Wiah No. 30 - Fun Times { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling: The past few days we’ve cleared our schedules, and enjoyed some downtime together. Today we didn’t even get out of our PJs. And we’ve had fun playing with all of our new toys from Christmas. My favorite has been playing all our new Wii games, and Disney’s Epic Mickey is the one I’ve enjoyed the most. It’ the perfect combination of challenge, fun, and Disney magic. Thanks Santa! It’s days like today that make me wish for more fun times ahead in 2011!

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Again, I took no pictures today. Tsk, Tsk. I guess I would be pretty lousy at the 365 photo a day project, huh? I'm thinking about it still... and if I miss a day here or there it won't be the end of the world!

Anyway, I fell in love with this painting of Mickey that shows up every time you die in Epic Mickey (which I happen to do A LOT). I really wanted to feature it.

Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! Be safe.

Wish No. 29 - Grace { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling: It’s hard to believe my dad has been gone for more than nine years. Your Grandpa Gren would have loved you to pieces. I miss him every day, but it’s during the holidays when I really wish he was here so you could share the magic with him. Instead I make the time to talk about him a lot so that you know his spirit, his love, and his grace. You are so much like him. It makes my heart happy.

Wish No. 28 - Reflection { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling: The month is almost over, and documenting our every day has been a time of joy & reflection for me. I purposely set out to make it simple, and in doing so it made the stories I wanted to tell that much richer and memorable. Our days were chockful of busy, and only a few times did I feel overwhelmed. This is good for me, and I think my one little word for 2011 will be simplicity.

Wish No. 27 - Refreshing { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling: Aunt Maureen treated us to an afternoon at the Chicago Botanic Gardens where we saw the amazing Wonderland Express train exhibit. You were in awe the entire time, staring at all the trains. Then outside to stroll among the lights. We finished the day with dinner at Max & Benny’s. Yummy! We all had such a great time. It was pretty chilly at 15 degrees , but a refreshing way to spend the day.

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I couldn't decide on just one picture for today, so three it is!! Hopefully it doesn't screw with the feng shui of the book... ah, c'est la vie!

WIsh No. 26 - Dream { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling: A Christmas tornado hit our house yesterday. New toys, wrapping paper, empty plates and cups were everywhere. Daddy & I were exhausted from the past few days. But you were so busy all day playing, playing, playing... and then you crashed hard, falling asleep on the couch. Long enough for Daddy & me to clean up a little, and for you to dream about all your new toys.

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This picture sums up our day after Christmas. Exhaustion. We have been going non-stop for two straight days, and today was our day to decompress. It would have been absolutely perfect if tiny little fairies came during the night and cleaned up the house, but no such luck. We did the absolute minimum, and that was enough for us!

Wish No. 25 - A Merry Christmas { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling: You woke up at 8am, and quietly walked downstairs. Mommy found you looking in awe at your presents from Santa. “He brought me Stinky, the Garbage Truck... and dinosaurs... and a lobster (Leapster)... and this! Santa surprised you with your own art easel! Oh, you had so much fun today buddy. Stinky & Geotrax were your favorite presents. But when I asked you at the end of the day what your favorite was you said, ”the party!”. Your Greninger cousins & aunts & uncles came over and we celebrated all day long!



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Christmas day was crazy busy as I expected. The morning went smoothly, and it was really special to watch Sean find his presents from Santa, and to open all his gifts from us. It was hard to tear him away from Stinky, the Garbage Truck. He even asked to bring him to church with us. Yikes! Luckily that wasn't too much of a fight. Mass was beautiful, and we arrived early enough to get a front row seat which kept Sean's attention for a good amount of time. After church was crunch time. We had two hours to get everything cleaned up and prepared for family arriving at 3pm. I had to keep praying to stay focused and not get too crabby or snappy. Our first family arrived at 3:30 which was perfect timing. We were finally ready!

I barely snapped any pictures today. Partially on purpose, and partially because I just didn't have any time. Here are the photos I do have besides what I featured on this spread...

