Week 52 Layout

Ta da! Week 52 is done! 4 days to go!

Click to see a little bigger...

Credits: Kit is Candy Cane Christmas by Miss Mint of Peppermint Creative; Font is Pea Heather Michelle; Template by Simply Yin

Week 52 (December 21-27)

Well first and foremost... Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a blessed Christmas surrounded by loved ones. I know we did!

So it seems I've taken to blogging once a week... the whole week's pictures at once. Not sure if it's easier this way or not... but here in the home stretch of 2009's Project 365... it works!

The boys were long overdue for a haircut, so we gave them our usual "at home" haircuts tonight. Although tonight was different, because they were both completely miserable about the whole process! The whining and complaining started before the scissors even came near their heads. Usually haircuts are a slight hassle, but tonight it was like pulling teeth! Jack pouted and complained of hurting feet, Brayden cried, and Rob and I were generally stressed out!

Brayden randomly started playing "Santa" tonight... he was using the love seat as his sleigh, and had packages (block boxes) in the back to deliver to all the good boys and girls. After we caught on to what he was doing, I put one of our Santa hats on him - "Santa Brayden!" Of course, then I tried to get a picture and the fun ended. Still, if even for a moment, he was very cute driving his sleigh yelling "HO HO HO!" over and over again!

On our agenda today was baking and decorating gingerbread cookies. The boys helped roll the dough and make the cut-out shapes. We had gingerbread men, snowmen, snowflakes, and Christmas trees. They love helping with baking projects right now. Then our whole family together had a great time decorating the cookies after dinner. I think the end result was one of our most creative batches of decorated cookies yet!

At long last... Christmas Eve! We mostly spent a low key day at home... I did some baking while the boys played and Rob rested his back. (It's not Christmas without Rob's back acting up!) We went to mass at STM, then had my mom over for dinner. She gave the boys some gifts, then they changed into their new, annual Christmas jammies! We left a snack for Santa and his reindeer, read "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," and hurried off to sleep so Santa could come!

Merry Christmas! Jack was up at 6:01am (earlier, but that's when he got out of bed!) despite telling us the night before he was going to sleep until 8 or 8:30! Ha! Brayden, however, slept till 7:30! We headed downstairs to see the goodies Santa left for us! It was truly a magical Christmas with the boys this year. We had a nice morning at home, and took (via self-timer - thus, not focused well) our annual Christmas jammies family photo. Then we headed to Uncle Brian's for the afternoon and evening with the Roe's.

Over the course of the holiday, we did our fair share of baking... and also acquired, as gifts, even more baked goods and sweets. On the counter is the collection of our spoils... gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, shortbread cookies, brownies, peppermint bark, chocolate covered pretzel sticks, skittles, reese's pieces and peanut butter cups, milk duds, tootsie rolls, salt-water taffee, and more... and not shown are the leftover apple pie and pumpkin cheesecake in the fridge.

The Broncos' second to last game of the regular season was today, an important game to win if we want to make it to the post-season. Jack was super excited to wear his new Brandon Marshall jersey during the game today - a Christmas gift from Mommy and Daddy. Over the course of this season, Marshall has become Jack's favorite player. Sadly, the team lost in a very close game against the Eagles. Jack played his own pretend football game for almost the whole game!

Week 51 Layout

I had my layout done before the end of the day Sunday... that hasn't happened for awhile! It seems I must be motivated to get this project finished up so it's ready to print when the end of the year arrives!

So without further ado... Week 51. Click to see bigger....
Credits: Kit is "Evergreen Holly" by Miss Mint at Peppermint Creative; Font is Pea Candice; Template is by Scrap'Anges

Week 51 - on time! :) (12.14 - 12.20)

I "stole" the idea for this year's teacher's gifts from one of my Scrap Mania friends, Jennifer. She made these adorable little tins, and let me borrow her die-cut supplies to make the materials for my own tins. They turned out so cute... I can't wait to give them to all the boys' wonderful teachers! (The final product will be filled with hard candy and chocolate!)

