Ramblings of a Stay-at-Home Mom

Sorry that I'm a bit late in posting my final days of December Daily. We had 5 gatherings in 4 days (insert crazy!!) and then I just needed a break to regroup myself in order to tackle the last remaining pages of my album. I'm posting Days 23-24 here and  will do a separate post for Day 25 and again for Days 26-27. Whew! So, onto Day 23: I initially had nothing for this day. I worked in the morning and did some last minute Christmas stuff. But that was it. And then I got this photo from my Dad and a text saying that she was having lots of fun playing outside on the snow hill. I decided that that would be the story of today and just went with it. And when she got home later, playing on the snow hill was all she would talk about. Day 24: For Christmas Eve, we spent majority of the day at home and went to my Mom`s place for supper. It was crazy chaos with 5 kids running around at the top of their lungs. But it was still ok. The girls loved their new pyjamas that they got, as well

I loved today. Today was my day off work and I planned to do quite a bit of baking today. We had a jug of milk going bad, so Keith decided to jump in and do some baking as well. While I made some Nutella Cookies and Banana Bread, he made 4 dozen buns and 2 pizza crusts. I really love that Violet wanted to "supervise" Daddy making the buns and just soak it all up. And I love that Keith jumped in and did this as well. For this page, I used the journal card from the Oh What Fun Christmas Value Kit . I really like how the page turned out, especially that I turned the smaller photo into black & white, just so that the orange-ness of my kitchen table didn't overwhelm the page too much.

Present wrapping night! Yes I know it's 4 days before Christmas and I only got around to it now. I blame it one working constantly lately and just very little energy after getting home. So once the kids were in bed this evening, I grabbed myself a glass of wine, collected all the stuff necessary for wrapping and sat down at the table and got to work. With some interruptions (thank you girls for not going to sleep right away), it took me almost 3 hours. But they are all wrapped, tagged and put away in the spare room. There's no way I'm putting wrapped gifts under the tree with Dominique around here. This page was pretty easy to put together. I even remembered to grab a shot of myself working on the presents. I used a journal card from the Merry & Bright Mini Kit . A couple minutes in the Project Life App and it was done!

Welcome! Today's page was pretty simple to put together. I didn't have any photos for today, so I decided to make it a journal page with some notes on it. All the cards are from the Merry & Bright Mini Kit . I went with our Holiday Agenda, as we have quite a few gatherings to go to and I thought that it would be nice to have our agenda documented. The second part documented was my favourite recipes to bake during the Christmas season, which would be No Bake Energy Bites , Nutella Cookies , Unbaked Cookies , and Sugar Cookies . I think it turned out pretty good. What do you do when you have no photos?

Welcome to Day 19 of December Daily! Still plugging along over here. For today's story, I decided to document our nephew Payton's 3rd birthday party. It was a pretty laid back party and we mainly let the kids play and stuff their faces with food. This was a pretty easy page to put together as I didn't have a lot of photos to work with.

Did you know that Star Wars: The Force Awakens got released today??!!! And I have tickets!!! I was lucky enough to get them the day they were released and was able to get a good theatre, at a good time and good seats to boot! And going with my sister and friends! And the girls were going away for the night!! Recipe for an awesome night out! And this has been a Christmas Tradition with me and my sister Sam to go see a movie around Christmas time. For the past 3 years, we did the Hobbit movies. Now that that trilogy is done, we were really excited that Star Wars was being released around Christmas time. We bought tickets on the day that they were released and then waited 2 months for the movie. I won't give any spoilers out, just in case someone hasn't seen it yet, but I will say that it was worth it! In order to commemorate this awesome movie, I decided to go with a 2-page layout. The first page with 2 photos and a journal card about our night out. The second page with the Tease

Today was such a laid back day at home, that I decided to take a hint from a page in Ali Edwards book, more specifically Day 14 and do an Around Here post. Which worked out great, considering that I was doing a bit of everything today. This page was pretty easy to put together, along with a couple notes from throughout the day. Add in a couple digital stamps and voila! [caption id="attachment_355" align="alignnone" width="1800"] Journal cards from Hello December 2015 Edition . Everyday Life stamp from Ali Edwards Embracing the Everyday ; Celebrate stamp from Ali Edwards Messy Little Christma s; Heart stamp from Ali Edwards Pound Gratitude .[/caption]

