Christmas Stitchery

Here is the Christmas Stitchery I was telling you about I have had it done for a while, but hadn't gotten a picture taken of it. Jonah made the frame so that I can switch out the stitcheries seasonally next I am working on the winter one, hopefully I will get it done before the Spring thaw!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

We visited Macy's in Minneapolis and Santa on Friday. It was very busy. When we walked through the bottom floors on our way to the Christmas display it was deceptively calm and I thought that it might be too bad, but then we arrived on the 9th floor and the craziness was revealed there were so many people everywhere that it was difficult to get out of the elevator! But we made it though the display which was, A day in the life of and Christmas elf. and then stood in line only a short while to see the big guy in red. When we saw Santa Will climbed up in his lap without much hesitation, but Jake refused to even go near him. The photographer suggested that he sit on the drum, thank goodness for the drum or I don't think he would be in the picture. He did warm up when Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas, to which he replied, "a lightyear buzz". Will asked for a Super Hero Squad Game (according to him he is Spiderman). When we were leaving I asked Jake what he had asked Santa for, he said, a light year buzz but no he gave me one!" Apparently he thought that Santa would give him whatever he asked for right on the spot!
Tonight Will told me that he wished he had have asked Santa for a buzz lightyear too and wondered if Jake would share his buzz lightyear. Good thing "Santa" foresaw this very issue, I predict there will be two lightyear buzzes under the tree on Christmas ;)

Merry Christmas Eve Eve everyone, only a couple more days until Christmas. I hope all of your preparations are ready and that you can relax in the next couple of days.

What do you do with your nose?

From a conversation with Jake this morning.

Me: Jake what do you do with your nose?
Jake: We put paper on it and we blow! . . . Mom what is so funny????

I hate sad endings

any type of sad ending at all. I steer away from books and movies that I know have sad endings, i.e. someone dies at the end. Even if I have heard great things about the movie I will usually refuse to watch it. When I watch a movie or read a book I want to know that ultimately the ending will be happy. Boys gets girl and they live Happily Ever After. They never break up no one dies prematurely, Happily Ever After. There is nothing that I hate more than investing time into watching a movie, or even worse, reading a book and getting to the end only to be depressed. I watched Catch and Release last night and not only was the storyline disjointed but really depressing. The ending was ultimately happy but the entire story was pretty sad I found myself wanting to cry and cry and I really don't like crying at all. So then I was annoyed that I watched a movie that made me cry! The entire movie watching experience was a bust! Tonight I think I will watch my new favorite show Pawn Stars. It is a history channel show that I think can best be described as Antique Road Show meets a redneck. It is about a Pawn shop in Las Vegas and all of the things they buy. They come across some really interesting items as well as people. Best of all there is never really a sad ending some bad buys or deals that cannot be made but never a true sad ending and you may even learn something. That is my kind of show!

November Photo of the Day

A photo a day for November. Only one month left!

Hanging Christmas Lights

Jonah hung our Christmas lights yesterday. This was the first time we have ever hung Christmas lights outside. We chose red and green lights, which I had never seen before. It was a perfect day for hanging the lights, it was warm enough to just be in light jackets and there was hardly a breeze. I really appreciate him climbing up there to hang the lights and they look great!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at Denny and Kay's full of Family, friends, and delicious food. I always want to make sure that I photograph every person and I never seem to do it. Next year for sure I will try again for sure ;)

Will's Birthday Part 2

We continued Will's Birthday celebration in the afternoon. Grandma and Grandpa joined us and brought Pizza Planet Pizza, which was delicious. We opened gifts, donned birthday hats,and ate cake.

Will's Birthday Part 1

My little guy is now 4! He is very proud of this fact and believes he can do all kinds of thing now that he is 4! He can't wait to turn 5 (I can wait, they grow so fast!). We started out his celebration on Friday with the cake preparations. We made cupcake in ice cream cones, it was a big hit Will already told me that he wants me to make it again next year!

