December Daily

I'm trying my hand at a December Daily album and the daily journaling that comes with that. The December Daily idea comes from Ali Edwards. She does one every year and it is always so awesome. While I'm making the December Daily my own, I am also taking a class at shimelle.com called Journal Your Christmas. I thought by combining the Journaling with a December Daily album, I would have a unique memoir of the holidays this year. My book will be called Anticipating December 25. Now let's hope I stick with it!!

The album I'm using comes from the December Daily kit at Studio Calico. I misted (Mr. Huey) the album first and then used clear crackle paint (Tim Holtz). Inside the cover, I pasted the calendar page- I still need to fill in the stuff we will be doing!

My journal prompt for today is "This Christmas I will..."

Believe in ... the spirit of the holiday, the love that surrounds me and the Lord, my God.

Be grateful for... my family and friends, my health and my family's health and our jobs.

Always remember... to have faith in those who love me and in myself!

And, finally, a Christmas Manifesto from Shimelle.

Homecoming 2011

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted on my blog. Thanks Lisa for bringing that to my attention! I hope to get some pages up here someday too. But for now, I have to post the pictures of Carter's homecoming. 

He actually let me take some pictures- I think he knew there was no way out of it! He is just like his father. Look at this and you will see where he gets the no photo attitude from.

Steve is looking for anyway to avoid the camera!

So, then look what his son does!

Finally, they give in to me when they realize I'm not giving up on the issue!

I just love that I got this picture though! It makes me happy!

I also had to be sneaky to get this next one too! He was so excited about the flower he got for his date and I wanted the picture of him going off to meet her! Got it! It took some persistence, but I was successful!

I really had to hold back my tears as he was leaving our house for homecoming. It hit me then that this is the beginning of him finding his way in life without me! Sniffle, sniffle!

Prom

Believe it or not, I made it through without tears for the girls to see! Just a few tears after they were gone. Normally, I'm the crying, sobby girl. But, this time I found myself just caught up in their happiness and excitement that I didn't even have time to think about it being the last school dance and what not! 

 Mackenzie

Alexa

Believe it or not, I took over 300 pictures! Now is that nuts or what? Well, think of it this way... if you were taking pictures of one child's event, you may take 150 pictures right? So, that's how I'm justifying my 300!

Believe it or not, Steve got in the pictures without any begging on my part! Yay!!!

Believe it or not, the tux shop gave Garron the wrong size pants!

Believe it or not, these 3 girls started their first dance in this spot together and took a bittersweet picture once again.

Believe it or not, the rain stopped for a minute for a quick outdoor photo!

Believe it or not, I got 2nd row at the Grand March, front and center for the photo op!

Believe it or not, the charter buses taking the kids to prom said "Precious Cargo" !! 

Believe it or not, I may be back tomorrow with a few post prom pictures!!

Prom Court

I just realized that I hadn't posted Mackenzie's prom invite for all to see! Well, today is the perfect day to do that since she just found out she is on the Prom Court!!!! I'm so excited for her!! She would make a great Queen don't ya think?! And, that would make me the Queen Mother then huh?! Watch out Princess Kate, a new royal family is in town- hahaha!!!

Anyway, on with the pics of Mackenzie and Tyler! Of course Joan, Carter and I posed as the paparazzi for the occasion!

Pregame- waiting for the gates to open to the Indians game!

Mackenzie was hoping for some signatures- no such luck!

There it is- the invite to prom! So cute, huh?! We almost missed it because Ketchup, Mustard and Onion were slinging hotdogs at the same time! Uh, hello condiments! How dare you distract the audience at such a big moment for my daughter!!!

Carter, Joan and I sat in a section over and down a few rows so we were able to catch the perfect moment!

Good luck Princess Mackenzie! I would stuff the ballot box for sure if I could :)

DeckHand

Steve found some new decking boards on clearance that will be pretty much maintenance free- yay!!! We are all sick of the staining of the deck every couple years if it makes it that long. So, this week the tedious process of removing all the screws out of the old boards has begun... ugh!!

Carter is our new deckhand!! He loves the job- haha!

