December Daily: Day 5

Day 5: Here are some facebook posts from today…

• Good Morning Monday! How am I going to accomplish it all today? Yicks!

at 6:49am

Comments:

Rob'nlin Schneider Because you are super woman

Rebekah Pontow YAY! Do I get a cape and a mask? I could use a disguise!

Rob'nlin Schneider Oh yes you do!!!! coming right up sister

Rebekah Pontow Sweet!!! LOL

• Some things just take longer then you think they should! *sigh* To-Do today: Preschool, coupons/shopping, Lunch with a friend, house cleaning (laundry & vacuum), and the in the evening the gym all while I attempt to document the holiday season!

at 7:55am

• Preschool time, time to speed up my to-do list here and get on super speed!

at 9:15am

• Not a lot done.....shoot, gotta get the kido now, lunch, and groceries!

at 10:40am

• Had a great Olive Garden lunch with a super awesome friend from church who colored pictures with Julia! I love when people will include her into the conversations and not just be annoyed with her. She can be a handful, but it's great when people are laid back!

at 2:00pm

• Time to get myself productive!!

at 3:00pm

The posts ended there abruptly, not because I was overly productive, but because I was aware from facebook! I commented here and there on other posts, but didn’t even post about my workout that evening. Just another day in the life of a facebook addict! The photo at the top is what's always preoccupying me - coupons!

December Daily: Day 4

Day 4: Our story every year at Christmas time involves the Woodcrafter’s Company Christmas party. The last few years have been at Benihana’s, and I absolutely love it! This is Julia’s second year going with us, and being that she’s at the stage where she’s not always so great at restaurants it’s always a gamble if we’re going to have a good time. But, we did. Here’s my prompt I’ll use to journal in the actual album…

Loving the calm feeling rush over me knowing that if I release the anxiety that comes with the business I will do just fine today

Loving the red dress I borrowed from Jessica at Church

Loving the random text message “So close 2 done I can almost taste the sushi” from Jon today

Loving curling my hair and getting dressed up

Loving Julia’s gorgeous dress

Loving how much help my mom is

Loving that I made it on time this year (and early to boot)

Loving that I get to see and sit next to Mellissa every year and chit-chat with her

Loving how much Joy Julia brings everyone in a room

Loving that Nurse Cathy came this year (she was one of the handful of nurses Julia had in the NICU, and was the wife of Jon’s co-worker!)

Loving all the compliments & Merry Christmases

Loving the Sushi (but not as good as years past)

Loving that Roxanne & Matthew made it and are having a great time

Loving that Julia has a friend to play with off and on when she’s ready to be mischievous

Loving the tricks the cooks do at the hibachi grill

Loving steak, scallops, and Lobster!

Loving how curious Julia was to see all the cook’s tricks this year

Loving that Julia got her own Startbucks gift card this year for Hot Chocolate drinks!

Loving the sleigh that was given to Steve & Peggy

Loving the night out and the good memories

December Daily: Day 3

Day 3: On the hunt for a Rapunzel Ornament for Julia today while I was out shopping with my mom for Christmas. I stopped in at Hallmark, and yes they do carry them, but of course all sold out all their stores in the tri-county. Every year I have made it my mission to get Julia a new ornament for the tree so that each year we can have a way of documenting what was going on in her life in a special way. It’s only been 3 years now, so we’re not too far into the tradition. But, I love it, and so does Julia. I had intended to order it online way before now so that it was on the tree for entire holiday season, but alas I fell behind on the to-do list. So, the wait online now is about 2-3 weeks, and it will just have to be a gift under the tree instead of on the tree.

December Daily: Day 2

Day 2: It’s my mom’s birthday! I Love birthdays and love celebrating anyone’s birthday. This year was even more low key then most years, Mom and her roommate, Kelly came over for dinner and dessert. I made Turkey pot pit and she brought some delicious cakes. We spent time with Julia playing and coloring and talking around the table. It’s nice sometimes to just have a normal evening with people you don’t always spend the evening with. Once they left, Julia was still very wound up with sugar and so after bath time, she decided she needed to play fort! There is nothing better then having a daddy who can build a fort out of anything. It was just another day in December for us.

