Onward toward Christmas!

We arrived back home last night from our Thanksgiving trip to Kansas. It's good to be home. We had a nice visit with Morgan's family. Far too much football for me though! We don't have a tv in our upstairs livingroom so it's never a big part of our day. It's always overwhelming to me to have a tv on all the time. And it's a lot noisier with 4 extra children around! My niece and nephews are a rambunctious bunch when they are all together. Owen did have fun exploring all their toys, playing in the sandbox and running around with them.
We stayed in a hotel with my MIL and FIL. We had adjoining rooms so this made bedtime for Owen much easier than if we'd only had one room. It also eased a lot of the strain of staying at my SIL's house. It just gave everyone some down time and a break.
On Saturday we all went down to the Crown Center in Kansas City where the Hallmark Co is based. They had a fun creative exploratory place called Kaleidescope for the kids. They were able to use all kinds of recycled materials from Hallmark to make things. We had fun. Owen didn't make anything but he had fun running around and getting into stuff.
This week I've got to finish some collages for possible publication in a book so I may not be writing much until after Thursday.
I hope everyone (in the US) had a good Thanksgiving.

Finished!

Yesterday I finished up the shirts for my niece and nephews. I'm really happy with the way they turned out.

This one is for my nephew who is five. This one is for my niece who is three.

And this one is for my nephew who is three.

The BAM shirt is my favorite. I had a bit of trouble with the stitching on the O's because I'm not good at sewing in a circle! I think I'm going to make one for Owen, maybe with BURP on it. And one for me that says MAMA.

Today we got some windows washed. It always makes things brighter in the house when the windows are clean. I love that. And the yard is all cleaned up again after the wind blew more leaves in. I love the neatness of fall!

Tomorrow we are taking a trip to the Conservatory in St. Paul. One of my favorite places to take pictures. I've not been there in the fall before so I don't know what kind of plants they have in the seasonal room. We may take a trip through the zoo too as it's connected with the conservatory.

Loves crackers...

In Owen's diaper bag I keep a container filled with snacks. Usually graham crackers. Lately he's taken to unloading the diaper bag and inspecting the contents. His favorite is the cracker container. Yesterday he unloaded all the crackers ( I don't know why) and then carried around the container just munching away. He'd go back to the pile to get a new one when he was finished. He didn't hold still for the pictures though. That's why they look so silly and unfocused!

Yesterday I finished a little collage I was working on. It started out as just the blue painting and ended up as this collage.

Yesterday my sister came over for the annual "Making of the Hand Turkeys". She's been making these buggers for years and last year started the tradition with Owen. This year's turkeys are a little non-traditional. They will be getting some feathers later today. Mine might need some glitter!
I need to thank Rachel for her great solution to the traveling scraproom dilemma. She suggested a trailer outfitted for scrapping/crafting that we pull behind the RV. Genius! And I've also decided we would have a Vespa with a side car that we would just mount to the trailer or RV somewhere. But since you can park an RV in almost any WalMart in the US we probably wouldn't need it too much. Just for trips to the scrap store or art supply store.

I also wanted to share a bit from a letter I got from Toys R Us this morning. As I'm sure you know there are tons of toy recalls out there. I was overwhelmed checking the list last week for any of Owen's toys. Toys R Us wants us to know they are committed to toy safety and here's the part of the letter I found amazing:

We believe that when a product is recalled, the most important thing is to get that product out of children’s hands. To that end, we have instituted a "no quibble" policy when it comes to toy recalls. This means Toys"R"Us will take back recalled product whether it was purchased at Toys"R"Us or not - with or without a receipt.

I hope this doesn't come back to hurt them. They also say they are committed to being sure the toys they carry are tested by the manufacturers. I'm glad to see a company stepping up to the plate and working for the good of children and consumers. It's a good business plan too.

Today is supposed to be nice out so hopefully we'll get a little outdoors time. Owen's cold has turned into a cough and I've got a sore throat. I'm also taking him for a flu shot today. I hate doing that. I'd make Morgan go if he didn't work 25 miles from home!

Living in a van...

Have you seen the TV commercials for some of the new mini-vans or SUVs? Like the Grand Caravan? We were watching a the news last night and on came a commercial for one of these vehicles. Afterward I told Morgan we should sell the house and most of our possessions and buy one of these vehicles. We could live in it. No property taxes, no homeowners insurance. We could live where ever we were. Then I told Morgan we could just park in the lot at his work and use the showers there and he could come out and have lunch with me and Owen. And he said Owen could play outside all he wanted because it would basically be where he lived!

I know this isn't totally realistic. We'd need a trailer for my art and craft supplies. Not to mention my shoes! But for what some of these vehicles cost you should be able to live in them. They certainly make them look comfy enough on TV!

Sometimes I think it would be really fun to own an RV and drive all over the country. You're house would basically be with you so you wouldn't have that homesick feeling. If you wanted to visit a friend or relative you could do it for as long or as short a time as you (or they) wanted and you wouldn't be too much of an imposition.

