Monday, December 2, 2013

A Little of This and That

Feeling sick again with a cold.
But pushing through as always. :)
I did have quite a bit of time to rest off and on this weekend though.

In scrapbooking, I have a peek to share with you...

of a layout for Paper Issues that will be revealed next Monday. I really, really love this one.

For Thanksgiving...
we drove up to my brother and his wife's house in Milwaukee to celebrate with my side of the family the weekend before the actual holiday. I love any chance I can get to see my brother. He is so much fun. This picture was taken with my phone camera by my nephew. Pete and I walked with the "kids" (in parentheses because two of them are 14 and 16) to a nearby playground. And yes, that is a bat he is holding. Not because the neighborhood is bad, (lol) but because the boys played a little ball. The younger kids played on the playground equipment.
Unfortunately the temperature was in the low 20's and we did freeze a bit. But the fresh air and walk was good for all of us!


And Mike took this picture on his phone at the little bagel place we went to for breakfast both mornings not far from our hotel in downtown Milwaukee. I really love their downtown :)
And as I was going through photos trying to find good ones for a Christmas card this year, I noticed that most of them are like this. Either Mike or I with the kids. Absolutely no family photos! And hardly any of Erin and Evan together. I need to work on that.

Another Thanksgiving activity...
was a fun little feast that Erin's Kindergarten had the last day of school before break. I am so glad my schedule allows me to participate and help out in these types of activities at their school. I truly do not take it for granted!

Erin and I also saw...

this weekend. It was cute. Nothing I would buy and watch over and over again. But it was entertaining and we definitely enjoyed our movie date together after her dance class.

And can you believe it is December? I was trying to think of a fun little activity to do with the kids, mainly Erin, to count down the days until Christmas.

I have seen this idea on Pinterest and around the internet. The idea is to wrap up one book to be opened each night starting December 1st until Christmas Eve. This is about two weeks worth of books in this photo, but I managed to get the rest wrapped up tonight. And since we have about a zillion Christmas books, it was a little hard to pick. :)
Here was the book for Day One...
which it turns out she had already read with her dad last night. I didn't realize that before I wrapped it up. (lol) But that's ok, we have 23 more to go which I know she hasn't read yet this year since I just pulled them out of storage. This one came with her recent book order.

And last but not least, U2's new song is out!
It was on my Sirius radio on Saturday! I was so excited to hear it playing. It's for the new movie, "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom". Now if they would just release their new album already. It's been too long since the last one and I am ready for another tour!

Well now that you are updated on what has been happening around here, how was your weekend?


20 comments:

  1. Hope you are feeling better sooner than later and looking forward to seeing your layout in full! Love the count down to Christmas with the books, cute idea! :)

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  2. Did you go to the art museum in Milwaukee? I loved spending time in the lobby with the views of Lake MIchigan and the constantly changing play of light and shadows :-)
    Get better soon... Tea with ginger and honey will help immune system, good luck!

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    1. We didn't, but it is on my list for next summer!! We didn't have much extra time really, but managed to see the parade despite the cold.
      Tea with lemon, ginger and honey is on the menu today :)

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  3. Can't wait to see the reveal of your page, Mary Jo. I made a little something to play along too. :) Hope you're feeling better soon!

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  4. Looks like you've been having lots of holiday fun! Sorry to hear that you're not feeling well, though. Hope you feel better soon.

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  5. So sorry that you are feeling under par, hope it passes quickly. Your LO looks beautiful, look forward to seeing the big reveal.... So looking forward to Christmas! Hugs, Anne x

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  6. Loving the photos!! Loving the one of you and the kids!!! And I hope you are feeling better!!!

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  7. I hope you feel better soon!!

    I can't wait to see your projects for PI.

    And I LOVE all the photos and seeing you in them.

    Love that book idea!!

    Get better soon!

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  8. can't wait till the full reveal! looks great

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  9. Fun layout! Can't wait to see the whole thing. Sounds like you guys had a great holiday. Ours was very quiet and uneventful....but that can be a good thing. I have been fighting off a cold too so I needed the rest. :)

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  10. Funny, Milwaukee came to us for Thanksgiving. The cold.....worst thing about Milwaukee. But the company is worth it. Glad you had fun. Hope you feel better.

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  11. Sorry you are not feeling well, Mary Jo! Hope you feel better soon! Love the sneak of your page and can't wait to see it!

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  12. I will have to check out their new song tomorrow...DH is sleeping or i would try right now!!!

    Sounds like great family times...you must have been so hapy to be with your brother!

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  13. What a great peek, I love anything with woodgrain! Evan cracks me up in that picture, such a young man ;) We're doing our normal calendar this year to count down the days. I have bags that the girls open each day, some days it's a chocolate, other days it's a small gift :)

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  14. I hope you are feeling better!

    Can't wait to see your layout on Monday! That is exciting!

    It looks like you had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving! Love all of the pictures! I see some scrapbook layouts in the making!

    The book countdown is such a great idea! I really want to do that one day, but I don't think AJ wants to read a Christmas book with me every night ;)

    We have our Advent calendar tradition from my aunt though. Every year, since we were little, she's bought us chocolate advent calendars. Even though we are all older now - as in out of college, moved out and married older - she still carries on the tradition and I love it!

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  15. Can't wait to see the rest of your layout....the peek look great! Sounds like you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I love your advent idea of a book each night leading up to Christmas....how fun!!!

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  16. Love all your photos and hearing about your weekend! Hope you feel better soon!! :)

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  17. My kids went to Frozen too. They seemed to enjoy it :)

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  18. Fun post to read! Love that pic of you and the kids :). My youngest and I are going to watch Frozen at the cinema too, love those afternoons together just the 2 of us.

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  19. Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend :)
    I love the idea of wrapping a book a day, so fun.
    I have a few books with Christmas stories in them, one for each daughter. So every night in December we would read one story out of each book…bedtime was a longer process with 3 daughters, lol.

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