December Daily - DONE

For the first time - possibly EVER - I finished my December Daily album before January! I still need to order it, but I'm waiting for finish my two 2012 year in review albums for the Grandmas. And I really want to get them all done & ordered by Jan 15th since Blurb has a 15% off coupon through then.

Day 22 - Christmas 1 (and 2) - Visiting Extended Family



Day 24 - Christmas Eve at my parent's house



Day 25 - Christmas Day at our house



Day 29 - Visiting my in-laws



End of the album - Bryony the Elf.

December Daily Update

I'm still working on December Daily. I also just ordered three weeks worth of pictures for Project Life, so expect some updates next week!

Last time, I ended up a blank facing page. Well my mom sent me an email about taking Claire shopping for Christmas presents for Justin, Anaya & I, so I decided to include that. I'm not sure which day they actually went shopping, but I don't think it really matters - it's in the place of Day 14.



Day 16 - Cookie Decorating Party



Day 18 & 19 - Wrapping Presents & Claire's class party



Day 20 & 21 - SNOW



Now I have Day 22, 24, 25 and 29 left to do. I don't really have anything for Day 23, so I'm skipping it. And I'm including Day 29 since we're going to see my in-laws for Christmas on the 29th and I want to include that. I also need to throw in a page about Bryony (our elf on the shelf) at the end of the book.

I'm so excited to be almost done and I can't wait to order my book and see how it turns out!

December Daily - Days 13 & 15

Day 13 | Christmas Lights



Since Anaya wasn't here to look at Christmas lights, we ended up only going to Paulie's Penguin Playground. It's basically hundreds of inflatables, most of which feature Penguins. It's massive, takes up the person's entire front & side yards. There are inflatables on the roof - EVERYWHERE. Insanity. But Claire loves it. And it's kind of fun. And they take up a donation for Leuekemia Lymphoma Society.

I'm not sure yet what I will do with the facing page here. I didn't really do much of anything December 12th or 14th, but the 15th required 2 pages, so we'll see. I'll probably just make a "pretty" page.

Day 15 | Downtown



It started out as a trip to Crown Center to see the Mayor's Christmas Tree. Probably make a run through Kaleidoscope since Anaya loves it and maybe the aquarium since Claire loves it (and we have season passes). It turned into a five hour trip of craziness. Ended up going to the City Market first to their annual WhoVille to get a picture with the Grinch. Then on to Crown Center for lunch & seeing the Mayor's Christmas tree. I took my mom with me, so after lunch we split up and Claire & I went to the Aquarium to see Scuba Santa (yes, that is Santa & an elf under water in the Shark & Ray tunnel!) while Anaya & my mom went to Kaleidoscope since Claire hates it. Then I wanted to go inside the Holiday Express train that was at Union Station, but the line was so long (seriously at least a 2 hr wait), so I went ahead and got our season pass for next year and used it to get tickets to Science City where we hung out for an hour or so. We were all exhausted by the time we got in the car to head home.

This year I am doing my December Daily project as a 7x7 Blurb book. I'm designing 7x7 images in photoshop and then I'll just use each 7x7 image as a page in the book. I'll design the pages with a slight border around the images (probably in white) that way I don't lose part of my text when the book is printed. See all my December Daily Posts.

December Daily: Days 10 & 11

So I took a few days off from working on this. No particular reason beside burn out followed by the feeling of needing to catch up first. Unfortunately I have also fallen behind with Project Life. The last week that I completed was Week 48 (Nov 26 - Dec 2), which I STILL haven't posted online. Argh, I hate feeling behind.



Day 10 | Christmas Movies

Claire's favorite Christmas movie this year is Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas. She doesn't call it that, of course. She kind of calls it Mickey Mouse, or Popup Book (because the way the "stories" are introduced at like a popup book), or something about skating because her favorite story is about Minnie & Daisy ice skating. The picture of all the movies was actually taken this past weekend, a few days after the 10th. I was waiting on an Amazon order to arrive with some new Christmas movies before I made the page.

Day 11 | Christmas Cards

This year I mailed out 22 Christmas Cards. I ordered 25 (because that's how many came in a pack), I have one that I'm keeping that I'll put in my Project Life album, one for Claire's preschool teacher that I will send in to school and one that is just a spare.