Santa left Sean a greeting on the easel

Another Geotrax present!

Sean was a pro at opening presents

Sean & Hannah were excited to have dinner at their own little table.

My personal trainer recommended this recipe. It's a dinner roll mold!
Everyone was afraid of it but once they figured it out it was
gone in an instant. I went back for seconds, and it had disappeared!

Sean LOVED these cupcakes Aunt Kari brought.

It was a long day. Merry and fun... but long. And I was grateful when 10:30 rolled around and everyone was gone... and we went to sleep.

Wish No. 24 - Family { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling: We are so lucky to have close-knit family that live nearby. It makes our holiday celebrations that much merrier! Today we celebrated with the Hipelius side of our family. And the twins, Luke & Mackenzie did not disappoint on the cute factor. You loved playing with them, and especially enjoyed being the big cousin. On our way home we decided to stop at Aunt Shannon’s to peek in on the McDunn family party. And there you saw Santa himself! We finally arrived home at midnight just in time for Santa to arrive at our house!

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A lovely day! I took a ton of pictures of my cutie-patootie niece & nephew, and decided to feature my two favorite from the evening. Keeping it simple. Here a handful of my other favorites from the night. A good time had by all! Thanks Grammy & Grampy for a memorable celebration!

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve. Wow. That was fast!

I've been thinking lately about how stress-free the season has been for me so far. And last night I wrote about how I had a long list of to do's, but didn't get around to cleaning the kitchen. I tried really hard to take the laissez-faire approach, but when I went to bed I started to think of all the things I had yet to do. Clean, cook, set tables, finish laundry, clean myself, dress Sean, get out the door by 2:30pm to get to my in-laws. It was really overwhelming. So I said a quick prayer. God said it will be all right. And I went fast asleep.

Sean woke up at 7am bright and early. My sinuses and therefore, head, were screaming at me. And I thought, "really God? this is all right?" I flipped on PBS for Sean, but after an hour he insisted on going downstairs. So I got up, took three ibuprofen and some sudafed and thought, "it's all or nothing".

Within 15 minutes my head was clear. And it's now 10am and my kitchen is clean and a load of laundry complete. Next up, cooking. 

It's going to be all right. In fact, I think it's going to be perfect. That God... why do I always question him?

Merry Christmas!! May your coming days be stress-free and jolly. Just like they should be.

Wish No. 23 - Movie Nights { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling Reads: Merry Christmas Eve Eve!! We celebrated the anticipation by going out for dinner to IHOP. Your current favorite place, and you love the Baby Cakes. Next up was a bath, and then you opened a couple of early presents from Mommy & Daddy. A Little People Christmas flap book, one of your ever favorite line of books. And a new train set to add to your Thomas collection.  Finally, the piece de resistance - The Polar Express. It was movie night, and you & Daddy snuggled up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn, some lemonade, and your Tigger blankie. Life can’t get much better than this!

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I had a few big things on my to do list today - finish wrapping, laundry, get up-to-date on these December Daily pages, clean the kitchen... and then be out the door to dinner by 5:30pm. Check all of these off the list except for the kitchen. Which as far as I'm concerned can wait. Our big Christmas Eve Eve celebration could not wait, and it was worth every minute. These two guys are my world!

So any family members who would like to come early on Christmas day to help me clean? My door will be open and waiting for you. And if not? Don't look at the dirty floor as you walk over to give me a hug.

Wish No. 22 - Sweetness { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling Reads: Today we made our very first gingerbread house. You loved every minute of helping mommmy... and eating all the candy! Once we put up the Tootsie roll fence, you ran to get this little dog for the yard. A great idea, and so sweet!

I know, it looks really cute right? Yea... um... I'm not doing this again. At least not from scratch. I'm too much of a perfectionist and it wasn't coming together easily which aggravated me to no end.

