December Daily

I am doing December Daily, I have tried to do it in the past - but couldn't follow through with it.  In the past, I even bought the kit.  I have no idea where it is at.  I have made excuses like - I don't have young children at home, I am too busy, my life doesn't look other people, she makes it look better than mine, I will be gone a lot. 

This year, is different - I have 8 grandbabies to share with

 I bought the kit

  I am going to make my album reflect me and what is important

  I am going to make memories with whoever is with me that day - school or home

I am going to make it simple

I bought the Studio Calico kit, signed up for Maggie Holmes' class, bought Ali Edwards' overlays.

Then, my brain froze - I had no idea what to do.  I planned the cover for 4 days, yup 4 days.  I ended up making the most simple cover, ever.  But, I love it and it is mine.

I painted the cover white, using Martha Stewarts' paint.  It took about 4 coats.  I used some red glitter Stickle paints, that I had from a few years ago.  There are a total of 12 stars on the front cover - one for each of my four boys and eight grandkids.  I added some of the gold glitter tape and the 2013 sticky thing from the kit.  I saw a lot of beautiful covers on the Studio Calico gallery page.  A lot of them had a bunch of very nice elements that were sticking up.  I knew that I wanted this album to be handled by my grandkids, so that wasn't an option for me.  It needed to be simple, I didn't want to be worried about things falling off the cover.

Then, I spent a lot of days figuring out the inside pages.  I couldn't decide if I wanted one page or two pages for each day.  This process was really hard for me.  I wanted it to be just right.  I tend to overthink things.

So, I made a rough calendar of the events that I knew would be going on this month.

I decided if I wanted those particular days to be a full page, 1/3 or half pages.  The process became easier for me.

I printed out all 3 sizes of Ali Edwards' templates.  Then, I started putting them in the protectors based on my calendar planning.  It dawned on me, that I could move the pages around - if I needed to.  I didn't have to preplan everything out.  I saved all the printed templates that I didn't use, so I could use them in my bigger Project Life album for December for journaling.

This was an important step for me.

I liked the way Ali had cut a protector in half for her title page.  I might have flinched a little, when I cut it - but it felt good that I could change something that didn't work for me.  I put some little tree confetti in the top pocket, I got it at Michaels and added the calendar 3 x 4 card from the kit.  I sealed the top and the bottom with the gold polka dot tape, found in the kit.

On the back side, I used another 3 x 4 card from the kit.  The right side of the page is Ali Edwards' template, 6 x 8.  I knew we would be at Disneyland on the first day and I wanted a picture of one of the trees to be added.

I will add the pictures and journaling this weekend.  It is too hard for me to do it during the week since December is so busy with Kinder babes.  I, already know what pictures I am using for this first week - so it should be easy - I hope - to put it together.

As long as I don't overthink it again.

Baby Dedication

The twins were dedicated at church on Sunday, it was a very special day.  After, we had a luncheon.  I am so blessed to have an amazing daughter-in-law, her family is equally special.  They, always, make us feel welcome at their house.  I took a bunch of family photos for her side of the family - her sisters' families and her mom with the grandkids.  I was, also, able to get this photo of my mom with 3 of her great granddaughters.

This is very special to me.  I love how my mom wore the same colors as the girls.  I think, this is the only picture I have of my mom with any of my grandkids.  I will probably make it larger and give it to her for her birthday.

Note to self: Don't forget to take pictures like this.

Mr. K's Birthday

We celebrated my grandson's first birthday a couple of weeks ago and I finally got the pictures finished.  Hubby and I did all the cooking - my sister made the most adorable, yummy monster cupcakes for the party.  My mom made Mr. K's Hawaiian shirt, this will be a keeper.

My sister made 5 different cupcakes.  The purple guy had a big gumball to hold the head up.

They ordered the cake with the Hawaiian monsters on it.  It was really cute, but the cupcakes tasted better.

