... Hybrid Simplicity ...

OLW - Check in for January

2012-01-30T10:00:00.002-05:00

I've never done this One Little Word thing before, but like all things I do at the beginning of the new year, I always start to slip up some time around Spring. I don't know what it is about Spring that makes me lose my mind. I think it's the warm weather, but I digress... I decided that since I want to keep this going the whole year that I should have some sort of tally at the end of each month to see what I accomplished the month before.

It was my intention of posting individual posts about "Enjoying" my time and "Organizing" my life, but that same life got away from me this month. I could have sworn that just yesterday was Elijah's birthday party... but I have gotten some things done this month.

I have been enjoying my time with my family.

We even kind of implemented "Family fun night" (a post about this will hopefully appear in the next week), where we spend the evening together doing something fun. Hence the name. Right now it's any random night we happen to have time, but I hope to start having it on a certain night of the week and scheduling things around it, instead of the other way around.

We also just do things together. We play with Elijah more, instead of watching TV and at night, instead of shutting Elijah in his room to fall asleep and me having some "me" time, I hang out with Elijah for about a half an hour. We chat, we sing, we read... just to chill out and I think Elijah really likes this time together, as do I.

This past month we also went down my in-laws to remember Joe's grandfather who just passed away in November. It would have been his birthday, so we had his favorite meal and remembered some funny and touching times that were had. There was some sad, but overall it was a happy time of game playing (Smart Ass and Dominoes) and story telling. That is the way he would have wanted it.

(Picture borrowed from my Mother-in-law's blog)

Along with those fun times we also did a little bit of organizing. We are trying to get into the whole "eating dinner at home most nights" thing, so I am proud to say that this past week we stuck to it every night. Thanks for Joe who started most of the dinners before I got home from work and one night we used the crock pot. I hope to be able to keep it up.

We also organized baby clothes. Caleb was busting out of his 6 month stuff, so we went through all the storage bins and organized them by size.

Now when he decides he ready to go into 12 month clothes, we'll be ready.

The last thing I did, this month, was organize my pictures.

I really want to start scrapbooking again this year and with the pictures grouped, I feel like it will be easier to get a page going. I'm even thinking about putting "Quick Pages" or sketches in the folders, as I get time, so when I get the urge to scrapbook it'll be easy to throw some stuff together. I guess we'll see how that goes.

Lastly, my goal this year is to organize my entire house, room by room, to be the way I want it. If I work really hard and some people (mainly Joe) help me, I should be able to get it done by the end of the year. I also hope to get my second bedroom in some sort of order so I might be able to participate in the "Where Bloggers Create" this summer, if they are going to do it.

I have no official plans for this coming month. That's the way I seem to roll these days, but there are always things that jump out at me to do, so I'm sure there will be no lack of things to be organized or things to enjoy.

How is your resolution, One Little Word or plan for this year panning out?

It's an Angry Birds Party!

2012-01-11T08:00:00.023-05:00

One might say Elijah is slightly obsessed with Angry Birds... Ok, I digress... he is a lot obsessed with Angry Birds, to the point that we can get him to do pretty much anything (except eat wet food) with the promise that he would be playing Angry Birds in the near future.

That being said, it should come as no shock to you that when I asked Elijah what kind of birthday party he wanted, he said, "Angry Birds!". As so it was...

The invites were sent out and the planning began

The prep took a little bit of work and imagination since they don't sell Angry Bird party kits.

For decorations we used:

A Banner - Made by Joyce at Scrap For Joy

Balloons from Party City

And different colored tableware

(I forgot to take a picture of the food table)

Once things looked festive, we were ready to get the party started:

Bird houses were set out for painting when the guests arrived

and smocks (purchased at the dollar store) were hanging, waiting to be used

Each child had his or her own paint

(this was in case any of them don't like their colors mixed)

Each child got to pick which bird house he or she wanted to paint

Then the painting started

Some were very precise and only used one color on each section

Some used more than one color on a section

Some didn't care and just mixed all the colors together for a nice effect

Delia and Caleb weren't old enough to

enjoy painting, yet, so they just watched

This is the finished product.

Don't they look great?

After the painting project, it was time to eat. We didn't really have any food named for anything. The closest were hot dogs (king pigs in a blanket). We also had chips, dip, potato and egg salad (half point), macaroni salad, chicken nuggets, fries and a lunch meat platter... that I like to refer to as "the aftermath".

Dessert was a little more festive.

I made cake pops in some of the Angry Birds colors.

(Joe helped me coat them)

I bought the red and green sticks from

ACMoore's Christmas clearance rack

The cake pop maker made so many I

had to have an overflow plate to display them

I also made Hershey bar wrappers as favors

These are the leftovers for the adults to enjoy

Everyone enjoyed the food

After we ate, it was time for the kids to burn off some energy

So we had an egg hunt

We put slips of paper with random numbers on the inside

(ranging from 5-15)

The orange eggs were the "golden eggs"

so they had higher numbers in them

(ranging from 20-45)

After all the eggs were found, my mom and I went into another room to add them up and find a winner.

Meanwhile the kids threw plush angry birds

to knock over these little guys

They were shaker boxes found at ACMoore (for $1.69)

Joe spray painted them light green and we cut out these Angry bird balloon faces

The eyes and snout were adhered them with permenant tape adhesive

The kids had sooo much fun knocking them over

Afterward I announced the winner... it was everybody! So each child got to pick a prize from the prize table in the order their score was in the egg hunt.

Then it was time for present opening and the kids could roam about

playing with whatever they wanted. The toy of choice

though, was the train table Elijah got for Christmas

Who would have known?

Caleb and Delia had a great time together

And Andre dropped in for a little while too

Before the kids left they got a bunch of goodies

and they also took the bird houses home

I tried to make the Hershey bar peep out through the bag

Even Caleb and Delia got one, but theirs had

special baby things in them.

I had a hard time coming up with favors

so I looked on Pinterest and found these

The kids are too little for gumballs, so I filled

them with multicolored M&Ms instead

Then we adhered the cut out circles from this printout

and glued them on with Tombo Mono

The tags on the bags are from that website too

The wrappers were made using an Angry Birds desktop

background that I edited to fit my purpose

After the party Elijah played with some of his toys

This picture composition was completely by accident

but I thought it summed up the party nicely

Angry Birds, the number 4 and nuggets.

He even received some Angry Birds to put on the wall in his room

They are removable, so he can switch them around anytime he wants

It seems like everyone had a great time

and we enjoyed having everyone over

I know Elijah had a wonderful day because he exclaimed that evening, "This was the best birthday day ever!". I can't believe my "baby" is 4 years old...

One Little Word... Ok, Maybe Two...

2012-01-04T09:00:00.001-05:00

For years I have seen people pick their One Little Word(OLW) to focus on for the rest of the year. I have never really picked one before, but a few times I might have thought "I wonder what my word would be" then 6 seconds later I was thinking about something else.

This year I think I'm gonna try it. In fact I'm going to break the rules and have chosen two words... to make up for lost time. ;-) But seriously, I thought of the first word and to tell you the truth, it did not sound fun -at all-. It was one of those words where I was like, "This is going to be really hard, but it -has- to be done."

That word is

I feel like my life is almost haphazard. I never know what the day is going to bring (to some degree). That used to be exciting, but now that I've reached middle age(hah), it is not that exciting anymore. In fact I feel like I need some sort of structure. Along with that I feel like I need to organize the house and my time better also.

See how depressing and tedious that sounds? So I picked another one. It the kind of word that makes you want to put a pep in your step. It is

I want to enjoy life. Enjoy my kids while they are little, cause they grow up too fast. Enjoy trips, enjoy hanging out with people, enjoy crafting, enjoy everyday life, enjoy everything. After 2011 being so tiring, it will be a refreshing change.

I have lots of plans involving these two words. I hope to share some of them and their progress as the year progresses. But, for now I am going to go back to organizing my list and prepping for Elijah's birthday party, so I can enjoy myself as it is going on. :-)

Until next time...

Roller Skating...

2011-12-29T09:00:00.001-05:00

Not many people know that, when I was younger, I used to roller skate. Not the normal skating around and around a roller rink, but I actually learned jumps and spins (none of which I was good at). I roller skated from the age of 5 until I was 12. It was then, that I lost all appeal for it. I sucked at it (Others said I didn't, but I have high expectations for myself) and I only had one friend in the class, who dropped out a few weeks before I did. It just wasn't my forte.

My sister, on the other hand, used to watch me at lessons and decided that it was something she would like to do. So at the ripe old age of 3 (although, truth be told, she probably used my skates in our carpeted living room at age 2) she started skating. She was good at it... Heck, she was even great at it. I won't reveal her age, but she has been skating every year, since. This year she got a job being an assistant teacher for our local rec center and ever since Elijah was born she has been dying to get him on skates.

A few months ago, she got to do just that:

There was a lot of slipping

And Marching

And falling

But he eventually made it out on the floor

He was not thrilled, so they went back on the carpet

He did great, for it being his first time

Reach (and my mom) even talked me into putting some on.

A few spins around felt good, but at that point Elijah was fed up with the whole skating thing (because he's apparently hard on himself also) and decided that playing Angry Birds sounded like a better option. He must have enjoyed himself, though, because for the next few weeks all I heard about was "Let's go skating with Aunt Reach with yellow and orange roller skates"

My child....

Project SCRAP...

2011-12-28T09:00:00.005-05:00

I was excited to find that at the beginning of this year, my favorite digital scrapbook designer (Shabby Princess) had a wonderful idea. It was a way of taking pictures and scrapbooking without feeling overwhelmed each month. It is called Project SCRAP.

You take at least two pictures per week and do two layouts a month. Because of my hiatus from crafting, I made a personal goal of taking the pictures (which I have sucessfully done, so far). Now that the hiatus is over, I plan on doing both, because (much to my surprise and glee) they are continuing it next year.

They make the whole process so easy too. Once a month they post a check-in, inspiration and a template to use, if you want. I plan to use them, since I feel like this is going to make the whole process easier and faster. Even if you are a paper scrapbooker, you can follow right along with it, that's one of the best parts.

So, if you feel inclined, go over and check it out. I (for one) can't wait to get started....

A Year Without Crafting...

2011-12-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

When I found out I was pregnant with Caleb a lot was going on. We had a new set of people living in our house, it was fall and beginning to be winter and I was in the foulest mood I have ever been in, in my life. It was for no particular reason, I just hate that time of the year and I get in a "funk" every year for the past 5 or so years. So in the midst of all of that, I decided with having no time and actually not wanting to do anything, I would not craft, at all, for the next year (meaning all of 2011).

I'm proud to say that I have almost made it and I'm actually glad I set that goal (if you want to call it that). At first it was just a load off my mind, not to have to think about what I was going to do for a card for a certain special occasion. Don't get me wrong, I really love making cards and doing crafts, but when you have all day sickness and feel horrible all the time, it's just one less thing to think about.

Then after a while, it was more than just a load off my mind, it made me excited to think about what I could be doing when I came off of "hiatus"... Thanks to Pinterest and some enabling blogs these are some of things I might try to do:

Christmas ornaments for next year

Button napkins

Crochet a rug

Start cross stitching again

Knit a scarf

And maybe make some coasters

This is along with the usual

Card Making

Should keep me busy. But I must admit, I am cheating a bit. During the month of December not only did a try crocheting, cause it looked easy (I was completely wrong), but I am planning on making this for my neices for Christmas:

Headband Holder

Considering this is the week of Christmas and I haven't started on the design, yet, shows that I am overconfident in the whole creation process. I guess we will see if it's done by Christmas. Only time will tell...

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Winner is...

2011-12-01T14:00:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone! Thanks for entering my giveaway and for sharing your favorite book. I recently received a Nook Tablet from my parents as an early Christmas/Birthday present and can't wait to load it up. I will definitely check out all your favorites and add them to my ever growing "want to read" list.

Speaking of reading, I read my first book with Caleb the night before last... Well, it was the first time he actually sat through the whole thing without crying... He seemed to enjoy it. And now with Elijah "semi-reading", he can read books to Caleb too. I just hope he likes them as much as Elijah does.

Speaking of Elijah (how is that for a very long segway?) he came to have lunch with me today and while he was here, he picked the winner of the giveaway. That winner just happens to be...

Debbie in KY

Congrats! Email me at Jo21236 (at) yahoo (.com) with your info and I will send it to you right away.

I hope everyone has a great day!

Declare Your Love - Christmas Shows

2011-11-29T09:00:00.005-05:00

It's that time of year. The time when you look forward to (or dread) all the Christmas shows that are on during the month of December. So I thought I would declare my love for:

A Christmas Story

This is hands down my favorite Christmas movie. The family is so disfunctional that I can totally relate... And even though the plot is so crazy, it could happen to anyone. I can't wait for the 24-hour marathon to come on, on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. It's the highlight of my Christmas season.

What about you? What is your favorite Christmas show or movie?

As an aside, the giveaway for the $30 Barnes and Noble gift card ends at midnight (EST) tomorrow night. If you haven't already entered, go ahead, what do you have to lose?

30 days until 30 years... GIVEAWAY!

2011-11-23T09:00:00.003-05:00

I can't believe I'm going to be 30 in a month. It seems like the last 10 years of my life went by entirely too fast. But in spite of all of that, I'm going to take 30 by the horns and enjoy it as much as I can. I mean, I've got a lot going for me. I have a great husband, two wonderful little boys (as requested, no girls allowed, j/k, haha) and a very loving dog. I have a full time job that pays well and is relatively secure. I have a car, a place to live and food to eat. I've accomplished most of my goals, in life. While there are a few remaining, like buying our own house and having my own business, I figure Rome wasn't built in a day. As our pastor once pointed out, Susan Boyle was 48 when she had her dreams come true... So I figure I have at least 18 years left to hope...

In honor of my upcoming birthday, I decided to celebrate with a giveaway... And as it turns out, my birthday is two days before Christmas, so 30 days before sounded like the perfect time for it. Don't you agree? I'm giving away a...

$30 Barnes and Noble Gift Card

One of my favorite places to go, because, I don't know about you, but I love me some books. Classic books, kids books, mystery books, E-books, history books, magazines, cookbooks... You name it, I love to read it... When I have the chance to read.

Here is how to enter:

Chance #1 - Comment with the title of your favorite book
Chance #2 - Post about the giveaway on your blog or on facebook and comment with the link

Comments will be closed on November 30th at 12am(midnight) EST. I will post the winner on December 1st, so be sure to check back. This is open to everyone, everywhere, since you can use it online too.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck!

Elijah's room - The Finished Product

2011-11-21T09:00:00.002-05:00

It's been a year and five months since I started talking about remodeling Elijah's room. I will fully blame the fact that I was pregnant for 9 months for not updating about this for about a year. However, with all that in the past I can finally show you a semi-clean, almost completely done remodel of his room. You can see the previous posts here

This is what it looked like before:

It was definitely just a room to sleep in.

But now it's a room he likes to play in

I'm sorry for the lighting, it was a very bright day out. A little update on things we decided on... We went with a regular boring old, cheap, lamp from Ikea. Joe's parents gave Elijah the TV for Christmas and we bought a super cool arm mount from Costco, so no matter where the bed is moved, in the room, the TV can be turned towards it.

We ended up buying the curtains that I linked to in a previous post, because they were 70% off, on sale. I went with shorter curtains too, so he wouldn't get the urge to play in them.

This is what you see when you come into the room. For the clothesline I just used two eyelets, screwed them into the wall, then strung twine across it. The things are held on by binder clips. You can see the "ELIJAH" poster we bought him from the fair last year. It has Elmo on it, cause at the time, he loved Elmo. We call the beanbag chair and the Cars chair his "sitting area", so he can entertain people and have places for them to sit. (cause, you know, he's sooo popular)

We keep the chalk for the chalkboard wall in an old Lego container (the Legos are stored elsewhere) and the bed, is the end of the tour. It was laundry day, that is why all the linens are off his bed. It was the only time I was at home that I remembered to take pictures, so I figured no one would care.

You know what is ironic about this post and these pictures? His bed was soon going to be exchanged for a twin size bed, cause Caleb needs the mattress for his crib. So, this past weekend we moved Elijah into a new bed and Caleb into Elijah's old crib. Everyone seems to be adjusting pretty well...

Until next time...

Leaves...

2011-11-15T14:50:00.000-05:00

Elijah got to experience one of the joys of childhood, for the first time, this year. He got to play in a pile of leaves.

