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the simple things

There were plenty of presents under the tree to open, but the greatest gift for us this year, was being home to celebrate Christmas with our families. 🙂
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Welcome to the very first {simple things sunday}of 2012!!
Simple things Sunday is all about celebrating the simple moments and simple joys that make you smile each week. So grab that camera, snap a photo or two and come share with us each Sunday!
Just a few quick rules to play:
please, please, please read the rules carefully

1. Grab one of the buttons below and include it in your simple things post.

2. Link back directly to your simple things post not your blog/website.
No links to other linky parties, giveaways or craft projects pretty please. 
This linky is all about the photos.

3. Be sure to pop by and visit at least 3 other links and leave a comment.

Leave as many as you can. 🙂

 


I can’t wait to see all your photos this week and to celebrate the simple things with you throughout 2012!

Happy New Year everyone!

🙂

happy (almost) new year!

Hey everyone! I had such high hopes of catching up on some blogging this week but it just wasn’t meant to be I guess.  Alivia and I got hit with the nastiest cold bugs this week and we’ve been out of commission. We hit the ground running as soon as we got off that plane in Calgary and its been a whirlwind since we got home. I think all the holiday buzz, the late nights and the colder temperatures finally caught up with us. 
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There’s just a couple things I wanted to let you know about ASAP then I’m off to bed. I’m hoping to have my month-in-photos review and the brand new 2012 template posted in the next couple of days. Have you heard about the month-in-photos project I started back in 2010? 
You can download the templates from past years or I’ll be debuting a new collage {available for free download} soon! Then you’ll be all set to join us for 2012! You should totally do it! It’s so much fun and did I mention easy! The templates are already created for you, simply pop in your photos, add some point form journaling highlighting a few of the months events like I did and boom – you can have a year in photos album put together easy as pie. 🙂
I’d love to have you join me in this little project. I found it a simple, streamlined way to document some of the little details that fill up our days and I just love looking at the collection of collages I have at the end of the year! I have plans of turning them into some sort of scrapbook/photo book someday and I’ll be sure to share that when I do! 
One more thing to mention…
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{Simple things Sunday 2012} 
starts THIS Sunday and I cannot wait! To read all about this little photo challenge I host each week you can view past posts here. We’d sure love to have you join in the fun as we celebrate the simple things in life! Capturing my weekly photo is the perfect reminder I need {more often than not} to slow down and take notice of the littlest moments and helps me not take them for granted. Simple things Sunday is near and dear to my heart and the photos I’ve captured along this journey are some of my most favourites.
 If you’ve been participating this year I can’t wait to see you back in 2012 and be sure to tell all your friends, the more the merrier!!
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That’s it for now. I’m off to bed and am crossing my fingers baby girl and I will be feeling better soon
 We’ll see ya then!
🙂

our traditional Christmas breakfast

These yogurt pancakes aren’t anything fancy, but what they lack in fancy they sure make up for in taste! We love to eat these little pancakes Christmas morning served with homemade buttermilk syrup.
Yogurt Pancakes
1 cup plain yogurt
2 egg yolks
1 square of melted butter
¾ cups flour
1 Tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt
2 egg whites

Mix all ingredients and lastly, fold in egg whites.  Prepare pancakes on grill, before flipping put 3-4 thin slices of banana on the top of each pancake, then flip and cook other side.

Buttermilk Syrup
½ cup buttermilk
½ cup margarine
½ tsp baking soda
1 cup white sugar
1 tbsp white corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

 Boil all except vanilla for five minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla.
Serve over yogurt pancakes. 

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 I hope you all enjoyed a beautiful Christmas!
We’re off to celebrate with my family tomorrow and we’re so excited!

🙂

the simple things

{this weeks simple thing}
Seeing this view out the front window of the van as we drove home!
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It’s that time again! Time to link up your beautiful photos for
Simple things Sunday is all about celebrating the simple moments and simple joys that make you smile each week. So grab that camera, snap a photo or two and come share with us each Sunday!
Just a few quick rules to play:
please, please, please read the rules carefully

1. Grab one of the buttons below and include it in your simple things post.

2. Link back directly to your simple things post not your blog/website.
No links to other linky parties, giveaways or craft projects pretty please. 
This linky is all about the photos.

3. Be sure to pop by and visit at least 3 other links and leave a comment.

Leave as many as you can. 🙂

 


Can you believe this will be the last Simple things Sunday in 2011!
I’m SO  looking forward to seeing all your beautiful photos, especially after the little break last week.

For those of you who’ve been thinking about participating in {Simple things Sunday} fun around here, I can’t think of a better time to join us than the new year, can you? I’d be so thrilled to have you along on this journey as we celebrate the simple things in 2012!
Who’s in!?

