Just out of curiosity...

I take what to some might be considered a LOT of pictures. (I'm sure that to others, it's just a drop in the bucket.) I was curious the other day about how many I do take, though. I didn't feel like actually counting. But. As I take pictures, I sort through them and save the ones I think I might potentially want to a new folder...one for each month. That way, I can just open the monthly folder to see the "good" pictures, without having to wade through all the others that didn't make the cut.

So. I took an average of my month folders over the past four years. (Egad. Has it really been more than four years that I've been taking digi photos?!) Know what I discovered? October is apparently the month my camera gets the most work...or maybe the pictures just turn out better so I save more of them. I know that "big" events may skew these results (though really big things tend to get their own folder). Regardless, October far and away averaged the most saved photos at 241.5. (Yes, I really did the math.) The summer months were next...in the 130-170 range. The winter months, particularly January and February, were embarrassingly low. Only 39.25 average photos saved in Februarys. Maybe now that I have my new flash this will improve. Maybe.

What does any of this have to do with anything? I dunno. ;) Just thought I'd share. What month do you take the most pictures in? The fewest?

12 more days till Christmas!

So. Here are 12 random things about Christmas around here:

1. Micah is darn cute. Okay, that's not really about Christmas, but if you could see his face light up when he sees *any* Santa or Christmas lights, you'd understand. He shouts "Ho Ho!" whenever he sees anything related to Christmas and has taken to singing "Jingle Bells" but using only "ho ho ho" as the words.

2. We made our own version of the popular button trees today:

 

From left to right, there's Asher's, Micah's and Noah's. Wrapped the styrofoam cone in patterned paper for the older two boys but not Micah's. (I actually hadn't planned for Micah to participate but the bugger woke up early from his nap and I had to improvise.) I tried to convince the boys to cover their trees in buttons, like Micah and I did, but they insisted that was wrong. After all, they said, we don't put ornaments *all* over our real tree. Who can argue with logic like that? Micah, by the way, was adorable working on his. He would select and place the button and I stuck the pins in...every couple buttons he'd hold up his tree for his brothers to admire, saying "Look! Look! Mine."

3.  I've officially decided that I will no longer send Christmas cards. Instead, we will send "year in review" cards, which will arrive any time after Christmas and before St. Patrick's Day. :) That's not wrong, right? Or. I may change my mind next year...just depends on how far behind I am. This year, we're going the "year in review" route.

4.  So...we were decorating the tree and I was trying to convince everyone to play this new game of "freeze" so that I could take some pictures (ha...you try getting a 2 year old to hold still so you can take a picture without blur!). That very night, Nathan bought me an early Christmas gift...a dedicated flash for my camera (a Canon Speedlite 430EX for those who know what that means). Yay! It means I've actually been able to take more pictures this winter! I've always found it difficult because we're not outside as much and indoor pictures of three young boys are, um, tough to get without a flash...but the built in flash so blows out photos, ya know? So, Nathan gave it to me early so I can actually get some holiday prep pictures. Yup, he's a keeper. ;)

5. Does anyone know when the snow will melt? I was told we'd have a mild winter given our rather large amount of snow last year (where we didn't see our yard or street from December till late February). Yet, it snowed a week ago and has only continued snowing intermittently, no melting. Course, I do enjoy white Christmases. Hmmm...

6. I'm *this* close to seeing the floor in my office! Making significant progress in the reorganizing and purging. It's to a point, finally, where I can actually scrap again...yay! (What does this have to do with Christmas, you ask? Well, it would explain why I'm behind on my Christmas projects and gifts, wouldn't it?) :)

7. On a related note, I now need to reorganize the upstairs office that I've taken over in my efforts to reorganize my main floor scrap space. The upstairs office is going to be primarily for storage but right now I can't even walk in there. Ties in to Christmas because my plan is to tackle this during the week after Christmas while Nathan's parents are here...John & Nancy, fair warning. Gonna add some shelves/bookcases and I'll need assistance with the hauling and assembling and distraction of boys. ;)

8. Are you done with your Christmas shopping? We're in the home stretch, I think. Now just need to wrap and ship heaps of stuff in the very near future. Once upon a time (before kids) I was really good about being completely done by now...

9. I bought myself a little something yesterday at this cool Etsy store...gonna get them tomorrow (local pick up) and am stoked to use them...already have a couple layouts in mind.  Okay, that one's really not about Christmas at all. But, if you buy stuff from there and give it to your scrappy friends, then it would count, right?

10. Noah and Asher have been enjoying piano classes more lately...practicing Christmas songs is apparently much more fun than otherwise. :) Noah will play his piece at their annual Christmas recital at the local mall this weekend. Asher opted not to but is still enjoying the practicing.

11. It felt like Christmas here the other day when my latest box of Prism papers arrived! Some fun new colors (totally loving one in particular) and, well, I just plain love cardstock. I'm simple like that. :) If you haven't tried Prism papers, you don't know what you're missing. Seriously.

12.  I must remember to go rent "Miracle on 34th Street" soon! It's just not Christmas without watching it. What Christmas movies are a must for you?

Okay, that's 12. No. I will not do 11 random things tomorrow. ;) 

OUT ON A LIMB, week 5...