I went into Brayden's class today and decorated cookies with the preschoolers! Each child got to decorate three cookies with icing and sprinkles. They all had so much fun! By far the favorite part was the sprinkles... as you can see by Brayden's plate! And most of all, Brayden was thrilled I finally helped in his class!

Every year, the boys make little craft ornaments for their teachers, family, and friends. This year's ornaments are little foam wreaths which the boys decorated with foam stickers and glitter glue. I added a picture of the boys to the wreath's opening when they were dry. There is nothing better than stickers, glittle, and glue to these two!

An impromptu dance party broke out in our home tonight... dancing to the music on one of the old toy cell phones. Brayden's dancing was complete with wearing the toy goggles that go with our Snoopy stuffed animal. Wearing them, everything looks green. The faces he makes when he is rocking out are hilarious! The song selections were mostly classics they know from the Little Einsteins.

We took the boys to the Wildlife Experience tonight for their "Winter Wonderlights" display. It was nice because they had the lights outside, then activities inside too, to warm up after the cold! The boys wrote letters to Santa inside... here Jack is writing, "I have been very good this year." We finished the trip off seeing The Grinch on the big screen!

We hosted a pre-Christmas dinner for the Martin families at our house this evening. The kids all wanted to sit at our already-to-small table, so we improvised and had our infamous picnic dinner instead, while watching The Polar Express. Carter and Noah joined the big kids for a quick photo... Carter was so cute resting his head on Jack's back! All in all, we had a great family night!

During our get together last night, the kids all opened their gifts from their aunts and uncles. The boys love the play food they got from Uncle Chris and Aunt Sarah, and the Shel Silverstein poetry books from Uncle Ryan and Aunt Pam. Jack was asking to read poems from "A Light In The Attic" all day, and Brayden spent his day "grocery shopping." He's carrying his bags to the checkout here.

Week 50 Layout

At worst, from here on out, I'll never been more than a couple of weeks behind! Yay! Kind of loving the Week 50 layout... :)

Click to see a little bigger...

Credits: Kit is Hermitage by Amanda Dykan; Font is Century Gothic; Tempate is by M Originals

Week 50 (12.7 - 12.13)

At long last, we've worked brushing teeth in the morning into our "get ready for school" routine. Jack has gotten very good at brushing his own teeth, but Brayden still usually needs some clean-up work. This morning though, he was trying to shard to do a good job and get all his teeth clean! And the bed head is tremendous!

Tonight the boys (finally, a little late!) made their construction paper ring countdowns to Christmas. Brayden had fun making the first couple of rings, then he was ready to move on to other things (like playing cars). Jack, however, was very dedicated to the project, and wrote numbers and drew little festive pictures on every ring! I love his little Santa!

I bought this big piece of brown fabric awhile back to make myself a big "blankie." I've used it as a photo prop a few times, but finally decided to sew it up into my blanket. All was going well till I attached the satin border... which didn't really match and was super difficult to put on straight. So now I have a big ugly (warm) blanket, and need a new photo prop!

Brayden has become quite the whiner and pouter in recent days. I can't remember exactly what he was whining to me about, but my camera was right there so I snapped a picture of his pathetic whiney face. Which, for whatever reason, caused him to crack up. So I got a picture of that too! I like the happy face better than the whiney one!

We had a playdate at the Gumm's house today. Alyssa and I went down to the basement to check on the playing boys, and were surprised to find that, of all the things they could be doing, they were all playing together in the play kitchen area! They were cracking themselves up making "water soup." Who said that playing kitchen is just for girls!?

Basketball continues to be a lot of fun! Today was the second to last practice. Rob has been working with Jack before the formal practice begins on shooting from his chest. His technique really is improving... we really can see changes from one week to the next!

We made our annual visit to see Santa at Park Meadows today. The boys could have sat and atlked to Santa for hours I think! This is the first year there were no real nerves, just smiles and excitment! Okay, Jack was a little nervous. ;-) They also enjoyed playing around on the reindeer bench after visiting with Santa!

Annnnd........ Week 49 Layout

Yay! Caught up again! Week 49!

Click to see bigger...

Credits: Kit is Winter Sparkle by Miss Mint at Peppermint Creative; Template by Christina Brown Designs; Font is sf Katie

Week 48 Layout!