25 Days of Christmas - Day 1

Day 1: The tree is up and it’s officially Christmas time. The minute Julia began to see Christmas lights on the streets and in the trees she was joyfully cheering “its Christmas time guys!” Julia was so excited to put up the tree, but Jon and I are not feeling the holiday spirit yet. There are too many things on the to-do list and not enough time and energy to get it all done. I’m glad to be taking moments like these to document them when I can, because otherwise the season would just fly right by me and I’d have missed it. In order to get the tree in its place in the house we had to completely rearrange the furniture and take out half the seating to different areas of the house. Once the tree was up and ready to be turned on and lighted, Julia, Chewy, and me sat there for the grand display! Then it was off to decorate! Julia pleaded to do them all, but it was already past bedtime, so we did the special ornament box and put up the wooden Merry Christmas Train. By the end I was feeling rather impatient and irritated with just about everything, a sign that says it’s way past everyone’s bedtime.

25 Days of Christmas in 2011

Last year I did 30 days of Christmas, and this year I haven't even planned out an album. So, it's going to be 25 days - on the blog, and then I'll create it!

December plans already made:

December 2nd: My mom's birthday!
Dec 3rd, 10th, 17t, and 24th I work in the morning at the Gym daycare!
Dec 4th : Jon's company Christmas Dinner party at benihana's
Dec 7 & 8th: Devin''s Wedding - Jon's the best man!
Dec 10th: Women's bible study group
Dec 11th: Heart Family Christmas Party
Dec 19th: Mother-in-law's Birthday
Dec 24th: Christmas Eve!
Dec 25th: CHRISTMAS! & Church events!

It's going to a very crazy Holiday season for sure! Other events not yet on the calendar...

- putting up the Christmas Tree & decorating
- Peacock Lane
- Visiting Santa
- Family Holiday Pictures
- More Christmas shopping
- Snow play!

I do not have an album created or even planned out. I'm flying by the seat of my pants this year...I have many personal trials ahead of me as well, and I think I will find time to add the personal (internal) notes to the book this year.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Getting Caught up on December Daily

Well, I am at day 16 today for my album and only have up to day 9 done in my book (mostly done I should say, need to pick up some prints from the store to completely those). I have found it difficult to print the photos I want each night, and make the pages before way past my bedtime and have to get some sleep. Finding time has been the biggest obstacle, along with working part-time, and a major virus overtaking my computer setting me back even further. So, here's some photos of the pages I do have completed.

Photos & Journaling for Day 7-10

Day 7:

Today is my mother’s birthday. I’ve had her birth date memorized since I was a kid, and I’m not sure the exact length of time but I have always purchased a poinsettia plant for her birthday. One year I even went into Costco a couple of days ahead and saw the gigantic poinsettia plant (like 3 feet tall) and decided it was the best thing ever. Of course my mom has almost never been able to keep the darn things alive past Valentine’s Day, except one year I remember recently her keep one alive until summer. I am not sure what prompted the first poinsettia, except for always having a strong need to buy my mom a birthday gift. Although my mom and I have been through tough times and rough patches in our relationship I always make the time to tell her how much I love her and appreciate all that she has done for me in my life and all that she will continue to do for me as her daughter.

The poinsettia’s association with Christmas began in 16th century Mexico, where legend tells of a young girl who was too poor to provide a gift for the celebration of Jesus' birthday. The tale goes that the child was inspired by an angel to gather weeds from the roadside and place them in front of the church altar. Crimson "blossoms" sprouted from the weeds and became beautiful poinsettias. What a beautiful story about the love of Jesus Christ.

Day 8:

Pancake Friday has become such a tradition for us! Jon has Friday’s off from work and it’s always so much fun to make breakfast for the whole family once a week. Sometimes it’s French toast, but if there’s Bisquick in the house then it’s all about the pancakes. Julia loves to get up to the table and help Daddy make them too, and today was even more special because she got to help stir the mix! She had flour on her chin from peering in to see her mixing skills, and then bounced with joy as Daddy poured mini pancakes onto the griddle for her to eat. It’s always such a joy to watch her experience everyday tastes and see them as special moments.

Day 9:

Tonight we (Jon, me, Julia, and my mom) walked over to the Main street plaza for the tree lighting for the city of Sandy. This is the first ever such event, and we missed it unfortunately (due to our favorite friend Devin stopping by for a quick hello as he was going through town). We made it up to the tree and into the tent where cookies and caroling was going on. Santa made an appearance as well, and boy was Julia delighted to see him! She jumped right out of her stroller and walked right up to him, pointed to him and smiled. I asked her if she wanted to shake his hand, and she ran over to me for a hug. I told her to stand by him so she could have her picture taken, and she was so excited she could barely stand still. We walked over to the group singing songs and she danced her little jig as we sang Christmas songs and stood together enjoying the moment. It was wonderful to have my mom there and for Julia to have one of her Grandma’s there to share in such a wonderful moment. I hope our city will continue to have this event each year from now on, so we can make it our family tradition. Though the tree could have used a much better decorator, it was festive and it’s exactly what our town needs.

