Officially into a new year

I don't get all excited about New Year's Eve.  I don't usually make resolutions or have goals that are specific to January 1.  I think this is because my birthday is in January, so MY new year actually begins 9 days after everyone else's!
I do have some goals for MY new year.

*to stay on top of my homework for my Bible Study
* to take my vitamins every day (I am doing very well with this one)
* to drink 8 glasses (or 4 of my bottle) of water a day. (I am getting there)
* to blog weekly (I have snuck this in - this is the last day of my new year week)
* to make at least one creative thing a week.  A card, a scrapbook page, knit something, crochet something or even a new fancy recipe.
* to get myself back to a regular routine.

I have the hardest time with the last one.  I know I have mentioned it before, but I seriously like the idea of going with the flow, and being super spontaneous.  My whole body PHYSICALLY objects to the idea of mopping every Monday, dusting every Tuesday....you get the drift.  I really don't think like that.  But the more I get to know myself, the more I realize that the Flylady is totally right.  When I keep myself on track with a loose plan, I have more time and brain space to do the fun, creative stuff!

So the Princess and I have designated Tuesday as bread-making day.  This is something I used to do.  I used to make bread, almost exclusively.  We almost never bought bread when I lived in Calgary.  But since moving back to the prairies 6 years ago I have never really gotten myself back into a rhythm where I could consistently fit making bread into our week.  So we have decided that if we just DECIDE that Tuesday is the day, we will make it!  So we have made bread two Tuesdays in a row and this week's bread turned out beautifully!

I wanted to post these pictures yesterday, but my camera battery was dead, and by the time it charged, we had put away all the lovely loaves except this one!

Anyway, I don't think my goals change much each year, but I do want to make taking care of small things that will make my life better (vitamins, water, a routine so I can be sane) .  I want to know that I do life well, that I am getting better all the time.  I like that saying, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.  I realize how true that is.  Which is why I added in the goal of making something every week.  I love to sew, make cards, bake, etc, but often because of the everyday busyness I don't get to do any of those things and I think my whole attitude suffers for it.  I can't tell you how good it feels to make something after not doing it for a while.  It is like relief!  So I want to schedule that into my time so that I have an opportunity to do it.

I guess my beautiful bread can suffice for my creative something this week.  I have been working on a bunch of cards, but they aren't done yet so I won't count those!  I will try to remember to post pictures sometimes of what I make!

Happy New Year!

351 days until Christmas

Yes, my advent series was a fail...sorry for that!

Part of the problem is that I can`t upload pictures. What is the deal with that? 

So now we have a new year, trying to get back to normal.
Normal cleaning schedule, normal kids activities, normal school work.
Sigh
I love Christmas holidays.  I love all the decorations, the company, the food that we don`t normally get to have.  I love the special music, I love it all!

I didn't make any  Christmas cards this year.  I just couldn't find the time.  I did end up making one prototype, but I never did get back downstairs to produce them.  I did do a bunch of knitting though!  I know, weird, right?  I taught myself to knit and crochet almost 10 years ago, but was never very good at knitting.  I am not very fast at it, and it takes too long to make anything by knitting in my opinion.  So I have gotten pretty good at crocheting, but really haven't knit at all in a really long time.
Anyway, this new ruffle yarn makes making a fancy scarf really quick and easy! So I made about 10 scarves this year, using different kinds of ruffly yarn!

Here is a pic!

 Isn't that a neat picture?  I think they turned out great, and they were fast too, except the red one I made for my mother in law. It took a long time!  but it turned out nice so that's okay!  I made another brown one too that is for my youngest sister, but I guess it never made it into a picture, and one with really pretty spring colours for a very good friend of mine.  I am working on a pink one now too, but it also is taking a long time, and since Christmas is over I guess there is no pressure, so I haven't worked on it for days!
LOL!
I also made a decorative framed wall hanging for our family's gift exchange on my husband's side.  This is it.
I really liked how it turned out too - I have been working on my own that says FAMILY for over a year!  LOL, I managed to finish this one though. 



Here are some of our pictures from Christmas!

 Look at these kids, I am so blessed, seriously, I can't believe I get to be their mom!

 Toddler got a Mickey Mouse from Florida to go with her Minnie Mouse we got her from California last year.  Now they are a coast-to-coast couple!

 Dash got the Incredibles, she was very happy with it, but her favorite present was the one pictured below....

 A real Ukulele!  She was so excited! She just loves it.  I need to be diligent to teach her using the book that came with it so she can learn to play a song while it is still exciting!

 Princess really wanted the new Jonathon Park CD set, so we got her that!

