Simple Things

Beyond Opinion :: Reading to Know Bookclub January 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:16:00 +0000

One of my January reading goals was to read Beyond Opinion by Ravi Zacharias as part of the Reading to Know bookclub. As of today, I am crying uncle and throwing in the towel. This is an extremely meaty book about living and defending your faith and what it means to have a Christian worldview. What I did read, I was encouraged by (and I'll share a few things below), but this was a TOUGH book for me to get through. That said, I don't regret the time spent on this and I plan to put this on my shelf for reference and referral, especially as my children get older and we'll spend more time on the apologetic side of their education.

One of the most helpful things that this book did for me was give me some simple definitions of things that I have (ashamedly) been fuzzy on. Words such as postmodern, a "worldview", what does an athiest actually believe (or not), etc. Words that in the context of a conversation I could nod and "um-hmm" and get the gist of where the person was going, but now I have a little more meat to sink my teeth into in regard to some of these terms.

I now feel like (from the first chapter) I have a better understand of why there is so much intolerance to the Christian lifestyle and worldview. People nowadays are brought up under teachings that highlight individuality and uniqueness. Because of this, the concept of one overarching Creator and Lord is not diverse enough to meet everyone's needs so it's refuted. Sadly, thought I'm not saying it's right, it makes sense to me.

I was also struck by the chapter on youth and apologetics. There were so many good things that I underlined in this chapter. A few of them:

passively refusing to prepare them [youth] to make wise choices = actively arranging for them to sin
faith and commitment cannot be more than vaguely real when you are unable to have a simple conversation about them.
reach teens by helping them develop conversation skills (p47) I wish I had had more training in this as a teen!
mentor teens diligent in Biblical worldview studies but also full of joy in their relationship with others and full of wonder at the world around them. Something I ponder in terms of social media and how that affects our relationships with others. Can someone really see your joy or wonder through a facebook status or tweet vs. a face-to-face conversation, a phone call, or even a person email or note in the mail? Speaking to myself here... : )
the single most important social influence on spiritual lives of teens = PARENTS. Especially fathers. (p56
A quote from George Washington: "The future of this nation depends on the Christian training of our youth." (p58)

And so on.

I barely scratched the surface on the chapters on science and faith and may at some point go back and read more there, but for now, I'm encouraged. Books like these are a good reminder to me that it's okay to have questions about my faith and it's okay to ask them. What's not okay is not looking for the answers or doing to the soul searching needed to find them. When that happens I fail myself and the children I am training by giving less than my best.

Thanks, Sky, for suggesting this book for the Reading to Know bookclub. While I didn't finish, I still came away with much to think about! And, I'm looking forward to next month's book, Running Away to Home: Our Family's Journey to Croatia in Search of Who We Are, Where We Came From, and What Really Matters. I went to Croatia in 1998 on a mission trip and I'm feeling inspired to dig out a few pictures and scan them in ... taken in my pre-digital days!

For more on the Reading the Know book club visit Carrie's blog at Reading to Know.

Instagram Friday // January 27

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:19:00 +0000

A little of this week's randomness:

Yesterday started fairly early with percussion.

It ended with an impromptu jam session in the front room.

I'm guessing it goes without saying that it was a loud day yesterday? : )

N1 took part in a cooking field trip on Wednesday. Her concoction that she left the class with:

She gave it to her Dad. Hmpf.

We had to get out a bit on Tuesday to meet a service person at our church. The kids ran around outside (in short-sleeves!) and got some much needed fresh air.

The boy thinks he's big stuff running with the sister. He will probably get upset with her in about 2.2 seconds, but for now he's good.

Just a little Friday randomness!

The Story Girl and The Golden Road // 2012 L.M. Montgomery Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:48:00 +0000

With the end of January, comes the end of another L.M. Montgomery reading challenge. This month I was able to reading The Story Girl and The Golden Road, revisiting time with the King cousins on their farm in (where else) Prince Edward Island. I love these stories and as I read them this year as a parent of many small children, I seem to understand a bit more why I am drawn to these books and their characters.

For the unfamiliar, these two books are set among the King cousins and a couple special friends:

Sara Stanley (aka the Story Girl)
Beverly & Felix King (Bev is our narrator)
Dan, Felicity, and Cecily King
Peter (the hired boy)
Sara Ray (the neighbor girl)

The children were descendants of Grandfather King who put together an amazing farm on PEI, complete with an orchard perfect for the many adventures and mishaps they found themselves.

Coming from a family of only one sister and very few cousins that we didn't see much growing up, I absolutely LOVED the idea of a large family. During most of my growing up years, we weren't able to live close to family and while I have many letters saved from corresponding with grandparents, face-to-face time was rare and something that makes me a bit regretful to look back on and think about. (As an aside, I don't regret the path that my parents did take, just what might have been if I could have had the best of all worlds). These children were actively involved in each others' lives - this year and half (or so) that the book spans where they live and learn and work together is an incredible time of bonding and friendship for all of them. Even though there is no epilogue to these books, I imagine that they all stay in touch as they grow older, writing long newsy letters, and have grand reunions at each others' weddings down the road.