Doesn't he look so excited? He'll be happy he did it when he gets paid for his efforts! 

This weekend we removed all the boards of one deck and have the long pool deck to go. Oh how my body hurts!!

Prom Invites

One would think that the extent the boys are going to when inviting a girl to prom that they were doing a wedding proposal. But, it really is so cute and getting really creative. When Garron told Mackenzie that he wanted to ask Alexa to prom, Mackenzie was happy to help him out with his plan. And, since she was in the know, I was able to be there for the event... yay!

So, with about 100 balloons, a sign, a rose and some window markers, Garron and Mackenzie decorated the car in the parking lot at school. It's really hard to see the writing on the car as it was so drizzly that day.

Garron was hidden away inside the car... so funny!

The sign was so cool. Mackenzie was very creative with this and used pictures of Alexa and Garron together from their high school years together... so sweet! She left a spot for a prom picture in the middle- always thinking that girl!

Alexa shut the door before all the balloon escaped as she wanted to save them- I have no idea where she is going to put all those balloons!! Probably half had escaped before she decided she had to have them saved!!

I'm so excited for them! They are such good friends and it will be a great way to end high school!

Now, Joan and I are going to stalk the Indians game on Friday for Tyler's plan for Mackenzie! I'm really going to have to be smart to get seats that have a great view of them- heehee!!

Goals for the Fall

I decided to start some goals for the fall. Why the fall? Because I will have more time on my hands then than I have had in 18 years. Sure, Carter will be here to entertain me. But, I will still have cut my time going to teenage events into 1/3rd. So, I decided rather than wallow in self pity, I would make a to-do list. This list is things I have put on hold because of the lack of time.

1. Take a photography class. I want to get the most of my camera    instead of just auto mode. I like auto mode, but come on that is not why my hubby spent the money on it!

2. Take the Wilton cake decorating classes. I have been obsessed with Cake Boss and other cake decorating shows for some time now and would love to learn this craft. Too bad, I don't have my butt in gear to get through the classes before we need those graduation cakes for the girls! Joan- help me with this- we have a pact to take those classes- maybe we could start this one now!

Who knew that paste is pasta in French (:

3. Take more trips to Lima to see my momma and papa! I do miss the carefree days of jumping in the car whenever to go there. there has always been softball, the kid's work, school functions etc. With that cut down to 1/3 of what it was, we will be on the road more. Thank you mom and dad for coming here so much over the past several years for us!!

I love you mom and dad!!

I'm sure I will think of lots of things to add to the list. But for now, this will be a good start.

A Few More Pages!

Just a couple more pages to share today! I have been on a roll- I love it when that happens! 

Alexa loves to take her own pictures. She's always posing for herself. She's so silly!

When people ask me if the girls are best friends, I say "Yes, best friends and worst enemies!" Twins are such a unique relationship... you can't get any closer than they are.

And, finally, another page for the Senior Albums. It is really hard deciding on how to narrow down all the pictures I have of them with their friends. I guess if the Senior albums explode, I will put some pages elsewhere!

Have a terrific Tuesday!

A couple more for the Seniors!

I've been good at keeping up with the Senior albums for the girls. (I'm feeling a little neglectful to Carter's albums though- I promise your turn will come buddy!)

Anyway, this first one is from the winter formal. Some of the pictures on the page are a little cloudy, but that is actually fog they had at the dance. I'm so glad the girls have been taking pictures at these events for me!

I love the flower from Making Memories, but that sucker was hard to get to stay glued on. I finally put a hefty glob of glue down and stuck my marker box on top of it over night and that did the trick! That flower is not going anywhere!

Next up is "Prep Rally"! That's right Prep, not Pep! They spend more time prepping for all the events that I just had to get a page in there of all that!

And, I have one more page that is celebrating New Year's with their friends. I used some black Zing to emboss with the bubble stamp in the background. It really does add more pop than just using an inkpad.

The first page is using Studio Calico's Wildflower Add-on kit and the second page uses Candy Shoppe kit with add ons. And, page number 3 uses the Babbling Brook add-on kit.

Have a happy Monday (: