Holidays in Hand - Assignment One

Today is the first day of Jessica Sprague's Holidays in Hand class. I love her approach to projects and took last year's Stories in Hand class and loved it, too. Plus, you've gotta really adore free. I think today may be the last day to sign up so visit jessicasprague.com if you haven't already!

My first assignment is to focus on holiday values and create goals to meet those values. So, I put together a list of words/phrases that matches what I think matters most through the holidays. Here goes:

Togetherness
Family
Fun
Tradition - same activities that bring JOY
Gifts
Sharing
Delicious treats (not-your-everyday stuff!)
Carols
Tree decorating
warmth
magic/wonder
glow
stockings
special
connecting
meaningful
memorable

So, my goals for this holiday season include:
1. I would like to create memories that will be special for my kids to reflect on when they are grown and maybe carry on their favorites as well. We will pick three of our favorite activities we do every year and do them! Decorate the tree and drink egg nog, bake cookies, and drive around looking at lights.
2. I want to keep some magic and wonder with my kids during this season. We will do that by giving gifts to others and both Kevin and I shopping for a few of those items on their lists.
3. I would like to feel connected with my family. I would like togetherness, with those that we will be with and those that will be distant. I will send greetings and personal messages to those that I miss most! We have offered to host the family gathering this year with Kevin's family.
4. I would like the gifts we share with family to be more meaningful and special and that involve much less/none at all money to obtain. I plan to make some homemade gifts and will suggest some sort of exchange this year with that in mind.
5. I want to listen to as many carols as possible until they go away until next year. Thank you Magic 105.1 FM. :) I will also dig out my Christmas CD's and see if I can download some favorites as well.
6. I'd like to celebrate and have fun this year that is both the same and different than other years. We'll get new jammies on Christmas Eve and plan to do an activity together this year at our gathering, like have the kids build a gingerbread house.
7. I'd like to be a big part of making the day special and sweet for someone else by touching their heart. I think saying "I appreciate you" is the nicest thing during the season so we'll be sending many greetings around. Also, we will choose one charity or benefit to give to this season. Last year it was Make a Wish foundation. This year I'd like to find a local charity or organization.
8. I would like to have breakfast & dinner on Christmas Day be something we don't normally have very often and is considered a real treat! So, I plan to make stuffed cabbage to go along with the main course and will bake our favorite Christmas cookies. Yum, I can taste those pecan sandies right now!

For now, I will keep these close to me so I can plan to have enjoyable holidays. Wow, what a focused start to the season! Anyone else thinking about their own plans?

Thankful for scrap time!

As I type out this simple blog post tonight, I am feeling thankful. 'Tis the month for that, right? I have been running and working and doing, well, too much lately. So, I am thankful for November and all the slowness it brings with it. I had no plans this weekend. NONE. So, the family had some down time. Aaaahh, that's nice.
I used all my spare moments to scrap. Yep, I totally did! I scrapped more than I have in the last three months! So, as I sit in my cozy basement family room, I am thankful that no one really cares if I didn't vaccuum or pick up my mess down here this weekend. I am thankful for relaxing TV like football & NASCAR. I am thankful that we had the fireplace going, the crockpot cooking, and the laundry humming while I played with paper until my heart's content. And, I am content that the family is tucked in and I get time for the final relaxing hour or so until I give in to the work week once again. :)

I thought I'd share the results of my creative downtime (thanks TSR for the challenges this month!). Thanks for checking them out! :)

Halloween fun

Megan dressed as a crazy witch this year and it was my fave costume of hers so far. It just turned out cute, I think.
We met up down the street with some neighbors and their kids for trick or treating and handing out candy. We get so many kids through our family-friendly neighborhood and I went through 250 pieces of candy! We got home and sorted through the bag, which is always such a fun part of the night. Now I can share Megan's candy for my faves - Milky Way, Twix, and Reese's. That is - when she'll let me or when I can sneak.

Now it's November and I can quickly start getting into Christmas mode. Yep, carols will play on the radio already and I am getting shopping done early. I think if I get things started every payday I'll be in good shape! :)

October fun

I do love this time of year with the weather changing from warm to cool, the leaves boasting colors that are warm and vibrant, and the traditions that we have as a family. The cider mill is one of my favorite traditions. This year we visited Spicer Apple Orchard & Cider Mill. They have all sorts of play areas for the kids, pumpkin patch and apple picking, and an awesome corn maze. We also enjoy a warm donut (or two!) and fresh cider. I love the photos and are usually some of my faves taken all year. Here's some from our visit...hope you get the feeling of Autumn in your neck of the woods, too!

Best shot of the week

An online friend has started a blog about photography, which I love, so of course I went to check it out. You can too - http://sundayshutterbugs.blogspot.com
Edie has challenged everyone with posting their best shot of the week. Love that idea! Not just because it gives you a bit of bragging rights (it does!) but it also gets my shutter flying a bit more now because I want to get a good one every week to share! I'd love to see yours so please join in the fun! Here's my shot which I took over this past weekend while camping with Megan's girl scout troop. We went for a hike in the cool, damp weather and the girls still enjoyed every minute of it.

My baby turns 7!

Yep. She's still my baby. But she's changing. I see her changing right before my eyes. I see her teeth no longer fitting, becoming loose and ready to fall out anytime now. I see her face looking less round in the cheeks and instead I see her features becoming more mature. I see her childlike habits likely to go away soon. (I hope not!) I see her learning quickly and being able to read, which is amazing. I see her loveable, social nature taking flight. I see her taking more of the world in. I see her growing up too quickly for my taste. I see her growing in ways that I want to remember forever. I see her celebrating and of course I celebrate with her. But I still see her as my baby.

Happy Birthday Meggie Moon!

And Happy Birthay to my hubby too, who turns another year older tomorrow. I love that guy!

I've missed...

- You
- Blogging
- My blog's anniversary
- Everything I hold onto just for me

What the heck? Why do I not seem motivated to do what I love lately?

I am in that dark, cramped space right now and I am fighting like mad to get out.
You know where that is...between the frames and walls of life. Weaving in & out of daily patterns but not really noticing the colors or designs. I've gone from one square on the calendar to the next. *Sigh* I've missed out on taking it all in.

I've not exactly missed everything. It's just that I tried piling too much on my plate. I know I can eat a lot when I'm hungry but I feel like I've lost my appetite and I've been forced to stay at the table until I've eaten all my food.

No more! I'm declaring war on the self-deprivating acts of not noticing, not paying close attention, and just getting things done. I'm not eating all that crap anymore! I'm not staying in this small space! Anyone else ever feel this way? I don't want to give in and not take care of the responsibilities of life because that's the other side of the scale dip.

The balancing act of being a woman - a wife, mother, friend, professional, etc. is just really hard sometimes. In order to stay sane right now, I'm building weapons and I'm ready to fight. Here's parts of my plan of attack against the force of this self-deprivation:

1. Take the time to do something I enjoy EVERYDAY. In example, I'll pick from: Reading, Blogging, Scrapping, or Watching TV. It doesn't have to be for a long period of time, either. I'll allow at least 30 minutes per day.

2. Eat better so I have energy to keep up. I'm struggling with limiting my sugar intake so I am starting to trade in some treats for more healthy snacks to serve a better purpose. I love the new Delights yogurt parfaits from Yoplait. They are only 100 calories and completely satisying. Chocolate raspberry is my fave!

3. Be grateful. I am most of the time but if I'm feeling down at all - it does help to stop and try to immediately list three things I am grateful for. I try to think of things outside of my husband, my kids, and my health but those are certainly enough to make me smile! I can begin to feel the tension drain when I think of things that I adore about my life. Maybe I should start keeping a Gratitude Journal. Lots of women do this, right?

4. Let go of those perfect expectations. It's perfectly ok to expect alot from yourself, right? Of course! But to expect too much too often is not. It's ok to not be involved with every PTA event. It's ok to not agree to be there. I have been to eager to want to be a part of everything that I end up being disingenuine to myself.
I need to be better in tune with what I can handle and say no to those things that will ultimately be what takes away from me being my best.

5. Continue to celebrate who I am and throw out the idea that I shouldn't be anything but me! Why do I have periods or moments of conformity only to find out later that I'm miserable during those times? Being genuine and bringing that person to every place I'm expected to be is always better than trying to fit into others expectations of what I am. Why do I have periods or moments of insecurity? I need to just continue to embrace the person that I am because I am not like anyone else. This is not easy. It goes back to number 4, too.

I don't want to ever surrender to the dog eat dog world or allow the day to day mundane parts of my life take over the parts that bring me joy. I hate being in that dark, cramped space because I think I'm much more suited to the free, open air with lots of sunshine. So, today as I realize that I have begun to miss out...I am choosing not to any longer. I'm putting my sassy sunglasses on, pulling on my five pieces of armor and keeping my chin held high.

More layouts to share

I've been very busy this month scrapping and it feels good!

Whatcha up to this weekend? We are going to the Woodward Dream Cruise which is an awesome event - old cars will be everywhere! Love it! On Saturday we are having my brother in law and his wife to our house for a bbq and then on Sunday we are headed to the airport for an open house where you get to see all the planes and aircrafts. Fun! Then, it'll be so soaking hot that we may head to the spray park or the nearby rec area for a swim in the lake. I should have lots of photos from all of that! Gotta love busy fun weekends. Whatever you end up doing - have fun with it!

Frankenmuth fun

Last Saturday we decided it would be fun to have a family day (and to have a nice dinner to celebrate 9 years of marriage) so we headed to Frankenmuth, MI. It's a little Bavarian village kind of in the middle of nowhere. The biggest attraction is the family style chicken dinners from Zehnder's. Across the street is the Bavarian Inn, which is also owned by the same family so you pretty much get the same thing. Why there's two...I have no idea except that the places are alsways so packed with people, maybe they just had to! ;)
We had fun shopping in all the little shops along the walkway and along main street.
We stopped for fudge (of course!) and just enjoyed a nice long afternoon with each other. I hope we can go back when it's colder outside so we can stay overnight at the hotel and swim in the splash park.
Sharing some photos from the day. Thanks for stopping by!