Day 2 - Tree :: December Daily 2013

Traditionally, our Christmas tree goes up Thanksgiving weekend. And this year was no different. Daddy dragged it in from the garage, checked the lights, and up it went. The next day you and I decorated it with ornaments. We can’t find the ribbon garland, and honestly it probably won’t go up this year with all we have going on this month.

Neither Daddy or I grew up with live trees, so we’re content  -- and honestly happy -- with the artificial tree. Our tree right now is huge, standing ten feet tall. It definitely makes a statement! And the multi-colored twinkle lights are magic.  We decorate the tree with ornaments from when Daddy & I were kids, and ones you have made, and others we have bought on vacation.

Day 1 Cheer :: December Daily 2013

Yep, it's that time of year again! I know it's been forever since I've blogged, but I made a deliberate attempt to simplify and knock things off my "to do" list. I also ramped up my networking efforts for our adoption. Please continue to spread the news that we are hoping to adopt, and keep us in your prayers.

Now I'm back with the December Daily album. This year I'm going SUPER simple. I'm using Ali Edwards' 31 Things as my inspiration, and have selected thirty-one words that I will write about -- either documenting something from that particular day, something that is on my mind, or telling a story or memories from the past such as when Jeff and I were kids at Christmastime.

As you'll read on this page, we are soon leaving for a Disney World vacation so I will be journaling and snapping photos while we're gone but probably not designing pages. That will have to wait until I'm home. Meanwhile I'm sure I'll be posting blogging about our trip and posting photos. Enjoy!

31 Things :: Story 19 - Listen

It’s Thursday morning. I listen to two little boys whisper quietly. Sean had his first sleepover with his friend Drake. They were both excited, and from the sounds of their conspiratorial whispers the fun will continue today. Summer has arrived.

I listen to my alarm buzz noisily in my ear, and I quickly remember I have office hours I need to log into on the computer.

I listen to little feet scampering down the stairs, and their voices rise in volume once they realize I’m awake.

I listen to birds chirping a little too gaily as I water the flowers on the front porch. I’m so not a morning person. 

I listen to the pancakes bubble and two little boys asking if they can help. I can’t resist, and let them stir the already well mixed batter. Who cares if the pancakes are tough.

I listen to Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked in the background. The boys are now watching it for the second time since yesterday.

I listen to Sean whine about going potty before we leave. I roll my eyes and take a deep breath while I lead him to the bathroom not saying a word.

I listen to 105.5 on the radio while we drive to the children’s museum. It’s an hour’s drive and I’m looking forward to listening to music. I have to change the channel a few times because I begin to question the lyrics of some of the songs.

I listen to not enough music. When I do it’s usually like this in the car or on my Kindle Fire while exercising at the Y. Black Eyed Peas… Coldplay… Jack Johnson… Owl City.

I listen to Pink sing Don’t Let Me Get Me and actually hear the lyrics this time. “I’m my own worst enemy.” Ain’t that the truth? I listen to God inside my head tell me to focus on the road… and to love myself.

I listen to hammers & saws (real ones!) inside the museum, and wonder why the heck they allow small children to use these things. I wince as I actually cut my own finger. “Let’s go boys, let’s go see what else they have here.”

I listen as Sean tells Drake, “I’d like a ticket for the 7 o’clock train”. They’re both dressed up as if they’re going to work, and both serious as all get out. I chuckle and feel my headache start to release. I ask Sean what he’s doing, “I’m going to work, Mommy” he replies as he gets on the pretend train. I ask him what his job is, “I work on the pirate ship.” Of course! all pirates go to work on the train with a blazer and briefcase. How silly of me.

I listen to Jeff say “Love you” as we part from lunch. It was nice being able to see him during the day.

I listen to the Black Eyed Peas sing I’ve Gotta Feeling and I turn it up on the way home. I look in the rearview mirror and see two little boys singing and dancing in their seats. Yep, I’ve gotta feeling that everything’s going to be all right.

31 Things :: Story 18 - Shoes

I love my Crocs. Yes, they’re ugly. Yes, they look stupid. But man, they’re comfortable. And easy. And they don’t stink. I remember when they started to become trendy, and I would stare at people wearing bright red, clown looking Crocs with a furrowed brow. I thought, “I don’t care how comfortable those things are, I’m never going to wear them.” And here I am today, a Croc lover. Eating my words.

  

I do love me shoes. But they must be comfy. I think I’ve owned maybe five pairs of heels in my life, and only one black pair of short heels are in my closet right now. I’ve always been a big, tall girl and felt very conscious of that fact when I was a teenager and young adult. I always felt that heels made me look like a giant. And man, they hurt. Being a giant with painful feet has never made me feel beautiful.