They were also tied together by the King farm. It was home to all of their parents (and the aunts and uncles that they haven't even met) and there are many stories passed down and shared from the previous generations escapades and (mis)adventures. Even when the children start moving on at the end of The Golden Road, they leave with the knowledge that the family farm will be there to welcome them back should they need to return. It will always be home to them. As someone who moved quite a bit growing up, I love the idea of the home that you spend years at, adding bits and pieces to make it unique, such as the King orchard which had a tree planted for every family member and even some honored guests. My girls love to hear stories about trips that we took to my grandparents' home that was set in a small town in Oklahoma and the (fairly tame) adventures that I had there growing up.

All that to say ... these books impress to me to benefit of leaving a legacy to your children. Along with a spiritual legacy (which is by far the most important), it is important for me to make sure my husband and I pass on a legacy of stories of our childhoods, and that I help my children capture their childhood stories so that they can remember and pass them on. When the little girls ask me for a story from when I am a little girl as I tuck them in, some nights I am wracking my brain trying to think of something that I haven't told them before. It is important to be deliberate in sharing these stories with our children - our adventures, embarrassing moments, what scared us, and our mistakes and the forgiveness in those situations.

In my opinion, these books are wonderful and the time spent reading them is well worth it. I have enjoyed this trip down memory lane and look forward to the day I can pass these on to my girls as well.

Thanks, Carrie, for the annual nudge to pull my L.M. Montgomery books off the shelf and indulge in a little comfort reading.

Wordless Wednesday // Just Yesterday

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:13:00 +0000

No, really. This was yesterday.

No. Wait. This was.

Project Life Week 3 // January 15-21

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:01:00 +0000

Week 3.

The left side:

N2 holding a friend's new little baby at church.
a meet up with some special friends!
the littlest girl doing her school

Why the flowers on the bottom right photo? Well, last week we had a super fun bloggy meet-up with our penpals-now-in-person-friends from Hope is the Word! Since Amy has chosen not to put her children's faces on her blog, I add a few well-placed flowers to hide her girls' very cute faces. : ) We had a great time with Amy and her munchkins. The girls hit it off immediately (as if there was any doubt about that) and Amy and I had no problem jumping right into conversation as well. The hour we had to chat sped by MUCH too quickly! I've so appreciated trading emails with Amy over the past several years and it was such a blessing to be able to talk face-to-face.

A little photo evidence of our mischievous boy fit into one of the journaling spots.

The right side:

N2 with her Awana leaders. Note to Erin - you made the Project Life album! : )
Pictures of what we have been reading this week.
a photo of the boy ... because he is pretty stinkin'cute. : )
The little girls with our neighbor.

The journaling card I used below for our "recently reading" page is a free download from Emilie Ahern. She's offering a free Project Life journaling card on her craft blog every Friday and she has some cute stuff. I went ahead and purchased her birthday set in anticipation of N2's birthday next week and can't wait to use them.

Photo collage created in Photoshop using templates from Paislee Press.

This is another Project Life printable from Emilie below. I love these simple lined cards.

Boy journaling written on labels and stuck right on the side of the photo. I ran these labels through my printer so that they would have graph paper on them (a la this tutorial) and really like how they turned out.

That wraps up another week in our album. How are we almost at the end of January already? This month has flown by ... or so it seems to me. So thankful for this approach to scrapbooking that is helping me look at the little details of our days and capture bits and pieces to include and remember.

Conjuction Junction

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:52:00 +0000

A trip down memory lane to go along with school this morning. : )

The Simple Things :: January 22, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:13:00 +0000

Hard at work.

Project Life ::: Week 2, January 8-14

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Week 2 of Project Life.

This week has another 12x12 insert cut down to hold 6 4x6 photos. (Obviously, when these run out, I need to invest in some of these page protectors). There's also an 8 1/2 x 11 insert holding our coloring pages from last week's painting day! A full week it was. : )

On the left:

a photo from the boy's 15 month check up on Monday. (This would have been a Sunday photo slot, but I didn't have one to include this week). A few stats are included on the card. He has a funny look on his face in this picture, but he was really relaxed and resting his head on N1's shoulder. Little did he know that his shots were next!
a photo of my coffee and bag in the car
up close of N1. (She looks tired to me in this picture, but I loved this shot of her.)

The journaling cards include a photo of N1 running into the library by herself to pick up a hold (and how I feel about that!), and one of the boy ~~eating~~ coloring with crayons.

Up close:

Our insert on painting day. I cut and pasted the text from the blog post into a 4x6 card on my computer and it just b.a.r.e.l.y. fit with some editing.

8 1/2 x 11 insert.