Dude. It’s Thursday again already! Okay, if you're on the west coast, it's not technically Thursday yet, but I'm up and figured I'd mark this off my to do list early. Also, I’m gonna be up front here and state that it is highly probable that I will not post any more layouts until the new year…too many holiday projects vying for my attention. I was hopeful but it’s come to the point where I have to be realistic *laugh*. Sorry! (And if I do manage to find time to post some, it’ll just be that much sweeter, right?)

But. I still have challenges for those of you who actually got your “schtuff” done in advance. (One day I aspire to be like you.) Or, if you’re like me, challenges for you to simply ponder during this holiday time and come back to later. :) This week’s challenge…create a layout about your loved one using a poem…one that touches you, one that makes you think of your loved one, one that your loved one particularly enjoyed, one that you wrote, etc.

As an alternative (if you don’t want to work on a layout focusing on a loved one), simply challenge yourself to use a poem…any poem…on your layout. I know, for myself, I often notice little poems or quotes and think to myself that they’re so appropriate but then inevitably neglect to include them on my work. I even have a spot where I jot these down for future use, just haven’t actually *used* them.

Okay, off to get some of these projects tackled...meanwhile, stay warm and have fun!

The past few days...

have been busy and fun-filled (jam-packed, in fact)! Here's a quick recap...

Last Friday we had our homeschool group co-op...I led the art activity and the kids all made fun glass globe ornaments filled with rolled scrap paper and monogrammed with a rub-on. Great use for my extra scrap goodies! ;)

Saturday, we stayed home and avoided the roads...played in the front yard instead:

 

Must say, the joy on their faces is worth the 30 minutes of trying to get them all bundled up and the additional 30 minutes of stripping them all back down afterwards. Sure, they only ended up lasting about 20 minutes outside...but they were 20 very happy minutes or snowballs and soccer balls and making it "rain" snow. 

Sunday, we went down to the Boulder Gem & Rock Show after church. The boys got to "dig" for rocks in a little sandbox, try their hand at panning for gold, try matching up rocks and their names, see model trains (yes, for some reason it was a train show also), and see lots and lots of rocks. Noah and Asher ended up with a nice little bag of additions for their rock collections and were happy. :)

 

Also on Sunday, my brother arrived. He's going to be staying with us for awhile, having gotten a job transfer out this way. His wife and daughter will join him in the coming months after their house sells. The boys are already having a great time with Uncle Zach's toys...remote control cars, dart guns and walkie talkies. :) (I asked him to keep the video games at his own home.) Micah, adorably as usual, can't quite say "Zach"...it comes out as "Uncle Yuck"! (Can't you just see that simply must be a layout title?!) Course, Zach's not used to all this snow and cold quite yet... :) 

Monday was crazy full. Nathan took the day off, and we started out with a field trip (with our homeschool group)  to a local robotics company. It's right near our home and we're constantly driving by it wondering what they do...so, we decided to find out! The history of the company was actually pretty interesting...they started out making farm machinery and ended up making the machines that make the machinery:

 

In the warehouse, we all had to wear safety glasses and I defy you to find a cuter kid:

 

After our field trip, we grabbed some lunch and then selected our Christmas tree. We've been going to the same place for years now and have always been very happy with our trees. (It's run by a family with some land that they harvest the trees from each year, so they're fresh cut and local.) Got the tree home and played in the front yard for a bit...where Noah got me in the face with a snowball:

 

When we finally got the tree inside, we discovered our lights weren't working, so took the opportunity to head out to get new ones along with doing a bit of Christmas shopping...splitting up so the boys could finish some more of their shopping. We then met back up at home and finished decorating the tree:

 

We put out a few more decorations (still in the minimal decorations stage until Micah is a bit older) and finished off the night with a new Christmas book.  Whew. :)

Today was about getting back in the swing of things (yes, I'm *still* reorganizing my office, but I honestly thing the end is in sight...at least enough of an end to get to work). The boys had music class and I even managed some laundry. ;) Gotta really get to work tonight, though...hoping these sniffles go away.

Busy stuff.  Christmas-wise...I'm mostly done with the shopping part but still have projects to make...trying to get them done sooner rather than later, so I have time to mail things also. But, I have some work stuff to get done during that time also. I'm soooo resolving to get this stuff started and done with sooner next year. Course, I tell myself that every year. ;) So, are you done with your Christmas shopping yet?

Fitted sheets.

Okay, this is totally random. Last night I was making the guest bed in our basement and two things occurred to me:

1. Why can't they *clearly* mark on the tag of the sheets what size the sheets are? Yes, I know I should know, but sometimes a person forgets, ya know? All those sheet sets in the linen closet...no real idea which ones are for the queen bed. Would it be wrong to require companies to include that on the tag...just like they include the size of clothing?

2. I hate folding fitted sheets. After a couple different tries with sheet sets that weren't for the queen size bed, I decided it wasn't worth trying to fold them back up. Seriously, how annoying is folding fitted sheets? Is it just me? While in the process of complaining to Nathan about it and arguing that all companies should make a stuff bag similar to how some sleeping bags come, a light bulb went off! I now store my sheet sets simply stuffed into one of the set's pillow cases. So there.  :)

See? Told ya it was random.