At first he didn't know what to do

But he got the hang of it really fast

Then Penelope joined in the fun

And Charlotte too

You can see the joy on their faces

They had so much fun that they did it again this past weekend

In a -huge- pile of leaves, this time.

Even Daddy/Uncle Joe joined in the fun

Caleb "jumped" in too.

He was not thrilled...

Then the kids got put to work, picking up all the leaves

They did a great job.

And seeing how my in-laws still have a bunch of leaves on the tree, that have yet to fall, we might be able to have one more playing session before the season is out. Gotta love fun in the great outdoors.

Until next time...

Harvest Party...

2011-11-11T09:00:00.001-05:00

This year we wanted to get more involved with our church, because, as I've said before, there are a ton of people who attend and it's easy to get lost in the shuffle. So when I received a little card inviting me to try out this thing called MomsConnect, I did. MomsConnect is a group that meets once a month. Everyone in the group is a mother of at least one child 5-years-old or younger. I went the first week and had so much fun that I plan to continue to go until they break next summer.

In addition to the monthly get togethers, they have random fun stuff to do a few times a month, that is completely optional. Most of the things we have to miss out on because I work, but we got to attend the Harvest party they put together.

It was at the church on a rainy Saturday morning. It was very warm, cozy and fun.

Elijah got to do a few crafts

In her hand is a handprint turkey with feathers and a googly eye

(a better picture is below)

Then we made a scarecrow out of some of Elijah's old clothes

One little boy had a great idea of putting hay inside a baby sleeper

(like Caleb's size)

I will have to remember that for next time.

Elijah got to hang out with some of the kids.

I think he knew some of them from childcare

Then he made a thankfulness wreath

Caleb hung out the whole time

Can you believe this is one of the only pics of him in his costume?

The parachute (I think that's what it's called) was a big hit

When we got home we hung up his artwork on the clothesline in his room.

Which, by the way, is pretty much done, so stay tuned, because in the next week I will be showing off the rest of Elijah's made-over room.

Until next time...

Fall Photos...

2011-11-09T09:00:00.001-05:00

I made the mistake of thinking that taking photos of the boys and Azalea would be easy. So we set out to go to the park near our house that has a big field that hardly anyone uses. We ended up having to take two cars, cause we brought Azalea and the wagon to transport everything. Because all of that would not would not fit in Joe's Toyota Corolla. I'm pretty happy with the results though. Nothing spectactular, but some nice pictures to bring back memories years down the road.

We started walking to the field, Caleb being held and

Elijah helping out by holding the pumpkins and

making sure they stayed in the wagon

We got to the field, set up and realized this was not the best idea.

How was I going to get some good pics with three non-cooperating subjects?

But we rolled with it and it ended up turning out fine.

Caleb was content and ready to go.

Unfortunately he was more interested at looking

everywhere else besides the camera

Azalea was also distracted by a dog that was playing off camera

She did the best she could to stay put.

Then Elijah decided to talk to Caleb for a few minutes

Which was fine with him, cause Caleb loves studying Elijah's every move

Everyone was pretty bored

Then they saw something in the sky

(I have no idea what it was)

So I actually got a pic of them looking in the same direction

Azalea was itching to play, so we let her go

This is one of my favorites

I gave up on the group shots at that point

And decided individual pictures would be the best thing

Even Azalea decided to take a break and pose for a picture

After Elijah and Azalea wondered off Caleb was

left all alone... with just his pumpkin to keep him company.

Pumpkin Painting...

2011-11-04T14:00:00.001-04:00

Over the weekend we decided to squeeze in little art project, before Halloween. We decided to paint some pumpkins, since we felt like carving would be more complicated and not as much fun for Elijah to participate in.

First we gathered together the pumpkins and

let Elijah pick the image to stencil

I cut out the stencils using my Cricut

(an Owl from Create a Critter and Happy Halloween from one of the font cartridges)

I taped them onto the pumpkins and tried to tape the inner part of owl

to the pumpkin also, so it couldn't come up when painting

We bought a 24 pack of acrylic paint from Wal-Mart

to use on different projects throughout the year,

so we used black and white on the pumpkins

He got to work, painting away, filling the whole area

Caleb supervised the project

He did a great job

After the bigger pumpkin was done

He moved to the smaller pumpkin

He filled in the whole little pumpkin stencil too

Later, after he went to bed I peeled off the stencil and this is what we had.

I think next time I am goin to dry the paint out with a hairdryer

so it's not so wet when I'm trying to peel the paper off.

But, of course, I love the results anyway, because Elijah painted it

*Now that you've seen the results, I just want to say that I wasn't doing this for it to look perfect. Actually I was just doing it for something Elijah could help with, to decorate for Halloween. If I were to do this for my own benefit I would have done a few things differently. I would have used removable adhesive to hold down everything and I, also, would have used a stencil brush. I feel like that in conjunction with using a hairdryer to dry out the paint before peeling off the stencil would make this project look a lot better.

Did you do any projects for Halloween?

Good Sport...

2011-11-03T09:00:00.013-04:00

Elijah is a prety laid back kid... Most of the time he just goes with the flow. Which is good because he has two girl cousins. Most of the time they play neutral games, like blocks or dinosaurs or they'll play with the food for the pretend kitchen. Then there are some times when they go off and have their nails done or play dress up and leave him to his puzzles and whatnot.

One of his cousins is Charlotte - The one on the right.

She is 4 months younger than him

His other cousin is Penelope - The one on the left

She is 14 months younger than him

With having girl cousins so close in age, I guess sometimes it's hard to resist joining in the fun they are having. One particular day, we had a get together over at Penelope's parents' house. Penelope's cousin was also there (who also happens to be a girl). All the kids were playing in Penelope's room when out walks Elijah dressed like this

I guess they talked him into playing dress up with them.

He was ok with the whole thing, until I started taking pictures...

Of course he doesn't need prompting with dressing up, sometimes. He is at that age where playing pretend is fun and exciting. Sometimes he wears his dinosaur slippers and pretends he's a dinosaur. Other times he wears a baseball cap, picks up a little plastic bat we have and pretends he's a baseball player. But, I guess this time he decided he wanted to be a superhero.

Trunk or Treat...

2011-11-02T08:56:00.000-04:00

Last year, during this weekend, my sister was getting married. So Elijah got to dress up and hang out with the adults at the reception. He was Super Why and he loved every minute of it.

Especially when he thought he could climb up the walls

But this year we didn't have a wedding to go to, so we went to Trunk or Treat at our church. We originally planned on doing a trunk when it was going to be on Saturday the 29th. But it ended up sleeting/snowing that day, so they postponed it to Monday night (Halloween). Since I work full time we couldn't do a trunk and we were disappointed at first, but we had fun just attending.

As we approached the parking lot we

didn't know what to expect

We stood in line for registration, then Elijah got to pick

out some goodies before we got to the trunks

Still snaking around to get to the trunks.

Eljiah looks ready to go.

There was a princess trunk

A hunting trunk

A Smurf trunk

(You can't see it, but the trunk looks like the giant mushroom)

A wintertime trunk

Elijah got his picture with "Oscar the Grouch"

Then he entered the "Heroes spaceship"

There were guys outside dressed like X-Men,

the Green Lantern and all sorts of other superheroes.

This was another really fun trunk

I especially liked this one. Professor Xavier from X-Men

Someone brought a rabbit to pet

Elijah decided to take a rest on the inflatible couch

There was a bee trunk

An Orioles trunk

One of the two Angry Birds trunks

Elijah fit right in with this one

A Masquerade trunk

A Monopoly trunk

The other angry bird trunk

On this one you could try to hit the pig by throwing

the bird (attached to a string)

There was a cheerleading trunk

These were Elijah's "groupies".

When they saw him, they screamed "It's an Angry Bird!"

and ran over with handfuls of candy to give to him.

Then they wanted their picture taken with him.

One of the girls also took a pic of him with her phone.

It was all quite amusing.

I thought this was cute.

Aladdin and Jasmine

A Dolphins trunk

(I actually took this for my friend Linz, cause she's a huge Dolphins fan)

A knitting trunk

(this was a good, warm, idea)

Joe kept getting a hard time about wearing his Steelers jersey.

This guy, dressed as a blind referee, came over

(acting like he was blind, no less)

yelling, "I smell a Steelers fan!"

When we reached the last of the trunks they

had miniature ponies to look at/pet.

This is what Caleb was doing 85% of the time.

I think he enjoyed himself.

He woke up at the very end

Just in time to take pictures in the photo booth

When we got home we took another picture.

For scrapbooking purposes

And dumped out his loot.

He made out really well.

Caleb even got some things. They both got "sippy cups"

and Caleb got giant goldfish graham crackers

They will be saved for next month when he can eat people food.

I expected this event to be fun, but everyone was in such a good mood. You could feel the warmth from everyone you talked to, whether they had a trunk or were doing registration or standing near us in line. That is one thing I love about our church, even though it's -huge- (3,000 people attending every weekend kinda huge) everyone is so nice and friendly that it makes you feel like you're part of one big family. :-)

Until next time...

Johnny Appleseed Festival...

2011-10-27T08:00:00.001-04:00

One of the things on the fall section of our fall/winter fun list was going to the Johnny Appleseed Festival. This is an annual tradition in our house. The festival is at Weber's Cider Mill Farm. Usually we opt to go into the area with the hay ride and hay maze, but we remembered that last year Elijah wasn't that excited about either one. They also have a petting zoo, but he wouldn't miss that too much. So this year we decided to go on the cheap and just hang out for a while.

They had a live band, so Elijah enjoyed dancing

to the music with the other kids.

Then he decided to throw hay on daddy

(since everyone else was throwing it in the air)

Then he danced some more

Another thing on our fall fun list was to pick out pumpkins

Elijah picked out his pumpkin

We also looked at some bigger ones for

Mommy and Daddy's pumpkin

(and smaller ones for Caleb)

Everyone was having a great time.

Even sleeping Caleb. :-)

After we picked out pumpkins, we decided to go

inside the store/ice cream shop.

Elijah got another mini ice cream cone.

It was cookies and cream this time

Then my mom came over and offered to take Elijah

apple picking... with my help, of course.

He enjoyed it. It was like a treasure hunt.

He would pick each one and place it in the bag.

I think we ended up picking 8lbs of apples

Along the way, we also got an apple slushie, some corn, an awesome apple caramel pie and a free cider donut. So I would say the day was quite successful, even if we didn't do any of the "fun" stuff.

The State Fair...

2011-10-20T09:00:00.002-04:00

We always enjoy going to the fair, every year. As they say they are the 11 best days of summer. I don't know if they are the best days, but for $8 admission, it's pretty fun. We usually just pick one day to go, but since I was on Maternity leave and we didn't go on vacation this year, we decided to go three days.

Day 1

Elijah was excited to see the animals. That was all he talked about on the ride over.

He kept trying to feed the animals hay... no matter what animal it was.

I don't think chicks eat hay...

He pet the cow this year and wasn't scared.

He's getting to be a pro at this whole riding by himself thing.

He enjoyed every minute of it.

He also tried impressing the ladies with his muscles.

The fair the first day wasn't without incident though. He tripped

over something and skinned his knee pretty bad. We went

over to first aid to get him patched up and they did an awesome job.

Afterward he wasn't even phased...

A little jumping in the bounce house

And passing out in the car while guarding us from evildoers

Day 2

My mom and I took the boys earlier in the day and met Joe after he got off of work.

Matching all-you-can-ride wristbands

Elijah and I on my favorite ride. The Tilt-O-Whirl. He loved it too.

He went a roller coaster with Daddy

Then Joe got on a roller coaster by himself

That's Joe facing <--- that way

Caleb and I enjoyed the fair

I think Caleb thoroughly enjoyed himself, between

eating, sleeping and being carried around...

I was in desperate search of chocolate milk, so Elijah accompanied

me to the cow palace/milking barn. This was where he conned me into

getting him a mini ice cream cone. He got to pick the flavor himself, too.

He took three licks and gave it to me to finish. :-)

We hung out a little bit more.

Then my parents took the kids, so Joe and I got to ride a couple rides by ourselves

and play a few games. We played this one game where you get the balls in the

holes that say "fast" "slow" "faster" and Joe won. He got Elijah an Angry Bird.

When we met back up with my parents and Joe gave him the bird.

Contrary to what the picture shows, he was so excited.

Elijah, the Angry Bird and I went on a few more rides,

to get our money's worth out of the bracelets.

Then Daddy rode with Elijah on another non-kiddy ride.

And another kiddy ride.

We tried to get a good picture as a memento, but it just wasn't meant to be.

The fair kicked us out that night

Elijah insisted that the red bird ride with him, then he promptly fell asleep.

Day 3

We checked out the exibition halls and I found this awesome quilt.

Apparently the judges liked it too cause it won first place

Elijah had to go on a few more rides, but this time he

went on them with other people like Aunt Reach

(Reach is not her birth name, BTW)

And Pop-pop

His favorite ride was the banana ride, though

Mike (Reach's husband) won Reach an elephant,

but Elijah got to hold onto it for a little bit

While I was playing bingo that night Joe took the boys into

the exibition hall where they had a caricature artist.

He had this done for me as a surprise. I love it!

It's now framed and will be hung in the living room.

We left that evening thoroughly worn out. We had a wonderful three days. We can hardly wait for it to come around next year, so we can do it all over again.

Fall/Winter Fun List

2011-10-18T09:00:00.007-04:00

Now I know I don't update a lot, but I thought since these things don't involve updating my blog (unless I want to) they might actually get done. My sister-in-law, Katie, did a post, two weeks ago, about their Summer Fun List Results and that she was going to make a Fall/Winter fun list, so I thought we would make one too.

Here's what we came up with:

- Host a Trunk and participate in Trunk or Treat
- Go to the Johnny Appleseed Festival
- Pick out pumpkins
- Take some fun Fall pictures
- Carve and/or paint pumpkin(s)
- Pick out and cut down our Christmas tree
- Have a snowball fight
- Take some nice Christmas pictures (not sure how fun this is going to be with two kids and a dog)
- Decorate "tree" advent calendar - With Elijah's help
- Celebrate Birthdays and Anniversaries
Birthdays: Azalea's, Jo's, Elijah's, My mom's and Joe's
Anniversaries - My parents' and my sister and her husband's
- Play catch in the backyard
- Make Christmas cards - With the kids help
- Help at church - In some way (because volunteering should be fun)
- Go sledding
- Put together a 100 piece puzzle - With Elijah's help
- Attend the Ladies Christmas Tea (Meanwhile the guys will have a guys day out)
- Have a Christmas songs sing-along night
- Visit friends in Pennsylvania
- Go see Santa Clause
- Play in the leaves

I hope to be able to update about all of these as the months go by. If you have a fun list of any kind, please comment with a link. I'd love to see it.

Learning to Write... And a Video...

2011-09-29T10:00:00.008-04:00

Well there is one thing that I can say I accomplished during my maternity leave, besides surviving going to the store alone with both kids... "I" taugh Elijah how to write. Actually my iPod taught him how to write.

I downloaded this app iWriteWords after seeing him use it on his Uncle Kevin's iPad. The $2.99 for the full version was well worth the money...

Because this is the result.

The whole thing was a process though. I went through many, many things that didn't work before trying the app. First we tried the old try and true handwriting sheets

That didn't work, cause it was boring, so then we got a Dora the Explorer "Let's Write Letters" book.

He liked it, but I didn't realize, as with the other thing, that he didn't get the concept of following the dashed lines. So we headed to one of our local "learning stores". (What I call a learning store is just a place that sells suppliments to teachers and anyone who wants to suppliment a child's education.) The store is a whole other post in and of itself. If I had unlimited funds, I would get in trouble there... but anyway... While we were there we found these letter stencils that show you the steps in writing each letter.

He did wonderfully with these, but couldn't write free-hand, so it frustrated him. I was about to give up and thought maybe he just wasn't ready to write yet. I figured I would give him more time, but the next Sunday we went over his Grandma's house to visit and that is when he started playing with the app.

After a week or two of playing with it, he started writing letters on the refrigerator with dry erase marker, then he started doing it on the blackboard in his room. Yesterday, Joe was watching the kids before I got home from work and taped the video below. When I got home, he surprised me with it, so I thought I would share it with all of you.

http://youtu.be/Zq3e2PbLJ5o

Hope everyone has a great day! Until next time...

