Our comings and goings . . .

What a way to start the week.

So, lesson learned:  Do not take a five month old to a movie.  Now that would probably be a given, but we thought heck he is a really good baby and we could really use an afternoon out so why not? . . . I spent half the movie either out in the lobby or just inside the entrance of the theater just in case.  Needless to say we will not be taking him to a movie for another three years or so. 

After coming home it was a low key night at home and I got crafty finishing up some of the challenges from the New Years crop at CTS.  Super fun and I really love the two layouts I was able to put together.

This is a time capsule of things from 2011.  Movie tickets, mini golf score card, lots of my hospital bracelets, a few pictures and other random treasures.

and a quick share of my challenges for the crop. 

ATC Goal/Inspiration:  On the back I detailed what my goal is and how I'm going to achieve it.

Numbers Card Challenge:  Had to use numbers as a decorative element on a card and include a sentiment on the inside.

More scrappy goodness will be up in a coupld of days for the January kit reveal.  I enjoyed this kit so much.  Which is rather bizarre for me since it was full of lots and lots of pink. ;)

Happily embracing 2012

I'm not going to lie and say that 2011 was awesome.  It was hard.  Really hard.  I'm actually really glad it came to a close.  There was a few high points, but overall . . . it sucked.  I'm sure it has something to do with the 6 trips to the ER and 2 major surgeries in 2 months.

As a family I hope we can just continue moving forward and enjoy this new adventure as a foursome.  A year and a half ago it's something I would have never thought possible and that my friends was the high point of last year.

As for my December Daily, I kept up with it.  I have a few finishing photos I would like to add to it, but for the most part it's all done.  Really loved this project.  I think it was the year I could actually enjoy it and just go with the flow.  I'll share the rest of it as soon as I can get a photo of Wes and his book report taken.  His teacher enjoyed it and wanted a picture and he has yet to bring it home. 

Happy New Year!

 

Merry Christmas

Right about now we are probably opening gifts and soaking in the glee of a nine year old and all the Harry Potterness this Christmas brought him. :)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from our family to yours.

December Daily: 9, 10, 11, and 12

Day 9

Kept these pages simple.  I added a few digital elements as well as journaling to the first picture before printing.

Day 10

First picture is a compilation of a picture of Wes and Thomas.  Wanted to include both so I made it work with a little description of our night next to the pictures.

Next page is a pocket made from a transparency.  I used staples along the sides and then put a ribbon around the top to secure it shut with a straight pin.

The pocket contains our Elf Scavenger Hunt from Gardner Village.  If you fill it all out and take it to the candy store you get a free candy stick.  It was a great way to spend our Saturday night.  The opposite page is pictures of some of the elves.  Since it was dark and I didn't get many great shots I snagged these pictures from the Gardner Village website. 

Day 11

 

Our Sunday to eat with my grandparents.  Sadly I didn't take my camera and get any shots from the night, but I briefly wrote down a few things we did.

Day 12

Grandpa and Grandma took Wes Christmas shopping last night.  He picked gifts out for the family and was so excited to come home and wrap them.  Since he wasn't wrapping my gift I grabbed a few shots of him wrapping gifts for Thomas and Daddy.  I love that he is starting to really get some joy in the giving part of Christmas.

Presents for Thomas and Dad under the tree.

CTS December sketch

The layout has the first pictures taken of Thomas after he was born and in the NICU.  They are what the nurses took of him and handed to me so I could see what he looked like since I couldn't get up and go see him and they couldn't bring him in to me.   

He has changed so much in just four months!

December Daily: 6,7, and 8

Day 6

Spent the afternoon working on ornaments for nieces and nephews.  I'm contemplating on making this a tradition so each year they get a new ornament . . . really enjoying making this year a handmade Christmas.

Day 7

I found this gem is Wesley's bookbag today.

Day 8

Family night at Wes' school.  I took a picture of him working on his snowman sock craft and the bottom is our first (how sad is that!) family picture.  Thomas wouldn't even look at the camera and he's sucking his thumb.  Opposite page is the activity sheet they gave at the school that I cut to size and punched holes into.

