DD4 & DD5 - Double the fun!

DD4 (left) Baby's First Christmas and DD5 (right) Candy Cane Hunt - We're doing two days at once to double the fun or maybe because last nights post didn't actually happen? You decide!

This is baby E the first time we captured him sitting up unassisted.  I, traditionally, devote one page of my DD each year to a letter to or other type of description of each of my children as they are "right now" (Many of the sentences begin with that refrain).  This will be E's day and included the excitement of learning to sit up, his new tooth, and how snuggly, loving, and happy this little guy is. That arrow is to cue you to flip the card over as well.

After I went to sleep, I decided I really wished I written a letter to him instead of the update on how he's doing, and in the light of day wanted both. So, I came up with a simple fix. I flipped the card over and wrote him his letter (see above).  My SC kit came and included these fun vellum arrows and the problem is solved (so long as the cue works, I guess). 

On  to DD5 - I had a variety of tentative plans for the day, but in the end, this is the one that worked.  Today was our third annual Candy Cane Hunt. (The original was inspired by Chrissie - whose kids had theirs yesterday with the very same candy canes!)  In the past, we've done this first thing in the morning and surprised them with hunting buckets when they wake up.  This year, I was hoping to start off the afternoon with some extra fun as the dinner time hour was a bit crazy yesterday.  So, I hid 24 candy canes around the living room and hung their buckets near the back door.  We went to Target between picking up the littles and B so M didn't discover the hunt set up (and actually came up with a clever plan for tomorrow!)

 I hinted when I picked them up that I had something fun planned and there were lots of fun guesses.  When we made it inside and B saw the buckets he immediately guessed the game.  Off they ran, buckets in hand.  I followed along and helped with hints and fetching the higher up ones.  M, graciously, gave B one or two of her candy canes when she took the lead in the hunt.  In the end, the technical count was 12 for B, 10 for M, 1 for E (hung on his baby gym), and one that is somehow missing.... I have literally no clue where it is.  The big kids got to have two  candy canes each and could choose from Starburst apple or cherry flavors or smartees flavored candy canes.  Then they hung the remainder of their find on the Christmas tree for extra fun decorations. (E managed to get a few licks of his somehow). This is a great game and I hope we continue to do it for years. 

I also worked on the Journal Your Christmas prompt today.  It was about Christmas Communicating.  

Photo by: Heather Warren Photography; Card via Zazzle

I included our family Christmas Card on the right page (spoiler alert!).  I actually mailed almost all of these today which is an absolute record.  (Those adorable wooden letters are from SC's Darling Dear line - and they are awesome.  The paper came with the Sn@p album and worked perfectly.)

On the left, I added a bit about the stats for this year.  We are sending 100 cards to family, friends, everyone in my office, teachers, etc. I included our address stamp and an actual stamp of the style we're using this year along with what postage costs and why I send Christmas cards.  Below is a photo of the stack of cards before mailing them out.  This is something I've randomly been doing a few years as part of my DD documenting and I rather like it.