MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Hope that the holidays bring everyone lots of fun with family and friends. So far that is what we have been up to and will continue to do for a few more days. 

Our Fabulous Float!
 

My boy the scrapper! Kaleb has been bugging me for way to long about making a new page for his frame that sits on his dresser. Well last night we printed some 4-wheeler pictures, searched for the paper and stickers, found them and then K got busy scrapping. He even trimmed the pictures all by himself with my big trimmer. He was so proud. Couldn't wait to show daddy, unfortunately for K Jeff was gone to archery league and wouldn't be back until after bedtime. K was so funny this morning, he kept asking when he could show daddy. Finally I let him wake Jeff up to show off his creation. There must be a scrappin and gene and it runs rampant at my house!

Busy day today, had an invite to produce. That's what I get for working at the LSS, someone comes in and needs something and well I feel like I just have to do it all myself. Ok so really this was a super easy project, and I had fun. Finished that and now I am getting stuff ready for float creation. Dodgeville's holiday parade is Sat night and the LSS has a float. I voluteered Jeff and his trailer, so nice of me! So here's what we have to do, create a monster (6 ft x 6 ft) page, well a page with no pictures, so I guess you could call it a card front too. I have a great idea in my head and I hope that it works out. Besides our page/car we will also have three christmas trees and a 4 ft inflatable penquin (thanks Chris). I think our float will be fabulous. Just hoping the weather warms up a bit. Bitterly cold today, it was only 2 outside when I dropped the kids off at school. Gotta love that. 

Fixed the Tree!

I settled down, glad I had somewhere to vent. Got the mess cleaned up, there weren't as many broken ornaments as I had thought. One of the glass balls just shattered everywhere making things seem so much worse. But it is all back to happy Christmas land at our house and this morning the kids and I were even laughing about it.

Today it's off to work at the LSS. I am doing a super fun punched tin bucket for class tonight. We are using the CropADile to do the punching, gotta love it. I am hoping that I have a little extra time and can work on my Christmas cards today, really need to get those done.

Christmas Joy to...





Christmas horror in less than 2 seconds, really I should have taken a picture of the tree on the floor, but didn't think of it soon enough.

So I need to rant, sorry you all are reading. Guess you could skip this post if you don't want to hear me feeling sorry for myself. So it really is my fault the tree fell over and most of my ornaments are broken. What happens when you let little ones decorate, all the ornaments end up in one place. I was in the process of moving them around to avoid disaster when I noticed the time and turned my back to head to the kitchen to put our casserole in for dinner. Minutes later I hear the wonderful crash and my son hollering the tree fell over, I didn't do anything! No ones fault but my own! Now I can't even bring myself to clean it up. All I want to do is get a garbage bag and toss the whole thing! How petty is that????

Christmas Quiz...

1. What was your most memorable Christmas like? It is hard for me to pick a most memorable one, with kids each year gets better and better I love their smiles Christmas morning and that really does mean the most to me.

2. What was the best gift you ever received as a child? One year my mother made me a doll house with working lights and everything, I loved that, but the one gift that stands out in my head was a barbie that had a tool to twirl her hair. I wanted that barbie so bad.

3. What is your favorite cookie/candy to make at Christmastime? Frosted sugar cookies, it's the only time of the year we do them. This year I am headed to my best friend Judy's for just this and hopefully this will become a yearly thing for our families.

4. What does Christmas mean to you? The birth of a great savior, and love for my family.

5. What are your plans this year? Same as every year, food and gifts with Baun's Christmas eve, then do it again Christmas day with the Johnston's.

6. What kinds of gifts do your kids desire? Kaleb really wants a Gameboy, not sure if I am ready for the video game world. And Linds wants a Barbie house.

7. Do you have any favorite ornaments? My favorites are glass Burt and Ernies (yes the Sesame Street ones), I always got to put them on the tree when I was little. And they were always near the bottom of the tree, I make it a point to put them there now.

8. Does your tree have a decorated theme ~ or is it mix matched? No themes in my house.

9. Do you do anything special on Christmas Eve?t your Christmas shopping? Hopefully the shoppings done, sometimes there are still presents to wrap. The last few years have been presents to assemble. We do however spend Christmas Eve with relatives from my Dad's side. Christmas Eve with Baun's has been a tradition since I can remember.