Our School's Calendar...

2011-09-22T09:00:00.000-04:00

As I was walking through Barnes and Noble one day, during one of our weekly visits, I spied a book in the children's section entitled "Everything you should know before Kindergarten". Since Elijah is advanced in a lot of subjects I thought I would give the book a look-through to see if I should buy it. To my surprise, Elijah knew everything in the book (colors, numbers (counting to 20), the alphabet, patterns, etc) except the weather, the days of the week and the months of the year.

I had already been looking for other things I could teach him, so I decided that the days of the week and months of the year would be perfect. I figured the weather can also be thrown in there, but nonchalantly, by looking out the window and asking what the weather is like.

We decided that a calendar would be the best thing to do. So I looked online to get some ideas and my mom found a Calendar kit during another trip to Barnes and Noble. When I had some time I put it together, this is what came of it.

We plan on starting on October 1st, so the days of the week are set up for that. Also, when the leaves start falling, around these parts, I plan to let Elijah pick some off the ground and from the trees to put around the "Fall" season label. Each day we will also be doing a "Word of the Day" and a "Question of the Day" to round out the learning/interaction.

That's the plan... I hope this all goes well, considering I'm going back to work on Monday, so all of this will have to take place either before I go to work or after work and before dinner. I'm sure it will work itself out, though. :-)

A day I will not likely forget...

2011-09-19T09:00:00.001-04:00

They say the second child makes things interesting.

I thought this was true from the start. Juggling two children's schedules, especially when one eat every 3 hours and gets sick afterward, is not an easy task. I don't know how people with several children do it...

But things got -really- interesting the Wednesday before last.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, Caleb was going for the ultrasound to rule out Pyloric Stenosis as the reason he kept getting sick after pretty much every bottle. When they tried to make an appointment with the radiology place closest to our house they said the pediatrician was off for the entire month, so the next place that was relatively close was Johns Hopkins Hospital in downtown Baltimore. They had to see if our insurance would let us take him to the hospital for the ultrasound before they would schedule it. It turned out they said yes and there was an appointment made for Wednesday (9/7), early in the morning. I believe God had all of that happen for a reason.

That morning we got there and checked in on time, then they did the ultrasound. We were watching and thought everything was fine. They sent the images to the pediatrician to be reviewed, in another room. It was then that the curve ball came... the person who did the ultrasound came back and told us it was positive. We found out later that his pyloric muscle was -twice- the size it was suppose to be. They wouldn't let us leave the hospital, for fear they wouldn't be able to get hold of us if we left and surgery would need to be done either that day or the next.

Side note: This is why I think we were led to the hospital for the ultrasound. If it was anywhere else we would get to pick the hospital and we probably would have chosen another one.

They made us go to the children's ER for a while for him to get prepped while they were waiting for his food to digest and an OR to open up. He was going to be admitted, so they put an IV in and all that jazz. Those were some of the most miserable hours of my life. They wouldn't let us feed him because he would have to be sedated during the surgery. He kept crying and crying cause he was hungry and I felt horrible that I couldn't do anything for him. Thankfully after a little while he was sleeping most of the time and would only wake for a few minutes and cry when he felt a hunger pang.

After the ER, they took us up to his room where we waited for a couple more hours, then finally around 4pm they said they were coming to get him to take him to the OR. I say finally because we found out he had to have surgery around 9:45am and they came to get him around 4pm. When they came to get him, surprise, I would "get" to go back to the OR until they sedated him. They acted like they were doing me a favor... I really didn't want to go, but I just let them do as they wished.

They wheeled me, holding him, down these long boring hallways that seemed deserted and into the OR, which is nothing to write home about. I've never had surgery, so I've never seen the inside of an OR before. That it has to be one of the most uninteresting rooms in the entire hospital. They asked me about his medical history (all 6 weeks of it) and my pregnancy. All that fun random stuff... Then I met everyone that was going to be in the room during the surgery, more or less (cause there were about 15 people in there) and actually felt more at ease after doing so.

When we were in the ER, we found out that the Chief of Pediatric Surgery was going to be preforming the surgery. That was a huge blessing in and of itself. After I met everyone, they let me lay him on the table and give him a little kiss before I was escorted out of the room by one of the nurses. I went to the waiting room to get Joe and we went to get something to eat, since we hadn't eaten well all day.

While we were eating the receptionist from the waiting room called us and said "The surgeon wants to speak with you". The wording of the statement worried me until we actually met with him, a few minutes later and he told us everything went wonderfully. They went in Laparoscopically and they didn't have much bleeding, so that was great.

They let us go back to recovery about 10 minutes after he went in there. At that point Joe went home to get my things for staying overnight at the hospital. After a few minutes, they let me hold him. It was a wonderful time, knowing everything went well and things would be better from here on out. He did great in recovery, so they let us go back to the room after probably about 45 minutes.

Right before we went back to the room they told me he couldn't eat until midnight. My only thought was it was going to be a long evening, but the nurse said she had an order that said he could have some percocet if I was ok with it and that would help him to sleep most of the time, until midnight. Sounded like a plan to me, so that evening went pretty smoothly. He finally got to eat at midnight and promptly gulped down 2oz of pedialyte and to my surprise it all stayed down. He slept for 7 hours after that... He was apparently worn out.

When he woke up in the morning he gulped down 2oz of his formula and it all stayed down again. According to the nurse, once he kept down the second bottle we were free to go home when we wanted. I was less than thrilled by being woken up every couple hours by whoever was checking on him, so we came home around 10am. It was nice to be home and to get acclimated to things again. Elijah was so happy to see him, he ran up and gave both of us a hug.

Ever since, he's only gotten sick a few times. Twice the day after the surgery from the pyloric muscle being swollen from the surgery and twice from him gulping his bottles. This is a huge improvement from the daily changing of clothes, blankets and sheets and washing off several times a day. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction and things will finally not be so interesting around here. Although, I highly doubt it :o)

Until next time...

What a month...

2011-09-05T11:45:00.000-04:00

This month has been one of the most entertaining and eventful months I have ever experienced. With having a newborn to take care of, trying to potty train a 3-year-old and just trying to keep up with laundry, dishes and picking up toys every day, my days -fly- by. Everything overall is going well. Most days I feel like I can make it through without having a mental breakdown, then other days are like last Wednesday...

Well, let me preface this by saying that Caleb hasn't been feeling that great, tummywise, probably going on 4 or so weeks now (he is 6 weeks old). We're not exactly sure what it is. Our PA thinks it's acid reflux, but he wants to rule out a Pyloric stenosis. It's basically a band around the stomach that is too thick, so it's hard for the food to pass through to the intestines. To rule it out, Caleb will have to have an ultrasound done of his stomach. He is pretty sure that is not the case, but he wants to be positive. We are going for the ultrasound on Wednesday (9/7), so prayers are much appreciated. In the meanwhile we have changed bottles, changed his formula (three times), have put rice cereal in his formula and he is on Zantac to help with the acid. Things have gotten better... for a about a week he was still getting sick at least twice a day, but as of now he hasn't gotten sick in over 24 hours. Yay!
But yeah, so Wednesday was one of those days that makes you rethink why exactly you have children. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. Thankfully we didn't have to go anywhere during the day, so all the drama was left in the house and we had fresh changes of clothes close at hand. In addition, Elijah has now decided that nothing we offer him will make him want to tell us that he has to go potty and every time Caleb would fall asleep Elijah would come over and want to kiss him and wake him up. However, the upside of having a day when very little sleep was had, is that at night everyone is tired. :-)

On the Elijah side of things, he is getting better with his jealousy and hardly gets jealous anymore. He actually has labeled Caleb as his own. He says, "Where's my Caleb?" or "Get off of my Caleb!", so this has been good. He has also gotten to the age where he is asking questions about everything, "Where are you going?", "What are you doing?", "What happened to the lights?" when it's dark, "What's that?" when he hears something out of the ordinary, etc, etc. This has been not as good, hah.

So, in a very small, nutshell that is what my days consist of. However last week is a bit more exciting than most, because the state fair is in town. We went to it on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. We usually enjoy it because of the food, games and exhibits in the exhibition halls, but this year we are enjoying to also because of Elijah can ride on some of the rides. It turns out that he is tall enough to ride on my favorite ride... The Tilt o Whirl... So he got on it with me, on Tuesday. He loved it. Actually he loved all the rides... and the games... and the animals. I plan on doing a blog post about the fair with all the pictures, soon, so stay tuned.

I actually hope to be able to update the blog with things at least once a week for the next couple weeks, but I guess that will be up in the air until we figure out what's going on with Caleb. That is another hope of mine... I hope things will calm down around here soon. We are currently without air conditioning and potentially won't have any until tomorrow afternoon, so that is not helping matters any. But what can you do? That's life. Gotta love it.

Until next time...

Bible Verses...

2011-08-15T09:00:00.001-04:00

In my opinion, and I'm sure a lot of other people's opinions, Bible verses and inspirational sayings are great motivators in life. So much so that I have them posted around my cube at work for encouragement.

There are also some very special Bible verses in my life.

The first is the one I call Joe and my verse - Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Joe and I met when I was in my senior year of college, so individually and collectively we didn't know what our futures held after I graduated, so all during that year Joe would send me flowers or whatever and include this verse on the card. It will always be near and dear to my heart.

This next one is Elijah's verse - Psalms 37:4

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Even though it was picked for him before he was born, I think the verse fits him perfectly. He delights in everything and has such a sweet personality (most of the time ;-)).

Since Elijah has a verse, I thought I would try to pick one out for Caleb before he was born too. We were at Hobby Lobby one day and I saw a decoration with this verse on it.

Caleb's verse - Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths.

It would be pretty cool if this verse fits Caleb as well as Elijah's fits him. I guess only time will tell though.

Do you have a verse that you love or that is "your" verse? If you don't use Bible verses, what about inspirational sayings? I would love to read them if you have any.

Photo Shoot

2011-08-11T10:12:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday our sister-in-law, Jacqi, came up to our place to take newborn pictures of Caleb and also some of both Elijah and Caleb. She was very patient and rolled with all of the 3-year-old's non-cooperation and the newborn's need to eat every (what seemed like) hour. Caleb is also a light sleeper, so a lot of the pictures that he should have been asleep in, he was awake. But it is what it is and through it all, she got some really great shots.

**Please note that I haven't processed any of these with any imaging program (mostly because I don't have time). These are straight from the camera, so if you see extra things on the side that is why.**

Also, CAUTION, photo overload!

Caleb

I saw this picture on pinterest that I wanted to duplicate, but Caleb decided he wanted to look at Joe instead of the camera. I think this is just as adorable as the one below though.

Proud daddy and Caleb

Close Up

Another picture I found on Pinterest. I think this turned out awesomely.

If I were to print this out I would probably crop it right above the hands put LOVE at the bottom, in white. We'll see if that happens any time soon...

A cute pic of Penelope and Elijah. Penelope kept Elijah company for most

of the day and he enjoyed every minute of it.

This is my favorite picture from the photo shoot. I love the expression on Elijah's face.

Being sweet. He really does love to touch the baby...

... and give him kisses.

This isn't the best of pictures, but Joe and I think it looks like Elijah's going to eat Caleb... Which is special because every night for prayers before Caleb was born, Elijah would say "Thank you for my little brother... I can't wait to eat him" Instead of "I can't wait to meet him".

Elijah

Brothers...

And a hug for good measure.

Now don't be fooled by these good pics. There was craziness all day.

Mostly from this one...

This is a perfect example of how most of the pictures turned out...

But a patient and talented photographer is what is needed to make it look like you have the most well behaved children. :-) I love all the pics, no matter what, though, cause I love the people in them.

On that note, I hope to post again soon with an update on how things are going and maybe post some pics of Elijah's room now that the TV has been put up and it's almost finished... It only took a year, but I like to think of it as 3 months, since I was pregnant and didn't feel like doing anything for 9 of them. Until then...

He's Here!

2011-08-01T18:09:00.001-04:00

Caleb Frederick made his debut on July 25th at 3:30pm. He weighed 6lbs 14oz and was 19.5 inches long. He is such a little doll baby.

Everything went pretty well during labor. I started having contactions around 7:30am on Monday (my first day of Maternity leave), but they weren't strong or regular, so I did everything I've done before to get them to stop... if they were braxton hicks. Turns out they weren't. When they started to hurt I called the doctor. He said since they weren't regular to just wait it out and go in when they were 5 mins apart. Otherwise just go to the appointment that was already scheduled at 11:15.

The contractions continued to be irregular in timing, even though they started hurting worse and worse. It was to the point where I didn't think I could drive if I had one while going to my appointment, so my mom said she would take me there. Good thing too, cause I was having them every 2-4 minutes while on the beltway. We got to the appointment and he checks me... I was 6cm. So he told me to go downstairs and have a baby. :-)

I tried to walk, but I was having too many contractions to get there in any sort of decent time, so they wheeled me over in a wheelchair. I got checked in and all that jazz and by the time I was admitted and they checked my progress (probably about a half an hour later) I was at 8cm. I -needed- an epidural. I really contemplated going without one, but I wimped out. A little bit more of labor and an hour of pushing and baby Caleb was born.

We called my mom right after I delivered to tell her to bring Elijah over, cause he was going to be the first person to see the baby. After all those months of prepping Elijah and wondering how all of this was going to go down, it was time to find out. We were so happy to find out that Elijah was -ecstatic- to meet his brother and to hold him.

This doesn't mean that he doesn't sometimes have pings of jealousy, but he does the best he can. He is a great big brother. He alerts us to Caleb crying and he gives him kisses all the time. He knows not to touch the baby without asking us first (with only being told once) and is very helpful when we need something out of reach. I'm sure as Caleb gets older they will be great friends.

Joe is in love with Caleb, as you can tell. He has been a great help too. He changed diapers and helped out where needed at the hospital and at home. He even puts up with my moodyness as a result of little sleep and hormone related rants and crying.

It has been a week (Although I originally wanted this posted last Thursday, but with a newborn and a 3.5 year old, little goes according to plan anymore) and things have been touch and go, as to be expected. I'm getting as much sleep as needed (I didn't say as I can, because I could be sleeping right now) and Joe takes over when he thinks I'm about to pass out from exhaustion. Thanks everyone for the congrats and well wishes. I will catch up on everyone's blog soon and comment. Until then, I hope everyone has a great rest of summer, cause I have no idea if my next blog entry will be in a week or 2 months from now. Hopefully the former.

As an aside, everything was done on my to-do list, on the Saturday before (even buying Elijah's big present... A Happy Napper). It should have been a sign...

Baby To-Do List - 1 Week Left

2011-07-21T11:04:00.000-04:00

So yeah. I didn't go into labor or anything. I actually forgot it was Thursday and it dawned on me a few minutes ago that I didn't publish this... Gotta love this pregnancy brain thing I got going...

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I really and truly didn't think I would get to this post. I was -positive- that the baby would have made an appearance by now, but here we are... 2 days away from my due date... Still plugging away at this list. I have been having false labor pains off and on for the past week or so, so hopefully that means that things will get going soon...

Need to (in no particular order):

~~Decide on co-sleeper or bassinet~~
~~Find and buy a bassinet~~
~~Pick a name... First and middle~~
~~Go through, organize and wash new born clothes~~
~~Go through, organize and wash 0-3 month clothes~~
~~Buy Diapers~~
~~Buy double stroller~~
~~Buy a wipe warmer~~
~~Pack hospital bag~~
Install infant car seat (probably won't be done until right after the baby is born)
~~Buy small toys/gifts for Elijah to receive when the baby gets presents~~
Wrap the small toys for Elijah (put them in gift bags is more like it)
Buy the big present for Elijah
~~Install TV in Elijah's room~~
~~Find baby tub~~
~~Buy gift for Elijah from the baby~~
Wrap present from baby
~~Buy bassinet sheets~~
~~Buy baby tub~~

Progress this week:

We bought the newborn diapers, yay!
My FIL (and potentially MIL) are coming up on Saturday to mount Elijah's TV, in his room.
I am bound and determined the presents will get wrapped before I go to the hospital... even if I have to wrap them while in labor
Elijah's big present will be bought after the baby has made his arrival. Right now he hasn't showed interest in anything, for sure, except for his Ipod, but that's a whole other post, completely.

Well... If I'm still around, without a newborn in tow, I will be updating again next week... But that should be it. I believe July 29th is the last day they will let me go without inducing me, so until next week...