It's official, I'm on a roll! One week to go, not counting this week... all completed today! :)

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Credits: Kit is October Rush by Miss Mint at Peppermint Creative (one of my all time favorite kits!); Template by Katy Larson; Font is Whackadoo

Week 47 Layout

Two weeks to go, not counting this week - woot!

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Credits: Kit is A Piece of Her Heart by Ellie Lash; Template by Digi Designs by Denise; Font is Time New Roman

Week 46 Layout

Okay posted Week 45 an hour ago maybe... already did Week 46!?! I must be on a roll! Or for once, I don't have a million other things distracting me. On that note, I guess I could share the fact that after a crazy couple of months of taking photos for other people, working to start my own business, I'm all caught up on all that crazy stuff! Finished designing my 2010 calendar too (including calendars for three other people, too!). Can't have idle hands here, so I better get to week 47 ASAP! :)

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Credits: Kit is Through The Patch by Sweet Digi Scraps; Template by Lindsay Jane Designs; One paper used and recolored from Kit Manuella by Scrap'Anges; Font is King Kool KC

Week 45 - And Post #200!!!

Well, I've made it to my 200th post! That's kind of exciting right? I know there's at least one reader out there who has made it this far with me... but I don't think my husband counts. ;-) Anyone else out there?

Working on catching up with my Project 365 layouts again! What am I going to blog about when this project ends? Tell you what, I can't wait for this project to be OVER! Not that I haven't enjoyed it... and I certainly do not regret having undertaken this project! However, it has gotten very difficult, even boring... and certainly repetitive. At least for me. I hope the book I make at the end of all this doesn't put us all to sleep! There's another photo-a-day challenge I'm thinking about for next year... I'm just not sure I can handle it!

Anyway for now I've got week 45 to share. Four more to go on this round of catching up. And then it's nearly the end of the year anyway!

Week 45 - click to see a little bigger!

Credits: Kit is Nature's Own by FoxyDesigns; Template by Simply Yin; Chipboard labels by Sweet Blossom Designs by Sara; Font is Pea Bonnie

Week 49 (November 30 - December 6)

Brayden's preschool hosted a "Preschool Science Night" tonight for the kids and their parents. There were three rooms with different experiments using water, gas, and solids. The boys' favorite was this one with a ketchup packet in a water bottle full of warm water. If you squeeze it, the ketchup packet sinks! Brayden had to use ALL his muscles to squeeze the bottle enough to sink the ketchup!

It's December! That means we can break out the Advent calendar and start the official countdown to Christmas. I made this paper craft Advent calendar a couple of years ago. Each day you take a tag out of one of the numbered pockets. Last year Brayden didn't really get it, but this year he and Jack already have a plan for Jack to do the odd days, and Brayden the even days, all the way to Christmas!

Rob's been working long hours lately, and when he gets home, the boys are all over him. Usually, the first thing they want to do is play cards. So they've come up with a "three way war" game they can all play together, so they BOTH get to spend time with Daddy, RIGHT NOW. Jack was quickly eliminated from the 3-player game tonight, and was very upset about it. After recovering slightly, he sat watching, not-so-patiently waiting to get back in the game.

The boys both love their dry erase "workbooks." Brayden did handwriting at school today (specifically the letter "C"), so he wanted to do more letters when he got home and busted out the workbook. He was holding his marker invertedly, and didn't want to correct it, but I finally talked him into holding it "right." He was very proud of himself! And then had to concentrate VERY HARD to trace the rest of his letters! (I think his mommy makes the same face when concentrating!)

Rob and I went on a date this evening... Christmas shopping at Target and dinner at Olive Garden at Southlands mall. We got a lot done and then had a delicious meal. We both tried something new off the Olive Garden menu, definitely two new favorites. We even got a free dessert because my meal was a little delayed in the preparation! After dinner we drove down Southlands Main Street to get a closer look at the beautiful Christmas lights and decorations. A great date night!

