The most wonderful time of the year...

is also the busiest time of the year! Man, I feel like I've hardly sat down in the last 2 weeks...all the shopping, baking, cleaning, crafting, Christmas concerts! Phew! Santa, could you please bring me a day of doing NOTHING this year? I'm nearing the end of things though and should be able to relax next week with the kids (yes, relax with the kids...do you think it's possible? I sure hope so!...OK, Santa, if you can't bring me a day of doing nothing, can you please bring me a case of wine? heehee!).

The boys both had Christmas concerts this week. Kieran's was yesterday and he's been rehearsing stuff on his own at home, but once it was show time, he pretty much just stood there taking it all in. I don't think he really knew what to expect. (He later told me that he couldn't sing because his leg was sore, lol!). Santa also made an appearance and all the kids got to sit on his lap and got candy canes. Kieran was hesitant (as were many of the kids in his class, I was surprised), but I told him that we needed a picture to show Daddy what happened at school...worked like a charm :) Bridget also got to sit on Santa's lap, but it was only for the candy once she saw what all the other kids were getting. I didn't get a great picture of her and there was no way she was getting on his lap again once she already had the goods, lol!

Riley's concert was today and it was so, so cute. He was pretty much like Kieran in preschool...not much participation. But not this year! He was singing along and so cute! Apparently, his teacher asked if I was excited to go to the concert and he said, "she's' sooooo excited!!" Heehee!

Kieran is really getting into drawing and trying to write his letters. He's getting so good at it! But, since he's been focusing so much on such things, we've noticed his left eye turning in. Took him to have it checked out and looks like he's going to need glasses. The sight in his left eye is apparently pretty bad but he's 20/20 in his right. So, after Christmas he'll have another exam and find out what prescription he needs and get glasses. Not sure he really gets what's going on, but hopefully it will all go well.

Bridget gets funnier by the day! There isn't a single day she doesn't make me laugh out loud! Her looks just crack me up. She kept pointing out Santa today at Riley's concert, even to the point of turning to the people behind us and pointing him out to them, lol. She was probably just wondering when the candy was coming!

And a funny Riley/Kevin converstaion:

R: "Daddy, I want to go away for Christmas some year, like Franklin does to see his Grammie and Grampie."

K: "When Mommy was little she used to go away every year to Fredericton to visit her Grammie and Grampie."

R: "No, Mommy's Grammie and Grampie live in Cape Breton."

K: "No, Mommy's Nana lives in Cape Breton."

R: "I know that, we went to visit her twice. She lives in a churchy, lunchy kind of place." (My grandmother is in a nursing home and when we went to visit her once she was sitting outside the chapel and she has a tray on her wheel chair which is where I assume the 'lunchy' came from).

R: "We went to visit another an too...."

K: "Uncle Neil?"

R: "No..."

K: "Uncle Ross?"

R: "Yes!! I like him! I love his chips!" (My Uncle Ross gave each boy their very own bag of chips and they were in heaven, lol...they usually only get a couple at a time. Uncle Ross sure knows the way to Riley's heart, haha!).

Riley also now says, "I know" every time you compliment him. So humble, that child :) Wonder which parent that comes from...I think it's an engineering thing...shhh (every once in awhile I like to see if Kevin reads the blog. Really, anyone who made it this far is a saint!).

December reveals at Treasured Scrapbooking were yesterday. Here are my creations:

And a sketch based on this layout:

This is my last month as a designer for Treasured. They are welcoming a new team in January. I have enjoyed my time there sooo much...the girls are all fabulous and the kits totally rock. I'm looking forward to getting to participated in more challenges there each month with some of my free time :) To check out some more creations from the design team, check out the gallery here.

Here's our Christmas card. Every year I try to get a good picture of the kids and end up with tons of hilarious outtakes. I can't resist doing up a collage that just makes me giggle. Hope you all appreciate it too!

Tired of reading yet? Well, I'm tired of typing so that's it for now. 9 days...are you ready? Ho, ho, ho!

12 Days of Christmas...

I have some great news...I'm guest designing for LCOM for the month of December!! Yay!! And more great news...the LCOM design team will be hosting 12 days of challenges. There will also be 12 days of prizes just for checking the forum and signing up in the right thread! And even more great news...there's something new on sale each day! So, please come join the festive fun!

And another fun Christmas gift for me...I was asked awhile ago by Canadian Scrapbooker to participate in their Cover challenge. Basically, they ask 10 people to try out for the cover layout (they send each the same photo and journaling) and they pick one to be on the cover and 2 or 3 to feature inside as different takes on the cover. I was FLOORED when they asked me. I had no idea that Canadian Scrapbooker really 'knew' who I was. I'm lucky enough to have been published with them this Fall and currently in the Winter edition as well, but didn't think that was enough to get noticed for an attempt at the cover. So exciting to even be asked. Anyway, I did my layout, sent it in, and was chosen as one of three to be featured as a take on the cover!! So excited!! So, you'll see me inside the cover in the Spring!!

And, because no blog post is complete without kid stuff....

Yesterday Kieran was playing with the Santa hat and told me that he wants to be Santa when he grows up :) He's so looking forward to his preschool concert...everyday he asks if it's concert day and he's been singing me songs and reciting poems. So different from Riley. He was never that into it.

Bridget is so cute, even when she's saucy...which she's getting to be now and then :) I think she's starting to take advantage of the whole, Bridget's a baby, she doesn't know thing. Which means, she's the baby and she totally knows she's got everyone wrapped around her finger, lol! She loves to run around the house naked before she gets her jammies on while yelling, 'naked, naked', haha! She loves to look at the Christmas lights...on the way home the other night she said, "wow, look at the Christmas lights!" (yup, that whole sentence...crazy how much she's talking). She had her flu boosters tonight and actually said, "needle...hurt, hurt." She so remembered the last ones she had. But now worries, a sucker takes all the hurt away :)

Riley got his first home report last week and he's doing very well at school. There are occasional problems with listening and following rules, but nothing too drastic for a 5 year old in their first year of school. Overall I get the impression that he's really well behaved and kind, which is nice to hear. Parent teacher is tomorrow so I guess I'll get the whole scoop. He totally loves learning and apparently making and reproducing patterns (he IS a little Kevin after all). It also said that he's 'confident in his own ability to learn', lol! How you really tell that at 5 I'm not sure, but he does now say, "I know" every time I tell him he's doing well at something...maybe that's what they're going on, heehee!

Don't think I have any new pictures, but hopefully some Christmas pictures coming very, very soon :) I'll be badgering people for addresses again soon...I know I say I'll put them in a safe place every year, but I'm sure none of you believe me by now anyway, haha!