And royal icing? A royal pain in the ass. Thank God I had a jar of white frosting in the pantry, which luckily did the job just fine. Seriously, thank God... 'cuz I was ready to throw this whole thing in the garbage if it didn't work.

The highlights were Sean really loved helping me (and I tried really hard to let him help me!), and enjoyed decorating the house with the sour dots around the house. And then when he went to get the little dog was way too cute. And who'd have guessed that the scale would be perfect!

He's enjoying playing (and eating) the house today. Here, you can see his little hand coming in for the kill on one of the tootsie rolls.

Wish No. 21 - Home Sweet Home { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling Reads: We had a heat wave today with temps in the mid-30’s, so we finished decorating the outside of the house., and you played in the snow! You loved shoveling and throwing snowballs. We’re all business on the outside (white lights) and all party on the inside (colored lights).

Let it be known: on December 21 the Pollacks on Talismon Drive took down their Fourth of July bunting, and hung evergreen garland in its place. Any bets how long the evergreen will be hanging?

Wish No. 20 - the perfect present { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling Reads:One of the things I’m loving about this holiday season is how everything seems to be coming together easily. This includes the perfect present for everyone. Ideas seemed to come from all sorts of directions, and the prices were better than expected. God answers prayers. Ask and you shall receive. I prayed and hoped for a stress-free holiday, and it appears to be given to me on a silver platter. God is so awesome. Today I spent the better part of the day wrapping presents for everyone. One of the things I enjoy the most about Christmas is wrapping pretty packages!

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Um, I have a confession to make. I originally intended, shot and designed this page for day 19... but then we decided to go see the Christmas light spectacular I featured yesterday, and decided I wanted to feature that story there. So, I did most of my present wrapping on Sunday, not Monday. There - confession made! Honestly, years from now it won't matter. Heck, a month from now it won't matter.

My Monday was really low-key. I took my mom to the doctor... drove home in a wild snowstorm, and then curled up on the couch and fell asleep watching the Bears whoop the Vikings. A fine Monday indeed.

Today's agenda: shovel the driveway, build a snowman, and teach Sean how to make snow angels.

Wish No. 19 - Twinkle Lights { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling: We have been playing a game the last few weeks, looking for Christmas lights. A couple of nights ago we drove around browsing neighborhoods for the best displays. Then Aunt Trish recommended homes in the Riverwalk subdivision on Manchester Lane. A group of five neighbors coordinated their homes, and set their Christmas light displays to music tuned on the radio. It was spectacular, and you were entranced by the twinkling lights. You called them fireworks, and that they were. An explosion of light! It was a wonderful way to begin our last week of Advent. Christmas is coming!

I'm going super simple these days with my pages, but it feels right to me. I promised myself that I wouldn't spend a ton of time on this album, capture the most important story for the day and work on my photography. This excursion tonight was fun, and I found my comfort zone on shutter speed with no tripod. It's not perfect, but good enough for me.

A shoutout to Yolanda for her photo inspiration! Thanks girlfriend :-)

Wish No. 18 - Date Night { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling Reads: The newest Harry Potter movie opened on November 19. Our lives have been a bit hectic since then, but Daddy and I really wanted to see this movie in the theatre. You had a blast at Grammy & Grampy’s, and then we all went out to dinner together.

We love Harry Potter, and this movie did not disappoint. Pretty dark and not for the young uns. There were a few story lines that were not developed in earlier movies which would have left someone who hadn't read the books wondering what was going on -- for example Bill & Fleur's wedding. Huh? When did they get together? But clearly they did their best to stay true to the book. I'm anxious to watch it again when it comes out on the DVD. In fact, I may even be inspired to read the book again before Part 2 comes out next year.

I cheated on this page, and used artwork from the movie. But I love the image and couldn't resist.

Wish No. 17 - Beauty { December Daily 2010 )

Journaling reads: You and I went to Kathy’s today to get our haircut. You’re old enough now that you climb up into the chair yourself, and you laugh when it tickles. You were super excited about the candy canes she had waiting for you.

