Carded

It always seems that December just creeps up on me! I have great intentions of sending out Holiday cards every year, and most years I find myself rushing to the mailbox the day before Christmas to get them mailed, in hopes they will reach their destinations before the start of the New Year.

And it’s like this EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. (Despite my good intentions)

But not this year! Oh no sirree. I was prepared. I spent just a little time online and armed myself with every necessity I needed to get those cards out in a timely fashion.

If you need a little help in this department (like I did) I’ll share my secret with you.

SHUTTERFLY!!!

I love Shutterfly. I use them for all kinds of snazzy things. Their Calendars make perfect Christmas presents. I’m using these Christmas Tags to top my gifts this year, and have I mentioned their Christmas photo cards? OHHHHHHH…those Christmas cards.

I print my cards with them evvvvvery year. Even the years my family and friends don’t get them until February.

Some of my Faves this year:

And this one:

Oh…I DIE over that card. Seriously?? I bet you don’t have to guess which category Miles would fall under. (Hint: it rhymes with Potty)

There’s a style for everyone!

And you know what else totally rocks? You don’t even have to use one of their designs to have a card printed. If you are really ambitious and want to design your own card (or if you use my favorite design site www.digitalgreetings.etsy.com) you can still have your cards printed at great prices. Just upload your design, order the number you want, and badda bing badda boom…they will arrive at your doorstep beautifully printed and ready to send out. It is seriously that simple.

So this year I opted to design my own card. (ahem…I mean have my talented sister design one for me). If you want a sneak peek, click on over to www.digitalgreetings.etsy.com. You just might find it there. I will upload my design, order 50 cards, and have them shipped right to my doorstep.

Do you want to know how much my 50 cards will cost me?

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(pausing for dramatic effect)

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NOTHING!! I know…it doesn’t really get better than that. I just pay the shipping, and 50 free cards are headed my way.

And because Christmas is the giving season, I’ll let you in on a little secret.

YOU CAN GET 50 FREE CARDS TOO!!

SQUEEL!

It’s as simple as this: If you are willing to write a blog post about Shutterfly, just click on this link: http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/, fill out the form, and Shutterfly will e-mail you with the requirements. Do those, and your golden. I mean it. GOLDEN!!!

I know….this may sound like a shameless plug in order for me to get 50 free cards. And I can’t lie. It is.

But I can’t lie.

I really DO love Shutterfly. With or without the FREE-ness.

And I promise, you will too!

Happy Shopping!!

‘Tis the season

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving. Great food, great company…an all around A+ affair!

We spent our post Thanksgiving day trimming our Christmas tree, listening to Christmas Carols, hanging up Christmas lights (it was FREEZING!!!), making a 7-eleven run for hot chocolate, and spontaneously deciding to take Miles to see “Tangled”.

We are ready for the Christmas season to begin.

Well……ALMOST.

There was just one little thing missing. I just couldn’t imagine starting my holiday season off without one of these. And because it’s better to give…I thought I would kick your Christmas off right and share this with you. (Enjoy!)

www.elfyourself.com

Check it out. You seriously won’t regret it.

Cowboy Butts

Drive Me Nuts!

Especially when it belongs to my little skinny-bummed 3 year old.

Just a smattering of what my little cowboy is saying these days:

Mom: Miles…who’s your best friend?

Miles: Um…DADDY!!!

Mom: What about Mom? Is she your best friend too?

Miles: Nooooooo mom. You a GIRL!!

Driving in the car yesterday, I had to turn down the music, because I heard this coming from the back seat.

Miles: twees(trees), fwowers, pumpkins, more twees, wabbits, mommy, daddy, pwe-school, my tweats (treats), my cowboy shoes, elephants, monkeys, gorillas, my undies dwy (dry), I wuv seals, I wuv giraffes, I wuv polar bears…..

and on and on and on he went. So I finally asked him why he was saying all those words. And he replied with the OBVIOUS…

“MOM! I’m FANKFUL!!!!!!!”

(Oh…Of course that’s what he meant. How could I not have known???!!!)

Turns out they talked about Thanksgiving at Pre-school, and those are all of the things he is Thankful for. I am also especially grateful for his dry undies. :)

Mom: Miles, eat your dinner so you’ll be big and strong like Daddy.

Miles: No…not wike Daddy…big wike Josh and Joey! (some of his buddies from our ward)

And the classic:

Mom: Miles…what do you want for lunch?

Miles: Not Poop! That’s Yucky! No…that’s GWOSS!!!

Who knew the boy loved cows?

Several weeks ago I started doing a little preschool for Miles everyday at home. Our first unit was all about the short "a" sound, as in apple. So we learned about Allie the Alligator, Johnny Appleseed, did some fun apple stamping crafts, and read all kinds of fun books. One of my favorite books from that unit was called "How To Make an Apple Pie and See the World," by Marjorie Priceman. The premise of the book is that a little girl heads to the market to buy the ingredients for an apple pie...only the market is closed. So she sets out on an adventure around the world gathering the ingredients she needs. And Miles' favorite part of the story was when she headed to Vermont to milk a cow. (The milk is then churned into butter...in case you were wondering.)

So tonight, I was starting our bed time routine. Story was read, prayer was said, and he asked for a drink of milk before bed. I obliged and brought him his little cup. And then Oh MY OH MY!!! I never expected such a meltdown. Over something as silly as a glass of milk.

After some serious time spent calming the little guy down, he was finally able to articulate why he was so upset.

"No mom...I wanted to milk my own cow!!!"

Oh, he is just the cutest little thing. But there's just one problem.....

I found myself promising I would actually take him to milk a cow. Seriously. I think I am in BIG trouble. BIG BIG trouble. Where in the world am I going to get a cow?