happy thanksgiving. . .

from my home to yours - may you and your family have more blessings than you can count.

catch you soon -

the stacy julian project. . .

. . .do you know stacy julian?

by that, i don't necessarily mean IRL (although that's got to be freakin awesome!). . .but do you know "of" her?

if you do. . .then you may have caught her liitle saturday play project this weekend on her blog. . .

there are lots of holiday albums and ideas out there to document your holiday and get in the spirit. . .by far, my favorite of all time is Ali's december daily. . .but i have to admit - it intimidates me and i've never been able to actually do it. . .even though in my heart of hearts - i want to.

anyway - stacy posted this cute little pink album from target on her blog earlier in the week. . .while i was at target on saturday, i spied it and picked it up. . .not sure i'd do her project or not. . .but what the heck right?

well i read her instructions, and with some holiday paper, this seemed like something i could manage. . .i went to michael's and bought a pack of American Craft's Jolly paper. . .came home and got busy. . .

except for the paper and the album - i used stuff i had. . .even the pictures, i scrounged up holiday-past pictures that were printed and lying around. . .scrapbooking the holidays has always intimidated me - it needs to be perfect - i'm afraid i'll goof it up. . .

here are a few shots from inside. . .i still need to put a family picture in the front, and do a title page. . .but other than that - i'm ready for december 1st. . .

thanks stacy - for your endless inspiration and your amazing knack to make me feel like i really can do it - and not sweat the small stuff.

catch you soon -

creatively speaking. . .

. . .this tuesday's creative endeavor is not my own. . .

a good friend of mine recently launched her art and jewelry shop on etsy

if you are an etsy shopper, and even if you aren't, please check her out at
www.annikalane.etsy.com

Alexis, the artist, held an open house at her home on sunday, where she showcased some of her art and her jewelry. . .i bought this gorgeous necklace for myself:

i also bought a pair of earrings for a holiday gift. . .

she is a terribly creative and wonderful artist and mom, and i wish her all the luck in the world.

if you stop by her shop - come back and let me know what you liked -

catch you soon -

mondays from the mommyhood. . .

. . .time for another adventure in mommying. . .must be monday. . .

today let's  talk about your child's behavior. . .what is the one (or 2) behavior that makes you INSANE??

i have to say - i am blessed with relatively well-behaved children. . .in true Super Nanny style, we have adopted house rules and consequences that go with them.  i have read a number of books on coaching, setting limits, blah blah blah. . .

some things are easy - there is no physical-ness against thy brother (no hitting, kicking, pushing, pinching, pulling, etc)

some things are difficult - we are struggling with the "fresh talk" with ryan and picking up your toys with owen right now. . .both age-appropriate behaviors, but annoying nonetheless. . .

but do you know what makes me CRAZY??  as if you were dragging elvira's nails accross a chalkboard??

Bickering

yes - bickering. . .when the 2 of them just cannot get along - which is most of the time, or so it seems. . .we are working on our warm fuzzy jar. . .and it's helping. . .but not enough. . .

how do you cope with your children's bickering??

catch you soon -

remembering. . .

. . .i know this is a day late. . .but it's never too late to thank those that serve and protect us everyday so that we can sleep peacefully at night. . .

have you heard of this book?

i had not, until ryan came home from school and told me all about it. . .he also told me that his classroom put together a committee, asked the principal if they could do this, and set up their own white table to say thanks.  part of his classroom's observence of the holiday was also a small book about the various branches of the service, which included a questionaire for a veteran in your life.  ryan chose to call pop-pop and get the specifics of his tour of duty with the Air Force Strategic Air Command in NY. . .i love that he could share this with my dad - and that my dad could share this with him. . .we are very lucky indeed.

so thank you - from the bottom of my heart - to all the men and women that serve now and have served in the past - to their families and loved ones that support them. . .for keeping my country my family and all those i love - safe.

catch you soon -

creatively speaking. . .

