Holiday Christmas Recital

Both Brinley and Ashton have been taking piano for over a year now. They love to play (most of the time) and I absolutely *love* to hear them practice ... especially when they are working on a duet together. It is fun for me to sit down with them to play the "other" part while they are learning and then hear the duet come together once they are both confident in their parts.

This year for their holiday piano recital they each played two songs (one Christmas and one non-Christmas) and they played a duet as well. Brinley played Joy to the World and Dune Buggy, Ashton played Oh Come, All Ye Faithful and Swing Along, and together they played Away in a Manger. Kayla also started taking piano this year so it was fun to hear her play and Beth's violin students performed as well - including her daughter Amanda. She played the absolute most adorable version of Jingle Bells you've ever heard and you could see - literally - her concentrating and counting the entire song!!

Amanda & Kayla Wilson, Brinley, and AshtonMs. Laura's entire piano bunch

Christmas Cookies

We are part of a babysitting group that meets every Friday night. There are four families that participate and we rotate who keeps the kids so that three couples each week have 4 1/2 hours without the kiddos free of charge! It is so nice to have regular date nights without going broke paying for babysitters. There are 11 kids that come for now but three of the families had babies this past year so as soon as they are able to be left we'll be up to 14 - YIKES!!

It was our turn tonight and we thought it would be fun to have the kids frost and decorate Christmas sugar cookies. Imagine 11 sets of hands reaching for brightly colored frosting and bowls full of decorations .... I'm sure more than one knife was licked and stuck back into a bowl ;) Half of the cookies weren't edible once they were done because there was such a coating of frosting and sugary goodness that the kids said they were gross - go figure!! They had a great time and it was fun to have a project to keep them busy (even if it was only for a few minutes).

(click to enlarge and read journaling)
Credits:
Templates: Yin Templates #5 & 9 by Simply Yin (amazing free templates)
Paper: Jolly Jingle Kit by Little Dreamer Designs
Fonts: Century Gothic, CK Becky (free download)

The Big Project

Well, I was up to my eyeballs with this project for weeks before Christmas! Even though many of the layouts are ones you may have seen posted here before I made more than half of them just for this project ... or edited ones that I had completed previously. I gave myself a deadline of December 10th to complete it in order to get the finished product back in time ... and I actually finished uploading and ordering by December 9th!! I was very proud of myself not only for finishing it - I think Steve really questioned whether or not it would actually happen - but finishing a day early.

What is it, you ask? I created a hard bound book at Shutterfly to give to our parents for Christmas. It was a "year in review" of sorts. It contained layouts from the many events and fun times we had over the course of 2007. It was a pretty big year for us with our first baptism and the arrival of our fourth baby!! We had visits from both sets of parents, birthdays, and other holidays to celebrate, too. Each book was over 20 pages and I was absolutely thrilled with the final outcome. Shutterfly does such an amazing job with their books ... I will order from them again and again! After I get our Christmas scrapbooked I will add the pages to this book and have a copy printed for our family to keep. It was my first big project in digital scrapbooking and made me realize even more just why I love it so much!

Where has the time gone?

Oh, heavens!! It's been far to long since my last post and yet it seems just like yesterday!! Life around our place has been crazy busy ... as I expected during the holiday season. I had a couple of major projects looming over me for weeks that have finally wrapped up (can you hear my sigh of relief?) so hopefully things will seem a little less hectic and my nights won't be quite so late.

I am the secretary in our Primary which means all of the updates for the coming year were due for our meeting this past Sunday - new class assignments, lesson schedules (3 of them), sharing time schedules, talk & scripture assignment schedules, conducting schedules, general primary guidelines for our teachers, birthday list, upcoming baptism schedule, list of scouts, activity day girls, and nursery kids ... did I miss anything?! Probably, but I'm sure I did it in the past week :) I'm kind of hyperorganized when it comes to some of it (or all of it if you ask Steve) so it takes me extra long to get it "just right." It drives me crazy about myself and yet I wouldn't have it any other way ... I'm all about the little details - even if I have to stay up all night to make it right!

I've also been working away on a big Christmas project that I can't share yet, but I will after the big day ... promise :) It took a lot of time but I know will be completely worth it in the end. I am so excited about the way it turned out!!

We've been doing "Secret Santa" on Monday nights this year and it is such fun!! I came up with a cute and EASY gift to deliver, too! It is a cover for Jiffy Pop - which I found in the dollar spot at Target (who doesn't love that place?) - just print the cover, cut out the circle, pry back the edges of the Jiffy Pop, put the cover under the edge and secure! I then tied a satin bow around the handle. I'll have to take and post a picture for you in the next few days.

I've been trying to keep up a Daily December album, too! Okay - maybe I should clarify ... the goal is to create a page for every day in December. It is the 11th and I have 2 pages done. I have been taking pictures and keeping notes of our daily adventures so I can go back and complete the pages now that I'm not over my head in projects ;) Here are the two I've done using a free template from Jessica Sprague's blog. She also has a great list of things to do as you count down to Christmas and an adorable idea for an advent calendar right here!

December 1st
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December 4th
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Well, I'm sure I could go on for ages but I wouldn't want you to fall asleep on me!! I know - I've been gone forever and then I come back with a post that rambles on about my chaotic life!! Sorry for that ... this IS my journal, too, so I've got to have some of that in there, too ;)