This year I am doing my December Daily project as a 7x7 Blurb book. I'm designing 7x7 images in photoshop and then I'll just use each 7x7 image as a page in the book. I'll design the pages with a slight border around the images (probably in white) that way I don't lose part of my text when the book is printed. See all my December Daily Posts.

Menu Monday

Last Week

Monday - Leftovers
Tuesday - Cashew Chicken
Wednesday - Homemade Pizza
Thursday - Tuna Sandwiches
Friday - Peppercini Pork Sandwiches Mac & Cheese
Saturday - White Chicken Chili Peppercini Pork Sandwiches
Sunday - French Toast Burgers from Culvers

This Week

Monday - Leftovers (Peppercini Pork)
Tuesday - French Toast w/ Bacon
Wednesday - Homemade Hamburger Helper
Thursday - Potato Corn Chowder w/ Homemade Bread
Friday - Chicken Fried Steak w/ Mac & Cheese
Saturday - Leftovers
Sunday - Sausage & Egg Breakfast Pizza

I'm having Menu Monday burn out.

December Daily - Intro & Day 9

Day 9 | Painting Ornaments

This year I am doing my December Daily project as a 7x7 Blurb book. I'm designing 7x7 images in photoshop and then I'll just use each 7x7 image as a page in the book. I'll design the pages with a slight border around the images (probably in white) that way I don't lose part of my text when the book is printed.



We do this every year. I'm not sure if we'll continue this tradition much longer though. Anaya seems to be mostly over it. Claire isn't into it. Since Claire isn't into it yet, as soon as she is done (which is usually after about 5 minutes), I can't do much. Which leaves Justin (who doesn't really care about this in the first place) as the only one left painting his ornament. But it is fun to be able to look back at our past ornaments.

I also finally did the inner title page. I knew what I wanted to do, but I had to wait for Anaya to be here to get the picture! And I LOVE this page. Love love love love love love love it. This would be a great Christmas card picture...if I hadn't already ordered (and received & addressed & stamped) my cards.





See all my 2012 December Daily Posts.

Menu Monday

Last Week

Monday - Crockpot Chicken Salsa
Tuesday - Stadium Brats
Wednesday - Chili Cheese Tater Tot Casserole
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Crockpot Pizza Soup
Saturday - Chicken Tikka Masala Breakfast Casserole
Sunday - Breakfast Casserole Chicken Tikka Masala

I was OUT of salsa (not sure how that happened) so I ended up throwing some other stuff in the crockpot and calling it good enough (although it ended up not really being that good). Then I switched Saturday & Sunday because we (I) wanted to go to a Living Nativity on Saturday so I didn't want to spend a lot of time cooking.

This Week

Monday - Leftovers
Tuesday - Cashew Chicken
Wednesday - Homemade Pizza
Thursday - Tuna Sandwiches
Friday - Peppercini Pork Sandwiches
Saturday - White Chicken Chili
Sunday - French Toast

We have quite a few leftovers from Friday & Saturday, so we're going to have to clear out the fridge by eating leftovers on Monday night. I'm really enjoying homemade pizza - we'll probably do Chicken & Bacon with a white sauce. Tuna Sandwiches were not originally on the plan (I make dinner menus once a month), but we were out of Mayo and the store had it on sale for $1.98 with a coupon to get $2 off if you bought 2 cans of Tuna and the cans of Tuna were on sale for a $1 each. So either the Tuna or the Mayo was free...now we just need to eat it. The last time we had Peppercini Beef, Justin requested that we try it with Pork, so we'll do that on Friday. I haven't made my normal white chicken chili yet this winter, so it's time for that. Then a few weeks ago I made some amazing french toast from a recipe I found online. It was so yummy that I have been craving it.

December Daily - Day 8

Day 8 | Santa Train

This year I am doing my December Daily project as a 7x7 Blurb book. I'm designing 7x7 images in photoshop and then I'll just use each 7x7 image as a page in the book. I'll design the pages with a slight border around the images (probably in white) that way I don't lose part of my text when the book is printed.



This year, instead of going out to the mall to see Santa, we drove out to Baldwin City and rode the Santa Express! The train ride was MUCH longer than we expected - almost 2 hours instead of 1, but we had a pretty good time. Claire got to visit Santa - this was actually her second Santa visit since she saw him a week ago when we went on the Luminary walk. She asked him for a Bike (a pink one) and he gave her a Candy Cane.

I did buy a 5x7 picture of her with Santa, but I'll probably just include that in the Project Life album since this is a digital book. I took one picture of her with Santa - not the best picture, but I like it.



See all my 2012 December Daily Posts.

December Daily - Day 5, 6, & 7

This year I am doing my December Daily project as a 7x7 Blurb book. I'm designing 7x7 images in photoshop and then I'll just use each 7x7 image as a page in the book. I'll design the pages with a slight border around the images (probably in white) that way I don't lose part of my text when the book is printed.

Day 5 | Jolly Design

I was planning to do Christmas Movies for Day 5, but I didn't really like the pictures that I took. I still have my journaling ready for when I do a page about watching our Christmas Movies - probably sometime next week. Instead I designed this fun image. Once I get the book, I will probably use a pen that will write on the pages and circle the number 5...or not.



Day 6 | Dear Santa

Tonight, Claire & I wrote her Santa letter. We flipped through the latest catalog from Toys R Us and picked out some toys that she wanted. Then I cut the pictures out and we taped them to her big piece of paper. I did the writing (obviously) but we wrote her name together.

She wants: A Pink Bike w/ Training Wheels, LaLaLoopsy dolls & movie & video game (although I only see a DS game and she doesn't have a DS), a Train Set and Care Bears.

Day 7 | Decorating the Tree



We wanted to wait for Anaya to be here to decorate the tree. Tonight after dinner, I turned on some Christmas music, pulled out the box of Christmas ornaments (including our new ones for this year) and we started decorating! Anaya could remember which ornaments were hers and which were Claire's. I didn't pull out my box of childhood ornaments as we have accumulated quite a few for our family. I surprised Anaya with a Justin Bieber ornament, I just handed it to her as the next one to hang up.

And I admit it, I made the girls change clothes before we started decorating. Claire's shirt had paint on it and Anaya was running around in a BRIGHT green tank top.



See all my 2012 December Daily Posts.

December Daily - Day 4

Day 4 | Around the House

This year I am doing my December Daily project as a 7x7 Blurb book. I'm designing 7x7 images in photoshop and then I'll just use each 7x7 image as a page in the book. I'll design the pages with a slight border around the images (probably in black or "kraft") that way I don't lose part of my text when the book is printed.



Since Day 3 was a single page layout and I really didn't have any pictures for today (I was at work all day and then had happy hour with some co-workers so I wasn't even home until almost 7pm), I ended up just doing a single page with some pictures that I took of our decorations over the weekend. I like having this as the facing page for the Christmas tree, seems kind of fitting.

This is the first year that I've really done much mantel decorating and I really like what I did. The wreath, trees & "ornaments" on pedestals are all made out of the pages of a couple of books. The wreath was originally going to be for Halloween, but I never really finished it with bats & such. So I put it on the mantel. The trees were next. Then I wanted some red so I made the ornaments and bought three black candle stick holders to set them on. I was digging through my Christmas closet and found the blocks that my sister-in-law made for me last year and figured they looked good with everything else. I knew I wanted to do the JOY frame, but it still needed a little something on the right, so the nutcracker & the vase with stems stuck it in are from Hobby Lobby.

Some Links:
Paperback Book Christmas Trees - I mostly followed these directions for the first one, then I got tired of folding the pointy part up into the book & Justin said that leaving it hanging down made them look more like Christmas trees.

Book Page Ornaments - I didn't run the cord through it to create a hook & I painted the edges of mine and rolled them around in glitter.

Subway Art + Holiday To-Do List - I changed the To-Do list a little bit because I didn't want the designs they had for the list part.



See all my 2012 December Daily Posts.

Project Life: Week 47

Week 47: November 19 - 25

This was going to be a really super busy week. It included Thanksgiving and was going to include a little bit of our Christmas traditions that I was going to do while we had Anaya. Then I got sick on Friday and took a total of 67 pictures over the weekend...and 59 of those were family Christmas pictures for my mom of our entire family and for my sister-in-law of their little family + dogs. So as far as pictures go, this week ended on Friday.

