The halls are "decked"...

I had my "elf" busy this weekend helping me decorate our house for Christmas!  We finished, and the house looks so festive...I really do love this time of year.  (Jim, aka my "elf",  has hauled the plastic tubs of Christmas decorations up and down our stairs so many times throughout the years...I told him we would be rich if he was paid a dollar for every time he's had to do that!!) :0)

This is going to be a very special Christmas for us...all our children and grandchildren will be here with us.  That is all I want for Christmas...to be TOGETHER!!

Happy Thanksgiving to you...

A "Happy Birthday" day...

A special "Birthday Breakfast" for our very favorite NEW 6 year old!  Later today, through the magic of technology, we get to Skype with him and watch him open his birthday presents.  It's not as good as being there, but it certainly helps us feel not quite so far away!

Tradition...

Well, this really isn't a "tradition" yet, but if we do it three years in a row that qualifies as a tradition...right?  And, we definitely plan to make it a tradition!!  Last year Jamie and got away for a mother/daughter Christmas shopping weekend.  We went to Seattle and had a fantastic time!!  This year out weekend is going to be in Spokane at the Davenport Hotel.  I'm excited...we will shop, eat, visit the spa, and make lots and lots of special memories!! 

San Francisco...

Jim and I spent last week in San Francisco with all the partners in his firm and their wives.  The guys were there to attend the 2011 Charles Schwab Conference, and the wives went along to have FUN!  And, we did have lots of fun!!

We walked and walked and walked...all over downtown San Francisco.  We were even blessed with incredible weather--for San Francisco!  We had two days in the high 70's, it was perfect.

We took a city tour on the top of an open-air double-decker bus, it was terrific.  We were able to see one of the only buildings to survive the 1906 earthquake.

We went across the Golden Gate Bridge

We saw the "Painted Ladies"

Did some "tea tasting" in Chinatown...the owner of the shop was lots of fun, he even let us taste the $800 per pound tea!

We had lots of great food, and of course great shopping!  It was a very fun get-away.  We've taken so many fun trips this fall, but the travels are through for a while and we are going to stay home. That sounds GREAT to me! :0)

Happy Day Project...

Inspired by "Joy's Hope"

brought to you by Julie and Jeannett

"This whole use your blog for good thing is fun!
So we brainstormed and came up with a little plan.
For one week we will spread sunshine unexpectedly.
Many of the tasks are easy, lots of them can involve little ones.
All of them will be a little ray of light in some one's day.

But we also wanted to make it cute.  We like cute.  So we enlisted super talented friends who donated their time and skill to make printables that go with the day's task.

Then we wanted to make an even bigger impact. Jeannett has a heart to fund raise. I am consistently amazed at how she takes her passions and puts them to work. We have picked a charity to feature each day, to compliment the daily task. A charity that is near and dear to our hearts.

Here is a list of what is in store:

What's next?
We start Monday. Both Jeannett and I will be a day ahead so we are able to post about the daily task bright and early in the morning. Each assignment will have many options so you can tailor it to your family, your community,  or your schedule.  We  will each be blogging the day’s task on our respective blogs

To make it even happier, we’ve collaborated with bloggers from around the web who have provided a free printable to help you carry out the Happy Day task! So you get to spread happy in the cutest way possible!!!

You should see these printables you guys. I died. Every time one popped up in my inbox. Squealing could be heard. No lie.

Does this sound fun, but you’re worried you might not be able to squeeze in a task every day? Maybe you have an especially crazy jam packed day on Tuesday and there’s no way you can pull it off, but you still really want to participate? Say you live in the country and the nearest neighbor is 27 miles away?

No worries! Each task has been paired with a virtual way to fulfill it.

At the end of the week we will celebrate the days that were made just a little bit happier with a big linky party and some super fun surprises.

Read more:

http://www.joyshope.com/2011/11/happy-day-project-launch.html

What can you do?
Join in!
Commit to spending the next couple of days thinking and planning what you are going to do. Even better than that, help us spread the word. Blog, tweet, facebook, pin, sky write, about The Happy Day Project. Lets flood the world with sunshine this week!!"