  

Surprisingly my feet are not big for being five feet ten inches tall.

In fact, they are relatively short and fat. My mom calls them my Fred Flintstone feet.  My personal trainer shakes her head and wonders how I don’t topple over. I wear a nine wide. Technically I could fit in an eight and a half extra wide width, but it’s hard to find cute shoes in that size. Nine wide will do, thank you.

Shoes are scattered all around the house. I try to contain them in closets and baskets in the mud room and the back door. But they tend to land wherever my weary feet decide to shed them. This means I’m often found searching frantically all over the house for whatever shoes I’m wanting to wear at the time.

I have a mish-mash of all sorts of casual shoes. Lots of flip flops, toeless sandals, a couple pairs of running shoes, a few pairs of Crocs, hiking boots I never wear, one pair of short black heels, several leather slip-ons in black and brown, and snow boots...

Crocs of course.

31 Things :: Story 17 - Technology

I’m a gadget girl. I love new technology, and my heart flutters when something new hits the stores. Our family is techno geeky here at home.

I have a Dell laptop.
Jeff has a work laptop.
Sean has a Lenovo laptop Uncle Johnny gave him.
I have a Kindle Fire tablet computer that everyone fights over.
We have an HP desktop computer.
We have an old HP desktop computer upstairs.
We have several external hard drives.
The TV is linked into the hard drives.
We have a Wii gaming system, and a PS2 gaming system.
Everything is connected via wireless router.

I have a blog.
I'm on Facebook.
I'm on LinkedIn.
I'm on Pinterest.
I email daily.

I work from home, and my job is 100% online. My students connect with me via email, instant message, and live chat lectures. I’ve never met my boss or anyone else for that matter face-to-face. I’ve talked to just a few people on the phone over the past nine years. This is in stark contrast to when I went to college with a typewriter, and we needed a RAM disk to start the computers in the Mac lab. And the internet was just becoming a reality, and email didn’t exist. My first job out of college I had my own computer but it was DOS-based. We didn’t even have voice mail.

I’m also a realist, and really don’t like spending a lot of money on something I don’t think will add value to my life. Jeff and I both have “dumb phones” that are simply for phone calls. We don’t have internet or text on our cell phones. Oh, don’t get me wrong – my inner gadget girl would LOVE a smart phone, but my inner realist says I don’t need to spend the money on a monthly data plan. And I worry about being so connected that we no longer connect in a real and substantive way. I don’t want my relationships to be just status updates, tweets and texts.

Then  again I met Jeff online twelve years ago, well before it was trendy. We courted each other via email before we ever met. The most important relationship in my life started with email. Then we got married. You can’t get any more connected than that.

December Daily :: Day 25

I always have a hard time when document Christmas Eve and Christmas Day because there are always SO many pictures and great memories. It's hard to pick just a few. Next year I need to come up with better layouts to capture all of the great moments.

Journaling reads: You woke up this morning at 8 o’clock. I could hear you open your door and few seconds later yell “Mommy! Mommy, let’s go downstairs.” I purposely didn’t respond because I wanted you to come and get me. You walked into our room all stoic... your way of not showing any emotion. I said, “why? What’s downstairs?” Finally a smile broke across your face. “Presents. From Santa!”

This was the present you made for us at school. You were so excited to give it to us that it was the first thing you grabbed when it was time to open presents. We LOVE it. Thank you.

We spent the day playing with all your new toys, and then we got ready to go to Aunt Kari’s for Christmas dinner. Mommy had popsicles and crackers, but everyone loved the ham and potatoes et al. You gave and received lots of great presents like your remote control fire truck, ceramic train music box, and Kanga! We finished the special Christmas celebration by singing happy birthday to Jesus. A blessed day indeed!



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December Daily :: Day 24

I woke up on Christmas Eve sick. I have to admit at first I was a little excited thinking about spending the day alone and quiet... but quickly became very sad. I was determined to make it to my in-laws. I showered and got myself all made up, and I was feeling OK. We were on our way, made it about halfway there and the car ride was making me very, very nauseous. I made Jeff pull over at a gas station so I could get some fresh air. I nearly lost my cookies so to speak, and had to sit on the curb because I started to see stars. Not good. I had Jeff take me home, and I cried the whole way.  I was mad at myself for even thinking I could make it, and now Jeff and Sean were going to be late. I was sad I would miss seeing Sean and his cousins. I was sad that I would surely miss some really cute memories. I spent the night on the couch. Bah humbug.

