I have given up on the copying, printing AND posting of a Christmas letter! I have a drawer full of pictures we printed but didn't send (2005 AND 2006) and two years of letters that were written, but never copied (2005 & 2006). I even have a huge stack of red envelopes addressed from 2005! Can I please clean out that drawer and throw all that away now? Oh, thank you!
Let's face it. I have got it together on the picture and writing part, but the follow-thru to get it printed and mailed is just one step more than I can handle...
So, let me send you Christmas greetings from our family in my most successful format. ONLINE. Yes, I believe my mantra should be "have computer (Internet), can do!". Would you believe one of my least favorite classes in college was the computer class I HAD to take? I think that was before Windows or Macs...
I can't believe I've been a "blogger" for two years now. How times flies when you're having fun! I really wasn't sure about it at first - afraid it would eat into my scrapbooking time. Then, I realized how it expedited working on my albums because I could just copy and print my blog entries and have even more journaling than before in our albums. So, as I am into my 12th year as a Creative Memories consultant, I am enjoying even more technology related scrapbooking than ever. I am also still very involved with our Worship & Arts office/ministry at church and the Assistant Director of our School of the Arts where I coordinate student registrations and instructor schedules for everything from piano, voice, and guitar to drama, art, sign language and dance classes. Don't tell anyone our Baptist Church offers dance classes. :-)
Dad and I got to do quite a bit of traveling this year with a trip to New York in June and a weekend at the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs in October. He is still with Interstate Batteries and venturing into new areas of responsibility each year. It is such a great company and he works with some wonderful people. In May this year we began a remodel of flooring in our house. Dad was so excited to be able to need so many new tools! We replaced EVERY floor space in the house. And, of course, that meant repainting and replacing baseboards. Oh, and we'd always wanted to put some crown moulding in the family room. Then, we saw some light fixtures that needed updating. Oh, and we still need to replace the sink. Oh, and... It's amazing how one thing leads to another. Home Depot is our home away from home. And we got a new Lowes in town this year, too! Those are exciting date nights. Seriously. Are we getting old or what?! :-)
Bit has begun a bit of babysitting this year - her siblings anyway. Although, I'm not sure it would be called "babysitting" as much as it is everyone just handling her being "in charge" while they're home alone. She got her braces off for now and started running cross country this year in 7th grade athletics. Having never run before in her life, she was excited to beat her time at each race this fall. We were proud of her for just working to improve her time and not worry so much about how she was running against the others. She was proud that she was able to make improvement each week she raced. She's in a select choir and ensemble at school and has enjoyed continuing her voice and piano lessons. She's decided music is really her thing. Wonder where that comes from...?
Bear ended up with glasses this year and now I can't tell the girls apart without a close look. Pitiful. They give me a hard time. And "looks". They give me "looks"... At the moment, she is taking a break from TaeKwanDo while we search for a new martial arts studio, but she and Little Buddy have gotten all the way up to orange belts. She is always into some artsy craftsy thing and does a good job of keeping all those wonderful supplies in order. She's got a thing for organization. Wonder where that comes from...? Just before she started 5th grade this year, she went to a sewing camp and made all sorts of things from shorts to bags to custom pillow cases. For a while, she was dragging out her sewing machine any time someone came over to whip out a bag for them to take home with them. Wonder where that comes from...?
Little Buddy had some exciting travels with Dad this year. His first trip was to Pine Cove Father/Son Camp in May. He had an absolute blast and still recounts various episodes from that adventure - with amazing accuracy. I can always tell it's a true story by the look Dad gives me that says, "I can't believe he remembers something he wasn't even paying attention to..." He also got to fly to New York for 3 days with Dad and Pawpaw with the purpose of going to a Yankee game at Yankee Stadium while it still stands. I'm sure his photographic memory could tell you all kinds of things that he saw - including a burning Taxi and the Naked Cowboy... (I'll let you Google that one...:-) Of course, the biggest highlight of the year for Little Buddy was accepting Christ after VBS in June and getting baptized in July. Little Buddy has another wonderful teacher in 2nd grade this year and I'm so thankful that our school administration has ensured that his teacher this year and last year have been a perfect fit for him. Granted, he has yet to have a perfect year with those perfect teachers, but he is showing such improvement in his behavior choices.
