Take a hill pill

Christmas is fast approaching as you all well know. Yesterday I took the time to sit down and make out our Christmas card for this year. I am not posting the actual one we are sending on here, but I am posting a few of the runners-up. They are really cute too and it was a hard choice, but now it is done and I am really excited.

Some of you might remember, this is our Christmas card from last year. Notice there is one child missing as I was just finding out I was pregnant with Charlie when these cards were going out. Anyway, Mikey took this picture when we were at the Ocoee River in Tennessee and I think it is perfection. I got lots of compliments on these cards and actually I still get compliments on them*.

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* I am not bragging about myself, just my handsome boys so sue me...

This was one of my favorites. So classic and clean and I thought it looked great with the sepia toned pictures. But not "The One"


Moving right along, I really liked this one too. I liked that it gave more room for a note at the bottom instead of just our names. And I like to write the boys' whole names out but I digress.
Still not "The One"

I like this one a lot too b/c i love that seafoam green color with the red. I think it is really unique. really cute but just not "The one"

I think this would've been the one if I hadn't gone with the actual winner. The only thing I didn't love about it was that Huett's name and picture was outlined in "cranberry" which just looks like dark pink to me. It's a little too girly for a family with three boys.

Unbelievable, I know, but still not "The One"

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Once I actually mail the cards out, I will post the picture of it on here for everyone to see. Until then, you'll just have to wait. These aren't the exact pictures I used on the cards either so it will really be a surprise. I love them and I find myself staring at them constantly. Is that weird?

They should arrive sometime next week and I will be mailing them out ASAP so that people can leave it out the whole month of Christmas(that is if they have a "Christmas card" area where they display their Christmas cards for the year like most women I know do.)

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For those of you, like my husband, who are amazed and think I'm some kind of wizard, DON't! As much as I wish I was some kind of graphic designer, I'm not. Websites like www.snapfish.com , www.kodakgallery.com , and my personal favorite, www.shutterfly.com, make it so simple they could call it Christmas Cards for Dummies. All you have to do is upload your pictures there just like you would on here or on facebook, etc. and they do the rest(except pay for them). They are a little expensive, but it's only once a year and it is so much more personal and memorable than plain old Wal-mart cards. And for some of our family, this may be the only time they see the boys all year.

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I am also about to change my background to a Christmas one because I am not in love with my Thanksgiving set-up. I am, however, in love with my sister Trisha's blog http://www.livedtoblogaboutit.blogspot.com/

I can't take credit for the background but what I can take full credit for is her awesome personalized matching header. I made it from scratch on a program I downloaded for free called paint.net and I told her I'm going to start charging a fee for my services. Her # of followers** has jumped up significantly since we made the change and I have to believe it is not at all because of her funny, sometimes silly, sometimes heartwarming postings, but because her page looks so professional. You are welcome Trish Trash...
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**following someone's blog means that you have hit the follow button on their side column and have signed up to let that blogger know that you read their blog on a regular basis. It's pretty exciting when you get a new follower ( at least it is to me and Trisha) and right now she has way more than me(but this isn't a competition...not yet anyway) So if you read my blog( or anyone Else's blog) on a regular basis, let me(or them) know by becoming a follower. If you don't already have an account, one is really easy(and free) to set up and it kinda makes all the time we spend bl0gging seem a little more worthwhile.

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Even though I would probably do it if no one read it but my mom and my Mother-in-law(who were just about the only people who did read it for a while). It's like a free scrapbook and you can actually have your blog made into a book for fairly cheap so that is some major incentive to keep this up. That way the boys can read it.

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On another note, I have 3 journals at home that I keep for each boy and I write down memorable things that they say or do that I don't want to forget, but don't necessarily have a place in their traditional baby books( I recommend any mom do it because it is so fun to go back and read things that I know I totally would've forgotten by now). I started Charlie's last night and I was thinking about what would happen if our house got burned down which actually just happened to some of our best friends. So I decided I am going to start writing some of the most memorable excerpts out of their journals in here so that I will have some other form of record, God forbid something ever happens to their real hardback journals. So I will end this post with that...something for you all to look forward to...well, at least my mom and mother-in-law...