We started out his birthday with Muffins, and a candle (upon his request because we did it last year.) Unfortunately he had gotten up early and then went back to sleep so he had to be woken up and was still really tired so he didn't want to eat much muffin.
After breakfast we packed up the boys and headed to the Giggle Factory. The boys had a great time and we worn out by the time we left.

There was lots of Sliding

Lots of playing and running around

and quick break to read about the latest in the Health industry
A great time was had by all

We finished off the morning with lunch at Perkins, Will had mac and cheese and Jake had a cheese quesadilla, a quick trip to Target for birthday hats, and a nap.

Tea dyed it

So just in case you were wondering I did tea dye the fabric and it turned out great it was super easy and didn't take long at all. I started on the Christmas stitchery last night. I really wanted to do the fall one but the days are quickly ticking away and I know I won't finish the fall design in time to hang it up for the fall season so I am abandoning fall things and setting my sights on Christmas! Hopefully I will finish it this year and will soon have a picture to show you! The list of things that I want to get accomplished seems to get longer while the time seems to get shorter!

To tea dye or not to tea dye. . .

I am currently working on a stitchery project (my new craft for the winter). I plan to do a few of these and then switch them out ever so often. Here are the ones for the fall, Christmas and Winter. I went to the store that sells fabric here and like almost every time I have gone there they didn't have exactly what I was looking for. I should stop going there except that they are the closest place that sells fabric so. . . I am kind of stuck if I need something right away. I wanted to get tea dyed muslin and all the had was regular. The instructions for the stitchery show you how to tea dye it and I really think it would look better tea dyed but I don't have any tea or coffee or anything to dye muslin with! So now I am in my indecision mode where I waffle back and forth about what I should do. Should I just leave it and that way I can get started right away, or do I go and get tea, amongst all of the other things that I need to do today, and dye the fabric. What if it doesn't turn out right, what if I hate the way it looks then I will have to go and get more fabric and start all over when I could have just gone ahead with what I had it is not like anyone will ever look at the stitchery and say you should have tea dyed that! That is never the problem though, the problem is always will I like it or regret how I did it and be unhappy with the end product. . . so the question in my wavering mind this morning is to tea dye or not to tea dye!
Am I the only one that sometimes finds it impossible to make a decision?

October Photo of the Day

Here are the photos of the day for October. Only two more months to go!

Free class

I have been taking classes at Jessica Sprague. com for a while now. This year I took a portrait photography class, two photo editing, and a journaling class. Her classes are great! She has a new, free class just in time for documenting the holidays. Take a look. I will be signing up and I am sure it will be great :)

Playing in the way back

One of my favorite places on our property is in the way back. Behind the house, behind, the backyard, behind forest there is a wonderful little outcropping of trees. I think they are oak trees but please don't quote me on that, I am not a tree expert. When we first moved here there was tall grass everywhere and Jonah has been diligently mowing it all down. A good portion of our property has now been mowed. Since I no longer have to wade through waist high grass I am much more likely to go back there. Today we walked back on the trail and played for a while and of course took a few photos.

Since all of the tree are deciduous there is a lovely layer of crunchy fallen leaves all over the ground. This made Peanut very happy as it was also a bit windy and the leaves kept blowing around making for the best dog toys. Fall is such a wonderful time of year isn't it?

Last week in photos

We have had dreary, cloudy weather for about a week now. Not a lot of rain just clouds. I am not a big fan of this weather because, frankly, it makes for blah photos. We don't have the greatest lighting in our house (need to put lamps on my list!). So I rely heavily on natural lighting for my indoor photos and try to take my photo of the day (POTD) before dark. It doesn't always happen but it is what I try to do. I have been struggling with taking a photo everyday lately and the bad lighting isn't helping. Don't get me wrong there is no way I am stopping my POTD, it is almost the end of October and all I have is two months left and they are some of the most interesting months in the whole year so I will surely finish it out but I will admit it is feeling a bit stale right now. Last week's photo's are blah, but I do love seeing them all together in a weekly layout and it helps me to remember that I am not trying to take award winning photos I am just trying to capture the little daily moments in out lives. So on blah days and even blah weeks it is worth it. Oh and in case you wondered I have done a page like this for every week this year. At the end of the year I will share the entire book with you ;)