Day 10:


The yearly Christmas party given by Steve, the owner of Woodcrafter’s where Jon has worked for 17 years now is always my favorite event of the year. It is the one of the few times of the year I really take the time to dress stylishly and can go out to a nice (expensive) restaurant without worrying about the bill or what I’m eating. The past few years the party has been at Benihana’s and this year was no different. I really enjoy going to this place because I love, love, love their food! Jon and I always make it a point to order their sushi and honestly I could eat just a ton of that for my meal and be satisfied, but there’s just no way I’m passing on steak and shrimp with fried rice! This year was Julia’s first party and I was anxious that she would be a scream’n meany, but she was pleasantly good and excited about the whole event. Of course there were the moments of wanting out of her chair and getting bored, hungry, or tired, but overall she was fabulous. One thing that surprised me as well was how much everyone adored Julia’s beauty. I know how beautiful she is, and long and flowing her hair, and overall how cute as a button she really is, but it’s always so wonderful to hear other people complement her in this way too.

Dinner was fabulous as always, and Julia got to eat some of her favorite foods – sticky rice & steak! She also used chop sticks to eat most of her food with too – once she saw us using them she was motivated to use them herself. We watched the chef cook the foods on the hibachi style grill; performing the silly stunts of throwing the spices around his back, the onion volcano, and the fast chopping of the shrimp and vegys. By the end of the night Steve had handed out the employee’s Christmas gifts (some for the spouses too) and the employees gave Steve his gift from them. Most years Steve gives out gift cards and is always so generous with them. This year’s gift was a Target gift card and 2 Starbucks cards, which I always take full advantage of! Such an amazing event every year, filled with holiday cheer. I really appreciate all the blessings we are given by Jon having such a stable job from Woodcrafter’s and every year feel so many emotions during this event. We are truly blessed.

December Daily pages 2, 3, 6

Reading and looking at everyone's December daily pages has made me feel somewhat inadequate in my abilities as a scrapbooker, but then I remembered that it was my project and not anyone else's. So, I walked in and sat down to work on my pages. I looked at a picture frame my husband had bought me for Christmas last year and remembered that these are just scrapbook pages and nothing else - I don't have to follow the same format every time, I don't have to make it perfect, but I do need to make it unique and tell the story. So, I found myself enjoying the process again and realized I can put whatever I want on my pages! Here are some pages I have finally completed. I have pictures ready for all my pages, but I just don't feel that they are finished yet. So, here are Days 2, 3, and 6.

Day 2

Supplies: Basic Gray paper and sticker. I feel like another picture will go above the sticker soon.

Day 3

Supplies: Basic Gray & making memories paper, making memories word-fetti stickers.

Day 6

Supplies: Snow flake punches: unknown; paper: basic grey, making memories, and unknown.

December Daily Day 6

Just an ordinary day for us today filled with house work, movies, and a full on PJ day for Julia; after she woke up with a wet bed. Wet beds have been a common theme in the morning about twice a week for her. She will leak through her diaper, usually due to the way she sleeps, and then after changing her I end up piling all of her blankets and stuffies around her as she sits there sad that I am dismantling her bed. I so can not wait until we buy pull-ups and begin the daily process of potty training. Even at bedtime now it’s becoming a struggle, with her learning to unzip her pajamas and undo her diaper (sometimes then falling asleep like this) and then us finding her this way when we check on her at night. Not only am I tackling many Christmas projects, events, working a part time job, and all the other duties I have on my list I am now going to attempt potty training in just a few short days. Just another reason why I love my life!

Julia sitting on her changing table, surrounded by all her bed items!

Day 4 Photos & quick journal

A snowman poll at the library

Checked out movies from the Library

Trees waiting for a home

Off to work I go!

Today I worked
Ashleigh watched Julia until Jon came home
Today we walked to the Library, checked out movies and no books
Today Julia wore a pull-up most of the day, but did not use the potty.
Today I noticed all the Christmas decorations coming out in town.
Today was a good day!
Today I smelled amazing after work!