The list of activites that night and what room they were being done in.  We walked home from the school that night and walked through the Roy City Christmas lights.  Took this picture of the lights with the moon. 

I'm staying caught up for the most part just need to get pictures I took printed and put together.  Loving this!

December Daily: Day 5

Day fives picture was actually taken on the 3rd.  I'm cool with that especially since we had two big family get togethers that day.  One in the morning and one at night.

I loved this picture of my boys with Santa and decided to make it the main focus for todays spread.  I included a lot of bits and pieces from my stash.    
 

(Something about being able to use two monograms that makes me smile.  I'm a dork like that)

Here I included Wesley's Christmas list for this year.  He insisted on filling every single one of those lines . . . what he wants more than anything though is Harry Potter Lego sets. 

I know I'm going to love this little list in his handwriting years from now.

Holiday Magic

The new kits are up for sale at Citrus Tree Studio.  I got the pleasure of working with the Holiday Magic kit. 

Last year for Christmas Eve we presented my inlaws with these six boxes as our Christmas present to them ( we did the same thing for my grandparents).  In each box was a clue . . . they were clueless until they opened the last box where I had placed a family picture of the three of us with a +1 off to the side.  Underneath the picture was written "estimated due date 8/16/2011.  It went over better than I could have imagined and such a fun way to tell the family I was pregnant. 

Here is my layout with the picture of boxes and a couple of pictures of my inlaws opening them.  Next to the larger photo I typed up the clues that were in each box. 

Pictures from last years Creamer Family Christmas party.

This kit comes with white cards/envelopes and I love the unique size of them. 

I'll be back later for a December Daily share and a peek at the ornaments I'm making for my nieces and nephews for Christmas. 

December Daily: Days 1-4

I love this project and really glad that I'm doing it this year.  However I wish my album was a little larger - it measures 4.25 x 5 inches.  Something I will have to look at next year.

Day 1:

The first page is a bokeh picture of our Christmas tree I got a week ago when our Christmas tree went up on the 28th.  Around the edges I put some small MM phrase stickers and rubon.  The next page includes screen shots I took on the computer of our local weather report on the first.  We had crazy winds that did a lot of damage and were what everyone was talking about all day.   

Day 2:

A quick photo of my boys that morning.  I included our typical morning things under the photo.  Second photo is a baseball card holder with doiley rubons and a label sticker.  In the pocket I placed a Jenni Bowlin December bingo card. 

On the second there were still a lot of people in our area without power.  We had a party planned with friends of our, but their power was still out.  We got together anyway and the result was better than we could have hoped for.  Pictures from the event didn't turn out great, but the memories will last a lifetime.  Top picture is a blurry Wesley doing charades by flashlight.  Bottom is our dinner of grilled pizza. 

This album is perfect for the little odds and ends of stickers I've had in my stash forever.  I used really old 7gypsies stickers between the two pictures. 

I handwrote the journaling about our night on the back.

Day 3:

The morning of the third we had a Christmas Breakfast with my dad and his wife.

I didn't plan to include all the pictures from that morning, but after going through them I couldn't leave any of them out and ended up printing 2 4x6 pictures trimming them and gluing them back to back to a piece of chipboard.  After punching holes it became my extra page.

Day 4:

Brandon, Thomas, and I were asked to stand in Relief Society as Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus.  It ended up being so special and Thomas slept through the whole lesson.  It was a special reminder of what this season really means.  I found this picture pinned on Pinterest and decided to print it off and use it for yesterdays entry. 

It's looking like Christmas

The tree is up.

The garlands are hung.

Presents wrapped and under the tree.

A few white flakes even fell from the sky this afternoon.

Tomorrow starts December and the start of my December Daily album.  Looking through it I think I'm going to have to change the binding since I know it's not going to fit in the album I made, but that can be worked out as I work on the pages. 

The Citrus Tree Studio sneaks are up.  Here are my contributions for the month.

There is a lot of red, green, and glitter in this one.