The first page is from earlier in the week. I took Wednesday off work and we had Anaya so we did a little running around - went to Hallmark and bought our annual ornaments.



After we got home, we had to rake up some leaves in the backyard. But before you can rake up the leaves you have to PLAY in the leaves. Claire was sad when we finally did start raking and she pouted under the trampoline.

Anaya and her friend request some pictures by the Christmas lights, but they didn't understand the concept of don't move so much! Then it was Thanksgiving day & Claire woke up not feeling great and we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!



On Thursday we spent Thanksgiving with my family.

On Friday, we went to see Justin's family.



The last page has the 3 pictures that I took between Friday last afternoon & Sunday evening that weren't family portraits. Then I went ahead and included the family pictures with notes about deciding to take them ourselves instead of hiring someone to do it.

The end of week 47. Only 5 more weeks (+ one day) until the end of the year!!!



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December Daily - Day 3

Day 3 | Oh Christmas Tree

This year I am doing my December Daily project as a 7x7 Blurb book. I'm designing 7x7 images in photoshop and then I'll just use each 7x7 image as a page in the book. I'll design the pages with a slight border around the images (probably in black or "kraft") that way I don't lose part of my text when the book is printed.



Normally I do a two-page spread, but all we did tonight was set up the Christmas tree. We didn't decorate it since we're waiting until Anaya is here. And I didn't get any picture of Claire looking at the lights happily because she CRIED whenever I turned it on. Which is so weird because she loved it last year. And she's seen lit Christmas trees at my mom's house and at church already this year without a problem. Anyways, that means I took a picture of our tree and that's it. If I don't have enough for a two-page spread tomorrow, I'll just have the 3rd & the 4th as single facing pages.



See all my 2012 December Daily Posts.

Menu Monday

Last Week

Monday - Leftovers/Sandwiches
Tuesday - Pork Fried Rice
Wednesday - French Toast & Sausage
Thursday - Crockpot Ravioli Casserole
Friday - Pepperoncini Beef Sandwiches
Saturday - Chicken Enchiladas Leftovers
Sunday - Leftovers Deli Sandwiches

I think I actually mixed Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday around a bit...but I can't remember at this point what we ate which night. We ate all three of those meals in SOME order on those three days. On Friday we had my parents over for dinner. We had quite a few leftovers of the Ravioli & Peppercini Beef so we had leftovers on Saturday. Then Sunday afternoon Justin was running to pick up some Project Life pictures for me and said he really wanted Deli Sandwiches, so he picked up the ingredients while he was out.

This Week

Monday - Crockpot Chicken Salsa
Tuesday - Stadium Brats
Wednesday - Chili Cheese Tater Tot Casserole
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Crockpot Pizza Soup
Saturday - Chicken Tikka Masala
Sunday - Breakfast Casserole

Nothing much is going on this week. We're decorating the tree & possibly painting Christmas Ornaments on Friday night so I didn't want to have to fit cooking in there too and soup sounds good. Justin has been wanting a Tater Tot casserole, so he's getting his wish this week. Mostly just normal boring food this week.

December Daily - Day 2

Day 2 | Children's Music Program



Tonight we had the Children's Christmas Music Program at our church. I took a cute picture of Claire in front of some Christmas trees set up in the lobby before the performance. As I was walking away with Claire I heard three other parents saying that was a good a idea and start lining up to do something similar with their kids.

Claire did such a good job in the performance. She didn't sing much, but she stood (mostly) still and did some of the motions and paid attention to what was going on - as opposed to last year when she sat down and lost her shoe and started searching for it. But let's face it, when you have a children's music program for 2-5 yr olds, it is really for the parents.



See all my 2012 December Daily Posts.

Digital December Daily - Cover & Day 1

A few weeks ago I looked at my last four December Daily albums. This year, I am attempting to go Digital. We'll see. I haven't bought any of Ali's Christmas themed products yet. I am fairly adept at Photoshop, so we'll see what I can do on my own before I spend money. Currently, I am setting this up as a 7x7 Blurb book. I think that I may just put any stuff (receipts, tags, programs, tickets) in my project life album this year. Also, in an effort to lower my stress about what goes where, Christmas/Holiday specific things will go in December Daily. Holiday & non-Holiday things will go in Project Life.