I think my grandpa would have enjoyed this but my grandma wasn't a traveler. She mostly stayed home and surrounded herself with animals and art supplies. I'm doing pretty good with the art supplies but thankfully we just have one animal. I think I learned from her that they are a bit messy and require a lot of attention. And as I've mentioned many times I'm short on the attention span. Which Ludwig can attest to since I left him outside while we were gone twice in one week! I wouldn't do well on a farm!

Busy, busy bees...

We've been busy bees around the house the last few days. We got all the leaves in the yard raked and bagged. Thank goodness for the garbage company who picks them up at the end of the driveway! Owen loved being outside while Morgan raked and then when we were bagging. He is a little outdoorsman!

I also spent some major time in my craft room cleaning. I had piles of things that need sorting and filing and other things that needed new homes. I cleaned off my magnet board and put up some new pictures too. My drawers got labeled and rearranged. And the floor is cleaned up! It feels so much better in there. I can function to a certain extent with the messiness but I like order even in there!
Tonight I got this new Making Memories Holiday Idea book. There are lots of fun projects in there to inspire me to do some new decorating for the Holidays. I've been wondering how we will decorate and still have things been Owen Proof too! He wasn't walking last Christmas so we didn't have too much trouble keeping him away from the tree. This year he's sure to be into everything he can get his hands on. Today he got into the "sin" cabinet where Morgan keeps his liquor and I keep some chocolate! He went straight for the Hershey's Kisses and a bottle of Irish Creme!

This is the Christmas Journal I've started working on. I'm not sure what I'm going to put in it yet. I've printed an Advent Devotional Guide from one of the local seminary schools also. I want to do something to help me be purposeful and reflective during the Christmas Season. I love Christmas but it always seems to get stressful and overwhelming.

Today was another nice day. Temps in the 50's. So Owen and I went outside to play in the yard. He has gotten pretty good at running and not falling down. The ground is a bit uneven in places and he would trip and fall a lot a few weeks ago but now he seems to have been balance. I had to put the camera in action mode, run away from him and then turn and shoot to get this! He loves the camera but mostly to play with not necessarily to have his picture taken! Although he is a good smiler!

An new friend...

For my birthday my SIL sent me this cute little guy for my collection. I guess I have to call it that now since there are quite a few!

It seems some other little guy has taken a liking to him because I found "Gnomey" sitting here and I had not given him the ride! I just thought it was so cute to find him sitting right there. All by himself as though he'd made the journey on his own.

And a couple months ago my mom showed Owen how to flush. Fortunately he hasn't figured out how to lift the lid so nothing got flushed!

These are the shirts I'm working on for my niece and nephews for Christmas. There will be words on them like BAM, POW, and WHAM. Like in the old Batman TV show? Remember that? I loved that show.

Constant Entertainment!

Being a mama has changed my life in more ways than I can even count. If you are a mama you know this and you also know that you cannot be prepared for it. I don't like boogers and poo and all the yuckiness that goes with mamahood but I do it. Because I 'm the one that has to most of the day. I am blessed to have a husband who will take over those duties without fuss when he gets home. We don't fight about who did it last.

Before being a mama I was pretty selfish with my time. I did with it what I pleased and would spend hours by myself reading or making things in my craft room and Morgan didn't care. He'd go about his stuff too.

When I decided to stay home with Owen I was happy about the decision. I was in a place in my career where I felt I could take a break and not miss it or yearn to go back. And that's still true. There are days that are rough because we don't get much sleep or someone is just cranky or crabby or wants to play outside all day or not take a nap. And sometimes it's just boring being home all day without grown-ups around and nothing that I have to do.

But there are far more good days. Like today. When Owen was playing in his room reading and enjoying his toys. He'd run to the door of the study to check on me and say hi (not really he's sort of yells stuff) and I'd take to him and then he'd run off. The last time he came to the gate at the door he said something and then I heard "rip". And I turned around to see that he was removing his diaper! I wasn't so concerned about it being dirty as I had just changed him (and was letting him play in just his diaper because he's a pain to dress) but the chances of him peeing on something are pretty great! So I go over to him as he's removing the rest of his diaper and he looks at me and laughs and takes off running! So I grabbed the camera! Because what's funnier than a naked, laughing, running baby!?

I added the black box just so no one would be offended or think I was posting inappropriate pictures of my son! But it's funny too! This is destined for a layout entitled "Streaker".

I don't know who was laughing harder. Me or Owen. Until he ran into a wall of course! But it was a minor bump so he was fine. I finally got a new diaper on him and then pants. And the pants just barely before he could get the diaper off. He's one of those kids who would be happy being naked all day!

One more birthday!

Today is Morgan's birthday! We aren't doing anything big. It is after all Wednesday! Dinner at home, a few presents.

We've had three good nights of sleep this week! I don't know what changed or if it was anything we did. I put a fan back in O's room that we'd been using for a long time but stopped because he kept taking it out of the wall. Then I put in a safety plate but the fan wouldn't plug in so I just put it away. I don't know if that's helping but it's not hurting. Morgan has been giving him water before bed since it's drier in the house than a month ago. O still has a bit of a cold/cough and cough so hard he threw up his breakfast this morning! I think he has a rather sensitive gag reflex because he throws up easier than anyone I know.