Yea, no picture of me with foils in my hair. I took one for posterity, but I just couldn't resist this cutie-patootie photo of Sean getting his haircut.

After haircuts I went to the grocery store. Haven't been there in a long while since Sean's been sick. Spent $200. Wow! However, I saved $100 so it could have been worse.

Finally, we all jumped in the car tonight to drive around and look at Christmas lights in the surrounding neighborhoods. Nothing wowed us enough to snap pictures... but we're thinking we'll try again another night.

WIsh No. 16 - Keep in Touch { December Daily 2010 }

Credits: Be Merry Kit by Cherie Mask

Journaling Reads: Today was a day to keep in touch with friends and family. You and I took a trip to the Post Office to deliver a few packages, and buy stampes. I wish for you to learn the importance of friendship and keeping in touch. I wasn’t sure what to do for our card this year, and then the layout for day 8 inspired me to use your close-ups with this word art. Super cute. Better yet? I scored a sweet deal on seehere.com = 120 cards for $3.50 plus free overnight shipping! Procrastination paid off.


I didn't take any pictures today.

Bad Amy.

It's not that I didn't think about it... I just wasn't inspired and didn't push myself to do it. Besides, I really wanted to include what I designed for our Christmas cards. And including the close up portraits of Sean again would have been silly. But it left a perfect spot for journaling. It all works out.

Hair appointment tomorrow for me & Sean. Thinking of taking a picture of me with a bunch of tinfoil in my hair. Dare me?

Wish No. 15 - A Good Book { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling Reads: Our first day of freedom! We spent the better part of the day picking up the house and running errands. Our last stop was to Barnes & Noble to pick out a new Christmas book. You were debating between Max’s Christmas & Thomas...but it was really no contest. You picked Thomas. Must have been the very cool Thomas trains they had there for you to play. You really didn't want to leave. Who could blame you? The place is really cool.


I cleaned for the cleaning lady today. If you have a cleaning lady you know what I mean, and especially if you are a "messy" like me and my family. To be honest, we have to have a cleaning lady to force us to pick up the house every couple of weeks otherwise the place would go to hell. No joke. And since Sean was so sick two weeks ago we told Maggie not to come. It had been four weeks since the house was really cleaned. Yuck. It so so SO needed it.

This was one more thing to check off my mental to do list. And one more monkey off my back. To celebrate Sean and I went to Target to return a few things, and then to Barnes & Noble. Sean had never been there...  and oh man, he acted like he was at Disney World! There was so much to see and do, he didn't know what to do first. And then he saw it. Thomas. A big old wooden train table with Thomas and his friends just begging to be played with and loved. And Sean obliged. Luckily I found a Thomas Christmas book, otherwise I might not have lured him away from the play area. He did give serious consideration to Max as you can see, but it was clearly just to please me. It was Thomas all the way.

And now I sit in a sparkly clean home, fully decorated for Christmas. But yes, the red white and blue bunting is still on the front porch. In case you were wondering.

Wish No. 14 - Freedom { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling Reads: This is how you see me most of the time. On the laptop, working. Being a work at home mom has its perks - staying in my PJs, working in comfy chairs, and getting to see you all day, every day. But the downside is I don’t get to play with you as often as I’d like. Today I finished my final grades for the session, and I’ll be taking January off. Do you know what that means? Me & you time, buddy.  My favorite.

I'm still battling some sort of a chest cold and cough, which is driving me nuts and slowing me down. My butt was literally in this chair most of the day. Ugh. Hoping this bug leaves soon, and I can get down to some merriment! The good news is, my final grades are posted. One less monkey on my back.

This page is kind of boring, but it reflects my day. And I'm bummed that the focus is off completely, but I couldn't find our tripod and was balancing the camera on some Mega Blocks. Literally. Thank goodness for the remote. The next time I appear in the book I promise to look much merrier, in focus and full color!