It finally snowed today!! And the girls are so excited! It had already started snowing during the night and when I went out at 4am to start my car to go to work, there was an already considerable amount on the ground. And it continued throughout the entire day. So when I got home around 10am, Keith said he was going outside to shovel the driveway and that I should bring the girls outside. All I had to say to Violet was, "Hey Violet, want to go play in the snow?" She immediately grabbed her snow suit and got to work getting dressed. Dominique wanted to get in on it as well, so I bundled her up like a little Eskimo and we all went outside to enjoy the fresh snow. Violet absolutely loved it. She was instantly into the deep snow and just shouting for joy. Dominique on the other hand, wasn't quite sure what to make of the craziness that was her sister. Violet even went deep enough into a small hill that she lost her boot! I had to go retrieve her and put her on the entrance st

Today was a bit rough here at home, and because of it, I have no photos. It's the first week of Winter Break from Pre-School and Awana's and I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. So because of my lack of photos for today, I decided to write down a list of what I was grateful for at this time of year. I kept it short, but sweet and simple. This page didn't take too long to set up. Or to think up of. I could have added more, but it looked good to me, so I left it as is.

Welcome to Day  14 of December Daily! Because of crazy work day this morning and trying to tackle my house and make it look clean for once, I didn't take any photos today. But when I sat down to think about what I was going to do for today's DD story, it automatically came to mind to do the girls' wish lists. Around here, we don't do a whole lot of Wish Lists. Mainly because the girls are still small, but another part is because I don't want them to get way too over-excited about expecting a certain present and not getting it. But right now for the girls, it's pretty simple. I'll probably revise Violet's list when I can just get her alone and ask her what she'd like, but for right now, I'll leave it like this.

Enter Christmas Tree decorating! I know I'm a little later than usual putting up my tree. But I wasn't sure if I really wanted to. Not because I don't like putting it together (which I do), but more because I wasn't sure how Dominique would be with the tree. Last thing I need is Dominique pulling the tree down on top of her. But I decided to throw caution to the wind, said to heck with it, pulled out the tree and took most of the evening assembling it and decorating it with the girls, while we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas. [caption id="attachment_297" align="alignnone" width="1380"] The "Oh Christmas Tree" stamp is from Ali Edwards "All I Want for Christmas "[/caption] And bonus part was that I'm starting a new tradition with the girls this year (and kicking myself that I didn't start this when Violet was younger). I decided that each year I'm going to get them a new ornament for the tree (with the

Oh, today, how I loved you.... I was lucky enough to get off work pretty early (like around 9:30am), spent some time with the girls before my Mom picked them up around 11am and kept them for the night. Which meant that we (me and Keith) had 24 hours to ourselves! Which also meant that we could have a date night! We ended up going to the city, doing some shopping and bumming around and going to Montana's for supper. Which might have been steaks. :) Oh so yummy. Page made in the PL App, using the Hello December 2015 Edition and the word art is from Ali Edwards Date Night. This night out was exactly what we needed to recharge together. A lot of thanks to my Mom for taking the girls for the night!

Today's story makes me want to cry. Seriously. The last couple months have been a bit hard on us as a family, as Keith has been out of work since October, with no luck finding another one (although he has an interview next week, fingers crossed). We've been able to keep afloat by watching our money closely, but it's still been a bit tight. My Mom, wanting to help us out, decided to sign us up for the Community Christmas Hamper that our Church helps with. She notified me that she did, just so that I knew that they would be showing up. Today we got our delivery. And I wanted to cry. They brought a present for each girl (I think Dominique got a Rocking Chair, not sure what Violet got as it is wrapped), and 2 big boxes of food. Lots of food. I'm guessing over $100 worth of food. It was insane. The biggest surprises in there were a 5kg Turkey, 10kg flour, 2 jugs of milk. I was floored. And so thankful. Very thankful. You can tell I've got a Thankful theme for this page (

Today's story was all about putting up my Mom's Christmas Tree in the evening. Violet was totally excited about helping decorate the tree, especially because her cousin Payton was there and they did quite a bit decorating, with some adult supervision. I tried to keep it simple, with some journaling, digital stamp (Ali Edwards All I Want For Christmas). I like how it turned out.