I had to use 2 8 1/2 x 11 inserts to get all three girls color wheels in ... I could have stopped and scanned them in and shrunk them but I was feeling lazy and I love them full size. I ended up with one side empty so I just slid in a note that N2 wrote B one night while she was laying in bed.

It's awfully cute. : )

The right side:

A close up of B from painting day.
Our "snow" day. Ha.
The girls helping me clean and cut fruit after a grocery story run. N2 was explaining to B how to cut strawberries, and between the two of them, they were eating as many as they were cutting!
A photo from a company dinner we had Saturday.

One photo of the boy in a journaling spot. His face! I can hear him yelling when I look at the picture.

For the large pictures of N1 & B, I didn't do any day-specific journaling but a little life-right-now for both of them.

Happy Friday! We have Bible study this morning and I'm hoping to get a little school done this afternoon before our weekend starts. I'm already looking forward to my Monday night when I pull out my PL stuff and get to do this all over again. : )

What We've Been Reading in January 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:06:00 +0000

Benjamin Franklin by Ingri and Edgar d'Auliere. (Mentioned this one yesterday).

A Picture Book of Benjamin Franklin by David Adler. (Love is picture book biographies)

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. This was actually from N1's winter reading list, but I read a couple of the first chapters aloud to her to give her a jump start. (She finished it yesterday).

Winter Days in the Big Woods

Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall and Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

Our current chapter book: The Long Winter.

No big reviews today, but just a small smattering of what we've read aloud recently.

Linking up with Read Aloud Thursday this week.

Mid January Daybook

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:27:00 +0000

Has it really been August since I've done one of these summaries? And how is it the middle of January already ... and I actually worked on this yesterday, but never finished. Such is my time nowadays.

Outside my Window ... the forecast is for rain. I have been most disappointed in our lack of snow and cold weather so far this year. I am definitely a winter person and am ready for the cold, cold days where we burrow in and home. Last week's slight flurries were such a tease.

I am thinking ... on this quote that I read:

"Christ is the head of this household,
the unseen guest at every meal,
the silent listener to every conversation."

Considering having that stapled to my arm as a reminder ... or maybe just hung up on the wall somewhere. : )

I am thankful for ... New days with new mercies. The last few weeks have had some rough school days for me and one student in particular, but I'm so thankful that every day we wake up with a chance to do it over (and better) again.

In the learning room ... We started a unit study on Ben Franklin yesterday (Monday) and N1 and I are already enjoying it. We've been reading, coloring maps of the thirteen colonies, and, coincidentally, today (the 17th) is Ben's birthday! We are using the lapbook/unit study materials from Homeschool Share along with the book by the D'Auliare's and supplementing with some other books about the same time period in Colonial America. N1 and I just finished a lapbook on The Courage of Sarah Noble and reading the book together and working on it in this format seemed to be a good fit for us so we're trying it again with Ben.

The little girls and I have been reading and lapbooking our way through Owl Moon and The Snowy Day and having a ball. Really, I'm learning that if you give a kindergartener (and a preschooler) some paper, glue sticks and a pair of scissors, they will have a ball and learn in spite of themselves. This week we'll either read and tie some activities to The Ox-Cart Man or Caps for Sale. I'm leaning towards Caps for Sale because it's one I've never done with the girls and it was a favorite of mine as a child. : )

The rest of our schooling seems to be humming along well although we seems to have misplaced science lately and I need to get that back in the rotation. N1 is about half way through her math for this year - we've started fraction and double-digit addition. N2 is, truthfully, bored to tears with her kindergarten math that we've been working through, and I'm contemplating bumping her on to 1st grade math. She's listened to N1's math for the past three years now and I think it would be a better fit. I was supposed to work on that this past weekend, but time got away from me...

From the kitchen ... lots of salads and fresh veggies. Coming down off the sugar high of the holidays. I have a ten year anniversary coming up in August and that is my goal for getting in a bit better shape. My favorite lunch of late has been spinach salad with dried cranberries or cherries and walnuts.

I am creating ... I'm almost done with week 2 of Project Life - a little more journaling and I can share.

I am going ... Hmm. This week isn't too crazy (what's up with that?) Other than Bible study on Friday morning, and a couple evening activities this week, our days our blissfully quiet.

I am wearing ... jammies. About time to get moving and get dressed.

I am reading ... working my way through Beyond Opinion for January's Reading to Know bookclub. It's slow going, but I've about finished chapter 3 and it's time to knuckle down and finish (or, truthfully, artfully skim the book and see what I can glean that way). : ) I did finish The Story Girl last night for the LM Mongomery reading challenge - it's always fun to revisit old friends. Up next ... way too many that I want to read and not enough time to fit it all in. What I'm not reading right now? Social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) I'm gaining back minutes I didn't realize I was losing and I like that.

I am hoping ... for snow! : )

I am hearing ... the littlest girl is sitting here on my lap while I type and I hear the rumblings of a couple other munchkins stirring. My time here is almost up...

Around the house ... I love our house. The longer we live here, and the more we are settling in ... I'm just so thankful for our home and my husband's hard work that is providing it for us. That said ... this house that I love really needs to be vacuumed today.