Baby To-Do List - 2 Weeks Left

2011-07-14T09:26:00.000-04:00

This week has been very interesting. I have cleaned and sorted and straightened, but not because I actually wanted to do those things (nesting), I was forced into doing them. Meanwhile my feet are swelling like nobody's business and my back is killing me. BUT, I guess you didn't visit here to "hear" me complain. In other news, the baby is doing well.

I went for a growth sonogram at 36 weeks and they said at that time the baby was approx 6lbs 4oz, so he's probably going to be about the size Elijah was when he was born. I dunno, I just feel like I'm done. I'm ready for this kid to be born, whether I don't get any sleep or not. This is what the list has turned into. I have come to the conclusion that not everything is going to get done and I'm perfectly ok with that, at this point. It will all get done eventually...

Need to (in no particular order):

~~Decide on co-sleeper or bassinet~~
~~Find and buy a bassinet~~
~~Pick a name... First and middle~~
~~Go through, organize and wash new born clothes~~
~~Go through, organize and wash 0-3 month clothes~~
Buy Diapers
~~Buy double stroller~~
~~Buy a wipe warmer~~
~~Pack hospital bag~~
Install infant car seat (probably won't be done until right after the baby is born)
~~Buy small toys/gifts for Elijah to receive when the baby gets presents~~
Wrap the small toys for Elijah (put them in gift bags is more like it)
Buy the big present for Elijah
Install TV in Elijah's room
~~Find baby tub~~
~~Buy gift for Elijah from the baby~~
Wrap present from baby
~~Buy bassinet sheets~~
~~Buy baby tub~~

Progress this week:

Bought a baby tub. After we opened the box to make sure we liked it for sure, Elijah went over, got one of his baby dolls and put it in the sling part. Hopefully this is a good indication of things to come.
Joe put away the baby clothes... this wasn't on the list, but was a general thing that needed to be done.
We priced mounts for Elijah's TV. I'm not quite sure this is going to get done before the baby is born though, cause we are so close.

We are buying diapers for sure tomorrow and I'm pretty sure unless I get to it soon, the present from the baby is going to get wrapped at the hospital (haha). We are still undecided of what to get Elijah for his big present. I'm hoping he'll give us some hints.

So, with the time winding down, I hope to update next week, either with baby news/pictures or a list with everything crossed off (ha ha, again). Until next week...

Baby To-Do List - 3 Weeks Left

2011-07-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone had a good 4th. Ours was relaxing... We went grocery shopping and grilled out with my family, then lit off fireworks in the backyard. We would have gone to see fireworks, but I was afraid I was going to go into labor (not for any particular reason, except that we wouldn't be able to leave quickly if it did happen). That would have been just my luck, so we played it safe.

I don't exactly know what this means, but I was apparently "nesting" on Saturday, which quickly was over by Sunday and non-existent on Monday and Tuesday. It was this burst of energy where all the clutter and junk got to be too much, so I just started cleaning. I didn't even feel tired afterward.... It was weird, but anyway, enough about me, let's get onto the list...

Need to (in no particular order):

~~Decide on co-sleeper or bassinet~~
~~Find and buy a bassinet~~
~~Pick a name... First and middle~~
~~Go through, organize and wash new born clothes~~
~~Go through, organize and wash 0-3 month clothes~~
Buy Diapers
~~Buy double stroller~~
~~Buy a wipe warmer~~
~~Pack hospital bag~~
Install infant car seat (probably won't be done until right after the baby is born)
~~Buy small toys/gifts for Elijah to receive when the baby gets presents~~
Wrap the small toys for Elijah (put them in gift bags is more like it)
Buy the big present for Elijah
Install TV in Elijah's room
~~Find baby tub~~
~~Buy gift for Elijah from the baby~~
Wrap present from baby
~~Buy bassinet sheets~~
Buy baby tub

Progress this week:

I packed the rest of my hospital bag. Truly amazing and it only took me approximately 4 weeks to do it, hahaha.
Tried finding the baby tub, but alas it was nowhere to be found. So we are using the gift cards that Joe's co-workers got us and are going to buy a new one.
Joe's sisters are going to get us the bassinet sheets. :-)

Unless the baby decides to make an appearance this week, I will catch you all next week...

Baby To-Do List - 4 Weeks Left

2011-06-30T09:25:00.000-04:00

3 weeks, 2 days, 9 hours and 14 minutes to be exact... I'm just kidding, but it would be kinda nice to know exactly when I am going to go into labor, so I could procrastinate until the day before... or the day of, like I do with everything else. That is partly why I started this weekly update. I know myself and if I didn't have some accountability nothing would be getting done. Soooo, on that note, onto the list...

Need to (in no particular order):

~~Decide on co-sleeper or bassinet~~
~~Find and buy a bassinet~~
~~Pick a name... First and middle~~
~~Go through, organize and wash new born clothes~~
~~Go through, organize and wash 0-3 month clothes~~
Buy Diapers
~~Buy double stroller~~
~~Buy a wipe warmer~~
~~Pack h~~ospital bag
Install infant car seat (probably won't be done until right after the baby is born)
~~Buy small toys/gifts for Elijah to receive when the baby gets presents~~
Wrap the small toys for Elijah (put them in gift bags is more like it)
Buy the big present for Elijah
Install TV in Elijah's room
Find baby tub
~~Buy gift for Elijah from the baby~~
Wrap present from baby
Buy bassinet sheets

Progress this week:

They delivered the bassinet, so it is physically in our house... potentially with all the parts, but I guess we'll find that out when Joe puts it together (Update - We put it together last night and it looks great!)
I packed the essentials for my hospital bag... That way, if Captain Caveman (what I've been calling the baby) decides to come early, I will have the important things ready to go... like paperwork, cameras and make-up. I should be packing everything else sometime this week... or when I start having contractions... whichever happens to come first.
My sis said that she read somewhere that it helps smooth things over if "the baby" buys the older siblings a present. So we decided to do that... We just need to wrap it.
We almost bought Elijah's big gift last night (a basketball hoop for children), but are having second thoughts about what to get him. I really want to buy him a Nook (ridiculous, I know, and totally out of our price range for presents), but I think we will save that for Christmas (as a family present) and go back to the drawing board for what to buy him.

We've gotten to the point in the list that nothing urgent needs to be done that can't be done after the baby is born (except for my hosptial bag, which I swear will get done this week :-)). That makes me feel a lot better. Until next week...

Baby To-Do List - 5 Weeks Left

2011-06-23T08:30:00.002-04:00

Four weeks and two days to be exact... Time flies when you're having fun... If you can call all of this "fun" ;-). But anyway, between having to update every week and Joe's ~~nagging~~ help we got a lot accomplished this week.

Need to (in no particular order):

~~Decide on co-sleeper or bassinet~~
~~Find and buy a bassinet~~
~~Pick a name... First and middle~~
~~Go through, organize and wash new born clothes~~
~~Go through, organize and wash 0-3 month clothes~~
Buy Diapers
~~Buy double stroller~~
~~Buy a wipe warmer~~
Pack hospital bag
Install infant car seat (probably won't be done until right after the baby is born)
~~Buy small toys/gifts for Elijah to receive when the baby gets presents~~
Wrap the small toys for Elijah (put them in gift bags is more like it)
Buy the big present for Elijah
Install TV in Elijah's room
Find baby tub

Progress this week:

I -finally- ordered the bassinet. It is the one that Joe didn't like, but then after a few days he decided he was ok with it.
With Joe's help, we sorted through all the Newborn and 0-3 month baby clothes and then my mom washed them.
Even though this whole time I've acted like we have a name or two picked out, we actually don't. It's still a work in progress... However I think this week we have come the closest to picking out a name than ever before.
I bought some things to go into my hospital bag, so sometime in the next week I should be able to pack it all up and have it ready to go... for the most part.
We went to BJs on Friday and picked up some baby related items like baby wash/shampoo and a big two-pack of desitin. We decided to hold off on getting the diapers, cause I don't want them sitting around the house for a month. So we decided we were going to get them at the beginning of July.

I actually have a question to end this. If you have had a baby before, what is one thing (or multiple things, if that is the case) that is not on the usual list that you are glad that you packed? I haven't even packed yet and already I feel like I've forgotten things...

We are in the home stretch now... Until next week...

Baby To-Do List - 6 Weeks Left

2011-06-16T09:14:00.000-04:00

A month and a half until the big day... if Baby Raymond decides he wants to stay put that long. I have a really bad feeling that he's going to come early, but hopefully I'm wrong. Some things got done this weekend... you wouldn't be able to tell by the lack of crossing off on the list, but prepping things and putting things together was what was going on this week.

Need to (in no particular order):

~~Decide on co-sleeper or bassinet~~
~~Find and~~ buy a bassinet
~~Pick a name... First and middle~~
~~Go through, organize and~~ wash new born clothes
Go through, organize and wash 0-3 month clothes
Buy Diapers
~~Buy double stroller~~
~~Buy a wipe warmer~~
Pack hospital bag
Install infant car seat (probably won't be done until right after the baby is born)
~~Buy small toys/gifts for Elijah to receive when the baby gets presents~~
Wrap the small toys for Elijah (put them in gift bags is more like it)
Buy the big present for Elijah
Install TV in Elijah's room

Progress this week:

We found more Newborn and 0-3 clothing, but it still needs to be sorted through
Got out the infant car seat to make sure it looked ok to use
While we were in the closet getting the car seat, we also pulled out the swing and bouncy seat to make sure they were in working order too. Turns out everything is still in great shape
Put together the double stroller to make sure all the pieces were there
Made a list of what I need to buy to put in, and what I want to put in, my hospital bag
I made a decision on what bassinet I like (finally), then I told Joe and he said he didn't like it, so that is still on hold for the time being

So the BJs coupon thing didn't pan out, cause apparently you need this thing called money to buy things at BJs. We were short on funds this week, so I think we are planning on going tonight or tomorrow. Who knows... in my life nothing is for certain until it happens.

Until next week...

Book Requests...

2011-06-10T15:33:00.000-04:00

As I've mentioned before we've been reading to/with Elijah since he was probably 3 months old. We started off just reading before bedtime... one short book. Then that one short book turned into several short books. After a while the books were moved into his play area, so he could look through them as he pleased. Yes, some of the books were torn apart or are very well worn, but, to me, a worn book is a well loved book.
At first I was buying him a new book every time I got paid, but that kind of fell to the way-side. One reason was about a year or so ago Elijah decided he didn't want to read or look at books anymore... he would rather play with Legos or his little figurines. When I would offer he would say no, so I just let him do what he wanted. We weren't too concerned, cause every person goes through phases in things that they like and don't like.

We let him be and probably around Christmastime he decided books were on his agenda again... with an added interest in books where you find things. So it was off to Barnes and Noble we went. We ended up getting a few different books, but this book series is one of his favorites:

There are 3 other books in this series
People, Places and Things
Moo, Quack, Roar and More
Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

We only had 3 out of the 4, so Elijah's very first book request was

It made me proud for him to actually request a book, out of the blue, so I had to get it for him... that night.

The second book request was from a different source. On barnesandnoble.com they have these videos of famous people/authors reading children's books. Elijah -loves- the videos and looks forward to each new one. They upload a new video every month and you can even watch the ones from previous months. I love to sit there watching them with him. One of his favorites is

He would (and still will) ask to watch it over and over and over again. So one day we were at Walmart and guess what book we found. Yup, it was "my book" as he likes to say. We couldn't leave the store without it... Now he likes me to read it over and over and over again.

I wrote this entry about a week ago, but never finished it up to publish until now. The reason I mention that is because last night I offered to read Elijah a book and asked "What book do you want to read?". He wanted to read "Where The Wild Things Are", so I said "Where is it?". He looked around and couldn't find it initially, so after a few minutes he ran over to the computer chair and said, "Monnie, sit down, sit down, sit down!". He wanted to watch it on the computer since he couldn't find his book. (As an aside, we found the book about a minute later and he let me read it instead)

Baby To-Do List - 7 Weeks Left

2011-06-09T09:00:00.002-04:00

Another dud in the progress department... Well, for baby stuff. You would have thought, by my OB telling me my belly grew a LOT since the last time I was there and that the baby is head down, that a miracle would have happened and I would have been doing everything on the list, that day. Hah, actually, I couldn't, because after my doctors appointment I came home to Elijah and Joe... Elijah had a 102 fever and Joe had a sprained foot, so we headed to yet another doctor, called Patient first.

Elijah has a double ear infection. Joe has a severely sprained foot/ankle. That meant that for the rest of the night I had to take care of both of them. The next day, the feeling of wanting to get things done had passed and that is the reason (even though I didn't need one) nothing was accomplished this week.

Need to (in no particular order):

~~Decide on co-sleeper or bassinet~~
~~Find and~~ buy a bassinet
~~Pick a name... First and middle~~
~~Go through, organize and~~ wash new born clothes
Go through, organize and wash 0-3 month clothes
Buy Diapers
~~Buy double stroller~~
~~Buy a wipe warmer~~
Pack hospital bag
Install infant car seat
~~Buy small toys/gifts for Elijah to receive when the baby gets presents~~
Wrap the small toys for Elijah
Buy the big present for Elijah

Progress this week:

Ok, I lied, we picked up a few more little presents for Elijah and unless we see other ones that are yelling out "buy me!", I think we are done.

This next week has potential though. Joe is on my back to pick out, and order, a bassinet. So that will most likely be happening. We also got this awesome coupon book from BJs wholesale that has like 10 coupons we can use, on things we usually buy, so the diaper buying may soon make it way off of the list too.

Baby To-Do List - 8 Weeks Left

2011-06-02T09:01:00.000-04:00

This week I really needed to get my tail in gear. Thankfully it was a long weekend, I felt wonderful Sunday afternoon and ok Monday afternoon, so that is when most of this stuff was accomplished.

Need to (in no particular order):

~~Decide on co-sleeper or bassinet~~
Find and buy a bassinet
~~Pick a name... First and middle~~
~~Go through, organize and~~ wash new born clothes
Go through, organize and wash 0-3 month clothes
Buy Diapers
~~Buy double stroller~~
~~Buy a wipe warmer~~
Pack hospital bag
Install infant car seat
~~Buy small toys/gifts for Elijah to receive when the baby gets presents~~
Wrap the small toys for Elijah
Buy the big present for Elijah

Progress this week:

We bought a double stroller. I had been eyeing this one specific double stroller pretty much since I found out I was pregnant. This weekend Babies R Us/Toys R Us was having a wonderful sale, which included 15% off of cribs, strollers, high chairs, etc. So we bought it, cause even after looking on Amazon, I couldn't find it cheaper. Now if I could only commit to a bassinet like that...
We cleaned and straightened our bedroom, which indirectly was on the list of things to do. It took me 6 hours of sorting and packing, then having braxton hicks contractions and back spasms that evening... but it looks marvelous!

Review of my week and Baby To-Do List

2011-05-26T14:44:00.000-04:00

9 weeks are left. I said I would start freaking after it got to single digits, but this week was kind of another dud in the "getting ready for the baby" department. Otherwise my week was jammed packed full of events and drama. It went a little like this:

Last Thursday - Went to my gestational diabetes class and learned all sorts of things about the things we eat and how to manage my blood sugar during pregnancy.

Friday - Joe and I had a date night at Bengies Drive-In. Thanks to my parents volunteering to watch Elijah and put him to bed that night (which is no easy task). The main reason we went was to see the new Pirates movie, but before that African Cats was playing, so we had to sit through that. It was pretty good, but it was LONG for the type of movie/documentary it was. Thor was playing last, but we were exhausted, so we headed home before it started.

Saturday - In the morning we went to Walmart to buy Charlotte's birthday presents (this is a perfect example of how much of a procrastinator I am). While there, I happen to come across some neat little presents to get for Elijah. We will still need to buy some more, but that is partially crossed off the list. In the afternoon/evening we went to Charlotte's birthday party and had a really good time. Elijah enjoyed himself immensely, especially playing with the pirate Legos.

Sunday - We went to church, then went to Walmart (another Walmart) to buy groceries for the week and also to buy some stuff for me to eat at work to keep my blood sugar leveled off throughout the day.

Monday - Drama with trying to get ahold of my nutritionist/dietician all day. Turns out they were calling Joe's phone back when I gave them my work number to call...