11. What is your opinion of the Christmas season in general? The holidays always get me a little depressed, not sure why, maybe it's cuz there are so many more things that need to be done. All in all I would have to say that I like the family time.

12. What do you love about Christmas? Now that I have kids, their smiles and screams on Christmas morning.

13. What traditions do you hold that you do every year? We always cut a real Christmas tree, love the smell of pine! And breakfast casserole on Christmas morning always.

14. When do you open presents? Christmas Eve? Christmas morning? I like to let the kids open one present Christmas Eve (it's what I got to do when I was little), but the rest are saved until morning.

15. What was the best gift you received as an adult? A few years back (ok 5 yrs) my Grandparents wanted to take the family on Vacation. That would have to be the best gift, just because I really like the family time and that is what the Holidays are for spending time with loved ones.

16. What is your favorite Christmas song? Walking in a Winter Wonderland, when I was little (8 or so) I "choreographed" a dance to this song just for fun. It always brings back special memories of dancing by myself in my room when I was little.

17. Do you watch special movies and shows during Christmas? Not as an adult, as a child I loved the old fashion Rudolf.

18. Do you send out Christmas cards or family letters? Hand made cards (of course), sometimes with a letter all the time with a photo of the kids.

19. Do you have a special breakfast or meal on Christmas day? I always make my Grandma K's breakfast casserole, wouldn't be christmas morning without it.

20. Do you decorate your whole house or just the living room area? Not into decorating so it's just the tree in the living room.

21. Do you decorate the outside of your house with lights? Nope, I normally put lights around my living room picture window on the inside, but last year I decided I was going to start fresh with lights and stuff this year and when I went to get lights WM did not have the suction cup thingy's to do the window, so no window this year.

22. Do you exchange gifts with your friends? Special friends will get special things from me, but we don't do anything organized.

23. Do you have a sad Christmas memory? No

24. Do you sing in a cantata or sing Christmas specials? The only singing that I do is with the kids home alone. Don't think I can sing very well.

25. Does your church have Christmas services? Yes.

26. Do you do anything to celebrate Jesus? I have always wanted to start the tradition of having birthday cake and singing happy birthday to Jesus, we just haven't started that yet. We do try and remind the kids that Christmas is not really about Santa and presents, but about Jesus. Linds loves bible stories and since this is the first year that she is not at a Christian school I think we will start reading the Christmas story.

Got busy again...

So we have been running, running, running. Wednesdays are always crazy, in fact I really dislike Wednesdays, but ya deal with it.

Thursday we (Carter and I) had check ups. Both of us are very healthy and doing wonderful. Update on Carter, he is now 12 lbs, 4 oz, and 23.5 inches long. Really they grow too fast. If only he would stop eating... He had to get three shots and I am not sure what they add with the vaccines, but he yelped when the shots where happening then as soon as he was dressed he was fast asleep. We had a cranky hour later last night, but by 9 he was ready for bed and slept most of the night through. No we are not making through the night yet, but my doctor assured me that even though some little ones make it thru the night by two months (like both of my other kids) it is not ab-normal for babes to wait until they are 4 months before mom can get 8 straight hours of sleep. Oh well.

So in the craftin world, Shannon, Katie, and Julie are off to hang with Ali. You lucky dogs! Have a super time and bring me back lots of good ideas. Not that I need any more projects to do, but just incase I ever catch up and find some free time. LOL!!!

I however will be hanging at the LSS, we have open house weekend and lots of good specials, plus a fabulous make/take that I will be teaching. Love it! If you're in the neighborhood stop by and say hello. Tonight I am heading off to my crop group with supplies to work on my Christmas cards, but I am sure that all I will accomplish is gossip with pals. And that is OK.

Time to feed the baby and then it's off to prep my make/take.

One more thing to add, I submitted photos of Carter for a baby contest at Landsend. The link with take you to the first page of photos, right now we are somewhere around the third page. Check it out and vote! And no you don't have to vote for Carter, there are some wonderful, beautiful photos. I used one that I took and one that Katie took (thanks katie). Now Katie if you could just give me some more pointers on what would make a super winning shot, I would love to add more pictures.

I'm blogging from my living room!