His smash cake - which he enjoyed.  We had our Hawaiian friends sing "Happy Birthday" in English and Hawaiian to him.  It was very special. 

 This was every one's favorite cupcake.

The shirt that my mom made for him.  I bought the material on a recent trip to Hawaii.

The smash cake - love this picture.  I feel he is saying "back away from my cake and no one gets hurt".

It was a lot of work, but so much fun.  The party started at 1 and the last people left at midnight.  I was smart enough to volunteer to take the baby home, so I could sleep.

I am linking up for Saturday Snapshots go check out all the goodies.

Christmas

I am getting so excited for Christmas.  This year, there will be 4 little babes in the house for Christmas.  My planning has started.  I bought Disney passes for my kids and older grandkids - so that just leaves me with my parents and the littlest grandkids for presents, plus co-workers.

My mind is spinning with decorating the house, which I haven't been able to do for the last few years because of visiting hubby in Hawaii during the Holidays.  But, he is home now and I want to start decorating.

I bought 3 ornaments at Disneyland, yesterday.  Adorable.  They have resin ears and shoes of the different characters.  I should have counted how many they had but I wanted them all, so maybe it is not a good idea to have a number in my head.

Isn't Tink's shoe the cutest, yes it came home with me.

I love this tree - want them all.

These cups always scream Christmas to me.  In fact, I might have let out a little scream when I saw them.  Don't judge me - it is the little things in life that make me happy.

Fall

I am loving this cool weather this morning.  I wanted to stay in bed and just snuggle with the blanket.  Instead, I got up, enjoyed a cup of hot tea and worked on my Project Life Disney page from Sunday.  I am really liking how it is coming together.  The hard part will be to stop adding to it.  Tonight, after work, I will add the journaling.  Hopefully, I will get it finished before I take more pictures on Friday.  I am taking Miss S on Friday night for a grandma/granddaughter evening at Disney.  This is one of the best parts about being a grandma.

October Crazy

This month is crazy, like out of control busy.  I got back from Hawaii at the end of September because I needed to go back to work.  It was really hard leaving Hawaii and my hubby this time.  But, I missed the grand kids a lot, too.  I got back on a Wednesday, spent two days catching up and running errands.  I set up my classroom on Saturday, then we headed to Disneyland for the evening.  I bought the kids and

grand kids passes.  We have been to Disney - 3 times in a week.  I love that magical place.

This is why my month is crazy - Back to school/work, 1 baby shower for a son, 1 wedding for another son, 2 grand kids birthday parties (that I am in charge of), hubby and mother in law are coming for the birthday parties.  One of the parties is a slumber party, at my house.  The other party is a big first birthday, luckily at my mom's house.  Then, I have parent/teacher conferences, a pumpkin patch field trip and a fall party at school.  Whew, I am going to be tired - but I will add some more Disney trips to the mix.

On Sunday, we got there when the park opened and stayed until noon.  I was home by 12:45 and in bed for a nap by 12:50.  I love taking naps on Sunday afternoons.  Here are a few pics.

This little guy wasn't too sure about the characters.  We hadn't planned to look for characters, this trip.  But, there was a wait for breakfast - so it worked out perfect.

I love the decorations at Disney, during October.  I am going next Sunday, just to take pics of the decorations.  I need to get some scrapbooking done.  I haven't done anything in such a long time.  My poor grandson will be one at the end of the month and he doesn't have a scrapbook - at all, nothing. So sad.

This month is going to be crazy busy, but I wouldn't change it.  The best part, besides all of the memories happening - hubby is coming home for good.  Yup, when he comes home for the party - he will be home.  He has been living in Hawaii for 3 years and now, he will be all mine.  The grand daughters are super excited that he is coming home.  I love that guy.

Paradise

I have been enjoying sunrises like these each morning.

I have been sewing and quilting the grand babes Christmas stockings - finished quilting two of them.

But, the most important thing is I have been spending time with my mother in law and hubby.  We have been walking most mornings and just hanging out together.  It will be hard to leave him next week.