Wish No. 11 - Creativity { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling Reads: We started working today on converting a wall in our kitchen to your art center. I finally found a use for all those wine corks Mommy & Daddy collected over the years - most from a Napa Valley trip in 2001. I love the way it turned out, and you love being able to draw on the wall!

YAY! Our project is complete. We've been working on this since Saturday, hence why my "wishes" are out of order. I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and finally decided to jump in and do it. This is an empty wall in our kitchen where we recently placed Sean's little table & chairs (relocated because of the Christmas tree). Jeff and I both mentioned how much we like this little table in the kitchen, and Sean really likes it too for eating and coloring, creating, etc. Friday night during dinner I said, "We really should convert that wall into a chalkboard, and that space could be Sean's creativity center." Jeff agreed... then there was no stopping me.

At first I wanted to do magnetic paint & chalkboard paint, but then I started reading reviews of the magnetic paint which weren't all glowing. Plus, the magnetic paint is fairly pricey at around $20/quart. I really wanted this to be a down dirty cheap project. I then started thinking of a cork strip above a chair rail, and wondered if there were any cork letters on the market. I googled it to no avail. So I searched on etsy, and happy-chanced on a listing that included wine corks and the lightbulb popped on in my head! We have a gazillion wine corks from a Napa Valley trip back in 2001. We had seen really cool wine cork creations (trivets, wreaths, framed cork boards), and thought we could do that ourselves. So we started asking at every wine tasting if they would give us some corks, and a few places gave us bagfuls.

Lo and behold we never did anything with them. Until now. I decided to make a chair rail out of the wine corks. Don't you love it? And it will be a great place to hang up Sean's art projects!

Jeff found an old cabinet kick board we had laying around, and I cleaned it up and starting hot gluing the wine corks to the board. A couple coats of chalkboard paint... a few pieces of trim... and voila! It's complete! I really love it. Total cost = $20.

Wish No. 13 - Gratitude { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling Reads: You are almost three years old, and you are really getting into pretend play. Today we played with your Little People nativity, and I jumped at the chance to tell you the real story behind Christmas. You loved the idea of giving presents to Jesus on his birthday, and thought it would be cool for your race car driver to give Jesus his winning trophy just like the Three Wise Men. I thought it was pretty darn cute myself. You’re getting to be such a big boy with a big heart... and I love you so, so much.

We had another low key day today. I spent the better part of the day grading papers, and will do the same tomorrow for final grades. I'm SO looking forward to this session being over and for a much needed break. I will be taking the January session off... 8 weeks to recharge my batteries!

I'm happy with how this spread came together. Doubly happy that I snapped a decent photo to tell a good story about what Sean and I did together today. He spent the better part of the day playing with his Little People, Mega Blocks, and Geotrax... as well as running and spinning (he likes to get dizzy!). The poor little guy pooped himself out, and ended up falling asleep on the couch for a few hours. We're at the in-between stage of naps versus no naps. And since he took a nap late this afternoon, it meant he didn't want to go to sleep... I was repeatedly putting him back into bed tonight until after 11pm. Heaven help me.

Wish No. 12 - Simplicity { December Daily 2010 }

Yep, I skipped day 11. And it's not because we didn't do anything. In fact, we did a lot but it's not yet finished. So I want to wait until it's finished to take a picture of it for my album. You'll just have to wait and be patient.

Now, day 12 was a really simple day... since there was a winter storm outside we didn't leave the house except to go to church. I wanted to capture the storm somehow in a picture but it wasn't happening. This picture was one of the many I took out the patio door.  Believe it or not, the white you see is overexposed snow!

Journaling reads: A winter storm today, with below zero wind chills. A great day to stay inside, watch the Bears, and make frozen hot chocolate. I’m battling a chest cold so I’m all about keeping it simple today.

