Jack

Jack at 4 months old :)

Christmas Eve & Day.

Loved having family here for the holiday. So very wonderful.

Merry Christmas!

We hope your Christmas is merry and bright - Joyful and triumphant.

And full of peace, remembering the sacred night of our Savior's birth.

Hoping that

you are having a wonderful Christmas season thus far. I know we have been!



Our days have been filled to the brim. There's been loads of advent calendering, Stephen's Citrus and Spice drunk, Nutcrackers jostled about, candy canes snapped, and Christmas books read.




The recording of my December Daily is in full swing. (A post about it so far coming soon....)

Jack is getting quite the amount of chub on his baby legs.



My basement is finally all painted and fixed up how I like it.

I'm learning a new piano solo, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, for our Christmas Eve recital.

Busy Busy Busy! So, please excuse me for not posting in, like, forever. :)

These days

• These days I have been trying to occupy Tyson with more than computers and movies (something I fell into after I brought Jack home). Trying to do more things like homemade playdough, putting together the "Island of Sodor", (you Thomas moms will understand), practice writing letters and shapes, more music listening....
• These days we have had lots of family around to bless our little one.....

• These days I have been painting my nails with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure. The best I have found so far and so quick to dry....


• These days I have been writing Jack's birth story so I don't forget the nitty and gritty details....
• These days I have been pouring over my Christmas Planner, making lists, preparing to bake yummy things, thinking about new traditions to implement.....

• These days have been filled with Christmas music....
• These days my baby has started to take wondrously long, luxurious naps....

• These days I wonder how I can put my food storage to better use.....
• These days are filled with a rekindled interest in jewelry....
• These days are quiet and cozy

I couldn't be happier. :)

December Daily: 2010 Foundation

I spent the past two weekends building my December Daily album. I follow Ali's advice and make this in advance every year so that when December rolls around all I have to do is plug in some photos and write about them. I really debated whether or not to do this this year, having a new little guy around, but decided that I would regret not doing it because it really is one of my favorite albums to make.

This year I went more for a uniform look and also used loads of transparencies, similar to what Ali did as well. I bought some new paper this year, not very much, but everything else was from my stash.





In making the cover, I painted chipboard cream colored and then re-discovered some metallic enamel paint and put that on over the cream. I love how it turned out. I adhered some thick glittery snowflake paper to the front and back and then covered it with acrylic.

The transparencies that go over the pages are really thick and the patterns are festive. My favorite is the wood one.




I cut some baseball page protectors to size and added simple things in the pockets. It's hard to tell, but there are some candy canes and violins in this page.




The red damask paper is my favorite of the set. It has an embossed velvety feel to it. It's so pretty I will have a hard time covering any of it up.

I really love this Santa paper as well.

A look at another transparency.

This is a clear acrylic transparency that I added a rub-on to with some jewels.

Here's another baseball protector. This time I added two ornamental stars to the pockets.

The wood patterned transparency.

I love putting this together. It's fun to envision how I'm going to add the photos.

I am going to try really hard to keep it simple this year. It seems that by the time I am done, the album is overflowing. I think I will aim for one photo, possibly enlarged, or maybe two 4x6 photos. Since the album is 8x6 in size they will fit perfectly.

So, we'll let this simmer for while and pull it out in December for a fresh look and begin to fill it. I can't wait!

It looks like Cubby's evil plot to become the favorite auntie is working....

This boy

photo of Tyson and Cubby playing Memory

Tyson is really into games at the moment. Everyday he asks us to play some with him. His current favorites are: Candyland, the Memory Game, the "Life car game" i.e. the Game of Life, Connect 4, and Mister Mouth (found at Aunt Leanne's).

He also really like puzzles. Especially toys that are like puzzles. Anything that he can build and fix and figure out. It's fun to watch him use his imagination and invent something new.

Not surprisingly, considering how much time his Mama spends on the computer, he loves to play games online. He likes pbskids.org, thomasandfriends.com, and disney.go.com. I really like him to play the PBS one because they don't seem to be "fluff" games. Most are helping him learn letters or figure something new out.

Ever since Jack has been home, Tyson has been waking up pretty early (6:30-7:00) and climbing into bed with us. I try to remind myself that these times will be gone soon and to cuddle with him when he wakes up.

When we go for walks in the evening, Tyson usually rides his bike. Last week, he was pretty daring- going really fast down the ramps and putting his feet up to coast. Then he wrecked going around a turn. Now, he is so cautious that he will get off his bike if the sidewalk looks even a little bit uneven or sloped. It makes for an extra long walk. :) He also is good at telling us to go right or left next and knows his way around the neighborhood well.

Tyson is a happy little Sunbeam in Primary. He usually sits really well, with just the occasional standup or turn around to look at the boys behind him. Last week he told me he gave his suit coat to another little girl in his class because she was cold. Such a little gentleman! Hopefully that continues......

His snacks of choice are: pretzels in a bowl, peanut butter on a spoon, bananas, hot cocoa, and dried cherries.

Tyson isn't that opinionated about what clothes he gets to wear during the day, but is very particular about his shoes. He has very specific ideas about what shoes should be worn when. He only wear his "new preschool shoes" to, you guessed it, preschool. He likes his brown shoes for riding bikes and balks at the idea of ever wearing his church shoes to somewhere other than church.

If his mother lets him or remembers, Tyson likes to paint at the kitchen table, play with homemade playdough, and set up his play-tent in his bedroom.

We sure love his little four-year-old. He is asking such inquisitive questions, learning to follow directions so well, and getting ready to learn how to read! It's a fun time.

Six weeks-ish

Before Jack was born I had all these visions of the great newborn photos I was going to capture. I was so excited to try out some new things and use my little baby as the guinea pig. As it turned out, I brought home a baby who was not exactly a "new" newborn, almost a month old. He was long too, not the tight bundle you see swaddled in pictures. This leads us into photo shoot numero uno.

Photo shoot, or should I say torture session? Instead of deeply sleeping like I had hoped, Jack woke up soon after we started. I took a few before I felt so bad for him that we stopped. Poor kid.




Not exactly cute and cuddly..... Still cute I guess. :)

PS. I promise that he loves to be swaddled. Demands it in fact, but not for picture time I guess.

Tyson decided it was his turn. Then in good fun, my sister went next. Their amount of cooperation was decidedly much better than the youngest.




Jack has started giving us little tentative smiles. It definitely makes big brother happy. His parents too. Melts my heart into pieces every time.




Bravely, I attempted to do another little photo shoot. This time there was no undressing of a sleeping baby. No swaddling in scarves. Not even coaxing to a cute position. Just the raw sweetness of my alert baby.

Much better.



I want to draw attention to the little size 2 moccasins on Jack. My parents brought them back from Canada for us. This was after considerable time taken, I'm told, of searching for them. Thanks Mom and Dad! They are precious!






Getting sleepy after all of this business. It's hard work being followed by the mamarazzi.