One of my favorite things ... date nights. They have been few and far between and I'm working on rectifying that. : )

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week ... this week looks fairly light on the calendar. A few regular evening activities but otherwise, fairly quiet. We have a little girl gearing up to turn six at the end of the month so it won't stay quiet!

A photo ...

It's a good thing he's so cute. Yes, that's a pink cowboy boot that got an unfortunate dunking. He is both quiet and fast. A deadly combination in my opinion.

Painting the Color Wheel

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:20:00 +0000

For several days, B has been asking if she could paint something. This isn't a normal request from her as she is usually too busy to sit still that long - she is our on-the-move girl for the most part. After several days of this request, we set aside some time on Wednesday morning to get our paints out and play for a bit. This is one of those things that I don't do near enough of with my girls. While I'm a crafty person, I'm not a messy crafter. : ) Combine that with a boy that climbs on everything, I was hoping the painting request would fade into the background.

However, on Wednesday the boy went down for his morning nap and while I was debating going ahead and starting our book/unit study on Ben Franklin, I realized that there was no good reason not to get out a painting project and have a little fun. I recently purchased an e-magazine from Hearts and Trees all about color. I'd heard great things about her art kits in the past, but had never purchased one, and when I saw she had moved to an e-magazine format, I decided to try it.

I printed out a page with color wheel flashcards on it and gathered what paint I had in the primary colors. (Note to self: restock yellow and blue!) T recently replaced my cookie sheets for my birthday and I had the fleeting thought that the old ones would make great pans to paint in for art so we dug those out as well.

My artistic one LOVED this project. We started out painting the three primary colors.

After we painting our primary colors, we swirled the edges of the paint together to show how secondary colors were made. (This photo of the colors makes me happy).

Concentrating hard on staying between the lines.

I know this is blurry, but I am a BIG fan of her big chocolate eyes. She was SO happy we were painting.

The colors above and below were all made with just the three primary colors and they girls loved seeing them emerge as we mixed!

By the time, we got to the tertiary colors (blending secondary colors with primary colors) I was busy helping so no more pictures of painting in progress. However, I thought their finished works turned out pretty great!

It was a relaxed morning for us enjoying each other and being creatively. (Although, mamas know that it's never really relaxing with paint out, but you understand what I mean!) : ) This is one way in which I'm trying to be more present and all here with my family this year so I think we're off to a pretty good start.

Read Aloud Thursday ::: Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:22:00 +0000

Right after the first of the year, we finished our last read-aloud from 2011: Little Men. This was (and still is) one of my favorite books and if I remember right, I read this before I read Little Women. N1 had recently finished a illustrated children's version of Little Women (abridged), and had the gist of the story down and who all the sisters were. That led me to think that Little Men would be a great chapter book for us to read, full of entertaining and highly moral stories about the boys that live at Professor and Mrs. Bhaer's school, Plumfield.

First, let me say that we did enjoy this as a read aloud. The scrapes and adventures the boys had were very entertaining and kept our attention throughout the book ... although it was sometimes hard for the girls to keep straight which boy was which. There was also a well-delivered moral lesson at the end of the boys' adventures and N1 at least, was able to catch on to these pretty well.

The hard part of reading this classic was the length of the chapters. Most days we had to break our chapter into two readings because it would take almost an hour to get through it in one sitting. Rarely did the littlest of girls have the patience to make it that long. Still I am glad we read this book together and made it to the end! : )

Also, a first for us, we read this book for the most part from my Kindle instead of a physical book. As you can see from the pictures here, my copy of the book is quite old. It belonged to my Great Aunt - you can see that she was given it in 1935 - and the pages were falling out right and left as we read. I hated for us to lose the sweet illustrations sprinkled throughout the story, but I worried that the book wouldn't make it. Little Men is free for Kindle so we downloaded it and went on from there and this book has been retired to an upper shelf for now.

Linking up with Amy's Read Aloud Thursday this week!

Project Life 2012 // Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:22:00 +0000

Week one of Project Life 2012. I was so excited to get started on this and finally had a little window last night to lay it out. I tried something new for the first time this week - sketching out where I wanted what pictures where before printing and that saved me more time that I thought it would!

[Marcy Penner has a printable you can download and print to sketch your week out, but I used plain old graph paper I had laying around.]

The overview, with assistant's toes:

Left page: included in the main photo slots on this side is a picture of my birthday cake from a family celebration on Sunday, a photo of the two books I'm currently working through right now, N1 in braids (inspired by our recent start reading aloud The Long Winter).

Up close. Collage created in PicFrame on my phone.

A little Instagram pic on one of the journaling spots of the boy. I recorded possibly our first real conversation, if you will, verbatim. If I hear the word ball once, I hear it a hundred times a day. Love our little buddy.