Wish No. 10 - Believe { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling Reads: You were so excited to see Santa today. All day you kept asking, “is it later? is it night time, mommy?” This morning we worked on writing a letter to Santa that included all of your wishes, just in case you forgot when you saw him in person. You promptly dropped it in his mailbox when we arrived at Santa’s temporary house in downtown Crystal Lake. The wait to see Santa was a little long, but that was OK with you. You were finally able to play in the snow! And then the moment arrived - it was your turn! And you easily jumped up on his lap and remembered everything you wanted to say. The best part? Santa gave you a candy cane.

We worked some more today on decorating the house. Still a little more to go, but it can wait. The big story today was a visit to see Santa this evening. We're very lucky that our town sponsors a free Santa in a heated little house (temporary) in the downtown area. Tonight the wait was a little long, but Sean didn't mind in the least because he was finally able to play in the snow. And then see and talk to Santa. He was a little shy at first, but then remembered everything he wanted to say, including Merry Christmas when we left. He really loved every minute of it.

I'm not stressing over this spread like I did yesterday. While my creative mojo feels a little stunted by my simple approach, I can't limit the big guy himself. He deserves a page and some more.

Wish No. 9 - Peace { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling Reads: Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.  -unknown

We decorated our Christmas trees today - you loved helping mommy. We also spent a better part of the day building and playing with Geotown. This you really loved.

We really did have a lovely day. Sean and I decorated each of our Christmas trees, and he was an excellent little helper. I even snapped a few pictures of him, but it was pretty late and the low lighting made for very grainy shots. Bummer. I didn't even care so much and desperately wanted to include them in this spread. But alas, it wasn't meant to be. Today's story was really simple (and important!) and I loved all my pictures but they just weren't all coming together as easily and simply as I would have liked. I think my problem was I wanted to tell two stories (decorating trees and playing Geotown), and that doesn't fit so nicely into my template/flow of the album.

I started working on this briefly late last night, and decided quickly to put it (and me) to bed and come back to it in the morning. And then I was fiddling around with it way too long. So I made myself stop and went with two full bleed pictures and called it a day. Boring? Perfect? So-so? How about peaceful? Ah, it is what it is... moving on.

Tonight, Santa!

Wish No. 08 - Joy { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling Reads:

Dear Sean,
     You are really loving Christmas this year. Even with being sick and itchy all over, your eyes twinkle when you see anything that has to do with Christmas. You know your Santa wish list down pat, and are very excited to tell him what you’d like - dinosaurs, a lobster (Leapster), and Stinky the Garbage Truck. You still really love trains and today, in fact, all you played with was your Geotrax.
     You are so smart, buddy! Daddy and I are in awe of how much you know, remember and talk about - it’s amazing! One of your favorite things to say lately is “I don’t have time for this, Mommy.” You certainly have an independent streak in you, but you also love to be silly and dance, march like a dinosaur, and give kisses, hugs and fist pumps eagerly.
     Tonight as we were getting ready for bed you invited me onto your train (your room) for a ride to the North Pole to see Santa. My heart literally bubbled with joy. You’re at this stage in life where you question everything (why? is your favorite question right now), and you’re starting to get scared of things. Especially the dark, and you have a hard time falling asleep because of it. Tonight you told me you weren’t scared because your train isn’t dark and scary. As you say often, “I grow up, Mommy.” Oh yes you are, little buddy. Much, much too fast.
                                                         Love & kisses, Mommy

Wish No. 7 - Wonder { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling Reads: I’ve talked a lot on my blog lately about how we still have our Fourth of July bunting on our front porch. And here’s the proof. It’s Dec. 7 and this is what you will find if you came to visit us. Needless to say we still have a lot of work to do to not look like the Pollacks we truly are. Heck, even Eddie came to drop off the evergreen garland and didn’t think he was at the right house. But then he came to the door and saw toys strewn everywhere inside and knew he was at the right place. I wonder if Santa will pass us by?

Another PJs day and trying to get caught up with things around the house, and get work done. I tell ya, this WAHM (work at home mom) stuff is for the birds. It definitely has its perks (such as being home with the little people), but it puts so much pressure on us women to do everything really well. So I'm in the process of reprioritizing, and considering switching my role to a SAHM (stay at home mom). Such a distinct difference, and one I think I'm ready to take on! We just need to crunch the numbers and make sure we have our ducks in a row before we make the decision. Then hopefully next year we won't be having holiday schizophrenia like you see here.

