Sweet Jill and Halloween Fun

My bloggin buddy Jill is such a sweetie. She sent me the cutest little baseball outfit for Jonah along with this darling card. She and I have a thing for this little cowpoke. I love the colors and the paisley, amazing. Thanks Jilly! And here's the pumpkins the kiddos and Travis carved the other night. Travis, Jakob and Tessa.Jakob carved his all by himself! Aaron drew on his and I saved mine for pie!

Tic Tac Toe... I win

Just a little project I've been working on for my kiddos for Christmas. I think I'll call this game Frogs and Fishes instead of X's and O's. Hugs to all!

Inks: Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Bali Breeze

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Red Riding Hood and Old Olive

Stickles Lime Green, Orange Peel and Turquoise

Patterned Papers: My Mind's Eye

Zuppa Toscana and FHE

Last night we got together with friends for Family Home Evening and since I was taking Jonah to the Dr. Travis was in charge of making something for the potluck dinner. Now, those of you who know me know that I'm usually NOT a fan of my husband's meals...he usually adds weird ingredients in weird combinations( like when we had sausage/potato burritos smothered in country gravy the other night), but this time he knocked it outta the ball park. I gave him a pound of Italian sausage and told him that's what he had to work with and the soup he made was phenomenal. Instead of retyping the whole recipe I'll just post the link to AllRECIPES where he got it from. Super Delicious Zuppa Toscana We didn't have fresh spinach on hand so I defrosted and drained a 10oz package and it was great!

Back to the super crazy time we had with all of the BOYS and families at FHE. This is how the night started out and this is how it ended. What did people ever do without television?!?!?

Our silly husbands...the boys are really going to miss Jim.

Yeah, we're sexy and we know it. Jenn kept saying the word "something erotic" and we couldn't stop laughing.

Growin' Up way too fast

I just thought I'd let y'all know that we went to see Journey to the Center of the Earth because it was at the dollar theater. I thought it was slow and cheesy...Jakob LOVED it and Tessa probably would have rather seen Wall-E. Thank goodness I only paid $1.25 to see it, probably won't be buying the movie and I WILL probably read Journey to the Center of the Earth now!

I finished a scrapbook page and I used some of my really old product. Yey for me. I need to take a better picture when the sun is more overhead...too many shadows right now. Now that we have Jonah, Aaron seems like such a big boy. He's pretty independent...loves to play with other kiddos and can't get enough of George the Monkey. Just a little commemorative layout about his likes right at three. Thanks to Kristy for the WRMK chipboard alphabet and the funky flower stamp from Unity. Oh, I also used up some of my "sticky stitches" I believe from Colorbok. Mini alpha stamps are from Hero Arts. White ink is Stampin' up Craft ink. And the ragged edge border stamp is from SeeD's. Stitched ribbon from Lil' Davis.

One Month

Jonah is now a month old. Crazy, huh? He's just so darn sweet to look at. I can't help posting about him. He still wakes me up about four, five, or six times a night...we'll work on that. I haven't even done one scrapbook page for him yet...I need to renew my Costco membership...they gave me 50 free prints.

Today, I'm taking Jakob and Tessa to the movies because they've worked extra hard stacking wood and they deserve it.

Storage Solutions

**Pictures to the left may be supersized
Sharing a little something up close and personal about my scrap space. I wish it was all matchy matchy, but I'm not blessed with that kind of fundage (remember when we used to add "age" to the end of like every word, man am I getting old) and this space works for me.
This is how I store my buttons, by color in little drawers. Also beads and what not.
My solution for small punches...they fit four to a drawer and I also have my tags, brads and eyelets in this set of drawers. I just added a sample of each punch to the front of the drawer so I would know what's in there. My mom was going to get rid of this two tiered lazy susan but I snatched it and repurposed it for my beads and sequin collection. My extra ribbon ended up on the bottom...I think I'm ready for a third rod of ribbon...sheesh. I could probably paint it to make it prettier. I use a stepped spice rack I found at the thrift store for my wood mounted rubber stamps. I love being able to see them all...I HATE dusting them! Again...maybe some paint to match it up. Here I used those super cheap metal curtain rods to hang up my "whale of a punch" punches. So easy to access and keep organized. You can spray paint the rods any color you want...I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Heck, I haven't even painted my walls yet! Those are my kiddos hand prints done in flour dough. Aaron's was so tiny. And here, yes here my lovelies is my ribbon, so yummy organized in ROYGBIV.