Tuesday - Elijah woke up at 5am, then there was drama at work. That night we celebrated my dad's birthday. I was tired as anything, however Elijah was cute that morning, before I left for work he brought me the "I'm a Big Brother" book for me to read to him. I had a few minutes, so I said I would. I sat down with him and he exclaims "Wook, that's my baby!" as he pointed to the baby in the book. It was the first sign of him actually being excited about a baby. He also indicated that he understood the big brother was him. His excitement makes me excited. :0)

Wednesday - Went to my follow up nutritionist/dietician appointment that morning. I passed my "test" of eating and blood sugar levels with flying colors. Finally there was no drama during work hours and last night I wanted to revel in that fact by enjoying my evening. Elijah got a haircut and then we went home and chilled.

So, as you can tell, a lot was accomplished this week, however pretty much nothing from this list was. Such is life.

Need to (in no particular order):

~~Decide on co-sleeper or bassinet~~
~~Find and~~ buy a bassinet
~~Pick a name... First and middle~~
~~Go through, organize and~~ wash baby clothes
Buy Diapers
Buy double stroller (unless there is a wonderful sale, this won't be done before the baby is born)
~~Buy a wipe warmer~~
Pack hospital bag
Install infant car seat
Buy small toys/gifts for Elijah to receive when the baby gets presents
Wrap the small toys for Elijah
Buy the big present for Elijah

Progress this week:

Bought a few small items for Elijah to open after the baby is born.

Until next week... Let's hope for more progress this week...

Baby To-Do List - 10 Weeks Left

2011-05-19T09:00:00.004-04:00

10 weeks... time is flying. This week went fairly well and I actually feel somewhat accomplished.

Need to (in no particular order):

~~Decide on co-sleeper or bassinet~~
~~Find and~~ buy a bassinet
~~Pick a name... First and middle~~
~~Go through, organize and~~ wash baby clothes
Buy Diapers
Buy double stroller (this probably isn't getting crossed off before the baby is born)
~~Buy a wipe warmer~~
Pack hospital bag
Install infant car seat
Buy small toys/gifts for Elijah to receive when the baby gets presents
Wrap the small toys for Elijah
Buy the big present for Elijah

Progress this week:

Cut the tree down - See previous to-do list (not on the list, but it was preventing progress of the things on the list)
I think maybe, possibly that we have decided on the bassinet we want. Now I just need to find the best price and buy it
I actually touched and sorted the Newborn baby clothes that were left over from Elijah. They need to be washed and put away still... and I need to go through the 0-3 month clothes also, but progress is progress.

Apparently, I'm told, slow and steady wins the race, so that is what I will do.

BTW, this is a scheduled post. Right now I'm in a lovely little class where I will be learning how to test my blood sugar level and also what I can and can't eat. It's a 3-hour class, so I guess we'll see how it will go... Until next week...

Baby To-Do List - 11 Weeks Left

2011-05-15T18:23:00.000-04:00

***Blogger unpublished my entry from Thursday, so I'm publishing it again.***

There are 11 weeks left... If Mr. Mr. decides not to come early. Since I am a true procrastinator, in every sense of the word (especially during this pregnancy), I am not freaking out just yet. When my countdown hits 9 weeks (single digits) I feel like I will be getting my tail in gear more.

Need to (in no particular order):

~~Decide on co-sleeper or bassinet~~
Find and buy a bassinet
~~Pick a name... First and middle~~
Go through, organize and wash baby clothes
Buy Diapers
Buy double stroller
~~Buy a wipe warmer~~
Pack hospital bag
Install infant car seat
Buy small toys/gifts for Elijah to receive when the baby gets presents
Wrap the presents for Elijah
Buy the big present for Elijah
Buy Dreft

Progress this week:

Added more things to the list of things to do
Narrowed it down to a few bassinets to choose between

This week was kind of a dud. I did plan on going through the clothes, but before I can do that and really start getting our room ready for the baby, we need to cut down a tree near our house. (Don't ask how that correlates, it just does, haha) That is planned for Saturday, then I can really start going full steam ahead on our bedroom.

Mother's Day...

2011-05-09T14:35:00.000-04:00

My Mother's Day was pretty nice. We did some things that were ordinary, like grocery shopping and going to church, but there were also some special things we did and something special that was given to me. So, my Mother's Day went a little like this:

We went to church that morning, to the late service, so I could sleep in (a little). While there, Elijah made this for me in Sunday School:

He was very proud of what he made. He kept saying "That's Elijah's hand!" and he insisted that it was done in crayon, even when I said it was paint, he said, "NO, Crayon..." Ok, it's crayon then... Either way, I love it and will treasure it forever.

The poem made me weepy because of how big he's getting and I would def have baby fever right now if I wasn't pregnant. I can remember like it was yesterday when we were heading to the hospital to have him... Then I look at him and realize he is coming into his own and really is a little boy.
He:

Talks in pretty much full sentences
Helps with things around the house like straightening up and helping take care of Azalea
Listens well, for the most part, when we are out somewhere. It was so nice not to have to worry too too much when we went to the Zoo. When we go to the mall he stays by our side... unless something catches his eye inside a store...
(We) can go out to eat without worrying if he's going to act up or not
Is starting to examine things Joe and his Pop-Pop (my dad) do, like cutting down a tree, fixing the gutters and shaving. He will actually sit there and watch, with furrowed brow, taking in every step of the process and probably saving it in his mind for use at a later date.
Roots for the Orioles (sometimes without coaching)
Takes pretty good pictures with my camera

Asks hard hitting questions like "What happened to the lights?" when it's dark out and "What is hungry?" When someone said they were hungry on TV. I'm waiting for the harder questions like "Where does the sun go when it's not in the sky?" I'm sure that one is coming sooner than I think

But yeah, so back to what we did on Mother's Day, haha. After church we headed to McD's to pick Elijah up some lunch. While we were in the drive-thru line I smelled the best smell... Grilling meat. Specifically hamburgers. So I decided that I wanted a cheeseburger for lunch (which only happens about once every 10 years). A legit cheeseburger, not a McDonald's one. So we headed across the street to:

YUM!

Elijah was well behaved for the most part. The O's game was on the TV closest to us, to which he proceeded to yell at the top of his lungs "GO ORIOLES!". It was a pretty laid back lunch, which was nice for an old pregnant woman like myself.

After lunch we went grocery shopping (woopie...) then home. A little while later Elijah requested that we go to the playground, so we did for a little bit. After we went home Joe made me dinner - Fettucini with Asparagus and chicken in a lemon-butter sauce:

(not a picture of the actual dish)

It was pretty good. I think next time he makes it, he should make more sauce and it will taste really good. But it's the thought that counts, in my book, and I appreciate that he would take out the time to make it for me.

After dinner we watched the Amazing Race finale and then it was bedtime for all. Overall a good Mother's Day. I hope yours was good too.

Baby To-Do List - 12 Weeks Left

2011-05-05T09:00:00.003-04:00

With less than 12 weeks left until Baby Raymond is born I thought this would be a pretty good time to publish a list of things I need to get done before the baby is born. This list has been going on for a while... I just now decided to publish it, since I don't feel like doing anything else on it, but I feel like if I have accountability to update about the progress (Every Thursday), the things will get done faster. In theory this will work. In reality, I have no idea if this will motivate me or not... Hence the horrible job I did updating about the Easter projects.

So here is the list of stuff that needs to be done before the baby makes his arrival:

Need to (in no particular order):

~~Decide on co-sleeper or bassinet~~
Find and buy a bassinet
~~Pick a name... First and middle~~
Go through, organize and wash baby clothes
Buy Diapers
Buy double stroller
~~Buy a wipe warmer~~
Pack hospital bag
Install infant car seat

This is actual a very small list compared to the one I had made before Elijah was born. We still have pretty much everything from when he was a baby, so a lot of the things we had to decide on and buy, we already have and can use again.

As I said, this list has been going on for a while, so here is the progress we've been making, so far.

Progress:

Our friends Steve and Brie gave us a wipe warmer they weren't using
Have narrowed down the list of first names, from the entire Bible, to a small list of names we somewhat agree on. I know I said it would either be Caleb or Matthew, but Joe and I aren't loving the name Caleb anymore... Matthew is still on my list though, so we will see.
We bought his coming home outfit and Steve and Brie gave us some short sleeve onesies. Now I just need to wash them.
We have picked a middle name.
Changed middle name and have come up with two full names we are going to choose from once the baby is born.

I'm sure I'll remember more things that we need to do and buy, but for now this list is more than overwhelming enough... But, on that note, can you think of anything I'm forgetting?

Egg Dying Videos

2011-05-02T13:59:00.000-04:00

While we were doing the egg dying I took some video. There are 3 (actually there are 6 total on youtube if you wanted to watch the other more boring ones) because I'm spastic and don't like to have videos much longer than 1 minute.

So without further ado:

http://youtu.be/zLUmEYZ01DI

http://youtu.be/JjDGkIpAGUY

http://youtu.be/e6c7NFLYy_M

I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into the fun we had dying eggs.

Progress... With Easter Projects

2011-04-29T09:30:00.000-04:00

Here it is. The post that was suppose to be four different posts. Because of this fact, this is very picture heavy post, so beware. :-]

We ended up doing everything except for the pom-pom sheep. I bought the stuff for it though, so when we get a free stretch of time that Elijah seems to be in a good mood we'll do that one.

First up is the "Cross on a Hill". When I went to the store and saw how small the 2" styrofoam balls were, I opted to buy a 5" one instead, so the proportions would kind of match.

I cut it in half with a knife, cause I had no idea how else to cut it... seeing as I don't work with styrofoam much. Then Elijah got to painting...

He only painted the top part, which is fine with me, cause it's his craft.

I let it dry overnight, cause he was bored with the project after he painted it. The next day I let him put on the flowers...

I got flower shaped confetti instead of using stickers, but if I ever do this in the future I will def be using stickers instead. These are the only two pictures that exist for this part, because of the ruckus that was going on... Elijah decided that throwing the confetti all over the floor and dumping it from cup to cup sounded more fun than actually placing the flowers onto the ball.

I have no finished picture because I didn't put the cross together and push it in yet, but you can imagine it'll look pretty cool once it gets to that point.

The next "project" we did was face/body painting. Elijah didn't want the paint anywhere near him, for some reason. I asked if I could draw a heart on his hand and he was like, "OK!" but still just stood half way across the room. When I approached him with the paint crayon to draw it on there, he ran away. So I gave up and just painted my belly like I was planning.

It didn't turn out as good as I had planned, but if you tilt your head, close one eye and squint the other one you can kind tell that it's an egg.

Speaking of eggs... We also dyed some eggs on Friday night. It's an annual tradition at our house to do it that day.

First we put in the tablets. I let Elijah help put them in, since I knew he could be trusted not to put them in his mouth. The measuring cup was his idea...

Next it was time to pick a color. If I had read the box correctly we would have had more eggs, but it turns out there was one egg per color, this year. Not that that bothered Elijah at all.

Then it was "egg toss" time. As Elijah put it. We went through all the colors that way.

This is what we ended up with, afterward. The crack in the one (turned out to be 2 actually) egg was the result of the boiling, not the "tossing".

Then it was sticker time.

He also placed one sticker on each egg. So we have one color and one sticker per egg. That's how he wanted it.

This one is my favorite.

He sat there and played with the eggs for a good hour... admiring his work, naming the colors and counting them as he moved them back and forth between the drying tray and the egg carton.

He only played for an hour because it was bedtime and he needed to get settled down and ready for bed. Here are the eggs all tucked away. I like that you can see a peek of color through the holes in the top. Looks very festive.

That is all I have for now. I will update about the Easter Egg hunt and Easter very soon. Hope everyone had as much fun as we did this Easter. :-)

Progress... Not Easter Project Related

2011-04-23T12:41:00.000-04:00

**We did get through a few projects, but I still have to compile the post. Look for that this coming week. But anyway, onto the subject of this post.**

Well, it looks like we are making progress with Elijah's attitude about the baby that's on the way.

When we found out I was pregnant, we told Elijah about the baby right away, but he wasn't too thrilled about the idea:

He didn't even like to talk about it, in general. When we would bring up the baby he would get upset and throw a fit. He wouldn't even tell us if he wanted a brother or a sister... whenever we would ask he would say the last thing we said "Do you want a brother or a sister?" "Sister" "Do you want a sister or a brother?" "Brudder". (I must say I do love the way he says brother, so I'm glad we're having a boy, haha.)

The next phase to go through was complete denial... Apparently instead of a baby growing inside of me, Elijah decided I was just getting fat and making excuses not to play certain things with him. Mostly they were things that involved sliding down slides and sitting on the ground.

One day we had a conversation that went a little like this:

*Elijah was rubbing my belly

Jo: There's a baby in there

Elijah: No no no no, Dop (stop) it!

Jo: Yes, there is. Isn't right in there.

Elijah: No! Dop it!!

After a while things started to get better. As my belly was getting bigger, Joe would request that Elijah give the baby a hug or a kiss and he would run over, lift up the bottom of my shirt and do whichever. It was nice to see that Elijah was at least acknowledging that something was in there. That was good enough for me. I figured we would just work out the rest after the baby was born.

However, to prepare for that event Joe and I decided we were going to get Elijah a book about what to expect after the baby is born, so he's not shocked and appalled, all the while wondering why the baby isn't leaving. So we searched high and low and at every bookstore to find the perfect book. All the books we found were entirely too detailed for a little 3-year-old mind. I mean what 3-year-old wants to know what a uterus looks like?

We happen to stumble upon the perfect book (for a sister) at a Borders that was closing, so Joe ordered the boy version from Barnes and Noble the next day:

It is a pretty awesome book. Just the right amount of information and nothing too grown up. It says how there's a new baby and it can't eat things like pizza and ice cream and it can't walk or talk. But it says how the big brother is special because he can do all those things. It also says a little bit about why babies cry... which will be helpful to prep him that there will be crying going on.

We gave him the book and, at first, he didn't want to read it. Then one day I found him in a good mood, so he let me read it to him. Then about a week later he let me read it again. That leads us to earlier this week. We hadn't read it in a few weeks, so he was like, "How 'bout that one?" pointing to the big brother book. He actually requested to read/look at it. Turns out he didn't want me to read it, but he wanted to flip through it and look at the pictures while he was eating dinner. He is a very picky and slow eater, so usually I don't let him do anything that will distract him from eating, during meal times, but this time I let him, since, after all, it was a very special request.

With three months left, I think we are making good progress with the whole thing. I'm sure it will be a big adjustment when the baby actually gets here, but for now he seems to be coping well with the idea. Afterward we plan on letting him help with the baby, if he wants to. For instance getting diapers and wipes or anything else we might need that's across the room. He also likes to "read", so I'm going to see if he would like to read to the baby. We will think of more along the way, but that's a good start.

I know he'll be a wonderful big brother. I just hope everything goes smoothly for the most part.

Easter Update

2011-04-14T14:32:00.000-04:00

Well... life has been interesting these past couple weeks. I didn't realize that even though every Saturday was pretty much booked that that meant that Thursday and Friday would be booked to prepare for Saturday. So as it is with all my excuses of being pregnant and working full time, we started on the first project (the cross on the hill). I cut the ball in half and Elijah painted it. There are pictures... I remembered to do that at least. However there are is still no cross or flowers on it, so we might do that tonight... if the little boy who decided to wake up way early the past 3 days decides he wants to be in a good mood to do the project. If he's not, whatever, we have until the 24th or later...

I promise to have finished projects and pictures up, soon, though. If you are doing any projects I hope they are coming along better than ours. :-)

Easter Excitement

2011-04-01T11:00:00.002-04:00

Seeing as Easter is my favorite holiday, as I might have mentioned a few dozen times in the past... This year I'm totally excited about it because Elijah has reached that wonderful age where he wants to do crafty things. We usually do a few of the usuals, dying eggs and an Easter egg hunt, but this year I thought we could do a few extras, as well. I was surfing around the web for some ideas and I found one that I really liked, then I came up with two of my own.