This laptop thing is great! Yesterday I spent most of the day "networking" our computers. I was so excited to get wireless connections up and working all by myself. I can take the laptop anywhere in the house and get internet and send things to my printer. How cool is that!

We normally spend thanksgiving with my Mom's side of the family, but this year chose to head off with Dad's side. Had some relatives up from Florida that we rarely get to see. One cousin came with his wonderful wife and their new little one. She had this fabulous chair that Carter is pictured in. It's a Bumbo! If you know anyone who is pg or has a new little one you gotta tell them about this, it is really fabulous. Carter is just 8 weeks old and he can sit right up in this chair. We don't leave him in it very long, but once he can support his head a little better I know this will become his favorite spot. Being flat on your back all the time must get old.

So anyways... these pictures are for Grandma Mary who really missed us on Thanksgiving, we missed you too. She sent home some wonderful treats for my monsters, new PJ's! Now who doesn't love new PJ's?? Thank you Grandma Mary! 

Mini Tote! 

First post from the laptop!

Got this hot new toy online, yipee! Now I just have to call tech support to find out how to transfer all the email addy's from old to new. Anyone out there know how to do it??? Is it easy???

Ok so I went back to "work" today. Well not really I just went back to the daycare gig. Everything is going quite well, my extra guy is fitting right in to our hectic schedule. So now I really should start working on my christmas cards, maybe tonight...

So you all heard about shopping friday, let me tell you about Sunday! I got the coolest thing for Linds' stocking. Have you seen the Mini Tote? Check it out, is that not the cutest thing you have ever seen! I am going to fill it with new writing tools and maybe a glue stick or two.

Happy Saturday All!

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, I know that we did. Fabulous meal, fabulous time with the family and I even got a couple interesting photos. Not sure what I am going to do with them yet.

So DH and I (along with Carter) ventured out yesterday for a shopping extravaganza. We got the kids gifts all finished, now the rest of the family stuff is up to me. I don't really mind doing the shopping I am a shop-a-holic. I just really like for Jeff to come when we get things for the kids. I am very excited for Chistmas morning, we should have two very happy children.

And as for today I am very happy myself, we also picked up an early gift for us. I thought about going through my archives are seeing how many times I have said I need a new computer, cuz you've all heard my say it lots. Well we are now the proud owners of a laptop! Very cool, only a few problems. I can't get on the internet with it, waiting on a call from our ISP as I type, and I couldn't load my photoshop. That I think will have to wait until Monday when I can call their support line. All in all I am having fun adding pictures to it and playing a little. We also upgraded our completely out of date all in one printer thing. Check this out, we got an HP7180 the sales guy said it is their top of the line "home" scanner stacked with the top of the line photo printer. I haven't had a chance to take it out of the box yet but boy it looks awesome. Jeff's Dad shot a huge buck this morning and he took tons of pictures, after I am done with this post I am going to hook the printer up and print some pics on the old and the new and compare quality.

And for those of you intersted in some venison, I will be emailing you personally and we can work out some details. (Dh did give me permission to share.)

Here ya go, pictures of the baby book...


Baby Book First Page

Carter's Info Page 

With Momma 

Snuggle Page 

Sleeping Page 

Bath Page 

A little story for Thanksgiving...

Some of you may have seen/heard this one before, my daughter brought it home with her from Kindergarten and I remeber seeing it when K was in Kindergarten too. I just really like it and wanted to share for the holiday.

The Legend of the Five Kernels

The first winter the Pilgrims spent in their new home was very cold. Food was in short supply. Some days the food was so scarce that each person would only get five kernels of corn for the entire day. Spring finally came, they planted food and it grew. The Pilgrims survived this harsh winter and were very grateful. From then on, when a time of Thanksgiving came around, the Pilgrims put five kernels of corn on each plate to remind themselves of their blessings.

The first kernel reminds us of the autumn beauty all around us.
The second kernel reminds us of our love for each other.
The third kernel reminds us of how we are loved and cared for.
The fourth kernel reminds us of our friends.
The fifth kernel reminds us that we are a free people.

So as you join with your family and friends for this Thanksgiving holiday think of the five kernels and five things you are thankful for this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fast Update

Gotta work at the LSS today so I am running around silly trying to get all my ducks in a row. Thanks for all the wonderful comments on my "diet". I may just have to take your advice Katie and toss that scale.