Aren't you so very proud of me?

Edited to add: my ribbon spools are on cafe curtain extension rods which are held away from the wall with rod brackets. I'll try to do close ups soon. My punches are also on those cheapo curtain rods. Clean, clean, clean! And I even made a card afterwards. I'll post that later because it came out caaaute. I am getting rid of a lot of stamps that were just collecting dust on my shelves. I know I should get rid of more but it's a hard thing to say goodbye to your babies. Did you know that I love Georgia O'keefe's work. Jenn, when are you going to come and help me sand and stain the two nativity sets I ordered...was that two years ago? Well they're in my project box right under my table so as not to be forgotten this year. Anywho, I'm off to the pumpkin patch the freezing October morning. Have a great day.

Quick Update...Major Mess

Jonah went to the Dr. yesterday. He now weighs an astounding 10lbs. 5oz. and measures at 23 inches long. He'll be four weeks old tomorrow. It's already going way too fast.

He was up practically all night last night I think he has caught his brother's cold. Ugh. I'm wiped out but my dh stayed home today (without me asking I might add) and has been so awesome. I love that guy. The babe is finally asleep and I'm going to keep tackling this problem...it's taking me forever to get organized and to cull out stuff I no longer want or need.

I'll try to post the after shots...when things are more respectable.
Here's a during shot.

A blogworthy card...at last

So we went out last night and had a great time. We had dinner at Zea's (their Mediterranean humus is the bomb) and Italian ices at Pop Pop's, so yummy. Alas, we were unable to convince Michelle to stay here in New Mexico, darn it. She's headed to the sunshine state and there's no stopping her. Oh well, I guess that gives us a great excuse to finally go to Disney World...they'll be only a hop, skip and a jump from Mickey and the gang.

So in honor of her leaving us behind I created this gorgeous card that I'm very happy with.

Have a great day!

Stamps: Inkadinkado

Inks: Fired Brick, River Rock, Old Olive, Mellow Moss

Paper: Basic Grey Scarlett's Letter

Ribbon: Big Lots

So Boring

Just a quick, cute card. No stamping. I really need to clean off my desk, there's no way I can do anything serious there right now. I can't seem to find the time to do much of anything though. Tonight I will be going out with the girls. Our very dear friend Michelle is moving to Florida with her family and I'm so darn sad about it. It's a great opportunity for them though so I'm also so happy for them.

I'm trying to decide wether or not to leave the babe with daddy and siblings tonight. We've tested out the bottle (one night) he drank about an ounce with no qualms about it, but I had also nursed him all day and afterward too. I just don't know if he'll be okay. So I'm worried about leaving him, but then there's also cell phones and if things got to be to hairy Travis could call me. I suppose I wouldn't even be thinking about it but for the fact that Jonah has a super fussy period right after dinner time until we can get him all settled in for the night and I don't think he'll do well being out. So that's my dilemma for the evening.

Hope you all have a great day.

Amazing!

I received this by e-mail today. Thought is was pretty darn amazing.
Don't delete this just because it looks weird. Believe it ornot, you can read it.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht Iwas rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnidAoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn'tmttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olnyiprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in therghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitllraed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mniddeos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as awlohe. Amzanig huh?

Make it Mine

I picked up a pack of these monogrammed notecards from Target the other day. They were originally 4 bucks, but I scored all 12 cards with coordinated envies for 98 cents!!! Aren't they just adorable? I added my own little touch with my labeler to make them into thank you cards. Presto chango, whalah! Hopefully I'm caught up on the thank you's now.
PS You could win an amazing quilt by clicking on the link to the right. It's her very own design and oh so yummy!
Have a super day.

Something Crafty...

but not from me. Because I stink at time management at the moment I'll share one of the most wonderful crafty things I've received lately. My father in law built this beautiful cradle for our babe. He's so handy...that's where my wonderful husband gets it from. I've been thinking about painting a scene on it or something, but I'm not sure what. I would really like for it to be gender neautral so that my children will be able to use if for their children. I love the drawer on the bottom where I can store stuff. Amazing. And it glides so smoothly. Thanks Grampy for such a beautiful gift from the heart and the hands.

Have a great day.

