Halloween 2013

Our first Trick-or-Treating in our new house is complete.  Feels strange that we are practically done celebrating Halloween and the actual date isn't even until Thursday.  Michaela was Sleeping Beauty and Avery went as one of the good fairies, Flora.  My Mom made both costumes for us again...man, is she talented! The girls had a great time celebrating at the zoo on Saturday and then taking a short trip around the neighborhood on Sunday.  It was so nice to have a lot of trick-or-treaters because in our old house we barely got any!  It was a great weekend!

Birthday Parties

Avery's first birthday was back in February, right after we moved.  We had a fun small party with family and friends

Helping Avery blow out the candles

Such a giver, feeding mommy some cake

Michaela turned 4 in September and we hosted an Art party to celebrate.  The party was a big success.  The kids had a great time playing and painting their canvases.  My Mom made every kid an art smock to take home with their canvas.  It was such a nice touch to the party.  

It's been awhile...

Of course, as always, I had the best of intentions for keeping up with my December Daily for 2012, I even set up the album using a Project Life format and discussed how the simplicity of that system would keep me on track.  I wasn't completely wrong (and want to think about trying the same system for this year) and I am further along on the album than this blog would suggested, but there were a few changes for our family that I didn't quite anticipate happening so quickly.  So THAT, instead of lack of effort is what caused me to fall behind.  

I have been wanting to move from our condo since my oldest daughter's first birthday to provide her with a bit more outdoor space like I had while I was growing up.  Although we really did love our community and our home, we really wanted to have a bit more space.  And in all honesty commuting an hour one way, with two children in tow was not always a pleasant experience!  Luckily, in December we received an offer on our place and found the perfect home to move to as well.  Everything seemed to move so quickly and yet very slowly at the same time.  We moved in February, just in time for Avery's first birthday party (I'll have to blog about that later), but truly we are still settling in and unpacking.  We are really enjoying the new house, especially on nights when the four of us can run and be silly in our backyard...something I have been dreaming of for some time!  So, now that summer is here and we have a bit more time to dedicate to settling in, I hope to do better at continuing to chronicle our adventures as a family of 4 and take note of what seems like the constant growth of our two amazing girls!

Last Christmas in our old home!

December 3

Decorating the tree has always been one of my favorite parts of preparing for Christmas.  I love how the rituals of the Christmas holiday visibly demonstrate Michaela's growth from year to year and will for Avery as well.  Michaela celebrated her first Christmas at three months old, so we didn't even have to worry about her touching the tree.  Avery is nine months now and all over the place so her first Christmas will be a different experience.  This year, Michaela was more than excited to decorate the tree.  She loved opening the boxes and looking at all the ornaments from last year and adding the new ones into the group.  Her strategy for the decorating did not change much from last year; many ornaments ended up on the same branch on the bottom right side of the tree.  Ryan made the interesting observation that she put all the ornaments on facing the tree too.  Once all the ornaments were on the tree we asked Michaela which ornament was her favorite and she said "Tinkerbell".  Tinkerbell was her new ornament for this year and like years past it commemorated her Halloween costume.  We tried to include Avery in the decorating as well and not surprisingly she was more interested in trying to get the ornaments into her mouth.  Her ornament was a Baby's First Christmas ornament of Pooh and Piglet together.    

December 2

The 2nd found us making a day trip up to Green Bay in order for Ryan to attend the Packers game (a birthday gift from his parents).  We got there in time to attend church with Ryan's parents and then sent Ryan and his Dad off to the game.  The girls and I headed back to the house with Gramma to enjoy the game.  Ryan and his Dad had a great time and we were all able to eat dinner together before heading back home.  Even though the Packers won and the Bears lost :( it was a fun day.    

I love including different aspects of our family life in this album.  Getting to include memories from Ryan's day is important to me so that his story is represented as well.  On a side note, while I was determined to stay on top of this album things just seem to pop up and what can you do...that's life.  Avery has been under the weather the past few days preventing anything much from getting done.  So I still need to get the Instagram pictures printed, but I included them in digital form...

A day for Dad - This is what 34 looks like...

Ryan's caption on Instagram "Perfect way to celebrate a birthday...with 75,000 of my closest friends! Go Pack!"

December 1

We were lucky to have a slow Saturday (our first in months)!  We enjoyed time together and only ventured out in order to get Ryan his birthday gift.  Ryan was in definite need of a new phone and has been patiently waiting to get the iPhone5.  We made that happen a day early since we will be heading out of town for the his actual birthday.  Michaela loved the phone displays at the store and enjoyed calling people on several of the models.  We ended the day with a family dinner (Avery did awesome picking up and eating her peas). 

A very simple Day 1...

Prepping for December Daily

I wasn't sure if I could logistically commit to participating in the December Daily project this year.  My workroom has turned into Avery's bedroom, the girls commute with me every work day now, and we have our house up for sale which means cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning.  Then, as I was pulling our Christmas book basket together I was so happy to be able to add my first December Daily album.  I realized how much I love the project and I had to do my best to make it happen, but I also realized I had to make it as simple a process as possible.  So, after my work on Avery's baby book using the Project Life system I thought I would order a few more "plastics" and make that work for my December Daily as well.  I decided I liked the 6x12 size and made the album myself by making my own cover/back and adding rings.  I filled the book with design H, design I (the instagram size...definitely excited about incorporating instagram photos because I take pictures with that app so often!), and I can also use the regular 6x12 size if I choose.  In addition to making the album simple, I wanted to try and use supplies I already had on hand.  The snowflake on the cover of the album came off of a gift bag we were given last year.  It came together so easily that I am thinking I can actually make this work and keep up with it...we'll see how that part goes.  Happy December!