The templates that I am using can be found at Designer Digital and the kit can be found at Shabby Princess

Lifehouse "Everything" Skit

A friend posted this video on Facebook a while ago and I was just amazed by it. What an awesome illustration of Jesus' love for us and that it is never, NEVER, to late to turn to Him. So amazing. If you haven't seen it take a look and if you have and you are like me you probably won't mind seeing it again!

My Blankie was tired

A conversation with Will after he woke up from his nap, still a little groggy.

Me-You took a good nap today, you must have been tired!
Will-Yep, so was my blankie
Me-Why was your blankie tired?
Will- Because he was in the dryer and he can't sleep in the dryer because it is too noisy
Me- Why is it noisy in the dryer
Will- Because there is a speaker that goes around and around and it is too noisy!

Well that explains it all really doesn't it ;)
You must know that it is a traumatic event each week when we have to wash his blanket. It is often his idea to have it washed and he loves having a fresh, warm blankie. But each time his blue blankie goes into the washer tears are soon to follow. We do have another blanket that helps in a pinch, thanks Trisha, but nothing compares to the original blue blanket. He has a special corner that is his favorite, with well loved and worn fringe. Above all of his possessions his blankie is a most treasured and trusted friend. No other can compare.

Painting with Celery

We are working on the letter C this week so yesterday we painted C's with Celery and then they abandoned the celery and just painted with their hands instead.

Is that a lion??

Today we were at the park and Jake excitedly asks me, " Mommy is that a linon?" (a lion) I had to laugh and snap a picture of this lady walking her lion =)

September Photo a Day

Here are my POTDs (photos of the day) for September, I can hardly believe there are only three months left of this year!

Cheese Frosting

I gave the boys cheese crackers with cheese filing for a snack tonight. Will takes the first bite of his and says excitedly," Hey Grandma these have Cheese frosting in them!"

Hello New Friend. . .

We have been looking for a second camera for a while. There are days when Jonah really needs to take the camera to work, but I am reluctant to let mine go. What would I do if there was an awesome shot and I missed it because he had it at work. I guess it really wouldn't be the end of the world but since I taken been taking a photo a day all year long I really do need to have it with me. Anyway I did a ton of research and at first really thought that I wanted a point and shoot, but upon further consideration I decided that I was so used to my DLSR, it would be hard to sacrifice some of the things I loved about it (not to mention the fact that I recently took a photography class and learned what some of the new models could to). So I began researching and watching prices and last week the camera that I had my eye on took a price dive. After a bit of cajoling from Jonah it has now found a new home! I didn't think it would arrive so soon and I haven't gotten a chance to get a new memory card, it uses a different one that my other camera. So for now all I can do is turn the knobs and buttons, but I can't wait to get a memory card and get to know my new friend.

The sewist . . .

I am looking for Apron patterns. I am making aprons for the boys for Christmas and now I want one too! So I am looking for a cute and Feminine pattern that I will love to wear and probably hate to mess up and I came across a review of a book I was interested in. In the review the reviewer refers to the person who sews the pattern as a sewist. I had never heard of the word, so of course I google it. It is a new politically correct, gender neutral version of seamstress. Who knew? Isn't a male seamstress a Taylor? So where there were two different words now there is only one, the English is ever-evolving.

Funny Toddler Moments

Jake, at 32 mo, is talking up a storm. His language and comprehension is growing everyday. He amazes and amuses me by the things he says on a regular basis. Here are a couple of stories from this week.
On Tuesday we went to the Library for story time, they had set out name tags for the moms to put names on the kids. As always I asked Will how to spell his name, W-i-l-l he tells me proudly. I turn to Jake and ask him what his name is, of course he answers Paco! Let's just put Jake on the name tag, I say. Do you know how to spell Jake? A-b-c Jake he answers.