I thought, since I am somewhat ahead of the game thinking up ideas, I would tell you all, in case you would like to join along. My plan is to do a craft/activity each week, up until Easter. So here's the layout:

April 2 or 3 - Cross on a hill - From Danielle's Place

You Need:

Two popsicle sticks hot glued into a cross
A 2-inch styrofoam ball, cut in half
Glue Gun with hot glue
Green paint
Paintbrush
Flower stickers
Optional 1" x 6" purple cloth

Have the child paint the half of the styrofoam ball green (like grass) and put flower stickers on it. I think I will have Elijah paint the half a ball green earlier in the day, then set it aside to dry, then that evening let him put the flower stickers on it... That's the plan anyway. Afterward I'm going to glue the popsicle sticks together, push the cross into the half a ball and glue it in place.The optional purple cloth should be draped over the cross and glued in place.

April 9 or 10 - Cottonball Sheep

You Need:

Sheep outline printed out on or cut out of heavy white cardstock
Optional die cutting machine
Cottonballs or pom poms (depending on if you want an all white or multicolored sheep)
Glue - either Elmers or glue stick
Black marker or pen to draw in eyes/nose/ears, etc. If it wasn't already printed out.

Because I don't have a die cutting machine with a sheep shape that I like, I am going to use this sheep shape and print it out on heavy white cardstock. I'm going to cut it out and I plan on squeezing some glue onto the main portion of the sheep, all over, and letting Elijah go to town on putting down cotton balls.

Afterward, which is completely optional, I plan on gluing it to a piece of cardstock (8.5 x 11) and writing a verse or saying about sheep underneath... Like "Jesus is the shepherd and we are the sheep" or something along those lines.

April 16 or 17 - Painted faces, bellies and other extremities

You Need:

Face/body paint
Paintbrushes
Body parts to paint on

This is more of a fun thing to do as opposed to a project. Things are kind of up in the air about how this will go, but all I know at this point is that I am going to paint my pregnant belly like an Easter egg with a crack in it. We might paint Elijah's face like a bunny, cause we have play bunny ears to accessorize it. Otherwise I might just ask what he would like to have painted on him and see if Joe or I can work it out.

April 22 - Easter Egg dying (even though I'm pretty sure everyone knows how to do this, I'll lay it out anyway)

You Need:

Hard boiled white eggs (cooled)
A dying kit
Plastic cups (clear, if possible)
Vinegar
Water

Mix up the different colors in different cups as directed on the back of the dying kit. If the kit comes with the wax crayons, then let you child (if he or she wants to) scribble or draw on the egg. I'm guessing if it doesn't come with it you could use a white candle to draw on it. Anyway, then stick the eggs, one at a time in the dye of choice. If you choose to use more than one color, make sure the egg is somewhat dry before you put it in the second dye and so on. After it is dyed to your satisfaction, put it on the drying tray. Continue until you run out of eggs.

April 23 or 24 - Easter Egg Hunt

I'm pretty positive that everyone knows how to do an Easter egg hunt. We don't use the ones we dye... those are for eating or playing with. I buy the cheap-o plastic Easter eggs from the dollar store or Walmart. The first year we did this I filled them with animal crackers, since Elijah was only about 14 months old. Last year we didn't do one, but if we did, I wasn't going to put anything in the eggs. This year I don't think I am either. Elijah just enjoys finding the eggs, for right now.

So that's the plan. Sorry this is such short notice, seeing as I plan to start tomorrow or Sunday, but that doesn't mean you have to do yours on the weekend (if you choose to join along), these are so simple they can be done anytime. I will be posting pictures of our projects and activities as they are completed, so stay tuned. :-)

Get Well Sign

2011-03-31T09:00:00.002-04:00

A long, long time ago... In a galaxy far, far away...

I bought these sheets of already cut out letters:

I hope you can see them properly. It was hard to get a really good pic of it without it looking like just a sheet of scrapbook paper, like below:

But anyway, these sheets were inspiration for the last card/sign I made for my mother-in-law. She had knee replacement surgery and was having a hard time with recovery, so I thought having a card made by Elijah would cheer her up a little. So what I did was get out a white sheet of these letters and his Pip-squeek markers and let him go to town... supervised of course... Cause I was not in the mood to clean up marker off of the table.

Turns out we made into a sort of game. He would pick the color "How 'bout... Green" then I would suggest a letter to color, since I wanted to make sure he colored in all the letters for the phrase I wanted to do. It worked out really well. After he went to bed that night I pulled the letters, gently, out. Originally I was going to do a card, but these letters were way bigger than would allow for a card front, so I improvised. I got out my pastel card stock, picked a color that would go well and used mini glue dots to adhere the letters to the paper. This is the finished product:

That's all for today. I hope everyone has a good day!

Lesson in Patience

2011-03-14T11:09:00.000-04:00

So there is this little thing called patience. It's one of the things I struggle with, on a daily basis. This statement might surprise most of you, but it's true. For the most part I have learned how to settle for what I have now and wait for opportunities to present themselves, because I believe that good things come to those who wait. It's not easy, especially when it comes to wanting to buy a house.

I have been casually looking at houses for a few months now to see what the market is like and what we can afford and what we want vs what we can afford. In our county it is really hard to find a nice house in a nice area for the amount of money we want to spend on a mortgage. I haven't been able to find anything just yet... Except for this one house I have been eyeing for a while now. It seems perfect, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, one car garage, fenced in yard, hardwood floors... The kitchen is a little on the small side, but I could live with that or potentially make it bigger or expand it into another room. And did I mention that it's only about 5 minutes walking distance from where we live now?

There are only a few things holding us back from jumping right in and buying it. First, it's $30,000 more (at this point) than we really want to spend on a house, right now. Second, the price goes down about every 2-3 weeks, so we are kind of waiting to see how low the price might go before they put it up for auction. Third, it's a possible short sale, which we are in no position to fund right now. And it's forclosed on, so there is no telling what kind of condition the house is actually in. With all of this in consideration, I'm still keeping my eye on it, but God is giving me a big dose of "be patient" right now and I don't like it, haha.

He even had someone tell me "be patient", in-directly, at church yesterday. The pastor was talking about debt and how society is always telling us that it's ok to be in debt and you need the latest and greatest things, even if you can't afford them. Wow, did that hit home... Then he said to all the parents "Raise your hand if you've ever not gotten your children something they wanted" Lots of people raised their hands, us included. The point was that God will give you what you want if and when you are suppose to get it, we shouldn't go into debt to get it.

The whole thing about not getting your children something they really wanted reminded me of something we are going through with Elijah. All last year... and even to this day, every time he sees a skateboard at the store he asks to get it. -Every- -time-, it doesn't matter where or when. So every time I keep telling him no, you're too little. In reality it's because I know if he gets the skateboard, even if he could ride on it, he is not coordinated enough to play with it correctly and would most likely get seriously hurt. So to prevent him from pain and suffering and possible hospital visits in the near future, I said no. He wouldn't understand my reasoning if I explained all of that to him, so I left it at "You're too little".

Sounds a lot like God talking to me about the house... He's saying "No, it's not time yet" and still -every- -time- I think about getting a house I'm like, "Now God?". Nope. Like I tell Elijah, "patience is a virtue"... You would think after saying it enough I would take my own advice. Oh well, eventually I'll get a house, just like one day Elijah will be old enough to get a skateboard. It might take $1,000 more times for each of us to ask, but one day it will happen.

This was a pretty boring blog entry, but I thought I would share in case any of you are feeling the same way regarding different issues. I hope everyone has a great day!

Cards... That I forgot to post last year

2011-03-03T14:20:00.000-05:00

During my time away from blogging (also known as my, not so wonderful, first trimester) I had made a few cards for family birthdays and one to tell everyone that we were expecting.

I made this one for my SIL, Katie's birthday

I drew the pot by hand and cut it out. The decorations on the pot are rubons and the flowers are stickers that I put on white cardstock to make them thicker and more durable. Add a button and a circle puffy sticker for the flower centers, use white gel pen to make the stems and leaf and it's done.

This was for my BIL, Mark's, birthday.

It's not the prettiest of cards, I fully admit that... and it's hard to read, but it was an experiment of sorts. I think I would like to do another one like this, but have it be easier to read.

And lastly, this is the card I made my in-laws

It's from all the cousins and the, soon to be, newest addition is all the way on the right.

As an update, of sorts, since I don't post about my pregnancy. Yesterday we found out that it's going to be a Caleb... potentially. I was shocked because ever since I found out I was pregnant I had this feeling it was going to be a girl, so that has been my thought all along. Then I find out it's a boy and it's like "Seriously?" If I didn't see if with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it. So I am definitely going to be outnumbered in July. Now to finalize a name... Caleb and Matthew are the front-runners for most potential name. The middle name is what's giving us troubles. I would like the middle name to be a family name on both sides. It's a hard chore, but it worked out for Elijah's middle name. *sigh* I guess this nameless little boy will eventually have a name... hopefully it will be before he's born. :-)

Valentine's Day Card and BUTTONS

2011-02-18T09:20:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to show the card I made for Joe for Valentine's Day.

It's a rather large card, it's just a 8 1/2 x 11 piece of white heavy duty card stock folded in half. The buttons are from bag-o-buttons in various collections. I love me some buttons, so this was the perfect way to use about 1/8 of my collection.

This is my collection without the bigger buttons. I have the bigger ones stored in one of the bag of buttons bags.

This is actually a spice rack that my MIL found on clearance at Target. I just put the spices into individual plastic bags and gave them to my sister (cause I'm not the cooking with spices type of person), rinsed and dried them out then sorted the buttons by color and put them in.

I'm loving that they were organized that way because when I needed a whole bunch of red buttons I just dumped them on a piece of paper and looked at the sizes before forming them on the card.

Thanks for looking!

The Notebook

2011-02-08T11:53:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately (or fortunately) this is not a review of the movie/book. This entry is about a notebook Elijah got for his birthday this year. We were in Target one day looking for (cheap) birthday presents for Elijah, so he would have quite a few to open. At this age it's not the amount of money that matters, but the amount of gifts, so we took full advantage of that. He got some stuff from the dollar section... little cars, coloring books and self inking stamp that say "awesome". Then we hit up the clearance section of craft items. Not too much there, except for these cool Cars and Toy Story activity backpacks that come with crayons, stickers, coloring pages, etc.

Right next to the craft aisle is the stationary aisle, so I was browsing there for some things and I came upon this:

A notebook... to be his very own. Since he loves to write in -everyone else's- notebooks, I thought he would love it, but apparently I wasn't realizing that he is only turning 3. We wrapped it up and when he opened it, this is the expression we got.

Nothing. He flipped through the book trying to figure out why it was blank. As he flipped he gave the expression that Joe is imitating in the background (without the smile), about every 30 seconds. He was annoyed... "Was this some sick joke? Why would my parents give me a book with no words or pictures? Very funny, people, very funny..." is what his expression said.

I explained to him what it was for after a few minutes of him scouring the pages for any possible words that might be on it. After he heard, the notebook was promptly put on the floor and he moved onto the next gift. A day or so afterward I re-introduced it to him and he has been drawing/coloring in it ever since.

So if you are looking for something inexpensive to get a 3-5 year old, a notebook is a good way to go... however just make sure the little boy or girl knows what notebooks are used for, first. :-)

DYL - Sick person edition

2011-02-02T14:13:00.000-05:00

These past few weeks have been full of sickness. The week before last Elijah had strep throat and he apparently passed some of it on to me. Last week I thought I had caught it, but before it turned horrible in my throat it traveled to my sinuses and became an awful head cold instead. Fun times and 3 days off of work and I was on the mend, kind of. Today is the first day I can actually breathe normally again, so in honor of yuckiness this is a Declare Your Love for things when you are sick.

I would like to declare my love for the...

Vicks Waterless Vaporizer

This thing is the best thing ever for little kids... and adults too. It's completely safe for infants and pregnant women, which is the best part. There is this little square pad you stick inside that is "soaked" in vapor fluid and the fan blows it out into the room (it lasts about 8 hours per pad), so your sinuses are cleared without having to put the Vicks directly onto your body. I also like that it has different settings, so you can set how much vapor is released. We have used ours for over a year and it's still going strong... We just have to remember to buy the refill packs of the pads and we are ready for any sickness that hits... but hopefully that won't be for a long time.

So what do you love when you are sick?

Elijah's Turning Three! Yipee!

2011-01-07T13:43:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to my little man who is turning three today!

Here he is hanging out with his favorite doggie, at the park.

He has become such a big boy and so helpful too. He is a delight and we love him very much. He's turning into a wonderful young man.

New Years Resolution - In Review

2011-01-04T17:22:00.001-05:00

As you might (probably not) remember, I posted our New Years resolutions in this post. Well, I must say after reading over it, we did relatively well. The goal of not eating out at all, of course, failed. However, we have cut back a lot and only eat out once in a while, on weekends mostly. We have figured out cheap and quick dinners and instead of ordering out for pizza, we get frozen instead. So even though we failed I feel like we are slowly getting to where we want to be and hope to continue that this coming year.

My goal to pay more attention to Azalea went well too. I made sure I acknowledged her when she greeted me at the door, each night, and gave her a little pat on the head, if I could. She is the type of dog that likes to be near people, so just letting her sit in the living room with us and watch TV made her happy. On November 1st she was tremendously happy, though, when her favorite person... My brother-in-law, Mike, moved into the basement. I was quickly relieved of my resolution, per her request, and was replaced by him. So until Mike and Reach move out she could really care less if I pay attention to her or not. Oh well...

Elijah's resolution to eat more things could have gone better, but he made a valiant effort. He started eating more fruit over the summer. Apples, Grapes, Strawberries and Blueberries were his favorites. Apples he will still eat in the winter, however the other ones he only likes when they are in season, so I'm guessing he won't be eating them again until next summer. He also ate some other new stuff, but he still isn't eating the same dinner as us, most nights. So we'll see what the new year brings, food wise, for little Elijah.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All of that leads us to this year. Joe and I have a joint resolution/goal, this year. It is to to really get a hold of our finances. We kind of started in the middle of last year and we are already seeing an improvement. If we continue to do really well this year we should be able to afford a down payment (and mortgage payments) for our own house next year or the year after. Our own house has been a long-term goal for us, so that is definitely motivation to continue doing well with it.

That is all from me today. I hope everyone has a good week and weekend... and year. :-)

Such A Slacker... Merry Christmas, BTW.

2010-12-23T09:58:00.000-05:00

I must admit that I have been neglecting this already hardly-ever-posted-in blog. I have a good excuse, I promise.

And here it is:

This little baby has made it hard to even just do the regular household chores and the almost-3-year-old has me tired out by 8pm. Add that to working full time and you get no blog posts for a few months. The baby is due July 23rd. Hopefully I can squeeze in a few blog posts before then. :-)

As for the here and now, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Wall Hangings - A Preview

2010-09-29T12:23:00.000-04:00

If you have been following the whole remodeling of Elijah's room, you'll know how I wanted to buy some scrapbook paper to frame instead of buying posters. A few weeks ago I found some at JoAnn Fabrics, it's from DCWV, a stack called "The Grade School Stack".

It was perfect AND 50% off, so I had to get it. It has a "Sesame Street" feel to it with the colors and ABCs and 123s. A few of the pages even have open spots for pictures and journaling, so we could make a simple scrapbook page with the pictures of him with the characters from Sesame Place, if we wanted to.

I think my favorite paper out of the stack is this one though:

It's so fun and colorful. I also love how each picture corresponds with the letter next to it. I actually have already framed the ones I am going to use and Elijah loves this one the best too. He sits there for 20 minutes at a time saying the letters and the corresponding picture. And as much as I hope these will stay up on the wall, after I hang them, I have a feeling little hands will find a way to get them down. But oh well, I guess that's why I thought ahead and bought frames with the glass that is almost like plastic. :-)

I hope to have another entry soon about his finished room. The main thing holding up the "finishness" of it, is that I can't find curtains that I like for a decent price to save my life. So once that is done and I buy the things to hang up his art work, the room will be ready for showing off. So until then...

Just be patient, I'm a work in progress...

2010-09-25T23:36:00.000-04:00

Alan Jackson said it best and it certainly applied to Elijah's room a month ago... When I started this blog entry (oops). First we had to clear out his bedroom, so it could be painted. Joe had to move furniture to other rooms, we had to move Elijah into our room and then the rest of the stuff got piled in the middle of the floor and covered with a drop cloth. This is what the room looked like the day after Joe and his dad finished painting.

They did a wonderful job! (That long thin white thing that is resting against the wall with the closet is the molding that is on top of the blackboard portion of the wall.) That next Friday and Saturday (it needed two coats), Joe and I painted the blackboard paint. This is what that looked like before the molding was put on.