The first thing I did was choose a couple of colors that I like:


Then I made my cover art. I already had a couple of ideas and this is the one that fit for this year:



I am still working on some backgrounds. I'm not sure if I will use them much, so I don't want to spend too much time on them. I think I'll probably have each page be mostly full of pictures. I'll probably design each 7x7 layout in photoshop & just upload the 7x7 layout to blurb to put in the book.

Day 1 | Advent + Elf on the Shelf

Day 1 is about our countdown "advent" calendars. We have a felt one with velcro ornaments that I made way back before Claire was born. This year we also got one of the Lego advent calendar sets, specifically the City set. Justin loves Legos - although he's more into Star Wars Legos, but I couldn't bring myself to buy this year's Star Wars Lego advent calendar when Santa Yoda was in last year's set. Anyways, I'm pretty happy with how the two pages turned out. We also got an Elf on the Shelf so I went ahead and included that today too.



December Daily is a memory keeping project started (more or less) by Ali Edwards.

See all my 2012 December Daily Posts.

Project Life: Week 46

Week 46: November 12-18

Justin & I celebrated our 7 yr anniversary with Chinese take-out, so that no one had to cook or wash dishes. We don't really do much to celebrate, the picture of us is from our family pictures in October, but it works well here since I didn't feel like taking a crappy indoor picture of us.



I have 2 inserts this week. The front of the first insert is just a 6x8 picture of Claire that I really liked. Unfortunately some of my pictures this week have a little bit of red streaked across the bottom of them. Not sure what is going on with that, but I'll probably reorder this picture (possibly as one larger picture) and switch it out eventually.

The back of the first insert is of Claire at the park. We took Kwazii (named after the cat in the Octonauts) this time.



The front of the second insert is about my mom's fall party. She hosts a come-and-go party about every couple of years (although she had one last year AND this year). Every year she picks a food theme and this year it was Bundt cakes. She made 8 bundt cakes as well as many appetizers and it was all delicious.

The back of the second insert is of Claire playing in the leaves. We ended up calling our mowers and canceling our last scheduled mowing so that Claire could finally play in some leaves this fall. We'll probably get out there again next week to actually rake them all up and put them in lawn bags. The leaves that you see there are actually the same leaves that I took a picture of last week with the "Hello Fall" written on it, but then sometime during the week they all fell on the ground.



The last page is just more around the house pictures + some decorating for Christmas. Since we had decent weather my brother & dad came over to help with hanging Christmas lights. I don't have a tall enough ladder to do it myself.



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Project Life: Week 45

Week 45: November 5 - 11

The first page is mostly just everyday shots around the house + a few of our dinners for the week. I love having the two views of Justin tickling Claire, particularly since they are in pretty much the same position in both pictures even though that was not planned when taking the pictures. Our evening activities are changing now that it is cooler & we've had the time change. It's mostly dark by the time I get home from work, so we spend the evenings in the living room playing instead of going outside.



I had one insert this week. The front is of board game night at my brother's house + the baby! I love the picture of the board game where the focus was on the pieces in front of me and the board + my parents are out of focus.

The back of the insert has pictures of Claire playing outside on Saturday. It was REALLY windy, but we had to make use of the nice weather. We went to a nearby park and then she wanted to take Kitty for a walk around the block in her baby doll's stroller - so cute!



A few more around the house shots, not sure what the deal is with Claire & laundry baskets, but she loves to sit in them. This time she loaded it up with some of her favorite stuffed animals before climbing in with the iPad. I really like taking pictures where things take up the entire print with words on top of them (such as the leaves on the tree & the cookies). This was election week, so I made up a little graphic on my computer about voting & who won. I meant to get a newspaper on Wednesday to include, but this works well.