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Yesterday when I got him up from his nap his pants were went so I had to get new ones. I had not folded the laundry, let's just not talk about how much laundry is piled up, so I got some tan ones that he hardly ever wears, because they are tan and he is a boy and boys get tan pants really dirty. Anyway he takes one look at the pants and loudly exclaims "OOOOOOOH Mommy I Lub those pants!"

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Today I put on one of their bible songs Cd's so they could dance and play music. The song, Father Abraham comes on and Jake starts doing some really fancy moves, I know this is a song they regularly hear at church, so I ask Jake if he learned those moves at church. No he replies we just have snack, apparently that is what impacts him- snack

S'mores

Jonah grilled chicken and veggies on the grill for us tonight so we decided to do S'mores for dessert The fire was HOT

So you have to get down low. Roasting the marshmallows is serious business

But Jake is little and has a hard time roasting himself so I took over for him and over did them a bit ~oops! He didn't seem to mind though
"Jake let me see your hands"

Too engrossed in the S'more to look at me

Daddy helping Will out
Jake showing me that his "marmellow" was way way up "dere"

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and here are a couple more photos just because. Cool lighting makes too small corn plants and weeks look prettyWe stayed out until the sun went down and then let the boys get out their flashlights and play for a little while before heading in for a bath and bed. It was a fun evening!

I hope your Labor Day weekend is going well and that you are enjoying the last bit of summer :)

You don't Go away . . .

Conversation with Will this morning:
W: Why was grandma sad when she leaved us?
Me: Because she misses us!
W: Ohhh I miss her too!
Me: Do you ever miss mommy?
W: No you never go'd away from us!

Yep that's just the way I like it :)

Before and After

Last week Jonah decided to shave his goatee off. I don't really know why, but it was fun to see the boys' reaction as they have never seen their dad without a goatee (Will was fascinated, Jake cried) It took some getting used to as I have only seen him this was a few time myself, but now I kind of like it. Will says he likes him better without whiskers because it doesn't tickle when he kisses him! With or without whiskers I love this guy and am happy to have him in my life!

August in Photos

Can you believe August is over already? This summer seemed to fly by. . . we are looking forward to fall and all that it holds for us ;)

From seed to Pumpkins . . . well almost

We planted pumpkins a few months ago and we have watched them sprout, grow pretty yellow flowers, and now finally we have a few little pumpkins. Two of them are about the size of an apple, well a smallish apple. I have no idea if they will get big enough for us to carve but it has been really fun to watch them grow and I think we have gotten the bug for growing. We plan to grow a bigger garden next year.

What we ate today. . .

Just in case you wanted to know!

We have been enjoying a lot of fresh veggies lately, not because we have a wonderful garden, but because we of the kindness of others. Will keeps trying to tell people about our garden and I try to shush him because all we have are some carrots and pumpkins that may or may not ripen before the frost! We received some zucchini, I am not a well versed cook and didn't really know what to do with it so I made zucchini bread, I know I have sent the recipe to many of you, but for those of you who haven't seen the recipe yet you can find it here. It is so delicious that I had to make this sweet and delicious bread again this week. I can't resist it so I had it for breakfast, the boys, who seem a bit sick of it had Life Cereal.

For lunch we had sandwiches, PB&J for Jake and ham and cheese for the rest of us and on the side we had fresh, red grape tomatoes. Jonah came home with a big bag of them from K and I wondered What will we do with all of those? We still had some she had given us earlier in the week but they are so good the boys just devour them, I have eaten quite a few myself. They are almost all gone!

Today is rather cool so what could be more perfect for a fall feeling day (even though it is still August?) Chile! So we rounded our day out with four bowls of Chile mmmm so delicious as Jonah's Chile always is!

This post was inspired by Katrina's Snapshot Saturday #5 I love these challenges :)