December Daily - Days 1 - 5 are done!!

I got some time last night to work on my December Daily ... finally. Plus, while I am still producing copiuous amounts of stuff best left unmentioned, I do not feel quite so fuzzy in my head. Concentration comes slightly easier now!

I admit to feeling more than a little daunted at how this book is going to come together. What kind of look do I want it to have? What pictures do I include? How do I fit in the journalling? Etc, etc, etc. Once I got stuck in though it was pretty smooth. Ali has been posting her finished days and they look so beautiful! Part of me wants to be able to have mine look like that but my story is different so my book must be different. It's got to be mine!

I have realized that my rings are not going to be large enough after all. Hmmm ...

So, without further ado, here are Days 1 - 5.

Day 1:

Wherever possible, I've added in the little notes from the girls advent calendar. December 1st said "Today ... let's put up the Christmas Decorations!" As I've already said, dressing the mantel was about as far as my energy levels allowed me to get!

I got confused and thought that December 1st was actually Monday (even though it clearly says Wednesday - I blame the head cold!) so started talking about our busy weekend etc then had to cover my mistake. Hence the red flower and black ribbon.

Oops!

These are the types of things that make it "one of a kind", right?

These things probably wouldn't happen if I did each day as it happens!!

A close up of the back of Day 1. The picture of LC is one of those ones that you're not sure will work when you're taking it but when you check them out on the computer it's better than you imagined! 

Day 2:

I thought the first Eggnog latte of the season needed a special page all to itself! 

The advent calendar promised beaded ornaments and they worked so hard and made such cute creations that I just had to include them. This snowman is mine but later you'll see a brown letter "P" and a Santa head. It was an entire Santa at one time but LC "played" with it a little too hard! 

Here is the back of Day 2 and those ornaments I was talking about. I gave LC the chance to try out the beads but she was more interested in eating them!  

A close up of their work. 

Day 3: 

It was kind of a nothing day as we were all feeling pretty sick. Greg took a sick day from work. I did a bit of Christmas shopping. Marley had her usual crazy Friday of ballet and soccer after school. After dinner we made popcorn and watched some Christmas movies. I decided to simply journal our activities and cover the back with some matching patterned paper and call it a day. 

Day 4:

Today was a really full day. The girls got to try out some paint books from the advent calendar. I decided to include a couple examples - above is LC's and below is one of Marley's. She did several! Paige tended to get so much water on the paper that she ended up ripping it to shreds.

We started the day with pancakes  - the girls got theirs in the shape of snowmen! 

"Daddy's comment: 'Where was mine?!' Sorry Daddy, they're only for little girls named Marley & Paige."

LC doesn't like cooked blueberries so she just got plain pancakes. Maybe next year!

After breakfast, and swimming lessons for Marley and Paige, we went to Abbotsford to spend the afternoon with Ammee and Poppa (a.k.a. Don and Ina Graham). First I have to mention that it was a gorgeous day! Cold but sunny and clear. The Mountains looked spectacular as I was driving out there.  

Don and Ina have just moved into their new place and this was the view from their deck. Mount Baker in all its splendour!! Awesome!!  

The main event was a trip to the Apple Barn. Cousin Miles also came and the 4 kids played in the barn while we waited for the train to Santa's Workshop.

Paige and Miles helped Marley on the mini zip line while LC played on one of the many tractor trikes.

Then the older ones bounced on the massive marshmallow-like trampoline while LC got to know a couple of llamas. Finally the train arrived and it was time to load up for the trip to the North Pole. Unfortunately, LC was none too happy to get on the tractor driven train and when we ended up sitting waiting for them to fix a flat tire, she almost lost it! But once we got going she calmed down. 

Then we arrived at Santa's Worshop where they got to warm up, play and decorate a cookie. LC found a rocking horse and THEN she smiled! I had a lot of pictures I wanted to include (you know me and my inability to pick only one or two pictures!) so I created an extra page with this tab. 

The back of the picture of LC left lots of room to journal. I really like the way it looks. 

 Day 5:

The last couple pictures from Day 4 are of the young train driver. He was really good with the kids and got them building a tower out of blocks. I even managed to capture it mid-fall! 

Day 5 was another nothing day. I was super tired after all the activity of the day before and also due to lack of sleep. Greg was snoring/breathing particularly loudly in my face that night so when LC woke up crying I decided to move into the bed in her room. She likes to snuggle with one of us in there so ... I hoped it would allow me to sleep. I was wrong.

She squirmed, she kicked, she coughed, she snored. At 5:00AM I had a coughing fit of my own and gave up the pretense of sleep altogether. I tried to nap after everyone had finally woken up but LC kept coming in to check on me.

The long and short of it was that I was in a VERY foul mood for much of the day! In the late afternoon/evening, having finally moved enough things into my newly re-jigged scrap room/office, I started working on this project and found my good mood again. Funny that! It takes getting your hands dirty to clean your mind of the bad thoughts!

I rigged up the self timer and decided that would be my story for the day. Not the most flattering picture of me but ... it is what it is. 

And then I journalled on the patterned paper that I stuck to the back of Day 5. Called myself Mama the Grouch - hee, hee!

I kind of just had a brainwave (that Ali has been telling us forEVER) ... in the attempt to keep my December Daily from being a foot thick by the time I'm done, I am going to try to pick one story to tell each day. Like today will be about baking my first batch of shortbread. Not about taking the kids to school, going grocery shopping, cleaning the house, having the preschool monthly meeting here at our house ... etc, etc, etc! What a concept! :)

Okay, thanks for sticking with me. See you tomorrow ... hopefully!