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Menu Monday

Last Week

Monday - Pork Fried Rice Pancakes & Sausage
Tuesday - Creamy Chicken Chili
Wednesday - Homemade Pizza (Chicken & Bacon)
Thursday - Thanksgiving with my family / Frito Scramble
Friday - Thanksgiving with Justin's family / Sandwiches
Saturday - Sandwiches / Leftovers Turkey Noodle Soup (made by my mom)
Sunday - Chicken Bake Hot Dogs w/ Mac & Cheese

I ended up coming down with something (cold or allergies or something not much fun) on Friday, still feeling it today (hardly moved from the couch since we got home from Justin's parent's house on Friday evening). I don't actually remember much about dinner on Friday evening. On Saturday evening, Justin was gone taking Anaya to a birthday party at her mom's house, so I went to my mom's house and she fed us Turkey Noodle Soup.

This Week

Monday - Leftovers/Sandwiches
Tuesday - Pork Fried Rice
Wednesday - French Toast & Sausage
Thursday - Crockpot Ravioli Casserole
Friday - Pepperoncini Beef Sandwiches
Saturday - Chicken Enchiladas
Sunday - Leftovers

Since I'm still a little less than well, we're going to go for Leftovers/Sandwiches tonight. I know that the Ravioli Casserole, Enchiladas & Pepperoncini Beef usually has a lot of leftovers (particularly since it is just Justin, Claire & I), so I'm planning on leftovers again for Sunday night.

Project Life: Week 44

Week 44: October 29 - November 4

My nephew was FINALLY born this week. Almost an entire week late! So lots and lots of pictures of my adorable nephew...and a few of my brother & sister-in-law. My grandma was in town as well, so I got the standard picture of all 4 generations.



An insert all about Halloween! I took Wednesday (Halloween) morning off work to go to Claire's Halloween party at school. They had a fun little parade through the building and then had a little party in the room.

The back of the insert is about Halloween night. Anaya was at her mom's house, but I had her text me a picture of her costume since I forgot to take one before she went home last weekend. Claire had so much fun Trick or Treating.



More pictures of the baby! And Claire got a new car seat for my car. I didn't really plan it, but love the fact that I have Claire in her carseat next to Hudson in his carseat - seriously how was she ever that small! Claire & Justin played with Anaya's micro-machines & a racetrack. I love the picture of Claire reading to her care bear that is sitting in Hudson's bouncer. So far, she seems to have liked the idea of a baby more than she is liking the reality of it!



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Thankful for...

So...lots of people were posting their thankfuls every day on Twitter or Facebook. But I just wrote mine all down on a piece of paper.

1. A healthy baby for my brother & sister-in-law.
2. Our house - even if it's not what I want, it is still awesome that we have a house, a house that is technically big enough for all of us & our stuff.
3. Claire is talking more - We've been carrying on entire conversations!
4. Sleeping in, even just a little big (like until 8am)
5. My job, even on Mondays when I don't really WANT to go, I still have a really good job!
6. The right to vote.
7. Hot water for showers on cold mornings
8. Not just one car, but two cars that work and don't cause me to worry about us getting from point A to point B.
9. My family living so close to me - my parents & brother/sister-in-law all live within 4 miles of each other.
10. Seasons - I love it when the seasons change & the leaves turn & fall. When I was in San Diego for 4 years, one of the things that I really missed about Kansas was the seasons.
11. God & Church & the community there.
12. My husband - we've made it 7 years so far!
13. Claire - she is such an awesome little person. I can't even remember what I used to do with my life before she was in it.
14. My camera - I love taking pictures. I love capturing moments that I would otherwise probably forget.
15. Toddler Board Games. I couldn't decide if I was really thankful for these, or if I wished they didn't exist. But Claire loves Candy Land & Memory & Cooties so much that I decided to be thankful that we have something "fun" to do together even when it is dark & cool outside.
16. Starbucks & their Cinnamon Dolce Latte because I love it so so much.
17. Olathe and it's lovely little parks with nice little playgrounds for Claire to play on.
18. My parents - they are so awesome and help us out so much with Claire & with household stuff & just being there to talk to whenever.
19. Amazon - the stuff Christmas is made of this year. I may not be getting the BEST deals, but there is no price on the sanity I am saving by not getting out & fighting with the crowds.
20. My cellphone. It's expensive, and not necessary to life, but it keeps me connected with my family & friends as well as hours of entertainment when I am waiting.
21. Project Life - it is getting pictures off of my computer & into a pretty book.
22. Turkey! Family! Food! Parades! Life!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving (Turkey Time as Claire is calling it). And gets to spend it with their family/friends/loved ones/someone.

