Answer me this

There is a journalling challenge on The Digi Chick Blog that is right up my alley, and I encourage you all to go check it out. The challenge is to journal in the form of an interview. I love doing this with my girls. Once I started I couldn't stop, and I ended up doing the following pages:








As you can see I liked the page format of the polka dot one, so used the template again to do pages of my nieces. Check back in a couple of days and I'll have a QP version of this for you. I also have a couple of pages sneak peeking TDC products due out on Thursday 28th:

It's all about family

Brooke and Elisa have had a great week with grandparents and cousins. Elisa spent 2 nights with Nana and Papa while Brooke slept at the McAnnalleys and attended Emmy's 7th Birthday Party. Emmy then came to stay with us for 3 nights which the girls loved. We went to Jungle Mini Golf for a special activity, otherwise they were happy to play at home, and watch the odd DVD.

I'm coming along nicely with my New Years Resolutions. Well, except for the exercising daily thing. I knew that would be a struggle, especially with DH back at work and leaving early in the mornings. By the time he gets home at night I have no desire to go out and exercise. I'd rather do it before the girls are awake. I'm considering getting some exercise DVDs that I can use at home. I like the sound of the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred DVD, but I've yet to source anyone here in NZ that has it in stock. I may have to get Regan or Andre to order it for me. She has a couple of other good workout DVDs too and I think it'd be good to alternate them each day for variety. Anyone else have suggestions of good workout DVDs?

Other than that, everything else is going well. My cleaning routine is up and running, the menu plan is working, my kids are happy, I'm not spending quite so much time on the computer during the day, I think before I speak, I say yes more.....and we're all happy.

On other news, Hubby's grandad seems to be in his last days now. He has deteriorated quickly, and family are by his side. It is at times like this we wish we lived closer and could do something. Or at least visit. He is the only grandad I've known, and the only great-grandad our girls have known. Our thoughts and prayers are with him, Nana, and the rest of the family. We love you Grandad.

This coming week is the last week of the school holidays. One of Brooke's friends is coming over for a playdate on Monday, the girls will go stay at the Bells on Thursday (they're very excited about that), then Ryan and Logan will come stay with us on Friday night. On Saturday we have a church picnic at the beach. Hopefully the weather will be good, because Brooke has her heart set on going.

Elisa's potty training is going well. She tells us when she wants to go pee, and we haven't had any 'accidents' for a couple of days now. She is also dry throughout the night, and will wake up and call out if she wants to go toilet in the middle of the night. Yay, progress at last.

Here are my latest 365 pages, and a couple of extras.

So far so good

It's amazing how one little word can really impact your life. In the week since taking on the word "PRIORITIES", I've found it so much easier to make the right choice. Do I watch TV or clean my car? Car. Do I fold the laundry or scrap a page? Laundry. Do I exercise or vege out? Exercise. It's like the decisions have been made for me. I know what I need to do, and my mind has accepted it just like that. Whew, I expected I would strugggle with it more than this.

Today so far I've:

Exercised
Washed, dried, folded and put away 5 loads of laundry
Washed my car
Completed a scrapbook layout
Cleaned 3 bathrooms
Deep cleaned half of my kitchen
And now I'm updating my blog.

Boy I can't tell you how accomplished I feel today. It helps too that the girls are down in Hamilton and Ngaruawahia for a few days. Here are my latest 365 pages. I uploaded them to my 365 blog the other day with credits and gallery links:



And here is a page I did for Chrissy W with her latest freebie template:



I've been interviewing my girls lately. I love this kind of journalling. I got the questions from Simple Scrapbooks Scrapbook Shortcuts magazine. I've done several pages, but can't upload the others till next week.

Unplugging, and One Little Word

There's a lot to be said for unplugging. Personally I find it hard to turn off my computer. I find it almost impossible to not go online and check forums and emails a dozen times a day, and yes I'm very guilty of spending too much time in my study when I should be out doing stuff with my girls. So our recent camping trip to the beach was the perfect opportunity to get away from it all and really focus on the family. And you know what? I totally didn't miss the computer at all. I really enjoyed the down time. I enjoyed being outdoors a lot and spending quality time with my husband and kids. Have a look at the layout I did about our time away:




I also used these photos for my 365 pages for 2010:





Have you heard of the "One Little Word" idea? Ali Edwards wrote this on her blog:

"The idea behind the one little word concept is to give yourself something to focus on throughout the year. As I stated in my newsletter back in January 2007, "A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything. It can sharp and biting or rich and soft and slow.

Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2009? It can be something tangible or intangible. It could be a thought or a feeling or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you. This is not your mother's word or your spouse's word or your child's word - this is YOUR word. One little word can have big meaning in your life if you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities."

After much thought, I have decided my One Little Word for 2010 is going to be "PRIORITIES". The kids, my husband, housework, church, scrapping, family, school and playcentre...I have many responsibilities, and I need to prioritise them and put them in the right order. Too often last year I put scrapping above housework, and even above my family. I'm determined that won't happen this year. I read on another blog how changing the WAY you say things really can make you think twice about WHAT you say. Instead of saying to the kids "No, I don't have time to play right now", what if I said "No, you're not a priority to me right now." That really hit me. Telling my kids they're not a priority? I don't think I could do it. They're number one in my life, and I want them to know that. It's really changed my thinking and got me reassessing my life.

Every time I sit down to do some scrapping, I now think to myself "Is there something else that needs to be done first? Do I really have to do this now? Is this my highest priority?" I'm determined to get my housework done each day before getting on the computer. I'm determined to do more activities with the girls. I'm determined to be more active and get outdoors more. This One Little Word has given me much thought, and a lot of direction for the coming year, and I'm excited to have it as my focus for 2010. What about you? What would your One Little Word be?

Oh, I want to show you this article too. It's called "Children are not timeless". It's a great read. Actually I had to look over my shoulder to see if someone wasn't observing ME and writing down all the things I say to my kids. Seriously - it's as if they wrote the article based on me. I really need to change the way I respond to my kids. It's one of my new years resolutions.

Something else happened this week that gave our family a bit of a scare. Mum had to go into hospital for some tests. I won't go into why, but it brought us kids down to earth with a bump, realising our parents are not as immortal as we would like to think. I know you all think you've got great parents, but I can officially confirm that we have the best parents in the world. We don't know what we'd do without them. It got me thinking (I've been doing a lot of that lately) that although my brothers and sisters and I have had many years getting to know our parents, our own children have not gotten to know them so well yet. They're only at the beginning of that journey, and should Mum or Dad pass before our kids are older, they'll miss out on really knowing their grandparents. So Mum, Dad, George and Dawn (hubby's parents), I'll be sending you all some questionnaires in the next few weeks for some albums I'll be putting together over the next year. There will be a ton of questions, and you can answer them as in depth or as briefly as you like. The questions will start with your birth and childhood, and extend through your teenage years, right up to now. It will seem like a whole lot, but if you just plug away at it bit by bit, we'll be able to create a wonderful family history album for the future generations.

OK, I think that's it for now. The kids will wake up soon and my day of new priorities starts again. I have a cleaning schedule that I'm actually excited to start again, and either today or tomorrow I'm going to take the girls to a movie too.

Last 365 pages for 2009

I've had a lot of fun doing this project. The variety of kits/styles and templates I've used has kept me excited the whole way through, and at no stage have I contemplated not finishing it. I think I'm actually a week short since I didn't start right on 1 Jan 2009, but since I'm going to be doing a 365 album for 2010 too, I don't think it really matters. So, here are the last pages. Stay tuned for an announcement about my plans for Project 365 in 2010.

More layouts

[If you're here for the template freebie it is at the bottom of my previous post.]

Our girls have been staying at my parents for the last few days. They were very much looking forward to being there, and I'm sure they will not want to come home. I've had a very productive time with them gone. Got lots of planning and organising done for the new year, CT stuff completed, and resolutions made. I've even been exercising. I know - shock huh. Hubby and I went to see Avatar at the movies the other night. I wasn't overly keen to see it initially, but I tell you what, I am SOOOO glad I went. I totally loved it! Best movie I've seen in a long time. I especially loved the visual effects and scenery. Looking forward to having the girls home again today. We'll be going out for dinner tonight for my birthday, so looking forward to that too.