'm constantly taking pictures. Drives my kids crazy. But every so often, I look back at the weeks, and  as shocking as it may sound, I hardly have any photos. So, I just make do with what I have. 

Sometimes when that happens, I look at what I've got, and then I cut a page protector down to accommodate them. I actually like that the page protector is cut down, it gives the album a bit more visual interest, to have something a little different. I should actually do it more often.

Week 35:

• Epic back yard water fight between Barry and the kids. So fun. The hose is now totally involved, and everyone gets SOAKED. The best part, there are no tears...
• Barry rented a sheet of ice for the kids, so they could get their rink legs back.
• Madelyn was nervous about starting at a new school. We drove to it, and walked around the neighbourhood to familiarize her with the area a little bit. 
• Crazy hazy sky sunsets.

Week 36:

• Annual parade, and totally ready to catch ANY candy that comes her way [Having candy thrown out is definitely a small town bonus]
• First day of school. Grades 7 and 10. 

I had to honour Mason's request for privacy. This nifty product was a freebie from CZ a few years back. I have used it a couple of times. I absolutely don't want to embarrass my kids. [If I did, they'd never let me take another picture]

The following Sahlin Studio products were used: 

Week 35

Photo Overlay - Love 

Hello Kit Sampler

Number Journal Cards

Week 36

Apple Orchard

Number Journal Cards

PL2017 - Week 34

I know back in my PL2017 - Week 29, I talked at length about seeing the milky way and the rings of Saturn. It was truly one of the highlights of summer for me. Another much anticipated event was the eclipse that was happening on August 21st. Some parts of North America were going to experience a total eclipse. 

I did a blog post on our eclipse experience. You can go back and read it here. 

Spoiler alert. It was a little disappointing. For us any way. The change in light was so subtle, that if you hadn't known this was happening, you would have totally missed it. Having said that, watching the moon move across the sun with our special eclipse glasses and home made eclipse viewers, was very cool. It shows you just how strong our sun is. It does tend to leave you in awe. 

We'd all like to be somewhere to check out a true full eclipse. Who knows, maybe we'll plan all our vacations and trips around seeing eclipses... 

Probably not, but it would be fun to do, if money were no object. 

Here is week 34:

• Our little eclipse party. 
• Starting our plumbing project. The first cut was definitely the hardest. 
• Our orange sunsets because of forest fires throughout Alberta.
• Madelyn still eager to play at the playground. [Please stay little forever]
• Trip to the trampoline park before school heads back. 

The following Sahlin Studio product was used:

Pause Kit - http://the-lilypad.com/store/pause-kit.html

Pause Journal cards - http://the-lilypad.com/store/pause-journal-cards.html.

PL2017 - Week 33

The downfall to being 12 weeks behind in my project life album is this:

I'm currently sitting in my house, dressed pretty much head to toe in fleece. I've got on my coziest slippers, I'm sipping hot tea, and outside my window I'm watching the snow fall...

These pictures absolutely do not coincide with our current weather. That makes me two things: 

1] Glad, I get to relive our awesome summer days.

2] Sad, that we're a long, long way away from awesome summer days... 

Here is week 33 of my project life album, and to awesome warmer days:

• Mason rescued a baby robin from our deck. It got flustered and stuck on our glass railed deck. 
• August birthday celebrations
• Sadly, Mad's little dwarf frog only lived a week. Another devastation...
• Picking our girl up from her week long sleep away camp.
• A pretty common scene, a teenage and preteen, on their iPads.

The following Sahlin Studio products were used: 

Worth a thousand words - elements

Worth a thousand words - journal cards

Worth a thousand words - paper

Number journal cards

PL2017 - Week 32

Moving right along, and trying to catch up a little bit. Here is week 32 of my project life album.

The highlight of this week was the weekend trip we took to Vegas with friends. [I also documented our one and only trip to Calaway Park this summer. I got pulled in and bought the pass, then used it once... Will try to remember that for next year.]

Having never been to Las Vegas before, it was quite an eye opening experience. If I had to describe it in two words, it would be sensory overload. We arrived late Thursday night, and flew home Sunday night. I wanted to capture as many photos of our time away as I could. We had a lot of fun with our friends. 

The following Sahlin Studio product was used:

Number Journal Cards

You are Here - Kit

You are Here - Journal Cards

PL2017 - Week 31

We just had our first real blast of winter. 

It's a bummer. It's cold. It's snowy. And at this time of year, I really do feel like hibernating. It's getting dark earlier and earlier each day. Yesterday we changed the clocks back. 

On the bright side, we did have our first fire in the fireplace last night. Nothing like the sound of crackling wood, and smell of cedar, snuggled under the blanket. 

It makes me glad to go back to summer photos and warmer longer days. 

Here is week 31: 

Another camping trip to the mountains. This time Mum and Dad joined us. It allows us to go on family bike rides. [We can't leave Miss Libby alone at the campsite] The weather started off amazing [read HOT] and then got colder and colder. By the day we left, it was miserable. Glad we had lots of warm clothes, as well as the furnace in A&B's R.V. The night before we left, we played games and all sat around inside their RV. Also, the fire ban was still on.  We were lucky enough to use Dad's propane powered 'fire pit'. It was better than nothing, but not quite like roasting marshmallows over the fire. Barry also ended the trip by getting a pine branch in the eye. Scratched his eyeball. It was pretty scary. We got in to see the eye doctor a few hours after we got back. They take eye trauma very seriously. He was given ointment, and by the next day had nearly healed itself. [Apparently the eyeball heals amazingly rapidly] We were so lucky it wasn't worse. 

We also got to celebrate Baba's birthday. We're always glad to have the opportunity to eat cake and sing. 

The following Sahlin Studio products were used:

Highs and Lows - Elements 

Highs and Lows - Journal Cards