Capture Your Life

Time flies

Holy cow! Where did 2009 go? Has someone been skimming days from the year and hiding them under their bed? (Everything else ends up under someone's bed, so I'm sure that's were all of the days I've missed have been shoved!) C'mon. Someone fess up. Where did they all go?

I had so many things I wanted to get done this year. Lists were made. Dreams were dreamed. Projects were planned. Did I get them all done? Nope. A few, maybe, but not as many as I would have liked. One thing I did manage to get done was a year-in-review page from last year (probably because it was an assignment at work, so it was added to a schedule and I had to commit to it).

© Creating Keepsakes December 2009

I've done a year-in-review book at Shutterfly as a Christmas gift a few years ago, but this was the first time I tried it in layout form. And you know what? I really liked it. I scheduled one evening to complete the page, selected some of my favorite photos from the year, printed them in template form, printed them onto an 8 1/2" x 11" page, typed and printed journaling, trimmed, and voila!

If there is one page you must get done this year, it's a year-in-review page. You spend time typing up that year-in-review Christmas letter, don't you? So why not make a page for your scrapbook, too?

Have a safe and wonderful New Year!

The stockings were hung . . .

Can you believe Christmas was only three days ago? Some of my friends have already packed up the hoopla and decor and boxed it away until next year. Are you one of the "pack it in" types? I've cleaned up the celebration mess (you know what I mean . . . papers, wrappers, old toys to toss to make room for the new toys), but the holiday decor remains up at my house. We're trying to enjoy this last week of kickin' back and enjoying lounging around as a family before back to school and back to routines.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, and there they'll remain until  the New Year.

I hope you are enjoying the last little bit of 2009 we have left. I know I am.

A Christmas visitor

This is Charlotte the elf.

Charlotte is a cute little Christmas elf who came to visit us the week before Christmas. Ellie and Kailee immediately fell in love with this cute little friend. She came with instructions on how to take care of her and information about the steps the girls should take to help Charlotte come to life while they were asleep in their beds.

To be sure she enjoyed a comfy visit at the Anderson house, the girls hooked Charlotte up with a barbie bed in the kitchen. To keep her fed, they faithfully put out crackers and water for her each night--the crackers remind her of the crunch in the snow, and the water is melted North Pole snowflakes, of course. (Oh, and the candy cane in the photo is something we found out to be one of her favorite snacks!)

Imagine my surprise when I realized that each morning, after Charlotte comes to life, she makes a mess somewhere in the house then hides for the girls to find her. This particular morning, Charlotte messed up the girls' bathroom by leaving newspaper all over and draping swimming towels around the room. (This was one of their favorite parts about her visits and mommy's least favorite part.)

Each morning the girls would run to the notebook they shared with Charlotte and read the note she had written the night before. They asked her fun questions like "What time does Santa wake-up?" or "When is your birthday?" Charlotte would answer their questions and let them know she was watching them through the night.

It was a riot! The boys even got into the act and were often on the hunt for Charlotte in the morning. Who would have thought that one little elf could bring so much happiness into our family's life?

We had 6 fun nights with Charlotte, then on Christmas eve, we needed to set Charlotte by the Christmas tree so that she could return to the North Pole with Santa. It was kind of sad to have to set up her last night of crackers and water, but we know that she'll return to us next year to have more fun. We're all glad she came for a visit, and we can't wait until next year!

This time of year is truly magical. Love it!

Time for an upgrade

Being the family historian, photographer and scrapbooker, I'm often seen toting my camera around. You can usually find me at sporting events, school activities, family parties and at home with my trusty camera always at my side.  (Although the at-home part has been lacking as of late, and I'm trying to do better with that one!)

Today, I'm a lucky girl. For my birthday, my sweet husband surprised me with a new Nikon D90. I know! This was a huge surprise for me, after all, my D50 did its job well and we weren't really in the market for a new camera. Imagine my surprise when I opened the package and there it was--shiny and new with two new lenses. I'm feeling a bit spoiled. Isn't it beautiful?

And now, because of the surprise-upgrade in camera, I decided it was time to upgrade my blog as well. So here I am on Christmas eve snapping photos and starting a new blog. It's kind of funny how a new gift can inspire us to try other new things, isn't it?

Honestly, it really doesn't matter what Santa brings me tonight, because this is the gift I love the most. The one I've longed for. The one that will inspire me to do some awesome things. You never know, I guess, I could always open something even more wonderful in the morning! A trip to Hawaii maybe?

Here's to new gifts and new adventures!