Oh my, what a sight! No carpet, painters tape around the edges and uneven paint job on the top of the blackboard, nothing on the walls, no curtains, no plate covers, no light switch cover. What a mess! Fortunately, everything was falling into place and even though it looks a mess, it's just a work in progress and we could finally see it taking shape.

That Sunday we put the molding on... with my dad's help. Then Monday the carpet people came bright and early to install that. Once the carpet was installed it really started to look like a bedroom. We moved his toy box up there a few days after and soon the other furniture followed. Plate covers and light switch covers were "installed", his dresser was fixed and moved in there and his bed was moved in there that next week. So now he's sleeping in there and he loves it, but I think when it's really completely done he'll love it even more.

We ended up buying one other thing for his wall. It's a wall plaque with his name on it. We are going to do that instead of putting up the train letters. However, you could say this wall plaque is special because of what's on it... BUT Joe has sworn me to secrecy... Even Elijah hasn't seen it yet. I guess everyone will have to wait and see it when I post the pictures of how his room looks when it's all finished. Hopefully that won't take another month. :-)

A Letter to Elijah

2010-08-30T15:22:00.004-04:00

A few days ago I was looking for something in my personal folder, on my work computer, and I found this scrapbook page. I had actually forgotten all about it until that moment. Now that I look back, it was a good idea to write those things down. We often forget about what kids do and like at certain ages and this is a great way to remember.

The journaling reads:

Elijah,

Where do I begin? I have loved you even before I knew who "you" were. I was so happy the day I found out I was pregnant. I prayed for you for months before that (and ever since) and you have certainly been a blessing. I loved feeling you kick inside me and move around. Although it hurt sometimes, I even loved feeling your little foot pushing outward in my side. I won't say it was all wonderful being pregnant with you. You didn't like Mac & Cheese, one of my favorite things to eat before I got pregnant and I gave up eating my favorite thing in the world... An Italian cold cut sub. But you were worth every minute of it. You are the best thing that's happened since I met your daddy. I love watching you grow. I swear, every time I get home from work you've grown more and more. You seem to love to learn new things... studying them with your eyes and grabbing onto things like mommy's hair and Azalea's nose. And of course as soon as you get ahold of it, it goes right into your mouth. You love playing with daddy a lot too, he could make you giggle all day. You two are so much alike, it's scary. As you grow it's hard not to think about what you'll be like when you're older. What things you'll like... who you'll hang out with... what kind of personality you'll have. Sometimes I sit and think about what it will be like when you're a teenager, but I quickly jump back to reality, because you'll be a teenager before I know it. I want to enjoy these moments now before they're gone. I love spending time with you and listening to you "talk" on and on and on. I'm so glad the Lord blessed me with you. He certainly knew what he was doing.

Love, Mommy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I talked to Joe about finding this and he suggested I do one for every year. By default, I missed last year, but from now going forward, I plan on doing one every year. Then when he turns either 18 or 21 I'm going to print them out, put them in a scrapbook and give them to him. If we end up having more children, I hope to do one each year for them also. We'll see how it goes, but I love to journal and write letters, so it should be fairly easy. :-)

BTW, I'm sorry I've been AWOL from the blogging world for a while. With Elijah's room project going on, my sister getting married in Oct and working full time I have barely enough time to breathe. However lots has been developing with his room and I hope to be updating about that very soon. Have a great week, if I don't post again before then.

Transformation of a Bedroom - Part 3 - What Should I Put on the Wall?

2010-08-04T15:30:00.002-04:00

We're almost done the planning portion, which is exciting, because the next portion is the doing portion. After all the research and decisions it'll be nice to finally see the finished product.

A few weeks ago we were all ready to order the carpet at Lowes, so it could be on it's way while we were working on prepping the room. So we go there and established quite quickly that we will not be getting the carpet I wrote about in the last entry. First, I had the wrong measurement for the room. It's actually 10x11, not 9x10. Second, instead of being able to get 10x11 like we needed, we would have to get 10x12 because they come in 12' rolls. So that bumped up the price to about $270. I couldn't bring myself to pay that much money... I just couldn't, not unless I looked at every other option before doing it... And that we did.

We looked at the "in stock" carpet at Lowes. Better prices per square foot, however it was about the same price because they came in 15' rolls. After basically chalking Lowes up as a last resort, we headed to Home Depot the next day. This is why I love Home Depot more than Lowes. There "in stock" carpet comes in 12' rolls and we found carpet we like for $.85 per square foot. It's a little darker than I would have liked... it's more of a sand color than an off-white color, but it still goes with the paint color. His room will just have an "oceany" feel to it. If we end up going with this newly found carpet it will be $181 for carpet and premium padding. We shall see what happens when we go to get it.

Now onto "What Should I Put on the Walls?":

This was my original idea... Hanging his art work on a clothes line with clothes pins. however when I was searching the internet I found all sorts of different ideas stemming from that one.

This is one of the favorite ones that I found. I was going to hang it along one little wall, three tiers high, like this and use the binder clips instead of clothes pins. They will probably look nicer and hold better.

I also like this idea, but it's on a wall with a window, so I feel like it would be too much curtain rod for one wall. However when we move I might do this instead of the clothes line, depending on how the room is laid out.

To go along with that, there will also be a clock that we already have.

We also bought these little train letters years ago that spell Elijah. We just need to paint them.

I also was thinking about getting him a growth chart. I wanted a big bird one, but there were none to be found, so I googled Sesame Street Growth Chart and up popped this from Wal-mart (my home away from home). We can even personalize it. It's a resonable price, but not cheap, so Elijah might be getting it for his birthday, since we are probably doing a Sesame Street theme for his room.

We're not changing the colors of the room or anything, but while we were at Sesame Place (a post about the trip will be coming soon) we saw these cute posters, however I was cheap and didn't get them. So, instead, I'm gonna see, if I can find some brightly colored alphabet or Sesame Street scrapbook paper and frame it to hang on the wall above the chalkboard.

Right now I'm thinking this sounds like a lot of stuff, so I guess when we start getting everything put in there we'll start with the stuff we already have and go from there. I hope you enjoyed hearing about the planning stage of this project. Hopefully in the next few weeks we will be able to start putting things together, so I can update with the progress. Have a great day!

Blues Clues Anyone?

2010-08-03T13:00:00.000-04:00

About a month ago Elijah and I started watching Blues Clues, since I like it and I felt that he was old enough to understand the concept. Some things he's still too young for, but he loves finding the clues. So one evening he was sitting in the living room alone, while I went upstairs to do something. When I came back down the stairs he said, "Monnie (mommy)" stretching out his arms and hands, showing me his palms, "I have clues!". It was apparently some sort of revelation to him. I, of course, praised him for his observation and told him, yes, he in fact has "clues".

How long was he was sitting down there thinking about that? And what 2-year-old makes that connection? Who knows... Sometimes I think he is a 4-year-old trapped in a 2-year-old's body.

Transformation of a Bedroom - Part 2 - Furniture and Accessories

2010-07-13T13:49:00.002-04:00

It's been a been a busy few weeks and we are just getting around to actually making some decisions about what is going on with Elijah's room. It was partly because we were trying to decide which room to redo. It was either the room he is currently in or the bigger second bedroom. We thought about it for a week or so and decided since there are dogs who bark early in the morning, next door, it would be best to keep him where he is, so he wouldn't be disturbed while he was sleeping.

But anyway, we went to Lowes and Home Depot the other night to look at some things and check out prices. First we looked at paint colors because I was still kind of undecided about the exact color. With the help of that nifty little contraption that let's you see what the color looks like in sunlight and under florencent lighting, we chose Behr's "Winsome Hue".

This color goes great with the carpet we found last night that was only about $2.30 a square foot w/ padding. So to carpet his room it would be about $210. Not too shabby. It's Stainmaster carpet and is an off white/cream color. The two look really nice together. But onto the main reason for this post.... Furniture and accessories... here goes nothing:

We are toying with the idea of putting a ceiling fan in his room. If we do, this is the one we would get. It's from Lowes and is the dirt cheap price of $24. The only thing we would have to worry about is someone to install it. If we don't go that route we'll probably get a floor lamp.

If we do get one this will probably be the one that we'll get. It looks much more fun in person. I also didn't notice it had pink in it, so either I was too distracted at the store or the pink looks red, in person. But what can I say, it's a $19 lamp...

He already has this bed that we bought at Buy Buy Baby (awesome baby store). And I don't have a picture of the dresser that we got, but it's long and relatively short, which is good because I want to put a TV in his room too.

I want to get a little night stand for his bed, so he can put his books, or whatever, on it and store his secret things in the drawer. I searched for days and days and found this one at Amazon.com. The $60 price tag, in my opinion, was ridiculous for a night stand. I just couldn't bring myself to pay it, but I really liked it. By chance I happened to look at Walmart.com to see what I could find and I found the exact same table for $33.54. Score!

The only problem with that table is that it's 22" tall and I'm not sure if it will look right next to his toddler bed. I figure if it's too tall I'll just use it to hold the chalk and eraser for his chalk board. Then when he gets older and into a twin size bed we'll use it as a night stand then. If that is the case, we'll be getting this night stand I saw at Ikea.

Either way, we're getting a little lamp for on top of the table. I saw this lamp at Ikea that would be a nice "reading at night" lamp. The best part of this lamp is the easy way to turn it on and off. You see the white dot on the bottom of the lamp? It's silicone and all you have to do is push it down to turn it on and again to turn it off. Totally toddler safe. I love it.

For the windows I want to get Navy colored curtains. I found these at JCPenney... they are a bit pricey, but they are also thick and have some special thing on the back to help keep out the cold and heat, so I guess if I want to spend the money it would be money well spent. Plus when we move this is actually something that can come with us.

For a toy box we are moving the one we have in the living room, upstairs. Since it has a bookshelf on top that saves us from having to buy a separate bookshelf, until he gets older.

I think that's it. Hopefully it'll all fit... Haha.

The last installment of this little project will be coming soon. It's entitled "What should I put on the walls?" I already have some ideas, so make sure you come back and check them out.

Cards... I forgot

2010-06-29T14:35:00.004-04:00

After recuperating from the dance show madness and making three cards, I forgot to post about them. So here they are:

As I've mentioned before, my MIL
loves fat birds, so when I saw this wood stamp at ACMoore I knew I had to get it. It's a simple card, but I love the dark brown (Colorbok - Chestnut) and the light brown of the Kraft paper (from Stampin Up).

I would love to do more of this type of card in the future. I'll have to look through my stamps to see if any do the justice of this one.

This year I ended up making my FIL and Joe the same card. I used the wallet album by Shabby Princess (my all-time favorite digital scrapbooking designer) . It can be a few different things.

It's actual purpose is to hold album pages that fit in the slats on the right side. I took liberties with this though and found that it can either hold a gift card or money, also. I ended up folding up money and putting it in there and writing a greeting on the left side for my FIL.

I ended up doing the album thing for Joe, since I bought him a gift. So I used the version where the left side has an opening for a picture. By the time I had cut out the pieces, assembled them and promptly ran out of adhesive, it was 3am. So I gave Joe his without the picture and the album pages inside. (Maybe I'll show off the album pages in a few days)

The best part about wallet album is that it has a way of being sealed shut. It has a flat and you just apply some velcro with adhesive on the back and you're done.

So all you need to make this card/album is a printer, a pair of scissors, adhesive, glue dots (I used them for the pockets) or glue, velcro and a light colored gel pen to write a sentiment. Easy Peasy.

That's all from me today. I'm out... til next time.

I Will Follow Him...

2010-06-22T21:00:00.000-04:00

... wherever he may go. There isn't an ocean so deep. A mountain so high it can't keep... keep me away...

So after listening to that song and the song "Heatwave" about 900,000 times between listening in my car (while going over the moves in my head) and practicing in the studio, the dance show finally came... and went. It was bitter sweet because we spent hours of hard work to perfect moves and learn how to tap together to get to the show, but after is kind of a let down. I don't get to see my tap buddies for MONTHS when for months I would see them every week or so.

The only thing getting me through is knowing that it starts all over again in September. Yay! So without further ado - Here's the tap number I was in, for all who are interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyK2zW7JOJU

My wonderful husband taped it for me... and sat through the entire dress rehearsal. He's such a trooper. My MIL (Marie) and SILs (Katie and Mandy) all came to the show. For which I appreciate and hope they enjoyed themselves.

Movie Tuesday

2010-06-15T14:26:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since I've had one of these, but here it is... Elijah being a ham for the camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpZjFAZJZrM

Transformation of a Bedroom - Part 1 - Planning

2010-06-13T09:00:00.002-04:00

We have lived in our current residence for 5 years, this month, and there's tons of things I would love to do to the house to make it more homey. Unfortunately, we only rent, so I feel like anything we do to the house will be throwing money away, because we won't be able to get any money back from our investment.

That being said, we still feel the need to fix things up and change things to make a house, a home. But instead of investing hundreds of dollars on remodeling, we try to do it as cheap as possible. So comes the next series of blog postings... We are going to re-do Elijah's bedroom.

This is what it looks like now. White walls, gold(?) shag carpet, empty walls... for the most part, a few necessities and that's it.

Before now, a nice bedroom wasn't needed because he only slept in the room. I mean, who needs decorations and a nice color pallet to sleep? But since he's getting older (he's just about 2 and a half) and can go up and down the steps as he pleases, Joe thought having a nice bedroom for Elijah would be good.

After much discussion, friendly (and not so friendly) debates and looking at Home Depot, Lowes and pictures online, we decided on the following things:

We are painting this room in Behr Disney color "Blue Balloon",

or something close to it, and doing white trim.

We are installing a chair rail along the one wall where his bed is now and painting below it with chalk board paint. Kind of like this picture, but upside down.

We are also planning on re-carpeting. When we remodeled (if you want to call it that) our bedroom we got a really good deal at Lowes for carpet that was only like $1.50 a square foot, with installation and a free padding upgrade. We ended up getting our whole master bedroom (20x17) and closets carpeted for about $500... with carpeting left over. We plan on trying to get the same deal with Elijah's carpeting.

Even though they did a wonderful job installing it, we decided since his room is square, that we would buy the padding and carpeting and do it ourselves... to save a bit of dough. The carpet is probably going to be a light beige color, but I'm not sure. Right now, money is more important than color... to a point. If it's not exactly light beige, I could deal, as long as it looks good with the walls.

Of course things could change, cause this -is- just the planning portion. I will update as things go along. Also, make sure to stay tuned for the next installment: Furniture and Accessories.

Charlotte is 2...

2010-06-04T14:21:00.000-04:00

My neice turned 2 on May 14th, but they didn't have her birthday party until last Sunday. Being the procrastinator I am, I couldn't have her card done way ahead of time (even though I had an idea of what I wanted to do since January). That ruins the fun of the adrenaline pumping at 12:30am the day of the party, freaking out cause the card doesn't look right. It doesn't look... finished.

This is, what I decided was, the finished card:

I sketched a backwards 2 on some colored cardstock from StampinUp (this is probably the only time in my life I wished I had a cricut, cause it would have been TONS faster) and surprisingly it doesn't look like a 5-year-old did it. I cut it out as neatly as possible and glued it straight onto the card... to hide the evidence. Then I applied the puffy flower stickers and the giraffe by Crayola. You can't tell by the pic, but the eyes on the giraffe move. Originally that was the whole card. I was going to write "Happy Birthday Charlotte" underneath, but it didn't look right, so I looked through my stuff and found this yellow, metal clip thing by Making Memories.

Even with that addition, it still didn't look done, so I rummaged around a little more, found my mat pack from StampinUp (it's a paper piercer and stitching template together) and white gel pen. Added faux stitching to the outside and it finally looked complete.

Thanks for taking a look. I shall be posting more cards soon. As you know Father's Day is fast approaching and I am at a loss for what to do for cards. Masculine cards are the hardest thing for me to create, so we'll see how it goes. Off to search the "interwebs" for inspiration...

More Cards

2010-05-28T13:40:00.001-04:00

There will probably be a few more of these posts coming soon. This time of year is always full of celebrations. Mother's Day, Father's Day, four birthdays and this year a graduation and our friends moving into their first house. So to start off the parade of cards this month is a birthday card, a birthday "card" and a graduation card.