Saturday mornings are still basketball mornings. Some weeks are harder than others for Brayden, who has to sit on the sideline. Usually our neighbor Lisa is the on the sides with us because her son Marcelo is on the team, and Brayden likes to play with her iphone. She wasn't here this week so Brayden was sooo bored. It's hard to just sit and watch. Toward the end of practice he noticed the balance beam on the gym stage. That kept him busy and happy... for a few minutes, at least.

It's a cold and snow Sunday, so we stayed in and attempted to stay warm! The boys played some guitar hero, watched the Broncos win, and Jack had to do a little bit of homework in preparation for the coming week. We were sitting together thinking of "H" words when he put his pencil behind his ear, and doing so he just cracked himself up! He said he looked like "Handy Manny," thus coming up with his last "H" word, "Handy!"

Week 48 (11.23 - 11.29)

One of the games the boys like to play together is "hospital." One of them ends up sick in bed at the hospital, and the other is the caretaker. Or sometimes it's the stuffed dogs that are sick. They get out the play doctor kit and take care of each other and their dogs. Lunch was ready today when I found them upstairs playing hospital on their beds. Brayden is looking after Jack's dog, Numbutts. :)

It's Thanksgiving week, and I've decided to undertake some baking projects. Last week Sarah made us pumpkin rolls and they were delicious, so I decided to attempt to make them myself. It was one of the messiest, most illogical recipes I've ever made! They aren't nearly as pretty as Sarah's were, but they are still delicious! It's like cheesecake and pumpkin bread all wrapped together!

Because the pumpkin bread wasn't enough, I decided to attempt my first cheesecake - a pumpkin cheesecake - for dessert for Thanksgiving dinner with the family. It was much easier to make than I expected (although I did need to buy a special pan for it!). It smells good and it looks good... I sure hope it tastes good too!

We spent Thanskgiving this year with the Martin side of the family, at my mom's house. We had a nice laid back afternoon together, and dinner (well, a late lunch) was wonderful as always. And the cheesecake... success!!! After lunch and everything, I took Noah's 3 month photos. He's so handsome! This is my favorite shot of him from the session, but really, it's hard to take a bad picture of my gorgeous nephew!

Our family tradition is to put up our Christmas tree and decorate it the day after Thanksgiving! So when the boys had their quiet time, Rob assembled the tree and I unwrapped decorations. When the boys got up and everything was ready to go, they were so excited to put the ornaments on the tree. The tree is pretty bottom-heavy, but overall they did a great job, and the tree looks beautiful! (The furniture around it is a different story...)

Is that a naked child under the Christmas tree? Why yes, yes it is. I don't know exactly what Brayden was pitching a fit about, but it was probably something about getting dressed... something he doesn't do agreeably right now. So today, he took off MOST of his clothes, and crawled under the tree to hide and avoid putting on his clothes. SUCH A MONKEY!

During this long weekend, Rob took the boys to the park three mornings to play soccer and football. It was great that they had a chance to get out and run off some energy, and do what they LOVE to do the most right now - sports! Then this afternoon, even though it was freezing out, Jack went out in our front yard to play football with some of the bigger kids in the neighborhood. He had a great time, and really held his own with the big boys!

The rest of week 47 (11.20 - 11.22)

Jack's class is learning about turkeys and all things "Thanksgiving" right now. One of his homework assignments was to "disguise" a turkey. He decided to disguise his turkey with fruit loops! Brayden made one too, disguised in regular cheerios. I think their favorite part of the whole crafty activity was GLUE... they certainly used more than a generous amount!

It was a busy, photography filled weekend for me. I did the Dickinson's family pictures Saturday morning, which was fun since I hadn't seen them in about 6 years (and 5 kids between us!). Then the Swietek's Saturday afternoon, including 3 month old Oliver. Oliver is getting so big and adorable! (Not that he wasn't adorable before!). Look at those blue eyes! After pictures we had a girl's night at Stephanie's with some other friends, decorating Christmas cookies.

I took the Easter's family pictures today... an exciting and defintiely adventurous task! The boys were just not that into it... like pretty much all kids ages 1 and 3! I did my best to get some great pictures of them anyway! When we tried to get the big group picture with uncles and grandparents, Ashton was DONE, and threw a huge tantrum. So everyone else threw a tantrum along with him, and it made for a hilarious group shot!