. . .so i've been in a bit of a creative slump. . .any crafters out there relate?

but i saw a tweet yesterday by the amazing and funny Lain Ehmann about a card challenge on the ella blog. . .so i hopped on over there and read all about it. . .

the project was to take 20 minutes and create 4 ready-to-use no-occassion-specified cards.  you needed 2 pieces of cardstock (preferably 12x12) and 1 piece of patterned paper. . .and some embellys.

well - i took the challenge. . .and granted, it took me a tad bit longer than the 20 minutes it took super-scrapper Lain. . .but i did have a 3 YO in the house at the time. . .but i have to say - it was EASY - and darn it - my 4 cards look cute!  They are all ready for a sentiment stamp, or some rub-ons or letter stickers. . .and viola.

i would have posted a picture - but i sent an email to ella as part of their "inspired by" challenge. . .again - a bit out of my comfort zone. . .but something i'd like to see happen - some of my work published.  so for now - you have to imagine what they look like. . .but i gave you a peek

and by all means - try it yourself - you know you have that stuff in your stash - it's a great way to use up kit leftovers. . .

let me know if you try it!

catch you soon -

mondays from the mommyhood. . .

thinking i'll start a new feature on the old blog. . .on monday's i'll blog about something glamourous and wonderful about being a mom (actually a parent- stuff for dads too). . .doesn't that sound fun?

to start things off - today's topic will be vomit.

i haven't lost you yet - have i??  if you're a parent - then you are well-versed in vomit.

well this morning, on our way to drop john at work, poor owen threw up all over himself and his carseat. . .since we were on a major road, with fast-moving traffic, i chose to continue up the road for 1/4 mile until we reached target - the nirvana for moms.

i took owen out of his seat and sat him a microfiber towel i keep in the car. . .while john ran into target for a new outfit and handtowel.  i had a variety of wipes in the car - vehicle cleaning wipes, target brand extra wipes (just in case) and my regular diaper bag staple wipes (though a little low on supply).  So using that combination, i wiped up the carseat.

when john came out with a cute orange striped t shirt and khaki pants, (he even remembered new undershirts!) we changed owen in the back of the car (we have a small suv - so there's room back there).  then we let him sit in the front seat with some books while we (by that i mean mostly john) cleaned up the puddle under the seat.

john hooked everything back up and we put the new hand towel in the seat for owen to sit on so he wouldn't get wet.  owen seemed his normal chipper self at this point besides.

originally, i had planned to do our weekly grocery shopping after the drop-off, but given the half hour of extra time the clean up took, and the chance that we could have a repeat - we just came home.

owen is resting on the couch, enjoying a snack and drink. . .a load of laundry is in, and i am finishing up my pumpkin spice latte.  except for a delay in grocery shopping - it's just another day in the mommyhood - right?

things i learned:

• it's important to keep a spare set of clothes (even just a shirt) in the car.
• all those wipes - are a GOOD thing, and worth the space they take up.
• leather seats are TOTALLY worth the extra cost if you have kids.
• if you keep your cool(and sense of humor), your kids recover more quickly.

catch you soon -

warm fuzzies. . .

. . .or as i am thinking about it - the "no bickering jar". . .

the always inspirational and most of the time simply brilliant stacy jullian posted about this type of project on her Sprinkles Blog. . .

when I read the description and how she planned to use it - i though of my 2 boys. . .3 and 9. . .bickering. . .in the morning. . .in the evenings. . .for what seems like most of the time they are together. . .and it hit me. . .

when they are nice to each other - we can add a fuzzie. . .when they bicker. . .we take 2 out. at the end of november, if the jar is full - a special family prize (still TBD)

what do you think? will it work?
stay tuned. . .

catch you soon -

happy birthday daddy. . .

. . .i have to give a big shout out to my dad today - it's his birthday. . .


we couldn't be there with him today - but we're planing a trip to NJ this weekend to celebrate with him.

love you daddy - hope you had a great birthday!

catch you soon -

just a random bit of nothing. . .

home

bored

dunno

catch you soon -

halloween haunts. . .

. . .this past weekend was halloween. . .

both the boys had parties at school on friday, i gave myself a martha moment and made really easy chocolate dipped pretzels for them to bring in and share with the class. thanks to the lovely wilton bags - they looked darn near professional.

saturday john put on a big batch of southern living chili and i intended to make the kids mummy dogs for dinner. . .we waited for the rain to stop. . .it didn't. . .we went out to look for a carving pumpkin, since the pre-halloween weather didn't cooperate either - and we found ourselves without a big pumpkin in as long as I can remember. . .but the halloween gods were smiling on us, and we got the last, mostly orange, large pumpkin in the lot. . .

we came home and john helped get the house set up - even though it was STILL rainy and rather miserable out. . .i carved the pumpkin. . .we loaded up the candy and the kids and i got into our costumes














john took the kids around to the neighborhood houses, and i stayed behind and handed out candy and enjoyed a nice glass of yellow tail. . .

the rain got the better of us and we called it quits early - but not before the kids each had a bag of candy : )

how did you celebrate?

catch you soon -