Not a very exciting day/week for me. Just feeling very busy in the head. I need to channel that better.

DOM card 44...

House done with oil pastels. CS and brad for the door. I do not like how the writing came out. And I need to date stamp it. I had wanted to use a photo of our house but then I end up spending too much time on the computer so I decided to draw. I'm not sure how I feel about being done with it already. I like dragging it out a bit so I have something to look forward to!

Hello Monday Morning...

And Happy 1/2 birthday to Owen! November is a big month in our house. My birthday is the 3rd, Owen's 1/2 birthday is the 5th, and Morgan's birthday is the 7th. So there is a lot of celebrating this week!

Saturday we celebrated my birthday with dinner at the 50's Grill. A fun 50's style place with burgers, fries and homemade deserts. We had a good time. Morgan gave me a new blender. Our old one, circa 1960, was due to be replaced. The new one is a sleek red Black and Decker.

Yesterday my family came for dinner to celebrate both our birthdays. My sister gave Morgan a ticket to a Wild game. Minnesota's hockey team. I'm not sure if he was more excited about the game or the free beer after the game! I got a ticket too! So we are going with my sister and her BF on the 30th for the game. Morgan has been to one but the rest of us have not so we are pretty excited! I haven't been to a hockey game since college!

Last night Owen threw one of his nighttime fits. I just don't know why this is happening. He settled down after I went and sat in his closet and he came in with me. So we sat quietly in his closet for a while and then I put him back down. He was fine for about a half hour and then he was back up screaming again. We watched a couple episodes of The Office and then I put him back down. He slept until 7:30 this morning. His screaming and carrying on in the middle of the night is really getting to me. I had to put him down last night and just go back in our bedroom. I just couldn't take it anymore. He wants me to hold him but then he arches his back to get down and screams and falls on the floor. Then he gets up and wants to be picked up again but then doesn't want to be held. Morgan went through this for a bit while I was in our room and then when I came back out he quieted down and wanted to sit with me. He will eat if we give him something but he doesn't seem hungry and he usually won't take his sippy. I just don't get it.

Yesterday after church Morgan picked up Owen's Christmas Present. We had been looking at little kitchen sets for him. He seems to love the one in our baby class room and he it's the first thing he goes to when we're at someone's house who has one. They are expensive though but there was one the Fleet Farm ad for $30! Special purchase, limited number! So I had Morgan go after church and he decided it looked good and got one. Hopefully it won't be junk when we take it out of the box. I may have to open it up to check it out first!

I created a little tent for Owen in the living room yesterday with our old card table and a sheet. I put his little Tiger chair and a basket of books in it and now he's got a little reading tent!

It seems a cold front moved in last night and our mild fall weather is over. We will have a high of 44˚ today with wind advisory for most of the day. It had to happen sometime I guess.

And last, but not least, the winner of my Birthday RAK is Toni!

DOM cards...

Week 41 Magic Carpet. It's my least favorite card out of all of them. I didn't have room for all of what I wanted to write and I had a hard time coming up with something. I just didn't like this one.
This weeks card 43 Scary. It was Owen's second Halloween and his first trick or treating. Before we went out he had this little melt down but it was still so cute. I don't have many pictures of his pout so I wanted to remember it.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Today is my birthday. I didn't really do a lot of talking about it before hand. Which I used to do. I guess it was easier when I had a larger audience everyday! I would start on October 3rd and remind the kids once a week that my birthday was coming! I think it was more fun while I was teaching. And I'm 34, which Maggie reminded me was old! But she's older!

Last night Nikki and her husband came over for dinner and a movie. We watched License to Wed. It was hysterical. So cute and funny. If you need a good laugh this is a good movie for it.

We are going to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants tonight. The 50's Grill. It's exactly as it sounds and the waitresses wear poodle skirts. They have the best burgers and milkshakes. Tomorrow my family is coming over for dinner. We always celebrate birthdays together. I love that.

To celebrate my birthday here, I will draw a name (on Monday) from the comments on this post and send that person a little present! What better way to celebrate a birthday than to give a gift! Comments must be posted no later than Midnight Sunday. Central time.

Have a great weekend!

Happy November!

Hooray! It's November! My favorite month.

Here are a few pictures of Owen from last night.We aren't really sure what this little fit was about but he got over it.

We tried to keep him in the wagon but after the second house he was done with that and one of us had to carry him.

We did about 5 or 6 houses on our street. Just the neighbors we know and then it was time to come home. Owen was not happy about going door to door and not being able to go in and visit. He did go in one house to see what the lady was watching on TV and then the next door neighbor held him for a bit while he and Morgan chatted. He seemed perfectly happy just to stay there all evening!

We had intended to go visit Nikki but Owen started having a melt down when we tried to put him in the car so we stayed home. He watched a few trick or treaters come to the house and then was ready for bed.

I can imagine from an 18 month olds perspective Halloween is sort of odd!