Jonah's Birth Story

Me in triage...so uncomfortable. So here's the way it all went two weeks and two days ago. I hadn't had much luck with the stripping of the membranes thing. My midwife had done it three times without any results.
I went in on Monday, five days overdue and was scheduled for some further ultrasounds on Wednesday and and induction on Friday. I was getting worried about how big the baby would be because Aaron was 9lbs 6oz and was five days overdue. My midwife said she didn't think he was that big, but maybe closer to 9lbs. Okay then. I was dilated to a five and not really contracting that I could tell.
Wednesday morning at 12:40am I was rolling over in bed, you know one of those three point turn kind of roll overs and !POP! there goes my water. I immediately turned to Travis as I ran to the bathroom and said, "Crap, Travis, wake up we need to go to the hospital now." (Aaron was born less than two hours after my water broke at the hospital) Then I got on the phone to the midwife and told her I'd be there in about an hour. I wasn't really in any pain...yet. I was, however "leaking" (nothing a extra grande sanitary napkin couldn't handle, right? WRONG). Got dressed, packed up the car, informed the in-laws we were on our way to the hospital, and headed out, the kids still safely unawares in their beds.
Remember the super grande sanitary napkin, well it was no match for the contraction that hit me right as we turned into the hospital. I couldn't believe it, I had to waddle into the hospital with a soaked bum. To top it all off in triage they insisted that they had to test me to "make sure" that my water HAD broken, umm, hello do you not see the puddle I'm sitting in here. UGH! I changed into my lovely hospital garb and they did their standard 20 minute monitoring...by this time my contractions were starting to get quite painful. I HATE laboring lying down and hooked up to stuff, my worst nightmare actually. The testing and monitoring were finished and it was determined that little Jonah had had a bowel movement in utero, so the NICU would have to check him out after his delivery.

Jonah one hour after being born: my little smurf boy.I'm finally moved into my laboring room after which seems like forever, but in all truth was only about forty five minutes. It was almost three in the morning. My midwife, Margot, said it was okay for me to get into the bathtub even though my water had broken...this was a first for me...laboring in water. I was grateful to get into the warm water and stayed there until a little after four in the morning when I felt the baby move down after a truly painful contraction. Yes, I really felt him twist and move down, it was crazy. I told Travis to help me out of the tub and the midwife came in to check on me. I was dilated to a nine or more. Almost ready to deliver, but wait, I'm still not 100% effaced, only 90%. Midwife asks me if during the next extremely excruciating contraction I can push down while she moves my cervix out of the way, umm, yeah, sure, okay. Never want to do that again. Now I can begin to push the babe out. Thank you! Two more extremely excruciating, mind numbingly, painful contractions during which I can clearly remember telling the all those within earshot that I couldn't possibly do this anymore and Jonah entered this world into his father's waiting hands. This is the first baby that Travis actually caught. Thank goodness for the extra midwife in training, Brenda, that was helping me get through the transition while Travis helped our little one come into this world on his end. Jonah Benjamin was born at 4:49am Wednesday morning.
My fourth in four hours from beginning to end. I couldn't have hoped for a better labor. However, I have imprinted that delivery in my mind because I never want to do it again. I don't know how we forget about how bad it is,(I actually felt myself tear this time, crazy) I'm determined not to let the memory diminish this time. Yeah right! In a couple of years I'll probably see new babes and ooh and aww over them, but I AM DONE, okay, OKAY!
So now you know the gory details, I left out the bits about how they were teasing me about gushing amniotic fluid all over the floor and how Travis was christened with said fluid while he waited with hands outstretched for baby. Oh, well I guess NOW you have all the gory details.

Jonah, two weeks old: so darn cute.

Hugs.
Have a great day.

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Hey there monkey!

I like to make faces with my children's lunches...just a li'l somethin' I've been doing since Jakob was a little guy. Aaron loves it...he just kept replacing the nose. Gotta run.

Have a great day.

Couple of minutes

Heads up...it now takes me a whole day to finish a card. Hah! Between feedings and changings and comfortings I managed to finish this little jewel for a friend of mine. It was her birthday a week ago.
Other good news which I have neglected to share:
Travis cut off that awful beard the day that little Jonah was born. He's my handsome hubby again. I managed to win a couple of ribbons at the state fair for my rubber stamping entries. I won a first place on my Christmas Card, a third on my framed owl family, a second on my birthday whale card and a second on my scrapbook page.
Also not sure if you're interested but I was going to post Jonah's birth story, cuz we all like to know the gory details. Have a great day.

Stamp: Natural Beauty

Ink: Cameo Coral, Black Staz-On, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Apicot Appeal

Paper: Wild Asparagus