I saw a quote a friend shared on Facebook last week from Ann Voskamp and I decided I wanted to figure out how to include in in this week's layout. I had thought I might have an empty 4x6 slot I could write it in, but when I didn't, I decided to draw lines on my date card and just see if I could fit it all in. As you can tell, it fits, but it's not perfect. : ) It probably would have fit perfectly if I'd typed it on something and pasted it on, but I really wanted to hand write it.

I had one insert for this week. This was originally a 12x12 page that had spots for six 4x6 photos. I had six photos I wanted to include from a walk that the girls and T went on last week so I cut off the part of the protector I didn't need. I cut a plain grid journaling card in half and add it to the first photo and last photo. Of note: N1 took all these photos while on their outing and she got some great shots!

I had N1 journal on the last photo and explain why there was a photo of a minuscule Daddy. : )

On the right side: photos representing some owl studies we did this week, N2 doing some school work, a photo of N2 and her BFF, and a photo of the boy at Home Depot.

I've noticed that the cards in this year's kits are laid out so I have more journaling room. Yay!

On the last journaing spot, I include a photo collage from dinner Saturday night. Travis bought me Julia Child's cookbook well over a year ago and I finally got up the courage to make my first recipe out of it.

Sharpie right on the top of the photo.

T sent me this picture with is phone on the "guys" first trip to Home Depot together. The boy is dressed appropriately in a flannel shirt and overalls. : )

And with that, we have week one done! : )

10 on the 10th // Random Pinterest Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:35:00 +0000

For today ... a listy. Ten things that have caught my eye online over the past few weeks taken straight from my boards at Pinterest. (Pinterest is like a visual bulletin board online to store and catalog things you find on various websites. Genius. Totally helping me keep on track of all those links or ideas I want to save but never keep up with). I've linked my Pinterest over on the right if you are on there and interested in following. : )

I keep a pinboard of those things (crafts, recipes, etc.) that I have tried and succeeded at here. Everything below is untested by me. : )

1. Cute little owl craft that was supposed to be our Friday Fun School project last week, but got bumped for 70 degree play-outside weather. This week for sure!

Source: megduerksen.typepad.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

2. Stained glass hearts from wax paper and crayons. Valentine's is coming!

Source: marthastewart.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

3. Printable Project Life journaling cards. I'm hoping (one of these days) to do a post of some of my favorite PL supplies and printables so you may see these again. : )

Source: pluckymomo.bigcartel.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

4. How cute are these individual dips? They would be perfect for a baby shower ladies' get-together.

Source: the-girl-who-ate-everything.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

5. Also, another cute way of serving dessert at a birthday party. We have a girl turning six in a few weeks and another turning five in May and these are very girly.

Source: jandaandco.blogspot.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

6. Wouldn't this be a cute table decoration for said birthday party? Or maybe as something for when guests leave ... each child could pick out a few suckers?

Source: meetthedubiens.blogspot.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

7. Someday. : )

Source: hellomysweet.me via Stephanie on Pinterest

8. We have an unfinished attic that will probably become my husband's office/music studio some day far down the road. I'm hoping he will let me do something like this along the walls!

Source: daintysquid.blogspot.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

9. To make.

Source: annies-eats.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

10. Homemade chimichangas. If I made these ... and if they were good ... my husband would be a happy, happy guy. : )

Source: myrecipes.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Linking up with Shimelle's 10 on the 10th for this month. Happy pinning!

December Daily // 27-31

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:19:00 +0000

Here are the last few shots of this year's December Daily.

December 27:

December 28:

December 29: this page is a little different for a few reasons.

1. I didn't really have a picture or holiday moment captured by camera for the 29th.
2. My number "29" that came with my Elle's Studio kit was chewed on by the baby. Seriously. Ooops. : )
3. I needed a place to insert our Christmas card so this is where it went.

Ergo. No Day 29 in the album. : )

The left page is a red envelope that I tucked a small journaling card in with notes on our cards this year.

In between the envelope and the card is a transparency that came with my album.

December 30: The number isn't attached to the page. I couldn't decide where to put it on the page, so I just didn't. : )

Minus the number 30.

December 31:

The back.

Thus wraps up another December Daily. It's now in my mini-album basket to be brought back down next December and remembered, and all my Christmas scrapbook items have been packed away until next year. A few thoughts that have run through my head as I've wrapped this up:

- this was totally doable alongside Project Life. Some days the photo was duplicated, but the journaling had a different spin depending on which album it was going into.
- I loved this little album from Elise Blaha. I loved that it was 4x6 and I could just punch my pictures and insert them if I wanted to. Occasionally I struggled to figure out where to put my journaling, but it wasn't a big deal. If I go with this album size again next year (highly likely) I will add more pages in for writing and up my binder ring sizes so everything fits.
- The splurge on buying the Elle's Studio Christmas kit was totally worth it. All my numbers were there for me, as were some journaling spots, banners, glitter alphabet stickers, and fun Christmas scrapbook paper. I still have about half the product from the kit left and I've tucked it away for next year and will hopefully add a 2012 kit from Elle to restock it.