And yes Christine I really do want to get pictures of the book up, they should be coming soon. I am working on a couple pages that I want to get set before I start taking pics. Maybe I'll take some shots and post a few here and there for the next couple weeks.

Oh and one last excited note that I wanted to share cuz I am so silly. I placed a bid on ebay for the first time Sunday and well I won! How cool is that! So you probably want to know what I got, some fabulous new Bazzill Bling paper! Yes I am so totally silly. I can't wait to get it, no one out here has any and well I wanted to get one of each color, this seemed to be the best way. Anybody out there that has some, what do ya think???

Happy Monday!

And yes we are happy in our house this am! Why you ask, well this morning I put on jeans from before PG and they fit!!! Ok so they are old streched out ones, but a few weeks ago when I tried them on I could not get them zipped. Today I'm zipped and still breathing! So I am a total obsessive over weight issues, I've dealt with this since high school and well have you seen the comercials where women are walking around with a scale chained to their ankle? That is me, the scale rules the day at our house and it has been making me feel horrible lately. I am getting on that stupid treadmill everyday and still the numbers are not going down. Complained to DH couple nights ago and he says but you are getting skinnier, leaner, muscle weighs more than fat. Blah, blah, blah to me! Today I have decided to try harder and not let that stupid scale rule my life. Maybe if I just get on it once a week... I don't know. Any dieters out there with advice???

So besides my crazy dieting there has been lots going on in our world. Ya know blogging is very much like excerising for me, if I can't get around to doing for a day it turns into too manys days and then it is just so hard to go back to it. And I really miss blogging, kinda makes me feel more productive, like if I share what I've done I can say yes its good to me a SAHM, I don't just sit around and watch soap operas. So anyway I am back on the blog and I hope I can make time for it tomorrow and the next day, and the next...

We have really been busy over the last couple weeks. After I got the new stroller we had wonderful weather for the next four days and put lots of miles on. Then came the snow! YUCK, thank heaven that it didn't stick for too long. Just long enough for the kids to play and make some snowmen. Of course I ran off with a friend scrap shopping and my DH didn't think to take any photos! I really need to train him better! LOL.

A few other adventures we've had, took another trip to the outlet mall in the dells. Love that place, got some stuff for me and for Carter and a few x-mas gifts for the kids. Got tons of great gift ideas from Harry and David, would have loved to just buy their stuff but for some reason I could not justify the $$$. I'm not normally like that so it still puzzles me...

This past weekend was fabulous (this is my new word, use it way to much). Went to the Stamp expo in Madison, wasn't all that great, picked up a couple new toys. The highlight was the attractive young man doing make n takes at one of the boothes and also giving massages to those standing in line. Boy now that was FABULOUS! He even found us later a few isles down and gave my friend a second session. Really Chris I think he liked you!

Yesterday we also had a great day. Took the kids and went to Shannon's for some scrappin time and to show off Carter. I think both Shannon and Katie got their baby fixes, glad I could help. Didn't really get anything done but it was fun to see friends. We missed you Julie, but I am sure the three of you will have a blast at your Ali class in a couple weeks. (Wishing I could go). And yes we brought kids, they had a great time watching movies, and playing. I can't wait to do that again.

It's still quiet so I think I will check out everyone else's blogs. Later!

Got a new piece of "Equipment" this weekend!

So I have a totally wonderful best friend, she picked up this stroller for me on her way to visit. Thanks Judes! See my old stroller probably had 10,000+ miles on it and well it was just falling apart, not to mention that it was way squeaky and well just didn't quite roll smoothly anymore. I figure that I will totally get my $$ out of a new one, but you would never believe how hard it is to just find a simple no frills stroller that would work with my infant seat (borrowed from Judes). Searched all over locally with no luck so Judy offered to check the Mad town stores. She and her wonderful hubby found this one for me. I love it! Works like a charm and I think Carter likes it too! So happy that the weather is warming up enough for us to use it this week, hope that we can stay in the 50's for a few more weeks. I love pushing the stroller for hours, hate that horrible treadmill! Ok I have been forced to type one handed, by a squacking little one so i better deal with that. 

Happy Halloween! 

