December Daily: 15

Day 15: cleaning...

Today I got out of work early due to bad weather (it was supposedly icy), so I had a chance to go home and get some major work done around the house. I set out to get some sort of order put back in our bedroom. This room has become the “dump it in there because no one else will see it” room, and it had been bothering me for awhile.I got a lot of junk cleaned out and clothes put away, or in to the dirty laundry pile. It kind of looks like a real bedroom now. I still have a lot of work to do (stuff to storage, finish cleaning the closet, paint the walls, build the headboard, etc.) but at least I was able to make some sort of dent in the project. I feel much better now.

December Daily: 14

Day 14: A Visit from Aunt Whitney

Tonight, Aunt Whitney came over to play! The girls had a great time running, jumping and being tossed around. They also enjoyed reading “Vroom” (A.K.A. “Cars” you know, the movie) on Nora’s new V-Reader. Yes, it’s crazy... my 2 year old has her very own e-reader.

December Daily: 13

Day 13: New Work Home

Ahhh... my new home! Work home at least. Today was my first full day as an employee of the Employee Learning & Development Department. We are in the middle of some reorganization of our division and my job got moved from Marketing to ELD. I’m super excited about this move! I love the group that I am working with now and think that this will definitely be a great fit! Even though my desk is about half the size that I am used to, I still fit everything in it too! That’s an extra bonus... I was afraid I was going to have to get rid of something...

December Daily: 12

Day 12: First tiny bit of snow!

Today, we got our first snow of the season. It definitely wasn’t much to talk about, but it was still pretty cool to see. We hoped it would come down really hard, but sadly we only got a dusting. There were birds all over our back yard most of the morning, and I was actually able to get some pretty decent shots with Whitney’s zoom lens that I had borrowed from her.

December Daily: 11

Day 11: Addressing Christmas Cards

I LOVE sending out Christmas Cards. I get excited trying to pick out the most pefect card for us, and try to get the best family photo to use. This year I didn’t like any of the card designs that I made, but I did find a great little card company to use. It was so hard to decide which design to get, so I picked out two. Even then it was difficult to narrow it down to just the two, but I did it and they turned out great! I hope everyone enjoys their cards this year!

December Daily: 10

Day 10: Out on the town!



Friday night we went out to Humphrey’s to celebrate Samantha’s graduation with her & Grant, and some of their friends. It had been years since Jeremy or I had been out to a bar! We had a great time though. Samantha thought it was really cool that you could see her (spray) “tan” in the photos we took. *She got the spray tan in preparation for their Carribbean cruise that they were leaving for on Sunday. - she doesn’t normally go around getting a tan in the middle of winter.

December Daily: 9

Day: 9 Just another evening at the Walliser house...

Just a regular ol weekday evening for us tonight. Got home from work and hung out with the girls. Sarah was quite the cheese when she saw me get the camera out. Don’t you just LOVE that sweet little smile?

December Daily: 8

Day 8: Our new tree

Our brand new pre-lit tree...
We had been using my parents old fake tree for awhile, but it was just time for it to go (loosing needles mostly), and even though they gave us a new one (brand new, 9 foot), we still couldn’t use it (it was too tall). So we had to go get a new tree anyway. Found a great deal on this one, and the best part (according to Jeremy) was that it was pre-lit. His least favorite thing to do is to put the lights on the tree, so this worked out perfectly! Not too bad huh?

December Daily: 7

Day 7: Advent Calendars

Tonight we finally opened up our Advent calendars that Grandma Judy gave us. The evenings of the previous days had just been a bit busy or we had already had enough sweets for the day. The girls really enjoyed getting a special little chocolatey treat and playing witht he little tear windows on the packaging. I have a feeling that there will be some nights that we just won’t get to this little treat. Hopefully next year will be different.

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 :)