Thanks for reading along with this year's December Daily. Next week, it's back to normal Project Life posts and I'm really looking forward to breaking out my Clementine kit and getting to work.

If you want to see the rest of my 2011 December Daily and missed those posts they are linked here:
December Daily Prequel
November 29 - Dec 4
Day 5
Days 6-12
Days 16-18
Days 19-22
Days 23-26

January Reading Plans

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:59:00 +0000

A few plans for January in the bookish department.

I'm planning on participating in Carrie's L.M. Montgomery challenge again this January. (Click the snazzy button below for info).

My goals are to reread The Story Girl and The Golden Road. I had thoughts of reading one of these aloud to the girls, but since we just finished Little Men (which I hope to blog for Read Aloud Thursday), I wasn't up to another book with loooong chapters for a read aloud. Instead, we are working through The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I hope to pull the girls in to this challenge with a few episodes of Avonlea via Netflix if it fits.

I'm also participating, as I can, in the Reading to Know book club for 2012.

This month's selection is Ravi Zacharias' Beyond Opinion. To say this is something outside my normal reading would be a HUGE understatement. I've finished chapter one (whew!) and hope to tackle more of this book this month, even if I don't finish it.

In other news, I've worked up N1's Winter Reading List which will take her to the end of February.

Her choices for the next two months. She's required to read two ... anything beyond that earns a prize.

Not too much in the way of lofty goals, for this month. Overall my goal is to just make more time for reading that I did in 2011. Hopefully posting (occasionally) on what I'm trying to accomplish will help tick a few of these to-read's off my list. : )

Fifteen Months

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:17:00 +0000

Such a big boy. So very busy.

Can go up and and down the stairs, although we don't and haven't encouraged this at. all.

Wants to be outside whenever the girls are and is not longer peacefully content to stand at the door for very long and just watch them play and ride their bikes.

Can climb on most of our chairs and couches in the house, ergo anything on a table is no longer safe. If you walked into the school room, you would note that all the chairs around the school table are laid on their back on the floor unless someone is sitting in them. He hasn't figured out (because he has tried yet) that he can climb onto the kitchen chairs yet thankfully.

He doesn't have too many words yet - dada and mama are there, but he doesn't really call us by them yet. He can, clear as bell say, hi and ball. He LOVES balls. He also makes little "vroom" sounds now when he pushes his cars around. I love it and I love that we didn't have to teach this boy to love balls or make car sounds. He figured that out all on his own.

Thinks anything his sisters have is a prize worthy of obtaining. He loves to go into their rooms, climb on their beds and dig in their stuff. They are less impressed with this. If they leave one of their cups around, he pounces on it and drinks it as quick as he can before he gets caught.

Finally sleeps through the night consistently. Yay! He started doing this around 13 months, but I didn't say much about it because I thought it was too good to be true. He might wake up once or twice a week, but it's usually just to get his blanket straightened out which I'm more than happy to do for him. He MUST have his Grandma blanket with him when he sleeps - he prefers the full body / head cover and likes to chew on the corner of the blanket.

Wears size 12 and 18 month clothes. Mostly 18 on the top and 12 on the bottom. Adorable, chubby, short little legs.

Is very left-handed. That makes two right-handed (N1 & N2) and two left-handed (B & the boy). T and I are both left-handed.

Loves to laugh and be silly. I have a feeling he's going to be a funny boy the more his personality develops.

His eyes.

I love this stage so much.

Out with the Old ... Project Life 2011 is a Wrap

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:10:00 +0000

Happy 2012!

We had a great low-key holiday weekend at our house that included, but was not limited to: a huge Walmart run to restock the pantry, taking down the Christmas decorations, celebration of my birthday AND my best friend's birthday (same day) combined with a kid-friendly New Year's Eve party that ending shortly after 9 pm, starting our new year off with church, family birthday party, and so on.

Whew.

I had every intention of hitting the ground running this morning with some new plans and ideas for kicking off our school day in a timely manner ... and somehow managed to miss that T had the day off. Normally if he's home, I like to take the day off, too, if we can. We went ahead and did school, he ran some errands, and now he's got all the girls out on a hike while I do some laundry and hang with the boy. Works for me. : )

On Sunday afternoon, I managed to steal a few minutes and wrap up my 2011 Project Life album. It's now downstairs with my other scrapbooks waiting for little eyes to peruse it. I finished last week's pages (December 25-31) and then, after the girls were in bed, I flipped through the book and filled in the odd journaling page here and there that I had missed. I hadn't journaled our August trip to Chattanooga, and the week that the boy was super sick with croup was somehow strikingly empty of information, so those needed attention.

