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Showing posts from December, 2011

more project life love!

so, back in april, I bought 2 PL album kits. the amber and the turquoise, which were the 2011 designs. my intent was to put 2 years’ worth of photos in each book. I got to work on 2007 and 2008 right away, and stuck them in the turquoise album. currently, all the pictures are in and 2007 is completely done with journaling and everything. still need to do 2008, but that’ll happen some time. since then, the amber kit has been sitting on my shelf, unopened, just waiting for me to get my pictures together. at the end of november, snapfish offered penny prints and I went for it. I got all of 2005 and 2006’s photos edited, organized, and ordered. I knew that I would have to deal with the non-digital photos I had (we got our first digital camera in may of 2005) eventually. well, that box of snapfish prints has been sitting on my shelf, taunting me for a good 3 weeks now. I was disciplined. I had vowed NOT to touch it until after christmas, and I didn’t.  last night, however, at 10:58pm, I

week 51 in pictures

holy cow. we are winding down! this will be my second to last weekly post for this year!!!! wow. sunday: finally got the kids’ presents all wrapped. 2 big fat boxes for each… what could it be??? monday: just a little random cuteness. tuesday: on the way back from… somewhere… california, maybe? layla made a bunch of paper ornaments and I had the brilliant idea that she should make a big paper christmas tree to put on her bedroom door. she then bugged me to let her make this tree nearly EVERY day since, usually right before bed time, or when I was in the middle of making dinner. FINALLY, it happened. they painted it green, I added some glitter glue lights, and cut it out. layla cut out and taped on all of her ornaments, and then we put it on her door! wednesday: new tragedy for our family… layla had a super loose tooth, which she managed to lose AND swallow while eating breakfast. she was quite distraught. thursday: christmas baking has commenced! yes, I like to wait to the las

christmas day at barb & paul’s

(otherwise known as “ana and elsa’s” to my kids.) after breakfast, quick showers, packing up clothes, jammies, and gifts, we loaded up in the car and drove south to my cousin, barb’s house. we got there around 3. my parents and aunt marilynne were already there, as well as my other cousins, lynne & jim. there was chatting, and munching, and drinking of spiked cider going on. soon, mike and marie showed up with baby liam, and everyone applauded! LOL. gotta love having a baby around! after that, caitlyn and her fiancĂ©, danny arrived and that was everyone. we had traditional hedvall family (my mom’s mom’s family) swedish christmas dinner of halibut and sausages, along with other yummy fixings. then we sang carols (which was both beautiful AND hilarious), paul lit the candles on the tree, and finally opened presents. we got gift cards and the game, qwirkle (which I’ve wanted for the last 2 years!), layla and micah got some toys and accessories for their rooms, shane got an awesome r

christmas morning

so, I had a few technical difficulties w/ my pictures from christmas. turns out, my iphone camera is not quite as fabulous as I first thought. it still takes great pictures in the church, and will definitely do better in a pinch, but from now on, I’ll be sticking with my point and shoot (until I get my REAL camera!) for daily stuff. first of all, a lot of the pictures came out blurry or grainy without the flash, and with it, there’s like this light aura thing going on that totally washes out the picture. (but don’t worry, I still love my phone!) then, when uploading and attempting to edit the pictures from my phone, I discovered that my computer or the picture files themselves, or both, don’t like each other. more than half of them were unable to be edited because of something to do with the file (I’m so techie!). so I did all the editing in picassa, but now I can’t figure out how to put them in this post FROM picassa, and since I really don’t care that much and don’t want to spend all

christmas eve service

shane and layla were both involved in the christmas eve service at church. there was a mass choir number w/ the kids and adults. the big kids rang hand bells and sang, and the little kids looked beautiful, singing with their sparkly capes and candles. it was a beautiful number, and they pulled it off perfectly. yes, I got a little teary. layla had a bit of a cold, which is what the sniffling and occasional nose-wiping were about. but, even so, she did great, and always loves singing in church (or anywhere, for that matter). after that, we had the traditional candle-lighting portion and sung silent night. micah got his own candle this year.

