Jolly jolly

One of my favorite holiday outings is to the Children's Museum. I think it's a favorite of the boys' too. Dave's employer is a sponsor of the Museum's Jolly Days so one night each year the Museum stays open late and all the employees and their families can come and play. Most of the regular attractions are open, plus the big slide and pretend ice fishing, etc. It's a lot of fun to be there "after hours," as it's a much small crowd, plus the added bonus of Daddy going with us! Max's first carousel ride, on a horse. I took all three boys a few weeks ago but Max had to ride in my arms while I stood that day so that I could keep track of Seth and Luke too.

Seth pretending to drive a race car. When Seth grows up he wants to be a member of a pit crew. He wanted to be a driver but he changed his mind because he doesn't want to crash. And no, I did not suggest that it was too dangerous!

Luke - ice fisherman.

Going down the big slide. It's tough to tell, but Dave and Luke are on the left and Seth is on the right, clearly winning this time. They got to go down the slide four times. I even slid with Luke one of the times. It was pretty fun.

It was snowing and all the Christmas lights were beautiful. This picture really doesn't do it justice! Sorry.

This was the same weekend we rode the train. The boys were exhausted. After we put the boys in bed I found out Seth's school was on a delay the next morning, which means he doesn't go since he's only half day. I was so happy for that extra day of rest (probably moreso for his teacher than for him!).

It's beginning to look a lot like...

I have decided to take on a little project this Christmas season. It's a scrapbooking project and the really basic description is this: make a book ahead of time and every day of the Christmas holiday season add a picture from that day and some journaling of your day. The idea is to be present in the moment and really enjoy the season while documenting it. But by having the book already made (I started mine about 5 week ago and just have a few pages left to finish) you spend much more time making the memories and just a little time in December documenting the memories. I love to scrapbook and take pictures so it seeemed like a perfect little project. The idea comes from here.


So, I've been listening to some of this to get in the mood:



I decided mine would start November 26th, as that is the day after Thanksgiving and we always start decorating on that day. It will run through at least December 26th, maybe later if we have any holiday festivities that are later than Christmas Day. We often get together with Dave's family the weekend after Christmas and I wanted to be sure to include pictures from that time as well. It's sort of haphazardly (is that a word?) fun to put together a page (paper and embellishments anyway) having no idea what pictures will go on it. We have a few things planned so those days were a little easier to decorate for, but mostly, I am making the pages without a clue whether the pictures will be serious or silly.


Also, I decided to challenge (?) myself to only use products that I already have. I purchased the album and page protectors but all the paper and embellishments are coming from my stash of unused supplies. [I will disclose that I really want some glitter mist spray and am considering making the purchase as it could be used on other projects as well.]

There is a real trend lately toward digital scrapbooks rather than traditional scrapbooks. I know digital books are quicker and easier. I have made some myself and plan to make a few more just to catch up on some things that need scrapped but that I don't feel that I have the time for right now. But I must say that I love when a book starts to take shape and it gets all poofy with paper and pictures and chipboard and memorabilia. Can't wait!