Here is December 18-24:

Left side:

date card embellished with a reindeer that one of the girls brought home from church I think?
random Sunday photos
a photo taken before the Christmas concert T and I attended (blogged more in this December Daily post)
a photo of the boy with a buddy from church

The right side:

day one of the nephew over during his Christmas break. He had never seen Elf before so we had an afternoon popcorn and movie.
crafting
one of the yummies that I made on Christmas Eve Eve for our Friday family movie night.
a collage of photos from Christmas Eve - the card on the end lists some numbered details. I just found these cool numbers in last year's project life box tucked in with some other pages. Very cool.

A few closeups...

Week of December 25-31 nicely laid out on the kitchen counter. My photo location always changes depending on when I'm taking pictures and where the sunlight is. : )

Also, worth pointing out on this page, is all the pictures of the ADULTS in our family for a change. Four pictures of T (includes the little journaling card collage) and even one of me!

On the left:

on the date card: the one shot of all four, attired in Christmas pj's from my parents
Christmas Day scooters - our gift to all the kids between the age of 2 and 10. : )
T spent Monday inventorying my pots and pans. For my birthday this year, he worked towards replacing a lot of my kitchen pieces. The pans that I had were ones that my mom got when she got married and some were not in good shape.
Another day with Daddy - we have really enjoyed all the time off he had this December!

On the right:

testing out one of the pans he picked out.
the boy eating blueberries. It was a little shocking how fast he polished them all off, but it was totally worth it. The boy loves his berries.
birthday goodies.
my best friend and me on our birthday ... a quick photo taken as we were heading out the door. Next time, make a note to take it first thing so we don't look as tired in the photo! : )

The boy's eyes in this picture kill me.

Christmas munchkins.

The journaling card holds a little photo collage made in Picframe and run through Instagram.

Closing the book on a wonderful year full of much blessing for our family.

Sneak Peak // Project Life 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 12:00:00 +0000

The two journaling cards come with the Clementine kit. I added the "S6".

This is the first year that I've played with the title page of my album and made it more "us." The pics are of the kids over the last six months-ish, and the bottom family pic was the one with our Christmas cards.

I've been enjoying sneaks of other first pages that I've seen around: Stephanie Howell, Cathy Zielske, and other linked here on this page. So excited to start another year of this project.

All Here

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:29:00 +0000

My one little word for 2012 has found me. I've been spending some of our days off pondering over 2011 - what I learned from last year's one little word and what changes I would like to make going forward. Twenty-eleven was a good year. We moved. We enjoyed (and still are!) an amazing and sweet baby boy. We have kept up with three wild and crazy girls. T has a great job that he continues to enjoy after celebrating ten years with the company this year. I haven't lost my mind or gone completely grey from being home with kids day after day after day. Last year's word was serve and in retrospect it suited perfectly as I continued to serve my family (both close and extended) and friends in new and hopefully better ways. Attempting to follow God's prompting in certain situations instead of my comfort level.

This year's word is: here. I want to focus on being more fully present wherever I am. This word has two parts to me:

(1) More single-minded. If I'm hanging out with T, be here with him. If I'm with the kids, be here with them. Not half-listening to little people chatter as my mind and/or hands do other things. Be fully present and active in the activity that I'm doing whether it's schooling little ones, drinking coffee with the guy, chatting with a friend, reading a book, working on housework ... and the list can go on. There is much time that I ~~feel like~~ know I wasted in 2011 by not giving 100%. Twenty-twelve won't be perfect, but it will be a step in the right direction towards changing that.

Fully here while making lunch for little people means sitting down to eat with them instead of standing at the counter.

And (2) be more me if that makes sense. It's too easy to not be all here when I want. To be quiet and let others carry the conversation. To not sit in silence and really think the deep, thinkerly hard thoughts that I avoid. To really be here when I spend time with Jesus and then see how that plays out in my days.

All he wants is simply you - minus your good works, minus your perfect attendance, minus your politeness. When you really believe that, you may discover that all you want is Jesus. Not just to get to heaven or to help you be a good person or do the right thing, but to simply love and be loved by him.
-Emily P. Freeman, Grace for the Good Girl

My thoughts are jumbled, but I'm started to get that glimmer of what God might be trying to teach me and move me towards in the days ahead. Exciting. Scary. Pretty fabulous.

This is the deep part of my thoughts towards Twenty-Twelve and what I hope to see happen in the next twelve months. : ) I also have some pretty random ones that include learning how to really make bread this next year (with the exception of pizza crust which I have got down cold), losing all the baby weight (or take steps in that direction), and other happy projects.

Whatever may come, Twenty-Twelve is going to be a great year.

This is the day that the Lord has made

I will rejoice and be glad in it.

A Random Review // Totally Together Journal

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:03:00 +0000

When one cleans off their desk, one might find a book they were sent this summer to review and didn't. Oops.

I was sent a copy of the Totally Together Journal this summer - a nifty book that is both "a planner and organizing system to help women conquer chaos."

This book combines a practical planner with a smart system for women who are feeling frenzied (that is, most of them!). With sets of daily, weekly, monthly, and season to-dos, Totally Together lets women manage their priorities and prevent molehills from turning into mountains.