Journaling reads: Christmas Eve! Twas the night before Christmas, and the parties were starting! We celebrate with the Hipelius side of our family on Christmas eve, and you were ready  to party! Mommy, however, wasn’t. She got your bug stomache, and didn’t make it to Grammy and Grampy’s today. Bummer. She was really sad about it and ended up watching TV the whole night under the glow of the Christmas tree. You, however, had an awesome time playing with your cousins. You told me all about the yummy food you ate like pretzels, crackers, rolls, ham, mashed potatoes. Oh and cake. Your favorite. Then you opened presents and lots of them! You are very loved.

Here are a few more pics my dear husband shot for me that night. So, so cute.















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December Daily :: Day 23

Pictures like these I wish I had a Nikon and/or a better lens. I used my kit lens instead of my 50mm 1.8 because it was such tight quarters, and I wanted to get the Christmas tree in the frame. So that meant I had to use the tripod as well as bump my ISO as high as it would go. The focus is OK but there is so much noise. I hate noise. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Journaling reads: You’ve been watching one Christmas movie every day this month, but tonight was family movie night. The Polar Express. Your favorite. you watched pretty much the whole movie, but fell asleep right after the first gift of Christmas. Will you always be able to hear the bell’s sweet sound?


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December Daily :: Day 22

I have a confession to make. I hold a guilty pleasure in pretty wrapping paper and ribbons. And when I found the awesome prices on the adorable paper at Hobby Lobby a few years, I fell in love. Don't tell my husband.

So it's only fitting that today's entire page be just my wrapping paper.

Journaling reads: After our campout last night, we had a hard time getting moving today. But we finally got dressed and took the truck in for a new solenoid, and we played with Buddy the dog while we waited. Next, off to brave the crowds at Kohl’s, and then back home to build Geotown around the little Xmas tree. Finally, I had time to sit and start wrapping presents!

December Daily :: Day 21

If you think you've seen this post before, you may have -- I updated it to include page 2 about our campout last night. I didn't think I'd get a decent photo, but I did. Lo and behold I know something about using my Canon :-)

The journaling about the campout reads: You’ve been sick the past couple of days. A bug stomache, as  you like to call it. Nothing too serious, and you’re a big boy now so you can handle it easily on your own. With all the yuckiness that comes with being sick, your advent activity today was a special treat - campout under the Christmas tree with Mommy. We wacthed Elmo’s Countdown to Christmas and fell asleep under the twinkly lights. It was pure magic and the perfect medicine for an
upset tummy.

And, remember my ranting and raving last year that I would never make another gingerbread house EVER? Well, clearly I'm insane because I did it again. This year was much calmer with better preparation. I used graham crackers this year glued to boxes with icing. MUCH, much easier.

The main house is a 12 pack box of Mike's Hard Lemonade. Jeff was worried that the bottles were still inside. I assured him they were not. The box in front is a lasagna noodle box, and the chimney is a spaghetti box. The roof I had to measure and cut out of cardboard.

Royal icing made from egg whites and powdered sugar - a snap. Paint the box with some icing and start slapping the graham crackers on.  Then decorate. My roof is Necco wafers, and the windows are wafer cookies. The tree is a sugar cone.



Did you make a gingerbread house this year?

December Daily :: Day 20

Another full page photo... not sure why I didn't do it sooner in the month. Maybe I'll go back and see if I can add some. That's what I love about digital scrapping.

Journaling reads: Snowflakes as big as tissues fell today, and you couldn't resist going out and trying to catch one.

Christmas plus three year olds plus singing makes for a VERY fun morning. Today was your first Christmas program, and you loved every minuted of it. Jingle Bells, Happy Birthday Jesus and We wish you a Merry Christmas were all sung beautifully by you and your little friends. Mommy and Daddy and Grammy and Grampy and Uncle Mikey all came to see you, and then we had fun doing all the activities.



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December Daily :: Day 19

The full page photos are back... I couldn't resist. They weren't in my original plan for the book, but I sure do love them. Especially this one. This is our daily life right now in December. Love it.

Journaling reads: Today we went to Color Me Mine in downtown Crystal Lake to paint a Christmas plate. We used your handprint and created a Santa face using your handprint for his beard. You also painted  an ornament because you were getting a little antsy while mommy painted Santa. Maybe we can do this again next year, and make it a tradition.

"Mommy, Mommy! Come look at my army men!" Such is life with an almost 4 year old little boy. I love you, Sean Thomas!