a timeline of confusion

may 2006: layla takes her first steps january 2007: layla, in the process of potty training, decides that, not only does she not want to poop in the potty, she does not poop AT ALL. february 2007: layla STILL refuses to poop. you can read all about it here , if you feel the need. however, in reading over that post, there was a very significant sentence: she walks around on her toes . this was in an effort to keep her poop in . this whole poop-phobia thing lasted only about a month, but apparently it was long enough to imbed toe-walking firmly in layla’s muscle memory and it became a habit. december 2007: dave’s gramma gives layla a shirt with a tu-tued dancer on the front and the words ‘future ballerina’ because she has apparently noticed that she is always on her toes. sometime in the general 2008-2010 span of time: when visiting layla’s doctor for well-child checkups, I ask about the toe-walking. he examines her legs and ankles, checks her heel cord flexibility, etc., and d

week 50 in pictures

this week is kind of messed up. I didn’t take any pictures until wednesday, and then those pictures got deleted. so, I have a bunch of random ones from either the weekend before, or post-wednesday… but this is (roughly) how I’m going to be plugging them in to the book. I think… sunday: layla’s FIRST ‘dangly’ earrings. (yes, this is a big deal.) monday: my absolute FAVORITE treat right now. super awesome, high-quality, fair trade, organic, LOCAL (made right here in seattle – I’ve even toured the factory) chocolate! this is my current bar of choice, and dark chocolate (the higher the %, the better), is a totally paleo-approved treat! L.O.V.E. tuesday: micah has decided that the best utensil for eating yogurt is a plastic fork. weird kid. in an ironic twist, I sent a yogurt in shane’s lunch that day. he came home and told me that I forgot to send him a spoon, so he had to go and find one. well, they didn’t have any plastic spoons in the cafeteria, so he had to use a fork! go figure.

meal plan monday

yup. I realize that it’s getting to be a joke when I actually do post one of these. but hey, I have a rough sketch in my mind, so it might actually happen this week. monday: beef stew (primal style, without the flour to thicken it) tuesday: spaghetti (w/ spaghetti squash for the grownups and any kids willing to try it – veggie noodles for the kids); broccoli; salad wednesday: dinner at church (might have to bring some back-up leftovers, just in case) thursday: leek and potato soup (I think. I have a leek and some potatoes – will have to check the recipe to make sure there’s no dairy) friday: pizza and beans (for the kids, and maybe dave, I guess. might have to make a different plan if he doesn’t want it. we’ll see what I come up with for myself.) saturday: burgers and dogs (sans buns); raw veggies; sweet potato/oven fries sunday: big breakfast scramble planning meals lately is… interesting. on top of the paleo stuff, I have so many things I’m not supposed to be eating d

week 49 in pictures

um, really? 49? there are only 52 weeks in a year. wow. sunday: after rearranging the furniture in the livingroom to accommodate the christmas tree, we made a little ‘nook’ behind the couch that works for a cozy little play area for the kids. whether or not they’ll use it, is yet to be seen, but they thought it was a good idea. monday: I met a friend a starbucks for a coffee date, and micah had to tag along. I gave him my phone to play games, but after awhile he switched to taking pictures. this is a sampling of the pictures he took while patiently waiting for us to finish with our grown-up talk. I LOVE his perspective on all this stuff that was around him. tuesday: we got a cat tree/climber from a friend for toby. micah, guess who thought it was for him… wednesday: don’t worry, toby likes it, too!. he actually spends most of the day up on that top spot, napping and keeping an eye on the goings on of the neighborhood. thursday: this is shane’s little reading nook in his room.

I hate it when things don’t make sense.

first off, let me state, right at the start, that this is not a post about secular vs. religious celebration and/or observation of christmas. that is an entirely different issue than what I am about to go on and on about. I state this at the start, because I’ve posted about this very topic in the past, and all of the comments I get back are very much in the “keep Christ in christmas” and “we know what we are celebrating” school of thought. THAT IS NOT WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT HERE. but, because I’m a wordy, opinionated person, who everybody also knows to be a committed christian, that’s what everyone assumes I’m talking about, even though I think I’m pretty clear that I’m not. at any rate… the rant of the day is an annual one, in recent years. “HOLIDAY” this one, single, solitary word drives me absolutely CRAZY for the entire month of december, and even before, and a little bit after. I am not opposed to holidays . I like holidays. usually, holidays mean that my husband gets the da

week 48 in pictures

sunday (actually, saturday evening): micah likes to take pictures. he took this one the night before we left CA, and I think it’s awesome. papa gary, in his recliner, reading the paper. I love that the angle on it is low – from his perspective. it’s his papa, through his eyes. monday: dave took the day off of work, since we arrived home LATE the night before. shane was up and off to band earlier, so layla was the only one to take to the bus stop in the morning. she wanted daddy to walk with her. awww… tuesday: apparently shane had some styrofoam packing mold stashed somewhere in his room. micah found it and created a little snow storm for himself! UGH! I hate styrofoam! yes, we vacuumed him. wednesday: the kids had been looking forward to this for weeks! school skate night at skate king! (btw, locals, skate king is EXACTLY the same as it was when we were kids. exactly.) this was layla and micah’s first time EVER on roller skates and did great! thursday: my child does not know