Oi, this evening was fun and noisy. I helped out in Violet's Awana's class this evening, as they were decorating Gingerbread houses and needed help putting the icing on for the decorations. Violet was excited that I was in her class and had tons of fun putting decorations on her Gingerbread house. It was nice to be able to see Violet in her Awana's class. She did awesome and I even got to see her do her verses, which she did with no issues! I got the "Deck the Halls" from Ali Edwards Messy Little Christmas and used Hello December on the PL App.

Today was an awesome day! We had our annual Christmas Brunch at Selah this morning to celebrate our last day before the Christmas break. I had brought along quite a few baked goodies (my speciality) to serve to the Selah Mom's as well as the Pre-School and Home-School groups. We enjoyed some good food (yummy!), a little bit of singing from the 3-year-olds, a game, a craft and a silent auction. I think I ate my fair share of food there, and there was still a bit leftover, but not much! The girls also had a blast in their classrooms (Violet in Pre-School and Dominique in Nursery). So glad that they had fun. For today's page, I made it into a 2-page layout, as I had too many photos to choose from, as well as adding journalling as well. I used the Christmas Party stamp from Ali Edwards You're Invited . The 4x6 journal card from Hello December on the PL App.

Yikes! I got a bit behind in posting my December Daily this week! I blame it on working too much and not sleeping enough. Sounds good, right? Right. Any way..... For Monday's page, I decided to do 2 pages, with the 2 Christmas Cards that I made. I quickly and easily whipped them up, but am having a hard time deciding which one I like best! Arg!! These photos were taken a couple weeks back by our family photographer and I finally got around to doing something with them. I like how they turned out and can't wait to hand them out this year! Which one is your favourite? Either way, I'm handing them both out!

Welcome to Day 6 of December Daily! Today was a very busy/lazy day for us. Busy as I had to work 6am-2pm, and I did some baking when I got home, but otherwise a lazy afternoon/evening. I had taken no photos throughout the day, and so when it came to putting this page together, I just decided to go with some filler cards and a bit of journalling. Nothing fancy. And it works. Really. Do I wish that I had some photos of the baking that I did? Yes. But am I going to agonize over not having them? No. Some days, it just works to do something simple and not too over the top.   [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1380"] I used the Hello December Kit on the PL App. [/caption] It's actually very nice to be able to look at the page and not keep my eye on the photo while trying to read the journaling.  

Welcome to Day 5 of December Daily! For today's story, I used our visit down to Keith's Dad & Step-Mom and how much fun the kids had while we were there. To put it mildly, all the girls did while we were there was stuff their faces full of food (especially Dominique), and run around with some cousins that were there. Oh, and Dominique mastered going down the stairs on her bum. She's already proficient going up, just took a bit to figure out going down.   I used Hello Devember on the PL App (like always). I had only taken a few photos while we were there, so it was easy and quick to put together.

I’m glad I got today’s story down. It’s not Christmas themed, but it does show how my hubby goes out of his way for me on days that I work. Long story short, after working all morning and then going grocery shopping, I was tired and a bit cranky. Enter the husband. He distracted the girls with a movie so that I could have a ice hot bath to help with my sinus cold and the. Went out to pick up some food for the girls (chicken fingers & fries from Dairy Queen) and got me sushi from Irori and a bottle of wine. And made sure that I was in bed as early as possible because of work the next morning. I’m so spoiled. Here’s the page for today:      I used the Hello December Kit on the PL App.  And yes, my tummy was very happy and content 😊    

For today's story, I decided to share about what happened at Violet's Pre-School this morning.  Long story short, I was asked to lead Violet's class as the teacher called in sick that morning. Our church Pre-School is all run by volunteers (and a lot of Mom's), so I figured that I could help out. It was nice to be able to see how Violet interacts with other kids and how she learns. Makes me very proud to see her in the classroom.     For this page I used the Merry & Bright kit on the PL App. So easy and simple to put together. What happened on your Day 3?