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December Daily :: Day 18

One of the most anticipated days of the year. Visiting Santa. Sean prepared by writing his Christmas list -- oh, about a month ago! Luckily it was in his giant coloring book and he knew exactly where it was. He hadn't finished coloring it, so he quickly did just that because he knew that Santa would appreciate a fully colored page.

No journaling on today's page. I figure a visit to Santa can be told in just photos. Plus, nothing really exciting happened that needed to be expressed in words.



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December Daily :: Day 17

You've got to love adorable little ones. Those baby blues... to die for.

Journaling reads: Today we celebrated round one of Christmas with Aunt Susie and Uncle Frank. It was a fun-filled, crazy evening with lots of playing, running, hide and seek and present-opening. You received lots of great gifts including Lincoln Logs, matchbox cars, Playmobile Santa set, and clothes. You topped the evening off with a dance with MacKenzie. So, so cute.



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December Daily :: Day 16

I'm loving the extra spots this year for multiple photos. Yet, a large part of me yearns for the real simplicity of just one photo day. I think I might have to return to it again next year. With that said I'm happy and content with this year's book so far. It's not the same as year's past and therefore will be unique in telling of this year's story.

Journaling Reads: The Botanic Gardens has become an annual tradition with Aunt Maureen. The Wonderland Express is amazing, and the lights and decorations inside and out are breathtaking. Then we finished the night with dinner at Max and Benny’s. Yummy! We all had a great time.



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December Daily :: Day 15

Journaling reads: Today was one of those days where I had a ton of things planned down to the minute, and something completely out of my control threw a wrench in my plans. A day to remind me that God is the one in control, not me. I dropped you off at school and then headed out to run some errands. Then the truck stalled. I called Daddy, and then it started only to stall again. Luckily I was able to get myself into a parking lot and called Allstate Motor Club who sent a tow truck for me. While waiting I said a quick prayer and asked for God’s protection. Grandma Shelly came to pick you up from school, and several strangers reached out to offer their help. We were able to borrow Grandma’s car to go get our hair cut, and then we went to see Grandma McDunn at the rehab facility. Portillos for dinner, and then Grammy and Grampy came to see you. You saw all of your grandparents today. It turned out to be a lovely day.



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December Daily :: Day 14

Journaling Reads: We made Christmas cookies today, and boy was it an adventure. I called Daddy and told him to remind me not to make cutout cookies again. A LOT of work without much return. But, once we settled down and started decorating it was all worth it. You loved icing the cookies and putting sprinkles on them. Then we pulled out the Pillsbury cookie dough and made chocolate chip cookies. I normally make yummy homemade, but today the store bought dough was a welcome respite.



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December Daily :: Day 13

I'm behind in posting these pages, mostly because I was waiting for these cards to reach their recipients. I have all of the other pages built so get ready!

Journaling reads: Our Christmas card this year featured twelve photos - one from every month highlighting the fun things we did all year long. The best thing about this card is the awesome deal I got from Cardstore.com. Thanksgiving weekend they were running a 70 percent off sale. And if provide them your mailing list, they will address your envelopes AND free postage. Wowza! I received 100 cards for 42 dollars. That’s less than what I would have paid for the stamps alone. Plus, no hassle with addressing and stamping each envelope. Now that’s what I call an awesome value!



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December Daily :: Day 12

I had a productive Monday, and back on track with a normal schedule. Daily mass, workout at the YMCA, grocery shopping... and a picnic lunch under the Christmas tree! If you want to impress a three year old, this is it. He was giddy and talked about it the rest of the day.

I'm not sure this story deserves an entire spread, but my story for Tuesday does... and when you're doing a photo book you have to keep in mind your page count. I still love this for its simplicity.

Journaling reads: We had a picnic lunch today under the Christmas tree. It was delightful, and you thought it was the BEST thing EVER. We have to remember to do it again next year.




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December Daily :: Day 11

We did a lot on Sunday, so I decided to include little thumbnails of the highlights. The coup d'etat was the Nutcracker in downtown Woodstock. Our seats were really lousy, and Sean fell asleep during the second act when our friend Annie (his babysitter from summer) was dancing... but it really was very beautiful, and I enjoyed it!

Journaling reads:


1. Jingle the elf is getting trickier by the day

2. Flowers from Trader Joes. So pretty. Daisies are Grandma Shelly’s favorite flower.

3. Giving tree present dropoff was today at church. You really loved the idea.

4. Happy Meal french fries have become teeny-tiny.

5. Downtown Woodstock Opera House

6. We went to see Annie in the Nutcracker. You feel asleep in the second Act and missed her altogether. This photo is not of Annie. No pictures were supposed to be taken, but Mommy didn’t hear that until someone told her.




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