Resolutions

Last year, I created a ridiculous list of resolutions.  This year, I'm making one.  And I'm keeping it to myself.  But I'm going to stick to it and make this a great year as a result.  Happy New Year!

I'm Fine

Cece has been talking so much more lately and with such expression.  A recent trip to mom-mom's house with daddy provides an anecdote of her personality shining through.  Daddy and Cece went to mom-mom's house for lunch.  Mom-mom persisted in offering Cece one thing after another to which Cece replied (seemingly exasperated) "I'm FINE mom-mom, I'm OK, mom-mom!"

Foldability Factor

And, the gift with the best foldability factor was the Dora tent/tunnel/ballpit.  It all folds down easily and doesn't need to be inflated.  Bonus for quick indoor play on a rainy day.

Vamonos!

Super Why

Cece also scored a Super Why puzzle.  Why?  Why not!?!  Though I don't promote excessive TV watching, Cece does.  Lately, if it involves Caillou.  She definitely goes through phases.  The first of which was Barney, followed by Curious George and Elmo and lately it's all Caillou all the time.  Interspersed there was Super Why, which is when I fell in love.  What a cool show!  Also, Sid the Science Kid rocks my socks off, except for the vaccination promotion episode which was iffy for me.  Check out the PBS Kids Video channel.

Just B You

I'm not exactly sure why, but I was enamored with this company this holiday season.  Just B. You just has great marketing.  With their cardboard-y tags and lovely expressions, I was drawn in.  The toys are predominantly plastic.  Which I am predominantly opposed to.  And yet.  I loved the colors.  I'm a sucker.  Santa read my mind (ahem) and crafted in his workshop a "H 2 Whoa".  Do you not just love the name?  I had to pull myself away from the aisle several times to not pick up a Take It Easel, but there's always that birthday coming up in July.  Most of the other items I had little difficulty walking away from.  I think I was most drawn to these two items because Cece is turning into such an artsy kiddo and I want to encourage that without her art ending up in places other than intended.  The H 2 Whoa seemed like a good solution...to Santa.  And the story behind the company and its practices is still better than most...right?

Merry Christmas!

This morning, as we open gifts, the true gift of the holiday season is being able to spend quality time with family and friends.  I plan to both give and receive that gift this year and I hope that all of you can do the same.  Merry Christmas!

Lukewarm Relationship with Santa

Cece loves Santa, from a distance, for now.  This fall, the mere mention of Santa would make Cece quiver with fear.  Enough so that we once convinced her to "hide" and "sleep" longer.  As the fall progressed to winter, she started to warm to the idea of this Santa character.  Jeff would walk with Cece in the mall.  She saw him from the second floor.  And that was just fine by her.  Earlier this week, Cece was willing to go downstairs in the elevator and get right up to the ropes.  But when asked if she'd like to go sit on his lap.  "No, thank you."  Oh, did I not mention that?  We say "No, thank you" now.  Then, she proceeded to explain to daddy that she needed to be wearing her black shoes to go and sit on Santa's lap.  So, on Tuesday night, we ventured to Tonelli's annual dinner with Santa at KV Middle School and got in the (very long) line.  As you can see, she loved it.

Our 2011 Holiday Card

Happy Holidays to all!  Here is our Holiday Card this year.  Since 2009, we have done an electronic holiday card and emailed it out.  Each year, I make our card using Scrapblog.  Usually, I embed the code for scrapblog here.  This year, the website doesn't seem to be meshing well, but I was able to export the "project" as a jpeg and copy and paste it to send out to the world.  Some people think I'm lazy to do an electronic card.  Don't worry, I'm not worried about what others think.  But, just for fun, here are a few reasons I love to do our cards this way.

1. In scrapblog, there is more freedom to work with templates, and additional pieces.  I'm not limited to the number of photos or other elements because of a plug and play card.
2. No paper
3. No envelope
4. No postage
5. Do 2-4 make me lazy?
6. We can share our card with the world, not just a select few friends and family.  If we are connected via email, facebook, twitter, or this very blog, you've seen it (or had the opportunity to do so).  For the few who are not in the online world, we can still print a few color copies.
7. And, for those who care to do so, they can comment, like, or respond to say hello back.
8. Generally speaking (except for this year's glitchy snafu), by utilizing scrapblog, I have a running profile of scrapblog projects including all of our holiday cards and any fun projects I was actually able to steal a few minutes to throw together.  And that's all it really takes, a few minutes.

And, on that note...enjoy!