This is my SIL Jacqi's birthday card. The flowers are BoBunny. The green behind the flowers is chipboard from the dollar section of JoAnn Fabrics that I used green Colorbok chalk ink to color, by just pressing the ink pad directly on the chipboard. I used a darker green chalk ink for the Happy Birthday greeting. The button is from Bag O Buttons.

This is the box I made (using a template) for my BIL Kevin. I was stupid and didn't stamp on the top lid until after it was already glued together, so I had to cut an additional piece of paper and stamp on that. I used my blender pen to color in the stars and it was finished.

My sister graduated from college last Saturday, so I made her this card. Personally, I don't like it, but she did and I guess that's all that matters. I couldn't find black cardstock, so I bought a pack of black cards and cut it out. The tassle and bling alpha I got at ACMoore.

Until next time...

Mother's Day Cards

2010-05-12T09:12:00.000-04:00

Happy belated Mother's Day to everyone who is a mom. Hope it was a good one. Mine was wonderful. Joe made me breakfast, got me lunch and dinner and also had a fun idea for something we could do as a family. We dipped oranges and strawberries in chocolate, then put them in the fridge to harden, to have for dessert. It was a lot of fun and super yummy. I can't wait to do it again soon. For a present he told me I can spend $50 at Michaels AND Joann Fabrics. He wanted me to go there that day, but (I can't believe I'm gonna say this) I didn't need or want anything then, so I took a rain check for when I do. :-)

Elijah also did something for me. He drew me a picture and explained it to me...

Unfortunately, I don't speak "2-year-old", so what it is, is still a mystery to me. All I know is he said "monie" (which is me) while he was explaining it, so maybe one of those blobs is me... I dunno, but I watched him do it and he picked the colors he wanted to use, very carefully, so I know he was making sure I liked it, which I do. I love it.

Now, onto what I made my mom and mother-in-law. I was apparently feeling the 'hanging" type cards this year, so that's what I made.

This card is for my mother-in-law. She likes fat birds, so I try to find different ones to put on her cards. The card stock is Stampin Up. I have no idea what the bird stamp is. I thought I could just look on the card entry from last Mother's Day and find it, but I didn't say what it was. The silver string stuff I found in ACMoore in the ribbon section. The purple ribbon at the top I bought in the dollar section of Target. I colored the bird with purple Colorbox Chalk Ink and a blender pen. Cut the hole with my circle cutter and put a "transparency" behind it. I actually didn't have to buy a whole box of transparencies. They sell clear sheets of paper in ACMoore in the loose paper section. And I think that's it.

This is the card I made my mom. It's from this entry: Dawn's Purse Gift Card Holder

Originally I went through like the video said, but apparently the top part was bigger than it was suppose to be, because I don't have the die, so I got a bracket shape online and sized it to the size I looked up online that it was suppose to be. Well, I'm guessing the measurements were wrong, but anyway, after my not-so-mini crisis (because I was making this at like 2pm on Mother's Day). I came up with a plan, with my sister's help. I had already shaped the bottom, so I took the demensions of the top of it and resized my bracket to fit. It worked! Thankfully. The rest was super easy and took me about 15 minutes to do.

I used the same Stampin Up paper as my bottom for the card. The top is a random sheet of loose paper from ACMoore. The ribbon, again, was from the Target dollar section. I used my crop-a-dile to punch the holes for the ribbon. Little, sticky back, velcro squares to hold it together and a cute big button to make it look like that's what's holding it together. The bag inside is just a cut up sammich bag.

Slip the gift card in and you're all done. The only thing I will do differently when I make another one, is get thicker card stock for the bracket part, so it won't feel like I'm going to rip the paper when I try to open it.

That's all for now. One of these days I'll upload a new video, since Elijah is talking up a storm now. Til next time...

Laminated List

2010-04-22T14:44:00.002-04:00

After much thought and searching thousands of pictures on the Internet my laminated list is finally done and ready for your viewing pleasure. Basically the definition of a laminated list is "a list of five people, usually celebrities, whom you would be free to pursue, if the opportunity arose, regardless of whether you were in a relationship or not." Basically it's just a bunch of hot guys who fit various categories.

My sister-in-law, Mandy, and her friends expanded on the list to not only include the top five, but also additional categories. You can find the list and rules at her blog. So without further ado I present my laminated list.

1. Zachary Quinto

You might have seen him on: Heroes and Star Trek

2. Dominic Monaghan

You might have seen him on: LOST and Flash Forward

3. Shia LaBeouf

You might have seen him on: Transformers

4. Joshua Jackson

You might have seen him on: Fringe

5. Johnny Depp

You might have seen him on: Pirate of the Caribbean

The Special Categories:

Barely Legal - Zac Efron

You might have seen him on: High School Musical, Hairspray and 17 Again

Older Men - Cal Ripken Jr.

Played for the Baltimore Orioles

Bad Boy - Joel Madden

A member of the band "Good Charlotte"

Good Guy - Matt Damon

You might have seen him on: Oceans 11 and Saving Private Ryan

Token Ethnic Guy - Will Smith

You might have seen him on: Fresh Prince of Belair, Independence Day and Men In Black

Nerd - Joseph Gordon-Levitt

You might have seen him on: 3rd Rock from the Sun, GI Joe and 500 Days of Summer

Goofball - Adam Sandler

You might have seen him on: The Waterboy, Happy Gilmore and The Wedding Singer

Athlete - Matt Stover

Played for the Baltimore Ravens (I refuse to acknowledge that he plays for another team)

Musician - Brad Paisley

Country music superstar

No one else gets it - Noah Wyle

You might have seen him on: ER

First Love - Joey McIntire

Used to be in the band New Kids on the Block (and still is? I don't keep track)

Singing Voice - Christian Bale

You might have seen him on: Newsies(haha), American Psycho, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight

Speaking Voice - Charles Shaughnessy

You might have seen him on: The Nanny

Fictional Character - Laurie from Little Women

Action Hero - Sam Witwicky from Transformers

Tough Guy - Tobey Maguire

You might have seen him on: Spider-Man

Tortured Soul - Milo Ventimiglia

You might have seen him on: Heroes

Brainiac - Charlie Eppes

You might have seen him on: Numb3ers

But his face - Josh Holloway

You might have seen him on: LOST

Chubby Hubby - Greg Grunberg

You might have seen him on: Heroes

Scruffy - Jake Gyllenhaal

You might have seen him on: Donnie Darko and The Day After Tomorrow

Gay - Elijah Wood

You might have seen him on: Lord of the Rings

Dapper Dan - No clue

Villain - Sylar from Heroes

I hope you enjoyed. If you do or did your own, please post a link, so I can take a look. :-) Until next time...

Smile...

2010-04-16T08:48:00.002-04:00

It's FRIDAY!!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

My Surprise...

2010-04-12T13:00:00.002-04:00

Now, this is the surprise I was hoping to share with you.

"What is it?" You ask. Just press play on the video below to find out....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czs7GIOMVy0

That's it. I got it done at Shear Genius in Perry Hall Maryland. They cut and styled my hair for free because I'm donating it. The hair is going to the Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program to make wigs to give to cancer patients. I was originally doing Locks of Love, but in researching where I could get my hair cut for it, I found out they sell their wigs at a discounted rate, based on the person's income and they sell the unusable hair. I don't agree with that, so I found another organization to donate to.

That's about it, for now. Hope everyone had a great Easter! Until next time...

A trip to the ER...

2010-03-29T14:28:00.004-04:00

So, in my last post when I said I had a surprise, this was not what I had in mind. I guess the surprise was on me. I actually wasn't going to post about this, but the scrapbooker and family historian in me said, "This is a part of Elijah's life, whether you like it or not. Just make it short and sweet and to the point." ... And that's what I shall do.

Thursday night Elijah had a run in with our entertainment center... Literally. The entertainment center didn't have a scratch on it, but Elijah didn't fair as well. He was bouncing on the floor in front of it and lost his footing. He went forward, smacking his mouth on the ledge, and busting his lip open. I yelled for Joe and we practically ran straight out to the car to take him to the ER.

Once we got there they checked us in right away (probably because there was an abundance of blood all over shirts and hands and faces) and took us back in about 20 minutes. He ended up having 5 stitches put in his top lip and we were done.

He needs to get the stitches out on Wednesday and hopefully that will go smoothly.

So, I guess I have surprises for you, God has surprises for me. I can never tell what crazy dramatic situation is going to happen next. Will it be a leak in the basement? The dishwasher breaking? The sink clogging up? My car dying? Hah, been there, done that, but I would have preferred any of those things over rushing my precious little big boy to the ER. The only thing that keeps me sane through all this crap is knowing that God will be with me through all the trials and tribulations of life and he won't give me anything more than I can handle.

Thursday night I learned two things. 1, don't sweat the small stuff. And 2. Don't wait to eat, cause you never know when you'll get to eat again. This whole incident happened -right- as our dinner was finished being cooked. There was no time to grab anything as we were running out the door, so while he was getting stitched up I almost passed out. Fun times... fun times....

Stay tuned for more exciting adventures in the world of Hybrid Simplicity.

Penelope's Birthday Card

2010-03-22T13:41:00.004-04:00

The babiest baby of the family, Penelope, turns 1 in a few days, but we celebrated yesterday. This is the card I made her. Every "baby" has an animal that is representative of them. I actually forget what Elijah's is, but I use monkeys and dogs, cause he likes them so much. Charlotte's is a giraffe and Penelope's is a dragon/dragonfly. That is why there are dragonflies on the card.

It would be quite amazing if I could remember all the things I used. All I can really tell you is that the paper is DCWV - Pastels and DCWV - Animal Crackers. I'll update this when I get home with the exact stamp sets for the happy birthday and the hearts on either side. The chipboard letters I got in the dollar section of Target and the dragonflies I got from Target too. I still have some left in the package, I'll update that too. The white gel pen is the Signo broad white gel pen. And the circle cutter I bought about 900 years ago, so I have no clue who makes it or anything.

That's about it. I hope to update more in this thing. I have been working on my Laminated List for about a month now. It only took me about a week to come up with the names, the rest of the time has been made up of me finding the time to search the web for pictures and put them on the post. I hope to have that done sometime this week.... If I'm lucky.

I also have some other surprises in store. So stayed tuned.

Quick Birthday Card

2010-02-10T22:00:00.001-05:00

The 7th was Joe's birthday and I had been planning on making him a card, but I never got around to it until about 2pm that day. Elijah did most of the work though:

Originally it was suppose to have more things on it, like a sentiment and buttons... manly buttons of course... and that was about it. However, after Elijah finished "writing" his message on the piece of cut out card stock, I was looking at it and thought that if anything else was on it, it would take away from whatever he did. I like the way it turned out. Inside it said "I told Elijah to write something for your birthday, so he wrote what is on the front of this card. It could mean anything, but I like to think it says, "I love you, daddy".

That's about it out of me. Nothing else going on, except we had a blizzard on Friday and Saturday and Lord only knows how much snow was dumped on us again today. They said on the news that the total for the winter of 2009-2010 is 72" and we are suppose to get more on Monday... When is Spring getting here again?

Elijah's Birthday Party

2010-02-01T14:00:00.001-05:00

I don't know where time goes anymore, I actually did a double take at my calendar when I was counting how many weeks it has been since we celebrated. To my surprise it has been over 3 weeks since we had his party. Somehow I still feel the need to share a few pics and videos... cause that's what I do. :-)

Studying the balloons he got from his Grandma Marie

He loved playing with the bear.

But, most of all, he loved -hitting- them and watching them bounce back

Enjoying his McNugget Happy Meal dinner. No veggies included.

Time to open presents

He got lots of cool toys, but he loved his Mickey Mouse Club House train the most out of all the presents he received that day.

He played with it for 45 minutes straight... we timed it.

I think his favorite thing of the night was the singing though. That's where the movies come in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvbCjoa6ZjA

Ok, so he didn't want the cupcake. You saw that. However, you didn't see him get down from his booster seat, go over to the candle laying on the table and try putting it back in the cupcake. At that point he "made" us sing to him again, so -he- could blow out of the candle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkvSrBpuhJ0

Hope you enjoyed. I will try to update again soon!

New Years Resolutions

2010-01-14T15:00:00.000-05:00

As most people do, at the beginning of each new year, I make a resolution. Although, by definition, resolution isn't really the right word... I make more of a goal for myself for the next year. This year my goal is to pay more attention to Azalea, to pet her more and praise her more and play with her more. Because these past 2 years she has kinda just been... there. Elijah took precedence, as he should, but I still feel like I've been semi-neglecting her. So far this year... all 14 days of it... I've been doing better.

As it turns out, I wasn't the only one who made a resolution... Joe made one too. His, well our, resolution is to not eat out at all this year. That includes delivery and pickup. If it doesn't come from a grocery store, we don't eat it. Now there are exceptions to the rule. If we have a gift card, it doesn't count. If someone else pays, it doesn't count. And if it's a birthday or special event (ie our anniversary) it doesn't count. Before I tell you how wonderfully we are doing, I must say this is one of the hardest resolutions ever, for me. After working all day it's so easy to just pull up to McDonalds or order some Chinese to be delivered. No cooking and no dishes to clean, sounds like a dream... With a big price tag.

But anyway, even though it's hard things have been going well. Joe even made something new a week or so ago. He made his dad's chili... a double batch, so we could freeze it and it would be an easy dinner later on. And because I know how we are with "What's in the freezer? I don't know. Let's just order something", I made this list on the white board on our fridge:

So at a glance you can see everything that is available for cooking.

And last, but not least, it looks as though Elijah has made a resolution also. He has tried more new foods this month than he probably has, before, in his entire life. Ok, maybe not that many... but what is more amazing is that after he tries them, he eats the whole thing that was given to him. He has had fish, meatballs, triscuits and pretzel sticks to name a few. Last night he even ate pizza. Actually, there was -one- thing that he tried and ended up throwing on the floor, it was peas. I totally don't blame him for this, I hate peas also, so I think I'll give him a pass on that one. Hopefully he'll continue to try new things and make meal time a whole lot easier.

That's about it, a few resolutions and some progress on each. We shall see what the rest of the year brings and maybe at the end of the year I'll post an entry saying how they all went... If I remember.

... Hybrid Simplicity ...

OLW - Check in for January

It's an Angry Birds Party!

One Little Word... Ok, Maybe Two...

Roller Skating...

Project SCRAP...

A Year Without Crafting...

The Winner is...

Declare Your Love - Christmas Shows

30 days until 30 years... GIVEAWAY!

Elijah's room - The Finished Product

Leaves...

Harvest Party...

Fall Photos...

Pumpkin Painting...

Good Sport...

Trunk or Treat...

Johnny Appleseed Festival...

The State Fair...

Fall/Winter Fun List

Learning to Write... And a Video...

Our School's Calendar...

A day I will not likely forget...

What a month...

Bible Verses...

Photo Shoot

He's Here!

Baby To-Do List - 1 Week Left

Baby To-Do List - 2 Weeks Left

Baby To-Do List - 3 Weeks Left

Baby To-Do List - 4 Weeks Left

Baby To-Do List - 5 Weeks Left

Baby To-Do List - 6 Weeks Left

Book Requests...

Baby To-Do List - 7 Weeks Left

Baby To-Do List - 8 Weeks Left

Review of my week and Baby To-Do List

Baby To-Do List - 10 Weeks Left

Baby To-Do List - 11 Weeks Left

Mother's Day...

Baby To-Do List - 12 Weeks Left

Egg Dying Videos

Progress... With Easter Projects

Progress... *Not Easter Project Related*

Easter Update

Easter Excitement

Get Well Sign

Lesson in Patience

Cards... That I forgot to post last year

Valentine's Day Card and BUTTONS

The Notebook

DYL - Sick person edition

Elijah's Turning Three! Yipee!

New Years Resolution - In Review

Such A Slacker... Merry Christmas, BTW.

Wall Hangings - A Preview

Just be patient, I'm a work in progress...

A Letter to Elijah

Transformation of a Bedroom - Part 3 - What Should I Put on the Wall?

Blues Clues Anyone?

Transformation of a Bedroom - Part 2 - Furniture and Accessories

Cards... I forgot

I Will Follow Him...

Movie Tuesday

Transformation of a Bedroom - Part 1 - Planning

Charlotte is 2...

More Cards

Mother's Day Cards

Laminated List

Smile...

My Surprise...

A trip to the ER...

Penelope's Birthday Card

Quick Birthday Card

Elijah's Birthday Party

New Years Resolutions

Progress... Not Easter Project Related