Scattered

I have so much going on that I'm having trouble finding focus these days. Luckily, I woke up to this today, so the kids are taken care of:
It's nine o'clock, and I just now heard George wake up. We live on a hill, with a busy street running right behind our bedrooms, so normally the traffic wakes them up. I love how the snow deadens the sound and keeps people from racing up and down the hill. The kids are going to FREAK OUT when they come out and see this! I'm sure there will be many photos to post later!

Because I need another project like a hole in my head, I've joined a group that is documenting the overlooked details in our lives. Our first challenge was to document our favorite coffee mug or drink cup. Dave should appreciate that this is one of the few mugs we use that isn't a part of our everyday dish set.

And mostly, I'm preparing for this:

I leave in THREE DAYS!!!! Wahoo!!!! Vegas baby!! I am beyond excited. Best part? Five hours of travel time with no kids to entertain!

Well, and I'm going to see/meet a couple dozen of my friends from around the world and be at a trade show with hundreds of the worlds leading companies that deal with all forms of photography and imaging. That stuff is good, too. ;) Drool!!

Edited to add:

I call them "Joined at the Hip"

My angels

The mighty snowball hunter

Let's play "Find the cat"

My Eyes Are Crossing

Man, I was glad to get the kids back in school! So much more time for me to put my feet up and relax.

Bwahahahahahahahahaaaaa!!!!!! Phew! Am I funny or what?

Actually, I've been busy getting making my carpal tunnel worse with a HUGE, exciting project. Jason's brother, Adam is the lead member of a band in Denmark that is steadily getting bigger and bigger. They recently signed with a record label in Europe and have their first professionally produced album coming out in a couple of months. In addition to just being totally excited for them, I'm also excited about this:(Click on the photo to go to their site!) Adam and I have been internationally collaborating on this for the last couple of months. Last night I emailed him the initial proofs for his CD cover, tray card, and 8 page booklet. Working with specs and templates written in Danish, using the metric system, and a different color mode (CMYK for you print knowledgeable types) made it all that much more interesting. A challenge, but one I've really enjoyed. Just what the perfectionist side of my inner artist needed!

Oh, and I've been taking the kids bike riding, making dentist and doctor appointments, driving kids to and from school every 2 1/2 hours, running my DSU Card Making class, preparing for the upcoming trade show I'm working, attending meetings and prepping for George's entry to Kindergarten next year, volunteering in Emma's class (and as a crossing guard after school!), and generally trying to stay ahead of the dirt and grime of a 4 person/2 animal household. Oh, and feeding my family. So, you know, not much else really. ;) Just being a mom. Gotta love it!

Cheating

Theoretically, she was in her room, as punishment, thinking about why talking back to Mommy and Daddy with major attitude isn't a good idea.

Really, not so much.
The hysterical giggling tipped me off.

As of this moment

...there are:

1 day
12 hours
35 minutes
and 46 seconds

... until school starts back up for the winter session.

Not that I'm counting.

Completed Board Book

In November I prepped a board book style mini-album for the upcoming Christmas season (see the originals here: Prepping for Xmas). I am so glad that I did! As seen in the January DSP Newsletter, I had my album completed only a few days after Christmas! I'm going to be adding some ribbon around the spines, I think, to finish off the look and cover some of the gaps between pages, but I love how it turned out otherwise! I simply added photos and minimal journaling in throughout December and was able to start printing and gluing the day after Christmas.

Click HERE to see the pages a bit closer up, if you'd like to read the journaling.

I'm looking forward to being able to pull this out again next year to share with friends and family. I didn't realize how many little traditions our family enjoys until I started putting this book together. And as someone who tends to procrastinate (just a bit!), this organizing ahead business was amazing! Maybe I should try it in other aspects of my life?

And so it begins!

Happy New Year to you all! Ours began peacefully, a bit earlier than desired, but peaceful nonetheless. Yesterday and today were spent dismantling Christmas and rediscovering our living room. Occasionally, it feels really good to clean. And as much as I'll miss the Christmas season, it felt good to vacuum up the pine needles, pack up the assorted ornaments, and put the boxes back up onto their high shelf.

Having a break in the rainy weather, we took the kids to a nearby church parking lot to practice their bike riding. George (who up until today thought bikes were only ridden in basements) received a big kid bike for Christmas. Emma is fairly jealous that his is a bit bigger than hers, but we had made the stipulation that she couldn't get a new one until she could ride without training wheels. And after this afternoon....it's time to get her a new bike. She did great!

George enjoyed riding through puddles the most!

What with spending an hour in the frigid fresh air, getting more exercise than they have in over a week, and the pride in new accomplishments, I think it's safe to say they will sleep well tonight. Of course, most likely I've just jinxed myself.

I've finished lots of layouts lately and my Prepping for Xmas book is complete, so there will be many more posts, filled with many more photos in the coming days.

Enjoy the new year!