'Tis the Season to be....deciding on Christmas cards?

Is it that time already? I have been thinking about my ideas for our Christmas card this year and I am excited to say that I think I have found a winner. Whenever I need to make any kind of card to send out: thank you cards, Happy Easter cards, Christmas cards, birth announcements, I turn to Shutterfly. Shutterfly and I have a pretty solid relationship. This year's cards are pretty cute, especially the flat cards, which have become my new favorite the past couple of years. With some of the cards, I wish they had some sort of option where one could email Shutterfly's art designers and ask them to tweak one card specifically to meet an individual's needs. Regardless, I will go with the flow and just pick from one of my three favorites. I have three drafts saved in My Shutterfly account and now I just need to make a decision. Every year, I design anywhere from 3-8 cards and then ask Dj for his opinion, possibly make a change or two, and then order the cards. This may be the year where I order two different designs...I'm so torn between two at the moment that I don't know if I can make the decision. So which card designs are my current favs? They are here, here, here and here .

Designing our perfect Christmas cards have become very important to me. Every year I think about what picture I want to use and what kind of theme I want to try and portray in our card. I expressed my newest idea to Dj last night and his response was, "Why do you always want to try to do the most difficult thing?" When Brynn was born, we just used her picture w/ Santa and a couple others of her because she was still just a peanut then. By her second Christmas, I went with the "J" "O" "Y" idea when she held each letter and we snapped her pic. That was more difficult than we thought it would be, but turned out super cute. Year three brought Mister Mister and we went with a Santa hat theme on the chair...again SUPER difficult but the "unplanned pic" came out to be one of my favs and a great choice for our card--that was exactly our year with them in a nutshell--chaotic! haha Last year, we were able to convince them (barely) that putting shaving cream on your face like a beard was cool but only Brynn would buy into it. Thus, Baylen became the reindeer. I also had some really cute pictures we took of the kids playing with Christmas tree lights, which I loved and may use one of these years when I run out of ideas. (haha)

Here are some of the cards I've ordered from Shutterfly in the past:









This year's idea was easy...so easy, in fact, that I was quite shocked. Let's just say our photo/idea involves me convincing them (or bribing them with popcorn and a movie) to lay down in the snow when it was about 20 degrees outside (they were dressed in warm coats and snow pants, boots, etc.). It was awesome and my first pic of them turned out the best.

I am excited to share this fun idea with you all soon so keep an eye out in the next couple of weeks for your fun card from us. :)

Snow What?!

We had some snow in our area overnight and as a result, school as cancelled today. We were dismissed from school yesterday 90 minutes early and I think that there was a very low level of student engagement during class yesterday b/c the kids were all freaking out about the snow and couldn't concentrate on anything else. :) Today, my kiddos are home w/ me and I have an extra day off this week, for a total of 6 days off in a row. :) It is much-needed. I worked out this morning, corrected a few papers, emailed a few people, read all of my articles for my class this week, watched the videos and took two quizzes. I took my kids outside to pull them around in the sled for a few minutes and then let them play in the snow with shovels and little pails from our sandbox. Brynn wanted to make a snow-angel. After that, we returned to our warm house for some popcorn, M&M's and a movie. It's been a pretty good day off.

Things I am thankful for after reflecting yesterday's events:

1. We made it home after a 2.5 hour drive. It's a 9 mile journey, normally.
2. I didn't crash my car.
3. My car didn't spin backwards down a huge hill.
4. Four lovely gentlemen pushed me up the hill into a parking lot until Dj arrived.
5. We picked up our kids and made it home safe and sound.
6. We didn't have to drive to school or daycare today in the mess.
7. My kids rediscovered their love for snow.
8. My kids' boots and snow pants we purchased last year STILL fit.
9. I have an extra day to get some important tasks finished, including scoping out and planning my Black Friday excursion. This year we're taking iPods for the kids to listen to while we shop...GENIUS!
10. Dj spent half of his work day yesterday driving to drop off, follow, or pick up. ♥

Eyeball!

Seriously, what is up with my daughter's obsession of the word, "eyeball"? She says it constantly and then laughs hysterically like it's the funniest thing she has ever heard.

Awesome Project

Today, these two boys made my day. The kids had to create a comic about a cause or the onset of WWI and also connect it to the M.A.I.N. themes (Militarism, Alliance, Imperialism and Nationalism)...the original assignment asked them to draw it by hand. They asked me if they could use iMovie and I agreed. It turned out pretty darn cute. They did a great job. This is why I love teaching here. Check out their work!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeJPiqXd00Y

Just having fun

My kids make me laugh every day. They are so smart and intuitive. Not so long ago, my two little ones decided to dress up, so they ran upstairs to change and appeared in this:



Although they make me laugh, they also wear me out. Demanding new job+household responsibilities after work+getting kids ready for bed+getting kids ready for school+correcting papers+Master's homework+little boy who is waking up and coming to sleep with me and tosses and turns all night=super exhausting. This week has been harsh. I can't believe I'm still alive. After they go to bed at night (when they aren't coming down the stairs 3x), I am just spent. But I can't go to bed b/c I have things to do for work or school. My pity party is sounding pretty convincing right now, huh?!

I should have known better...

than to get in an argument (or start one, rather) about politics on Facebook. Yes, that was stupid. I have learned my lesson. Although, I must say, I did not appreciate the fact that he called me a political conformist, misled, misguided, and uninformed...oh and that I couldn't think for myself. Me, not think for myself???? Hmmm.

I did call in some reinforcements to help me out until I could respond, but jeez...he was pretty condescending and I did NOT appreciate that one bit considering we were pretty good friends for a good couple of years in college. Plus, I found him a couple girlfriends here and there...*sigh*

Girly Girl Party

One of Brynn's good friends from school, Colby, had her 4th Bday party at a nail salon. The girls had a wonderful time and B was so excited to get her nails and toes painted. It's been awhile since she has had the opportunity to go somewhere and have someone else paint her nails. She is a nail biter, so she didn't have many nails left on her fingers to paint. Nonetheless, she asked for pink nail polish and they were colored and she loved them for a few days until she chewed them away. I was hoping that the nail painting would encourage her to stop chewing and keep them nice, but not so much. She has been asking me to paint them again, so maybe she will come around to keeping them nice. She chose a fun glittery blue for her toes and has been proudly showing them off. Thanks, Colby, for a really fun party!

Alpha and Omega

We took the kids to our first family of 4 movie two weekends ago. B & B saw a commercial for the movie, Alpha and Omega and decided they wanted to see it. It was still in the theaters and Dj found a time for us to go on a Saturday morning. Both of them sat and watched the entire movie and then the next 4 days, I had to hear them howl like wolves. It was very cute. We were excited that we now have another fun thing we can do together as a foursome just to get out of the house on a rainy day.