Tiny Prints Holiday Cards to the Rescue

Disclosure: This sponsored post was written for Tiny Prints and I was compensated. However, all opinions expressed are completely my own.

I'm not sure about you, but in our house getting the annual  Christmas card ordered is a big accomplishment and sign that the holidays are almost upon us.  While I'm old fashioned and the Christmas season doesn't really start until the day after Thanksgiving, I think I can start to knock a few things off my to do list without the holiday cops being called on me.  Today was a productive day and thanks to Tiny Prints, I was able to create our Holiday Cards.

Their new 2012 holiday cards have been released and there are some wonderful options to choose from.  Tiny Prints site is easy to use and I love that I can select how many pictures I want included and it will narrow down the search of cards for me.  Who has time to waste looking through cards that only have space for one photo when I know I want six this year!  Their collection includes all sorts of designs from traditional to modern, flat to tri-fold, and themes that include, among others, Happy Holidays, Christmas, Hanukkah, and even New Years (makes me think of the year that I didn't get them sent out in time so they turned into New Year's cards).  One new feature they are offering for 2012 is their Premium DoubleThick™ Matte Paper, their most luxurious cardstock yet.

And now...drum roll please...here is the card that I put together to showcase our girls playing in the snow last weekend.  We were in our local mountains celebrating Thanksgiving with our extended family (yes, it was a week and a half early, but it is better than not getting to celebrate it at all!) and a cold storm had dropped some snow the day before.  It's a little early for snow there, but we will take it!  The only other fun/good photos I have are from Halloween or summer pool time...somehow, neither of those seemed fitting for a Christmas card.  (Thanks Uncle A for taking most of these photos!)

Go take a look at their designs and I know you will find the perfect one for your family too!  While you are there, be sure to check out their Special Offers Page for the latest deals.

Announcement: New Family Member

When you have a sun room that looks like this...

And the kids have to climb into and on top of boxes just to reach their climbing structure...


You never know what you will find has moved in...

in addition to a few spiders (luckily no black widows were found)...

and a few silverfish (yucky things that they are)...

we found that this had decided to join our family...


We sure were lucky it was only a strong willed tomato plant!


It took me quite a while to notice it initially when I was cleaning the sun room and it took quite a while longer to get the area cleaned enough to see how it got there.  When I did I was pleasantly surprised that it hadn't done any damage, but had casually climbed through a tiny gap between the screen frame and the window that was open.  I haven't had the heart to cut it off yet, but the plant should be dying soon enough now that fall has finally arrived!

(Oh, and no...our house is a mess, but it isn't normally this bad!  This was everything from the attic and other rooms that had to be moved out when we had a little construction done a couple of months ago.  I wanted to get it organized before putting it away again and that kept falling lower and lower on my priority list.  Finally got to a good chunk of it this past weekend.)

Uplifting Story

I know October has ended, but I'm going to make an earnest effort to continue blogging regularly.  It won't be daily, but hopefully at least a few times a month.  I'll have to highlight some of the insanity that is Angel as well since there is certainly plenty of that going on in our daily lives!

This was a story that Daddy came across today and I thought you would enjoy it.  Stories like this give me hope for Sweet Pea's future and I pray that she has a good set of friends surrounding her that will keep the bullies at bay.  Kids are mean and I don't like thinking about what things might be said and done to her.  We are including her in as many community activities as possible so that the kids get to know her early on in hopes that it will create a bond and an understanding that will save her from some meanness.

 http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8579599/chy-johnson-boys

Halloween Part 1

Too many photos from today to get through so here is what happened yesterday...because you know two days of Halloween is better than one!  Sweet Pea had a parade and party at preschool and Angel got a chance to go with Grandma to story time at our library.  Princesses were a last minute costume change as it had been so hot here so we raided our dress up box and found these.  The girls LOVED them!

Before school photo shoot




Class photo before parade:


The beginning of the parade...excited, but she has no idea what is coming:


Did she really put candy in my bag?


Mommy!  I got candy!!!!!




Constantly checking on her growing stash:






Enjoying the noodle bowl and tongs during the Halloween party.  I was impressed she could work the tongs...and she figured it out all on her own!


And we can't forget Angel!

Future Circus Star

Looks like Sweet Pea might have another vocation possibility in her future...

Flying on the trapeze:




Hanging on the trapeze:

Sweet Pea Riding a Tricycle

On Saturday morning we attended a block party before we went to a birthday party.  There was a tricycle that Sweet Pea climbed onto and before I knew it...she started pedaling it!  I couldn't believe it!  As you can see in the video she had to scoot far forward to reach the pedals, but she was able to do it.  And she did it all by herself!  She tried a few times and this first attempt was her best.  I need to speak with her PT at school and see if she has been working with Sweet Pea on the giant tricycles that they have a school.  It would seem like they might have been, but who knows...

We Have a Rolling Machine

Sweet Pea discovered how to roll this week!  I don't know who taught her, but I'm guessing it was someone at school.  I love it and hope that she will start rolling down the grass hill at school with the other kids too.

Check out this video of Sweet Pea steamrolling Angel and of Angel showing a little bit of her actual jumps.  I love how at 1:12 she gets into steamroll position.  Her left leg does an odd buckling move that I just don't know how to describe, but it makes me crack up every time she does it!