Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!

I don't know about anyone else in the world, but I still have Christmas ALL over my house.  Not only are our decorations still decorating, but opened gifts are strewn around my sofas because no one wants to put away their new stuff.  It's nice to see all the fun, new things, and it helps the girls remember what hasn't been played with quite yet when they wander past.  I've had quite enough of the big piles of "new" by now though.  I've enjoyed the Chrismas lights and nativity scenes and advent calendars, but it's time for them to go away.  We still have puzzles to put together, and a new board game to play and stacks and stacks of new books we haven't read.  Miss M has a new doll that hasn't even come out of her box.  I'd hate to put those in their new homes quite yet because they'll be totally forgotten if they're not enjoyed first, so I devised a FUN plan that will also clear the clutter.  We're going to have a "Good bye Christmas" New Year's Eve. Today we'll play the new game - and put it away.  We'll puzzle out the new puzzles - and put them away.  We'll read the new books - and put them away.  We'll keep going till the sofas can be sat on again and each gift is in it's new home.  I also plan to record each gift in our family journal along with the giver's name so we'll be organized to write our thank you cards tomorrow, right after we pack up all the decorations.  Gosh, I love it when organization and FUN come together!

Happy New Year everyone!  May 2011 bring you loads of FUN and enjoyment with your own families.

HUGE site full of fun Christmas activities!I

Just popping in to share a cool site that is choc full of fun Christmas activities for your family.  You'll find everything from simple coloring pages to crafts to games.  If you're running out of ways to keep the kids in the spirit (or just plain occupied) just click the link and let Woo Jr inspire you!


http://www.woojr.com/christmas/

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

It's working! It's working!

Just popping in to confirm - making a list results in checking it twice.  I haven't heard "What can we do?" once since my little list of FUN ideas went up!  The girls made special cards for Santa yesterday, and we're almost finished making name tags for our stockings.

I wonder what they'll choose for FUN today!

Holiday FUN plans!

This morning I updated the Week at a Glance calendar with the jobs and fun that must be done before Christmas.  I included making treats for the neighbors and Santa in the fun, but otherwise, I've left them open.  Instead of scheduling specific fun, I made a list of different things the kids enjoy and when they have some down time they can just choose something fun from the list.  I used my scrapbooking software to jazz it up a little, then I printed it to hang on the fridge.  Hopefully, it will keep me from hearing "I'm bored", "What can we do" etc. for at least the rest of the week. 

Back in the Saddle Again - Kind of.

Alrighty, here I am, getting back in the swing of things.  So far I have updated my Week at a Glance with meal plans and a rough outline of the week.  I'm still working through all the fun things I'd like to do while the girls are out of school.  I have a huge list of fun ideas and quite a few things on my "To Do" list, too.  I also have a shopping list to make, but I'm going to back off and let all that list making simmer for a while.  I want to make sure we do the Christmasy stuff before the big day but I'm starting to stress about it all, and I hate stressing over fun.  I'm going to go get my morning basics finished and possibly come back this afternoon.  It would be nice to have the whole week planned before the day is through. 

Happy Monday!

Where have you been young lady?

Alright, I know it seems as if I just fell off a cliff and totally disappeared since I've only made two superficial posts in almost two months now, but I do have a good explanation. I decided I need to take a break from blogging because I had bigger fish to fry. Two of my kids have birthdays in December, so to say that it is an INSANE month is a ridiculous understatement. I always try to have all birthday and Christmas shopping finished before Thanksgiving, and this year I experimented with moving the birthday parties forward a few weeks. Moving the parties was a big success because every child we invited was able to come, which is a first for us because December is a crazy month for everyone. It has also spread out the insanity for me, which was actually nice because I had time to recover between events. And, now I'm all ready for Christmas except a few last things I need to pick up for Christmas dinner. Ahhh... I love being prepared.

All that said, I'm going to try to get back into the habit of blogging again. I've really missed having all my plans laid out so nicely. Plus, I want to optimize the kids' time out of school and in order to do that I need to at least make some basic lists of possibilities and responsibilities. So, I'm off to make Mom Plans!  It's good to be back!

Wow! Another out of the blue post!

If you know a child who likes to bounce (I know, they're rare) you'll want to go check this out!  It's a chance to win an awesome inflatable bouncer!  The blog hosting the contest is also pretty cool, too.  So, go - read, enter, enjoy!

Shutterfly Saves the Day!

I'm a big fan of digital scrap booking.  I love how flexible and easy it can be, and use my scrap booking software for everything from calendars to track Miss E's reading minutes to building scrapbook pages and birthday party invitations.  I usually design our family Christmas card from scratch, but this year I have just been too busy.  Enter Shutterfly.  Shutterfly has long been a favorite photo printing site.  They have a huge catalog of fun products with very reasonable prices and really great quality.  It took much longer to snap a few quick pictures of the kids than to select and  build our Christmas cards.  I had a lot of fun perusing all the possibilities.  My first thought was to go with a folded card.

Ho Ho Ho Christmas 5x7 folded card

Shop Shutterfly.com for elegant Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

I liked this one because I had lots of pictures I wanted to include, and this style allows you to use two more pictures inside.  But, as I browsed the other styles, I found I loved the bold colors of this flat card.

Mod Snowflakes Story Christmas Card

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

I also liked the option to personalize the caption beneath the pictures. That's unique among this type of card. However, I had my heart set on using black and white pictures, and decided I liked the contrast between them and this gorgeous blue.

Let It Snow Christmas Card

Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

This card just looks so bright and cheerful! I really love how it makes my black and white pictures pop. The overall appearance of this choice made my decision easy.

If you're not on my mailing list, I hope you'll enjoy this Christmas card post and consider this my Merry Christmas wish to you!

(Might I also recommend Shutterfly's photo calendars , photo note cards,   thank you cards.  I order these fairly often and am always pleased.  There is nothing like sending personalized note cards, even when your message is short.  Also, if you have a blog of your own, follow this link to apply for Shutterfly's free cards for bloggers promotion!  I love free stuff!)