As we are almost on top of the new year, and time for folks to make resolutions such as staying on top of housework better, getting organized and ready with a cleaning rotation for the house, etc., I thought that (even though this review is about six months overdue) now is a good time to mention this book! It's written by Stephanie O'Dea, who is also the author of the highly popular Crockpot 365 blog that I've mentioned one or a hundred times on the blog. She has broken down a routine for keeping on top of housework, email, and the general to-do list that makes sense. The book starts with an explanation of her system and her "daily 7" and then ends with a planner with little check boxes so you can see what you have accomplished (or still have left to do as the case may be).

In my perusal of this book, I found it to be very handy as far as wrapping my brain around housecleaning routines. My one issue with the book is just the format. It is published as a handy little spiral notebook which is a little cumbersome to tote around the house, when I already have a planner with everything else in it that I use faithfully. If one could download the checklists as a PDF to print and put in my notebook or hang on my fridge, I think it would get more use from me.

Still, if you need a jumping off spot as you start the new year, this book is worth a look.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing for sending me a copy to review and my apologies for the delay of this review! I have received no compensation for this review other than a copy of the book.

December Daily // December 23-26

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:26:00 +0000

December 23: cousins playing Uno. I love the fact that they all were hee-hawing about something in this picture they thought was funny.

December 24:

December 25: I'll probably go back and journal some here - either on the back of the 24th or on the back of the 25th. I haven't decided yet. : )

December 26:

I'll probably just have one more wrap-up of my album. I'm planning on Saturday, the 31st, being my last day. Project Life 2012 starts on Sunday and I can't wait to break out my new kit. The Clementine kit and album was given to me by my sister for Christmas and it is so pretty. I'm trying to refrain from going ahead and breaking into it as I finish out my 2011 album! ; )

Christmas Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:48:00 +0000

A little Christmas recap from the last few days. As with Thanksgiving, our family plans fluctuated back and forth until everything actually happened. We ended up having a fun Christmas Eve Eve evening with just our crew here at home. I had planned some appetizer-y things for dinner at some point last weekend and I broke it all out on Friday night to go with our Family Movie Night pick of the week. Smurfs. (It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Almost cute in fact. But not cute enough that I wish I had put it in someone's stocking).

Our menu: pigs in a blanket, hot ham and cheese sandwiches, homemade cream cheese apple dip, and chocolate chip cookie dough dip. The apple dip will definitely be made again; the cookie dough dip was SUPER rich. Delicious but almost sickeningly sweet. Good in very small quantities.

Christmas Eve boy shot. He is becoming increasingly hard to photograph. So much movement.

The uncle. Always a good sport.

Grandpa and the boy. Waiting for stockings to open.

The boy didn't really get why he was supposed to put his hand in a long, dark, sock-like hole, but he went along with it with a little help.

Gift success this year - matching Wonder Woman jammies for my sister and niece. Score. : )

N1 got a game of Monopoly from the neighbors. She, N2 and her Daddy have now been playing the same game for three days. Truly, the gift that keeps on giving. I think there is hope they might finish the game today.

My shiny new popcorn popper. The old one was broken, but I kept holding it together because once you switch to stove-top popcorn you can't go back to microwave.

New scooters. Plus four kids sporting their "cool" faces. Hee.

Christmas lunch. A feast. My mom's chicken enchiladas and Mexican dip. (The hot dogs to the side were for the boy.)

Such a good Christmas.

Merry Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 20:21:00 +0000

December Daily 19 - 22

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Shepherd) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:23:00 +0000

A few December Daily pages...

December 19: Date night. There was Italian food, Irish reels, Christmas carols, no cell service at the symphony hall, and a babysitter. You really can't top a night like that.

Up close. Glitter letters from the alphabet set that came with my Elle's Studio Christmas kit.

The right page is from the front of the program. There were people taking (non-flash) photos there, but I decided not to pull my camera out and just enjoy the evening.

December 20: A fun little "currently" form from this blog that I filled out today and included in the album. I would love to fill one of these out for everyone in the family and may work towards adding a few more of these today as I can snag munchkins to sit a second and help me fill it out. : ) The right picture is one I snapped from our Community Group Christmas get-together.

December 21: We had a low-key day today. My nephew was over and I threw all the kids outside for the morning. There was a promise of the Christmas movie after lunch, but it was cool and sunny all morning and they desperately needed air and exercise. : )

The boy LOVES it when his big sissy gives him a ride on the tricycle. She balances him on the seat and sits behind and pedals.

December 22: There has been much crafting the last few days. T and N1 went to Michael's and scored on a bunch of little craft kits and the girls have taken turns at the counter and worked on gifts for cousins.

Happy Christmas Eve Eve. We have the cousin here for 1/2 a day (they are currently playing Uno quietly up in the school room - a Christmas miracle!) and then we are going to load up and go visit Daddy at his office before he is off for the long Christmas weekend. We have little girls getting very very excited about Christmas at our house!