Project Life: Week 43

Week 43: October 22 - 28

Love love love love Project Life. So many pictures off of my computer and into albums. Also, Claire asked (almost) daily to look at Picture Books as she calls the scrapbooks. I need to finish up 2008's digital book & 2009's physical book.

This week started out pretty low-key: the food we had, Claire setting the table, Claire playing with her new Tinkerbell music box, Anaya & Claire playing with play-doh, and Claire's blanket fort.



One insert this week, the front is pictures from the Fall Festival at Claire's preschool. Since she started in December last year, we hadn't been to their Fall Festival, but it was very similar to the ones they had when Anaya was in elementary school - although this was obviously for younger kids. Claire did the cake walk forever, she didn't exactly know what the cake walk was, but it was in her classroom and that's all she cared about...until she won a plate of cupcakes.

The back of the insert is mostly about Anaya's surprise trip to the Justin Bieber concert. Along with a bit of the story about getting tickets. She was so excited to be able to go. Also included a few pictures from my weekend baking: Apple Cider Donuts & Pumpkin Spice Donuts.



The last page is just more weekend pictures. It was the weekend before Halloween so we were doing some last minute costuming. Anaya decided to be a fairy, so we got a bunch of tulle together and made a tutu. I got the white tulle from my mom, she had it from decorating for my brother's wedding - 8 YEARS ago. Anaya also wanted to bake Halloween cookies, so we made the batter & she baked the cookies on Saturday. Then on Sunday afternoon, I made the icing and she decorated cookies while I worked on her tutu.



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Menu Monday

This Week

Monday - Chinese Take Out
Tuesday - Shepherd's Pie Hot Dogs
Wednesday - Hot Dogs Marinated Pork Loin
Thursday - Leftovers Shepherd's Pie
Friday - Pork Chops Sandwiches
Saturday - Leftovers / Party @ my mom's house
Sunday - Breakfast Sandwiches

Re-arranged the entire week, but that's okay! Pork chops weren't on sale when I finally went to the grocery store, so I bought one of those already marinating pork loins. It was pretty good. Saturday was a complete mess, we ate sandwiches at 2:30 in the afternoon, and just munched a little bit before my mom's party. Luckily my mom had LOTS of yummy food (bacon wrapped little smokies, sweet & sour meatballs, 3 dips, crackers, meat & cheese, 3 snack mixes and 8 bundt cakes).

This Week

Monday - Pork Fried Rice
Tuesday - Creamy Chicken Chili
Wednesday - Homemade Pizza (Chicken & Bacon)
Thursday - Thanksgiving with my family
Friday - Thanksgiving with Justin's family
Saturday - Sandwiches / Leftovers
Sunday - Chicken Bake

The Creamy Chicken Chili is actually Creamy Apple-Chicken Chili, but I made it before and Justin liked all of it except the Apples. Now it is Creamy Apple-Chicken Chili without the Apples, but that seems a little silly as a name. This is also Thanksgiving week so we'll have Thanksgiving dinner twice (once with my family, once with Justin's family). On Saturday, we'll probably end up at my parent's house for at least part of the day, my mom is usually pretty good about feeding us Thanksgiving leftovers.

Fall Leaf Fun

This afternoon, I walked in the backyard and found out that one of our trees had dropped its leaves sometime in the past few days. Fallen leaves are probably one of my favorite things about fall and I didn't think we'd get to play in any this year since our lawn company has been mulching them all before we have the opportunity.



So I grabbed a rake and starting making a pile while Claire alternated between "helping" and playing with her playhouse (which was actually more helpful than her help). Then once I had a fairly large pile, I told Claire that she could come play in it!



I am actually amazed at how much she enjoyed the leaves. I know they had real leaves at one of their centers at school last week, but I'm not sure if they had enough to jump in them.



I did eventually get a lawn bag and put some of the leaves in it. Claire told me that she wanted to keep 10 to play with. I think 10 in her world is a lot more than it is in my world since she actually wanted to keep the entire big pile.