Wish No. 6 - Visit from St. Nick { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling Reads: We continued our tradition of honoring Saint Nicholas' feast day. Sean placed one of his new snow boots outside his bedroom door, and was thrilled to see St. Nick left him a few treats.

During mass last night I suddenly remembered that today (December 6) is the feast of Saint Nicholas. Clearly God didn't want me to forget. So I headed to Target to pick up some new snow boots and other treats. Last year we started the tradition of leaving a boot outside your bedroom door in hopes that St. Nick leaves a few treats. I remember doing this when I was a kid, and it was always fun to have an early surprise in advent. And I like the idea of being able to share with Sean the history of the real Saint Nicholas, and how we honor him today. I have a few years yet before we need to figure out how to link him to Santa??? And today I read about an idea of St. Nick leaving a special ornament for each child. I really like this idea and will incorporate it next year.

Sean is still battling the rash/eczema -- which you can see on his cheeks -- but it appears to be under control with copious gobs of Aquaphor and regular doses of Benydryl.

I'm really loving my simple approach to this year's album -- 1-2 photos per day, 1 story. It's definitely much less stressful. Here's a look at the full spread.

Wish No. 5 - Christmas Music { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling Reads: Music has always been a big part of my Christmas memories. My mom would stack up the Christmas albums ten thick on the turntable and the Carpenters, Roger Whittaker, the Muppets and more would be playing all day long. I still enjoy listening to these oldies and added some new favorites. Today it was Straight No Chaser, an A Capella group who originated from IU, my alma mater. 

Another simple page. Loving it. We didn't do much yesterday except for go to church, work... but I did listen to Christmas music while I was working on the computer. I really love this time of year when I can pull out my Christmas CDs and sing along to Jingle Bell Rock.

Wish No. 4 - Snow Day { December Daily 2010 }

JOURNALING READS: The first snowfall, and Sean was dying to go out and play. At one point he even had gloves and his rainboots on claiming, “I all better, mommy. I not sick.” But  I wasn’t buying it, and luckily he wasn’t throwing any tantrums... I might have given in. If you look closely you will see a rash has developed again, but this time we think it’s just eczema. His skin is probably starting to rebel from the hives he had last week. Other big news today is he went pee pee on the potty for the first time! We have been taking the relaxed approach to potty training and started in ernest right before he got sick. Ugh. Needless to say, it was put on hold. But tonight he asked to go potty, and even surprised himself. What a big boy!

I'm surprised that this spread came together as easily as it did, and looking halfway decent. I had to run outside at 4pm to snap shots of the snowfall because I had forgotten during the day. My lighting was clearly horrible, and when I got back in I noticed my ISO was set for 1600. UGH!! I definitely should know better, but my mind isn't thinking straight these days. C'est la vie. I'm pretty happy with it, and it's simple. simple. simple.

Wish No. 3 - Tradition { December Daily 2010 }

Every year my sister, aunts, and cousins plan an annual Christmas shopping trip to an outlet mall. This year I decided I wanted to go to Aurora (Chicago Premium Outlets) because they have a Vera Bradley outlet. For some strange reason I've been longing for a vibrant, outrageous quilted bag. And I got one! Plus more. It was a cold day -- below freezing -- but definitely bearable going in and out of stores. We should have tallied our total spending for posterity... then again, who cares! This trip is more about spending time together, snagging a few good deals, and snacking on pop and chocolate chip cookies. I'm thrilled I was able to make it this year. A big thanks to my hubby who stayed home with Sean.

This was the only picture I snapped all day, but glad I thought to do it! My Aunt Susie took the picture because the ones I took turned out yucky. I brought along my point-and-shoot so I'll take what I can get. It's about documenting, right?