Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Have a great day, grandpa!
Happy Birthday from your family!
We love you!

 

December Daily Day 3...

    I am sharing day three of my December Daily with you because that is the day I have done...almost.

Day one and two are still in the works...imagine that!

On day 3, my mom came over for "Art Day." We sit in my basement and craft or scrapbook. On this day we made some Christmas tags for her friends. "How many tags do you need?" I asked...

She answered, "Well, five for this group, 10 for this group, 8 for this group....14,17, etc."

"Oh..." I replied.

I completed three!

Jack was with us for crafting day...he made a great little Merry Christmas sign.

(OH! Need to include that in my Dec. Daily!)

Jack worked at my mom's table. Actually, he is playing her i-pad..one of his favorite things to do!

After supper that night, we played some mean cards - Kings Corner! It was so exciting that the boys pulled out the pennies and turned our innocent game into poker. Sam won $268...meaning $2.68!! He kept telling us, "Look at all this loose change I won."  Don't think I have ever heard anyone at the casino refer to their winnings as "loose change!"

Here are my three Christmas tags that I completed!
Got the ideas off of Tim Holz's blog.

 

My Manifesto...

It sucked me in AGAIN!
For the past THREE years, I have decided that this is the year I am going to create a December Daily journal/scrapbook. The idea is to take a picture, journal, create a page or something every day in December. You do it in December, because it is one of the BUSIEST months of the year and you have SO MUCH extra time to complete an entire SCRAPBOOK!
I fall for it every year and once again, I fell hook, line and sinker for it this year...

BUT...this year I signed up for an on-line class to complete my December Daily...which includes a daily prompt AND a photo idea...it is usually a mere 3-5 pages to read...
SO not only am i taking a daily picture, journaling about the photo and then creating a page...I must read 3-4 pages before beginning the entire process for the day.

NO WONDER they start advertising this December Daily thing in October!!

Well, I am off to a running start...maybe a jog...ok I will be honest, a slow browsing in the shoe section can't decide where to start walk.
(shopping sounds so much better than journaling right now)

Oh - the first class prompt...I had to create a manifesto....WTH?
I don't know what a manifesto is...sounds like something from WW II and Hitlerish.

So, I did what all honest scrapbookers in this Dec. Daily jam would do...use the example from class.

Page one...or should I say my manifesto title page...done.

Loads of Help with the Tree...

I realize that I have already shared our clumped, un-themed Christmas tree...then I ran across the pictures of the boys putting up the tree..just had to share the experience with you all...

Sam was great help...he sorted the branches and pulled the boughs apart to make them more "fluffy."

And then there's Jack...he was very excited to put up the tree and got about two limbs into the process and was done...

He just laid around and watched Sam and Jason do all the work...

Did I share our Thanksgiving decorations? The boys colored a bunch of pictures and taped them on every single window in our sun room...it was very festive addition to our dinner!

Ho Ho Ho...

I put up the Christmas decorations the other day. One of the boys couldn't wait to put up the tree and "get it to start looking like Christmas in here!" (hmmmm...I wonder which young son that was!)


Well, while I was working away...Santa came for an early visit!
Santa hat that we dug out of the Christmas boxes,
His own red LONG sleeved shirt,
Sam's red shorts,
Jason's black socks,
A white t-shirt for his beard,
A white plastic garbage bag for his sack full of toys
and
an empty rubber-maid bin for the sleigh....

I have to admit, the kid does have an imagination!
You can tell he had been Santa for awhile before I took this picture...the ring of wet slobber around his mouth was getting rather large!

Oh Christmas Tree Clumps...

The tree is up and decorated. This year both boys helped me out...that was interesting. In past years, when the boys would put the ornaments on, I could easily move the ornament to a more "proper" spot and the young sons wouldn't even notice...not this year!

All the Elmos were clumped by the snowman with care...


Dr. Seuss characters where hung not far from each other...

An entire monkey family emerged onto the tree...

And Sam topped it off with having ALL the Vikings ornaments together.
I did try several times to disperse them around the tree, but the boys INSISTED that they stay together...they NEEDED to stay together! So I gave up. Now I have a clumped ornament Christmas tree...and I am accepting it.

Preparing the Turkey on Thanksgiving...

My mom came over nice and early to help me prepare the Thanksgiving turkey. I had most things ready to go, but just COULD NOT reach into the turkey to get the extra innards out of it. I tried self talking, but that didn't work. I am not lovable and capable to pull out raw gizzards from the raw insides of a turkey. I couldn't find rubber gloves anywhere in the house...so I had to wait for my mom to arrive to do the dirty work...


I am not sure what this expression on my mom's face is trying to tell me...but I am guessing...
1. What do you MEAN you can't touch a turkey without gloves?
2. What is wrong with your eldest son (in the background)? I haven't even gotten the turkey out of the bag!
3. Have you seen such a full breasted turkey?

In this picture my mom has just found the gizzards and is holding them up for the boys to see...Sam's face says it all..

Sam moved in a bit closer and then mom pulled out the neck...at this point I am very happy to be on the other side of the counter!

Another reaction to a close up look of the innards of the turkey.

My mom giving the boys a quick science lesson on the innards. Notice Sam has plugged his nose and Jack's cheeks are puffed out. I tried to convince the boys to pick up the pieces and run around like a zombie...no go with that idea. Maybe if they had rubber gloves they would touch them!

Jack wanted to check out the inside of the turkey...again!

This is as close to the turkey as Sam would get. The turkey was HUGE! It was 21 pounds.  My mom kept saying for the next three days, "I have NEVER seen such a full breasted turkey and so much white meat!" She would puff out her chest for emphasis on "full"...I guess...I wonder where I get it sometimes!

Hot Tub Time...

Last weekend the boys and I had loads of errands to do. One involved stopping at a friend's house...some of her family had just finished running the off-road race at Living History Farms and where enjoying relaxing in the their hot tub.

Well, the boys couldn't help but take their socks, shoes and coats off to join the others!

You can tell that Jack was thoroughly enjoying himself and Sam needs needs a tan. (chuckle chuckle)
When we left, jack promptly told me, "next time I come here, I am going to bring my swimsuit and trunks so I can get ALL the way in!" Jack has grown up so much...just last week he would have been down to his undies and in that hot tub!!   I am so proud!