December Daily: 5

Day 5: Nora turns 2!!

Nora is 2!!! I can’t believe how fast the past two years have gone by! Two years ago, I spent a week in the hospital before they induced me at 34 weeks and 5 days, I had preeclampsia. I was scared to death! Nora was born at 4 lbs 12 oz and spent the first 2 weeks of her life in the NICU at Huntsville Hospital. Now here she is a whopping 24 lbs (yes, still a little small) and a super healthy, happy kid. Nora, the past 2 years have flown by... quit growing up so fast! We love you!

December Daily: 4

Day 4: Samantha's Graduation and a SEC Championship Game

Congratulations Samantha! Today Samantha graduated from UAHuntsville! She has worked so hard for this, and finally is finished with school. We wish her lots of luck in finding a new job in her field (Human Resources). The whole family is so proud of you Sam!
I was nervous about taking Sarah to the ceremony (Nora was with Grandma & Grandpa Shepard) but she was very good... just a little squirmy, but other than that (which was expected anyway) she did great!

After the graduation ceremony, we headed over to Joe & Kathy’s house to celebrate and (of course) to watch the SEC Championship game. Auburn played South Carolina (this was SC’s first ever SEC Championship game). It was quite an entertaining game if I must say so... final score, Auburn 56 - SC 17! (Dare i say it... War Eagle). Now off to the National Championship game in January, against Oregon. How cool will it be when Auburn wins the Championship and then 2 years in a row, the state of Alabama will have their best schools with a record of 14-0 and the National Championship title.
Yes, we LOVE football around here.

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By the way, I have gone back and forth with how I am going to put my album together... finally I think I have a plan - one I just need to stick to or else this whole project will never come together (there are just so many awesome options)...

I'm sticking to my original album option - a red post-bound 8x8 Martha Stewart album that I got on clearance at Michaels awhile back.  I cut extra pages out of patterned and plain white cardstock to fit in alongside the pocket sleeves that came with the album. 

I'm also going to skip trying to get ink for my printer and print each page myself - I'll be much happier with the quality if I just have them printed professionally.  Luckily, my regular local printer (Wolf Camera -  in other places it might be Ritz or something else) prints 6x8's for $0.99 each.  So I can just upload my order and have them ready to pick up within the hour (or more likely, the next day on my lunch break).

December Daily: 3

Day 3! (Yes, I'm playing a little bit of catch up tonight with my posts)

Tonight was a “stay at home” night. We had been running around with so much else to do all week, so it was really nice to relax a bit. The girls had lots of fun playing at home. Nora spent most of the evening sitting at the table “daw”-ing and saying “Momma, hep me”, wanting me to “daw” with her. Sarah had a great time just roaming the house and playing with random household items (like the baskets she’s pushing around) and other toys... you know, the usual stuff.
It was really nice to rest up and spend time with the girls before our busy weekend.

December Daily: 2

Day 2! I know, I'm a day late posting this one, I had it mostly ready last night - so that counts, right?? :)

It’s Jeremy’s 33rd birthday! Tonight we met up for a family birthday dinner at Rosie’s Mexican Cantina. The food was good, and we got to hang out with some family that we don’t often see. Alan and Dee Dee were both off work and got to come eat, and this time Grant was able to join us even though Samantha had to work.
Jeremy racked up on some awesome birthday gifts too! Video games, movies, a new keyboard (to replace the one the girls broke) and a new Auburn shirt that he can break in this weekend for the SEC Championship game.

December Daily: 1

 
So, there's this awesome project that Ali Edwards started way back when called December Daily... I've been doing this the past 2 years, and even though I was tempted to tell myself I was too busy to do it this year, I'm making myself do it.  I mean really... I've already done 2 years in a row, why not keep up the tradition?

What is December Daily?  Well, Ali explains it all very well right here so there's no use in me re-explaining it in detail.  But basically, it's a mini scrapbook with words and pictures for each day of December.  Some people just go up to Christmas day, others do the whole month.  I've done both before... kinda (my past 2 albums haven't exactly been completed 100%).  This year, I'm not completely sure how far I will go - we'll see how things happen.  Hopefully this year I can at least keep up with this everyday as things happen and actually get my layouts created.

In the past I've done handmade albums - as in hand scrapped, as opposed to digitally scrapped.  This year, I'm going digital at least with the main layout of my pages.  I'll start printing them as I figure out how I want to bind them (a pre-made album, a handmade album, professionally printed and bound album, etc.)  I figure if I can at least get all the layouts done digitally and share them here then that's a first step.  I can always go back and print them all at the end of the month and find time later to bind it all together.

The one big thing that I am missing this year is that a main part of the project is that you are supposed to get your physical album created and ready beforehand.  That way you can spend minimal amount of time during the month with your pages and at the end have a full completed album.  Well, since I ran out of time and was questioning if I'd do this again this year or not... I'm going to do it backwards.  I'll create the album after I already have all my pages. 

Anyway, without further delay... here is today's page... (click to view larger)

Happy December!

Tonight we went to a Christmas party for Jeremy’s work.  Things started off oh so well, as Sarah got sick in the car right before we got to the party.  The rest of the evening she was great though.  The girls made some new friends and had a blast playing with Wyatt (16 mos).  Sarah got very friendly with Wyatt’s Mommy which surprised us because she’s usually very weary around any new person.

We all had a great time!  The girls even got to stay out late - as we didn’t leave the party until around 8:30pm (already past bedtime).  But they were pretty good, so all was well.

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Are you participating in December Daily?  I'd love to see how yours is coming along!  Leave a comment and point me to where I can view your album :)