Jack-O-Lanterns 

Pumpkin coloring 

Pumpkin carving 

My Boys

 
  

Figured I had better put some cute pictures on here since i was grossing everyone out with the latest deer shots. Sorry if we offended anyone. I think that DH was trying really hard to coach his dad on how to use our camera and forgot all about cleaning up the deer before the photos.

So the cute shots are my boys (like you didn't know that). Took them last night before bedtime. We have this new ritual at night, Carter likes to lay on my bed and we just hang out together talking, kissing, and playing together. Normally we do this after K and Linds are in bed, but being the weekend the siblings got to join us and even daddy got in on the fun too! I tried to get some shots of the kids together and well none of them turned out the way I wanted. But I really love these shots of the boys on their own.

Daddy Got Another One! 

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU COMMANDOS!

Wow what a great day yesterday was! Took the kids to lunch at McD's (always a treat for them) then went and saw a movie we had a wonderful time. Got home and what was in the mail for me??? A package from my commando buddies! Thank you so much for the beautiful album, it is such a wonderful gift. I even started putting some photos in it. And I have some great ideas for my pages to add in too. I will post some of the LO's that I am adding pictures to. All of the LO's are so beautiful and it is totally amazing how I have so many pictures that will work perfectly with them. Thank you again, I am totally amazed at what wonderful friends I have I am just blown away.

Wacky Wednesday!

That's what today is referred to in Dodgeville, mostly because the kids have early release from school. But today ecspecially due to the teacher conventions and no school thursday and friday. I laugh when I think I couldn't wait for school to start so I could have some quiet time and now I can't wait for the time off so I can spend it with K and Linds. Not sure what we are going to do with our time, I had suggested to my SIL that we take the kids to the new hotel in Barneveld that has a smallish waterpark, you can just buy a pass to play in the water, but not sure how that would work with Carter. Maybe we'll take in a movie, K was just complaining about how we haven't seen a movie in forever.

So I worked at the LSS yesterday, had a blast just as I expected I would. I will be working most Tuesdays for a while so I am way jazzed about that. Plus Tuesday is our technique class night, so I get to design some more class stuff. Just being at the LSS gets my mojo flowing, today I am full of ideas and wish that I could just sit and create. Going to stop back at the store when i pick the monsters up, gotta get some stuff to create with. Below is my November technique, Lip Prints. Yes those are my "kisses" on the LO! Really silly, but fun technique to try. Just grab some chapstick, apply to lips and kiss your paper, then cover with embossing powder and heat. I can't wait to make some Valentine's with this. The LO is a total lift from CZ's sequel book, but lately the ideas are coming to me very early in the am's and well I am just not about to drag my butt outa bed at 3 am when the baby is not crying. Gotta try and get some sleep! LOL!!! I really need to get one of those little book lights and a notebook that I could sketch in late at night with out leaving the bed. Maybe we'll hit WM later.

Just another manic monday....

Ok so maybe it's not really manic at my house, but it's Monday none the less. I can' t believe how fast this month is going by. We have had so much stuff going on it is so wacky. First weekend new baby, second weekend wedding and now last weekend we had a funeral. Sad news, my hubby's grandmother passed away on Tuesday. She had been very sick for a very long time so it was not unexpected, but still very sad. I believe in my heart that she is with her husband again and much happier.

Had a birthday last week too, yes I am another year older, hate it, but guess it has to happen. Jeff took me (and Carter, couldn't leave him yet) out for dinner at Red Lobster saturday night. Had a wonderful meal and a wonderful time. This weekend we are doing a girl night (not sure what I'll do with baby yet) to celebrate the October birthdays. This should be a blast.

At this moment I am fighting with my computer! I am trying to print some business cards for Jeff and well my printer is not cooperating! I have now wasted at least 30 cards and I can't figure out why they printed just fine the last go round and now they won't work for nothing! It's just maddening! We need a new computer and a new printer. Anyone out there got an extra few $$$ laying around they want to donate to me??? LOL!

Tomorrow I get to work at the LSS, can't wait. Carter and I will get to work on some crafty projects, can't wait! I feel like I haven't done anything crafty in way to long. Alright it's only been a few weeks but really I need to create something. Maybe I should start working on my cookie recipe swap.