Day 2 is in the books! I decided that for some Christmas presents this year, that they would be hand-made. But this isn't really a Christmas present. More like an belated-birthday-present-that-I'm-giving-at-Christmas ;) I found this scarf through Ravelry (a knitting/crochet/yarn site that I absolutely adore) and decided that I was going to make this for my sister Sam as her above mentioned present. I started it in the beginning of November, but it took me a bit longer to complete it than I thought it would. But it's done! And just seeing it done makes me tempted to keep it for myself :) But I can knit myself another scarf, another day.     I used Hello December in the PL App for the journal and filler cards. I just wish I had better lighting for the scarf, but I guess this will do. What did you do for Day 2 of December Daily?

Welcome to the start of December Daily ! If you are familiar with this concept, great! If not, I suggest checking out Ali Edwards for a lot of DD inspiration. This is the 4th year that I'm doing DD and I absolutely love it. I'm doing all my pages digital this year, using the Project Life App , for ease of comfort. For today, I actually had something different in mind, but it didn't pan out. So when I got this photo of Violet doing her Pre-School work, I knew that I had to jot it down. I used Hello December on the PL App for the filler and journal card. My plan for the completed project would be to order a photo book through Shutterfly, although probably not right away. But at least Day 1 is in the books!

My plan for my  Currently series on my old blog was to do this every Friday and maybe make a digital mini-book out of it when the year was up. Needless to say, I haven't done one for a couple months.  I'm going to attempt the same thing for next year, but in the mean time, might as well keep it going for this year. Reading nothing new this week. I did pick up 2 books from the library the other day, but haven’t started on them. Watching Keith play Fall Out: New Vegas. And lots of Disney Princess. Trying to kick sugar to the curb (at least a bit) Cooking lots of good, hearty, hot meals this week. Winter is setting in here. Drinking lots of Earl Grey Tea (with a little sugar in it) or water. Knitting this scarf as a Christmas present. Also have more knitting to complete for Christmas. Doing menu planning while the girls play in the tub and looking forward to having quiet once they are in bed. Enjoying the time I get to just sit down with a cup of tea and knit to my heart

Yeah, yeah....I'm a couple weeks behind. I know. I seriously don't know where the time went with this little girl of mine. How in the world is she 1.5 years old already? Sheesh girl! Any ways, as per my journalling tradition, here's 10 things about Dominique at 18 months: Walking/running all over the place. She barely sits still long enough to eat meals before she wants out again. Climbing everything, including the step stool so that she can watch me make supper and bake. Loves watching Tangled (Rapunzel). Not joking. She sits down and watches the entire movie with eyes wide open. Eats me out of house and home! I think she piles back more food than Violet does now. Constantly babbling (with some whining in there). Curious about everything. And having to warn her about getting hurt for touching something she shouldn't. Knows most body parts (ears, eyes, mouth, nose, tongue, hands, feet and belly button) and can do the sounds of 5 animals (elephant, chicken,

A little late for posting Halloween, but oh well! Halloween for us covered 2 days. Friday evening was Trick-or-Treating at the local mall and Saturday evening was spent going around to places. Unfortunately for Violet, it was not the greatest weekend. She woke up Friday morning with a 100* fever, that took quite a while to go away. Thankfully I had Tylenol on hand for her and it helped. I did mention to her around supper, that it might be best to stay home from trick-or-treating at the mall. She was adamant that we had to go trick-or-treating at the mall that evening. Seeing as she was feeling better, I decided that we'd give it a go. [caption id="attachment_50" align="aligncenter" width="660"] My Beautiful Queen Elsa[/caption] After braiding Violet's hair into 2 French Braids to go along with her Elsa dress and getting Dominique into her Snow White dress, we hopped into the car and headed to the mall. When we got to the mall, Dominique opted to

[caption id="attachment_41" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Happy Birthday my Beautiful Big Girl![/caption] Yes, yes, I know I'm late with posting this. Violet turned 4 on October 21, and it's been slightly crazy these past weeks. Oops. Anyway, as per my journalling tradition, here's 10 things about Violet right now at age 4: 1) You love to sing and dance. Especially to the end credits on movies that you love. And in the bathtub, singing to your bath toys. And to your stuffed animals. And to your little sister.You are always singing and dancing. 2) You are very helpful these days. You help clean up the living room when we have to vacuum. You fill up Pascal’s cage with shavings. You put the dry cutlery away and also try to get breakfast or lunch for you and Dominique if I'm not moving fast enough. You also love to help when I'm cooking or baking, constantly asking what I'm putting in and if you can stir it yourself. 3) You are in C