Stationery card

Top Moments Christmas Card

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Haiti thank you

Thank You Noir Thank You 3x5 folded card

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Shutterfly rocks!

Glad Plaid Green Christmas 5x7 folded card

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I just got finished making our annual family Christmas card using Shutterfly and I have to say I am hoping it turns out as nice as I think it will. This year I went for a little off beat for the style and I think it turned out great. The card is ready early, now anyone want to lay bets on how long it takes me to mail them all off? I will be happy if most are in the mail before Christmas. One of my favorite parts of Christmas is looking through all the great cards we get from friends and family.

Shutterfly rocks!

I have to admit since Svea was born (3 1/2 years ago!) I haven't printed off a single picture from my computer. There are just so many pictures now with the digital cameras that I can't pick which to print. But thankfully I found Shutterfly! I have made all kinds of photo books (http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books) and love every one of them and they ship super fast and do a great job! I was able to custom design some beautiful Mother's Day cards last year and they loved them! Now I am working on creating my holiday cards again for this year. (http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery) I love all the choices they have for organizing the pictures I want on my card. Thanks to my friend Mandy, I have a great family photo that I can use this year. I also am planning on finding some time this weekend to try and get a few candid black and white shots of the kids that I can add into the card to make it even more special. One of the things that I look forward to each year is receiving all the holiday cards from my friends and family. I love it even more now that so many of you are sending photo cards so we can stay up to day with each others rapidly growing families. Getting my family Christmas cards ready each year is the first step in preparing for the holidays. Let the holiday fun begin!

Getting ready for the holidays

We have been busy planning how to make the family rounds this holiday season. First thing I need to do is pick a family picture for this years holiday cards. And the search begins....

Meet the newest addition to our Chaos!

Svea May Carlson entered our chaotic world on March 31st. She is now 6 weeks old and starting to show her personality and beginning to smile! Noelle and Xander are very excited to help Josh out with the baby chores since I've gone back to work.

The Wonderful World of Why's!

Why Mommy? Why Papa? Why? Why? Why? Welcome to our world! Josh has always said that he never wants to say because to any question the kids ask. He wants to give good answers so they will learn or get bored and stop asking the same question. For the last two months Noelle has officially been in the why stage. The first why isn't usually to hard to answer, it is the fourth why that gets very hard to respond to without getting irritated. Josh is still trying hard to answer all of her questions thoughtfully, but I am beginning to think sometimes, because is a perfectly good answer. It's especially hard when I've been up all night with a birth, and it's the fourth why about why a stuffed peacock animal is called a peacock...

A Family Tradition

For as long as I can remember, my folks have had a row of pine trees that line our backyard. Each December, we would go cut down the chosen tree to be our special Christmas tree. This year Noelle joined the family tradition. It was a bit cold, but she watched as my dad sawed down the tree. She enjoyed shaking the dead needles off the tree as we drug it up to the house. I remember doing the same thing as a child and it is so nice to carry on this tradition. Though as kids, it was my sister and my responsibility to stand out and water each of the trees through the long hot summer days. Now that we are gone they have a much more safisticated system to get the job done. I guess it is worth all the hard work, because they always have a beautiful tree each season.

Sharing is hard work!

On Saturday we took a quick trip to Ankeny, Iowa to see our friends, the Brewers.



Ella and Noelle had fun playing and worked hard at sharing without crying. Xander of course got along with everyone. It snowed some on our trip up there, but I wouldn't know what to do if I planned a winter road trip without a snow storm occuring.

Let it Snow!

Today was the first snow fall of the season and Noelle was very excited! From the minute she awoke, she wanted to get her Papa up and go play in the snow. I guess maybe this year I will be able to get the drive shoveled in a timely fashion, since Noelle is on the case. (It seems to have worked for getting the dishes done.) Xander and I chose to stay warm inside and play with the camera. He really seems to like the Christmas stocking his Grandma Jan made for him.

Because Troy said so...

According to Troy, I need to start a blog since I am always sending out pictures and info about the family to everyone. Little does he know that I already had a blog! I just haven't been good about keeping it current, since the first and last post was two months ago. I still need to figure out how to use it to it's fullest potential. I just figured out how to post pictures today, so I'll give it another try. I'm sure I won't be as faithful a poster as the Swanson's, but I will do my best.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I figure there is no better day than your Birthday to initiate the birth of a new blog. I intend on trying to figure out how to post pictures and use this to keep friends and family up to date on the Crazy Carlson Chaos that is our life!