🙂

From Here to There

It`s so hard to believe it…but we`re home!!! We made it to Calgary Monday morning and after visiting with family, a little bit of last minute Christmas shopping and several attempts to catch up on sleep, I finally found a few minutes to get the computer set up and upload a few photos.
(Hope to share more soon!)
Our stay on St. Maarten was a lot of fun, the kids loved it! The trip home was in a word: exhausting, but we`re so happy to be here. 🙂 We`ll slowly adjust to the colder temperatures I`m sure, but for now we`re just excited to be home and to be spending Christmas with our families. 🙂

We’ll See You Again Soon!

It’s almost time to go!! AHHH! I can’t even believe it!


We still have a little bit of packing and cleaning to do before we fly out Thursday morning but for the most part, I think we’re ready.

Ready to move on to the next stage in this adventure.

Ready to see our families.

Ready to be home for Christmas.

Ready to eat a big, juicy steak. 😉


We’ve embraced this little island life of ours the best we knew how for the past 16 months. Embraced the beauty, the challenges and the adventure of it all and I have no regrets as we get ready to say goodbye. Goodbye to the wonderful friends we’ve made, goodbye to the warm Caribbean sun and goodbye to this unique stage in our life. Of course we’ll miss it {a lot}, we have so many special memories tied to this place, but we’re prepared to move forward. We’ve had an amazing experience here on Statia and I have no doubt there’s still plenty of adventure ahead! 🙂


We plan to spend as much time at the beach tomorrow as we can, just taking it all in as a family for the last time. We fly to St. Maarten Thursday, where we’re excited to spend 3 days with the kids exploring the white sand beaches and eating some MacDonald’s fries, then Monday we arrive back home in Canada.

I debated whether or not to host {Simple things Sunday} this weekend and have decided to just take the week off. I’m not sure if we’ll have internet access on St. Maarten which would make it a bit tricky. Since the next {Simple things Sunday} linky would be Christmas dayI’ll put it up a bit early, so the next linky will go up Friday, December 23rd. I can’t wait to see all of your beautiful Christmas photos!!

Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!

We’ll see you again soon!

the simple things

So many photos to love from last weeks Simple things Sunday party!
Thanks as always for linking up! Here’s just a few of the sweet photos that caught my eye. 🙂
CPC
{Simple things Sunday}

Our time here is winding down so quickly…I’m starting to feel a little rushed, trying to squeeze in all the last things we want to do before we leave. One thing I wanted to do SO badly before we left Statia was get one last family picture on the beach. Our sweet friends Eric and Cara were so kind to come with us out to Zeelandia beach on Thursday to snap some photos {thanks again you guys!} and I’m so happy we were able to get a few cute shots! Will share more soon I’m sure. 🙂

I’m so thankful for this little family of mine! Right now I’m especially thankful for this adventure we’ve been on together and all the wonderful memories we’ve created during our time here on Statia. 🙂



. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It’s that time again! Time to link up your beautiful photos for
Simple things Sunday is all about celebrating the simple moments and simple joys that make you smile each week. So grab that camera, snap a photo or two and come share with us each Sunday!
Just a few quick rules to play:
please, please, please read the rules carefully

1. Grab one of the buttons below and include it in your simple things post.

2. Link back directly to your simple things post not your blog/website.
No links to other linky parties, giveaways or craft projects pretty please. 
This linky is all about the photos.

3. Be sure to pop by and visit at least 3 other links and leave a comment.

Leave as many as you can. 🙂

 


Look forward to seeing all your
beautiful photos this week!

🙂

thank you to Simple as That’s wonderful sponsors!

Just wanted to say a HUGE, heartfelt thank you for all of the wonderful blogs and businesses that chose to advertise with Simple as That throughout 2011. Your support has meant so much! 
I appreciate each and every one of you wonderful ladies and feel so blessed
to have been able to work with you and to call many of you my friends!

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For sweet smelling holiday products, personalized paper goods, gorgeous photoshop actions, lovely jewelery, vintage inspired hair pieces, digital scrapbooking + photography goodies, unique camera strap covers, organizing inspiration and classes, good blog reads, beautiful picture frames, party products, adorable handmade hats and so much more, please take the chance to stop by and visit some of my past sponsors. 🙂

Simply click on the image below to be taken to these lovely blogs/shops.

Thank you again ladies!
XOXO Rebecca
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I will not be accepting any more advertisers through the rest of 2011 but hope to make ad space available again the beginning of the New Year. If you have any questions in the meantime, please feel free to contact me for info regarding rates, etc.


Thank you!

🙂

free printable + a roundup of Christmas ideas

Just popping in to share a little bit of Christmas cheer this fine Monday!
First up is a simple little Merry Christmas printable bunting.
{You can find the halloween + thanksgiving versions here and here}
It comes in two colors. Simply click this link to download.
 
Please remember that all freebie downloads are available for Simple as That followers only, so head on over to the left sidebar there to follow via GFC and then download away! 🙂
I also wanted to share a few links to some Christmas fun that we’ve had here at
Simple as That over the years. You’ll find below a collection of Christmas crafts, gift ideas, recipes, free downloads and more!
Enjoy and have a great week everyone!
homemade christmas gift ideas

christmas crafts

🙂

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