And the oldest two got normal stuff, shoes, a movie you know, nothing too exciting, just good stuff!
What did you get for Christmas?

20 days until Christmas

So now we were a day behind in our unwrapping

but that's okay, because truthfully, I knew I would get behind!

So what will it be today?

looks like something flat, kind of flexible...hmmmm, could it be???

 Yes, a book!!

How to Draw Christmas

I am so not artistic!  I can barely draw stick figures and my favorite times of art have been when a friend of mine, who happens to be an artist, has invited my kids over to paint, or sculpt with Sculpy or whatever.  That does happen only rarely though and my kids are way more artistic than me.  I think I must THINK art is important though, because I BUY a lot of art books, but I struggle with using them!  LOL!
So today was How to Draw Christmas day!  I had the kids do a snowman picture with chalk and the older girls did a drawing of a snow queen that we are going to do a resist technique on with paint over top.  I will post a picture of the finished product too!

21 days until Christmas

Eek!  3 weeks!  Time seriously flies!
Today's gift got a little mismatched!
LOL! 
This is what happens when you get a little ahead of yourself.  I took some time this morning to go downstairs and wrap up the rest of the weeks gifts so that I am not in a time crunch.  Originally I was going to have them all done in advance, but let's face it that goes against my very personality and with sick kids and real life, I just didn't get to it!
So I was all ready to go and then my husband (who took today off, what a treat!!!) decided that he was going to go get something that was way better than anything I could give them for advent.
Have you guessed?  Should I make you wait?
It smells so good!
Yes,
it is
our

TREE!!
Isn't it beautiful?  We always end up with the most beautiful trees!
Anyway, I think it is totally thawed now and it smells absolutely AMAZING!  If you come over you would think I just washed my floors with PineSol or something!  Just kidding, it smells way better than that!

Anyway, we got the lights on, but didn't have time for anything else, as Ballerina had youth group tonight, and we couldn't do it without her.  And we can't do it tomorrow because we have care group/kids club/youth group again and we won't be home.  But we can hopefully get it decked out on Thursday night!

Are you wondering then why we got it today if we can't even decorate it and I had a different plan for a gift?  Well, truthfully it is because I am cheap.  Up to tomorrow, at the store we bought it from, we received a gift card to use in the new year, and if we use it the tree will have cost us about $5.  And who doesn't need stuff from the Home Improvement Store in the New year?? 

So anyway, we got it today, which works out fine!  I also bought a small cheap artificial tree when I was out for the front room.  The rest of the decorations were also part of today's present and we will decorate tomorrow too.

Yay!

22 days until Christmas

This is by far one of my favorite days of Advent!  Here was the gift....

Can you guess what it is??

It is small and flat, and sort of circular shaped inside the paper!
One of the things that brings me absolute joy at Christmas time!
Ready??

Yes, that's right - it says it...Boney M Christmas!!  Yay!  I totally love this CD, and am tempted to listen to it at random times throughout the year.  But I try and keep it for the month of December only!  The really funny thing is that my mom, when I was a kid, had it on a tape, that was recorded for her from her sister's tape!  And I have it on a burnt CD.  The difference is though that I had purchased it once, and the CD got so scratched that I ended up buying it through iTunes.  So actually I only burnt the CD so we could open it as a present last year and then we can also take it in the truck with us.  I actually always have it available to me in my iTunes library!

So today's soundtrack will be some good old Disco inspired Christmas music!

23 days until Christmas - first day of Advent

So this was the present for the first official day of Advent!

Number 23.

 

I don't know why they look scared - or sad about it...it wasn't sad or scary, really!

This was the present.  Our advent wreath, the candles to go in it.  The book we are reading this year Tabitha's Travels.  (Click the link in the sidebar to find it on amazon) and the treasure box for Jesus.  Each day of Advent the kids get a bit of change which goes into the gift for Jesus.  On Christmas day we count it all up and see how quickly a little change can add up and then donate it to somewhere - sometimes it goes to our Compassion children, sometimes it goes to our church for an extra program, or to a missionary.  It changes each year.
So we gathered last night to read and pray together and of course the question was asked..."One more chapter, please??"  Which I love, but of course had to refuse!

24 days until Christmas - pre advent

There is 2 ways of looking at Advent.  There is the traditional 4 Sundays before Christmas way and then there is every day of December way.  We usually do the 4 Sundays before Christmas way...because the book we read is designed that way, but this year I let them have a pre-Advent present.  Egg Nog.  I am a bit of a stickler about a few things and one of them is Egg Nog.  I won't buy it until December 1, so this year I could have made them wait but since I am all about the fun (within the rules that is) I gave them an early advent present on December 1.  It was really good egg nog.  Totally worth the wait!