Little Girl is a hoot. She keeps me laughing. She's into everything. Wonder where that comes from...? She loves dancing. She LOVES doing her 1st grade homework the minute she walks in the house. She loves to read. She loves to write. We find her with her light still on at night copying the dictionary. We should probably worry, but it feels like such a nice balance at times... She just loves words and writing them precisely in her VERY neat left-handed handwriting. She's hilarious to watch on the soccer field. She smiles the entire time she's running all around the field and she looks so sweet while she's trying to take the ball away from the other team.
Now, if you read our 2006 letter that was never sent (it was "blogged" of course!), then you'll know the tragic turn of events as we added our first puppy to the household. It didn't take Dad long to find a new breeder who was expecting a litter of boxer puppies before Christmas. Well, as I peruse the blog to post links for various members of our household, I am greeted with a startling reality. Heidi really is spoiled. She has more blog posts than all the other family members combined. So, we managed to surprise (most of) the kids with Heidi's arrival at home a week earlier than we had been telling them we would go get her. And due to our sad state of mind at this time last year with missing Lucy, I embraced Heidi - stinky food, occasional doggie smell, slobber and all. Yes, she even sleeps on my pillow at times... Who'd a thought...? She went to school and learned all those well- trained doggie basics so she's a perfect pooch now. Even though she does eat toilet paper and dryer sheets and is encouraged by Dad to jump onto the kitchen table to entertain Mom... We love her dearly and she probably gets just a bit of pampering due to the circumstances.
Let's face it. I have got it together on the picture and writing part, but the follow-thru to get it printed and mailed is just one step more than I can handle...
So, let me send you Christmas greetings from our family in my most successful format. ONLINE. Yes, I believe my mantra should be "have computer (Internet), can do!". Would you believe one of my least favorite classes in college was the computer class I HAD to take? I think that was before Windows or Macs...
I can't believe I've been a "blogger" for two years now. How times flies when you're having fun! I really wasn't sure about it at first - afraid it would eat into my scrapbooking time. Then, I realized how it expedited working on my albums because I could just copy and print my blog entries and have even more journaling than before in our albums. So, as I am into my 12th year as a Creative Memories consultant, I am enjoying even more technology related scrapbooking than ever. I am also still very involved with our Worship & Arts office/ministry at church and the Assistant Director of our School of the Arts where I coordinate student registrations and instructor schedules for everything from piano, voice, and guitar to drama, art, sign language and dance classes. Don't tell anyone our Baptist Church offers dance classes. :-)
Dad and I got to do quite a bit of traveling this year with a trip to New York in June and a weekend at the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs in October. He is still with Interstate Batteries and venturing into new areas of responsibility each year. It is such a great company and he works with some wonderful people. In May this year we began a remodel of flooring in our house. Dad was so excited to be able to need so many new tools! We replaced EVERY floor space in the house. And, of course, that meant repainting and replacing baseboards. Oh, and we'd always wanted to put some crown moulding in the family room. Then, we saw some light fixtures that needed updating. Oh, and we still need to replace the sink. Oh, and... It's amazing how one thing leads to another. Home Depot is our home away from home. And we got a new Lowes in town this year, too! Those are exciting date nights. Seriously. Are we getting old or what?! :-)
Bit has begun a bit of babysitting this year - her siblings anyway. Although, I'm not sure it would be called "babysitting" as much as it is everyone just handling her being "in charge" while they're home alone. She got her braces off for now and started running cross country this year in 7th grade athletics. Having never run before in her life, she was excited to beat her time at each race this fall. We were proud of her for just working to improve her time and not worry so much about how she was running against the others. She was proud that she was able to make improvement each week she raced. She's in a select choir and ensemble at school and has enjoyed continuing her voice and piano lessons. She's decided music is really her thing. Wonder where that comes from...?
Bear ended up with glasses this year and now I can't tell the girls apart without a close look. Pitiful. They give me a hard time. And "looks". They give me "looks"... At the moment, she is taking a break from TaeKwanDo while we search for a new martial arts studio, but she and Little Buddy have gotten all the way up to orange belts. She is always into some artsy craftsy thing and does a good job of keeping all those wonderful supplies in order. She's got a thing for organization. Wonder where that comes from...? Just before she started 5th grade this year, she went to a sewing camp and made all sorts of things from shorts to bags to custom pillow cases. For a while, she was dragging out her sewing machine any time someone came over to whip out a bag for them to take home with them. Wonder where that comes from...?
Little Buddy had some exciting travels with Dad this year. His first trip was to Pine Cove Father/Son Camp in May. He had an absolute blast and still recounts various episodes from that adventure - with amazing accuracy. I can always tell it's a true story by the look Dad gives me that says, "I can't believe he remembers something he wasn't even paying attention to..." He also got to fly to New York for 3 days with Dad and Pawpaw with the purpose of going to a Yankee game at Yankee Stadium while it still stands. I'm sure his photographic memory could tell you all kinds of things that he saw - including a burning Taxi and the Naked Cowboy... (I'll let you Google that one...:-) Of course, the biggest highlight of the year for Little Buddy was accepting Christ after VBS in June and getting baptized in July. Little Buddy has another wonderful teacher in 2nd grade this year and I'm so thankful that our school administration has ensured that his teacher this year and last year have been a perfect fit for him. Granted, he has yet to have a perfect year with those perfect teachers, but he is showing such improvement in his behavior choices.
Little Girl is a hoot. She keeps me laughing. She's into everything. Wonder where that comes from...? She loves dancing. She LOVES doing her 1st grade homework the minute she walks in the house. She loves to read. She loves to write. We find her with her light still on at night copying the dictionary. We should probably worry, but it feels like such a nice balance at times... She just loves words and writing them precisely in her VERY neat left-handed handwriting. She's hilarious to watch on the soccer field. She smiles the entire time she's running all around the field and she looks so sweet while she's trying to take the ball away from the other team.
Now, if you read our 2006 letter that was never sent (it was "blogged" of course!), then you'll know the tragic turn of events as we added our first puppy to the household. It didn't take Dad long to find a new breeder who was expecting a litter of boxer puppies before Christmas. Well, as I peruse the blog to post links for various members of our household, I am greeted with a startling reality. Heidi really is spoiled. She has more blog posts than all the other family members combined. So, we managed to surprise (most of) the kids with Heidi's arrival at home a week earlier than we had been telling them we would go get her. And due to our sad state of mind at this time last year with missing Lucy, I embraced Heidi - stinky food, occasional doggie smell, slobber and all. Yes, she even sleeps on my pillow at times... Who'd a thought...? She went to school and learned all those well- trained doggie basics so she's a perfect pooch now. Even though she does eat toilet paper and dryer sheets and is encouraged by Dad to jump onto the kitchen table to entertain Mom... We love her dearly and she probably gets just a bit of pampering due to the circumstances.
We hope to hear from you if we haven't already, so please feel free to leave a comment or two. Sometimes it's nice to know someone we actually know is perusing our little website.
We hope your Christmas has been wonderful and 2007 has been a year to remember!
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8 comments:
Amy, thanks so much for the Christmas card and link to your blog. It looks like you guys stay pretty busy! Here's our blog, if you find some spare time to check it out: http://darlingmullens.blogspot.com/
Happy Holidays from the Mullens!
Hi Amy! Got here through the email you sent out. :) I"m glad this past year was a good one for you! Praying the upcoming one is even better. :)
blessings...
Stacey (Loz.)
Amy, It was great to read what's up with you. Our Christmas card is on it's way now (sent the day after Christmas. :) Okay, so if blogs HELP with your CM work, maybe I need to learn more about it... We should talk!
Amy, why didn't I know you were actually posting comments on your blog!? The last time I checked it, there was NOTHING! You even have a link to my blog!! Oh well, so glad to see it now. And so glad to see your family growing so beautifully (and handsomely:) Great family photo. I'll be sure to check back frequently now. Happy 2008!!
rdmorrow - it works great! I copy and paste my blog entries into Memory Manager attaching the info to one of the pertinent photos. Then, I can just print out a journaling box with those pictures as I'm working on those pages in my books. I've found that the information from my blog is "fresher" than it would be if I'd just typed up a journaling box when I got to it in my album. I get more expanded info that way. And I'm less inhibited on what I type in there. It's worked great for me. So, I blog! And it gives me purpose in my blogging, too. Like it's not for naught - it feels very temporary on the screen but I know it's there for posterity in my books.
You're a tech-y, so the blogging thing should be a piece of cake. In fact, I'm surprised you weren't blogging before me! You might check out www.wordpress.com. I think I'd switch to that if I hadn't already done so much with my blogspot site. There really are a lot of FREE options out there and I've heard good things about WordPress.
No no don't throw away those old letters. You might want to read them again some day and you never know when you will want to use a red envelope!
Don't you know I have copies of the letters in my Christmas album!? :-) And I'm afraid half of the addresses already written on the envelopes are out of date by now... I'll be sure to put it all in recycling...
I agree that blogging helps with scrapbooking because I blog almost daily, when the thoughts/captions are fresh!
And hey, date nights at Lowe's DO NOT make you old!!!! ; )
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