One Tired Toddler...

...is what you get when you put him to bed at 11:30 pm one night and the next morning when he wakes at 6:30 you don't give him a nap and then take him to a restaurant and bowling!

He did have a great time with his cousins and was really into bowling. He kept saying "play ball!". However, he did not get the concept of taking turns!!! Finally I ended up taking the little booger home for a nice long nap. I put him down early for bed tonight too, in hopes that he'll be our well behaved little man for tomorrow, the last of our Christmas functions.

During the Mexican lunch, Rachel(niece) and I went to Target. We're not huge fans of the restaurant the rest of the family likes. She got some stuff for her boyfriend and I bought girl baby clothes!!! On sale of course! I just couldn't wait! I do have a little bit of stuff from my sister-in-law Chrissy but it's in storage and I really wanted to have something tangible that was girly. I can't wait to build my baby girl's wardrobe the way I did Mickey's. Clearance sales, garage sales and Craig's List!!! I saw so many cute baby girl things when I was looking for him, it's nice to be able to buy them now! :D

We are tickled pink to announce...

...we're having a girl!!! :D

We opened our envelope Christmas Eve morning after a nice yummy breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and oranges. Mickey was more interested in playing than reading an ultrasound but, we're pretty sure he's going to love her when she comes. He already just adores kids and babies!

I told Andrew as soon as we saw the results that he is going to melt into a huge pile of goo the instant she is born and that he will be permanently wrapped around her finger. He's trying to deny it but it's so gonna happen. :D

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I'll be posting pics soon! I've still got two of five Christmases to attend. ;)

Yep, we opened it!!!

And, nope, I can't tell you all yet!! I should be able to share with you on Friday!

Merry Christmas!!! :D

Argh! The Weather!

Andrew went to work very early this morning. Stettler was actually closed but he's got a big project in Corvallis (Go Beavs!) he's coordinating and wanted to make sure it was all on track. We were going to go to Costco (still need those pics) but the freeway was bumper to bumper in all that ice and snow. Blech!

So, today I cleaned house and wrapped as many presents as I could. I've got three to wrap once I get the pics and two that I can just take out of bags, complete and put back in bags. Tomorrow we were going to have Christmas Eve with my dad and brother but due to the weather and Cody's work schedule we've postponed it to Friday. That is actually in my favor because I'm still waiting for Co's present to arrive.

We're going to try to go to Costco tomorrow morning. After breakfast and after we open that all important envelope!!! We may or may not attend the Hettwer extended family dinner tomorrow night. Have to see how the conditions are there first. Fortunately, I'm down to bring a green salad so when we find out tomorrow morning, I'll be able to pick up the fixings at Costco...if we get there! :D

Today's Snow Pictures

I'm pretty proud of this first shot. It's straight out of the camera and to get the snow so white I had a rather long exposure...and no tripod! :D

I had to crack through the ice to be able to measure the snow!

I don't think we'll be seeing this little guy come spring!

A shot showing the thickness of the ice on top of our snow.

Andrew hard at work clearing a path from the front door to the mail box. Yup, he's using a rake. With all the ice it just worked better than the shovel. :D

These aren't icicles, they're the ice covered branches of our weeping willow.
One last show of the working man. :D

I'll try to have more holiday, less snow pictures tomorrow but, don't hold your breath! LOL!

The First Day of Winter

Hah! We've been here for a while, folks! Here are a couple of pics I got last night.

This first one is of our north facing window covered in ice. Pretty, huh? I had to take quite a few to get one to turn out as I was hand holding these shots and with the long exposure I kept wobbling.

This next one is our the outside of our house, all lit up. I only stayed out long enough to take three and this is the only one that turned out.

It's the best I could do with my point and shoot resting on my tripod. (I couldn't get it to thread onto the tripod) It was just too cold and sleeting too much for me to get a shot. Not to mention I really didn't want to attract the attention of some people who were running around in just boxer shorts, drunk and taking pictures!!! When I went back in and told Andrew about it he said, "Darwinism at it's finest!" LOL!

I've got some pictures from today but I'll post them a little later. Andrew is out shoveling snow and I must get some shots of that! I love watching that man work! :D

Update to the List, Today's Doings Including Scrappiness and SNOW!!!

I know I've been posting a lot about the snow but seriously folks we never get this much! It started snowing at six this morning. I know this because I woke at four and couldn't get back to sleep. Thanks, pregnancy hormones! Anyway, it hasn't stopped since six this morning. It's 7:30 pm here and there are inches, INCHES of snow here! We're talking like six inches! I don't have any pics from my camera because it just hasn't stopped snowing! But, Andrew took a few with our point and shoot today.

I really think all that snow is just gorgeous but it wasn't supposed to start until about noon today. I was supposed to go to Costco and the grocery store but only made it to the store (Andrew drove). We stocked up, again and then Andrew took off south to go help friends of ours grout tile. I know, he's a nut but he's just that way. He has to go help people. And, he'll never call anyone to come help him with a project. While he was gone, Mickey napped but I couldn't sleep until he got home. And, with my sleep depriation, working on projects was probably not a good idea so I just surfed on the internet. :D

Once he got home, I crashed for about three hours. Yep, I was that tired. I started working on some ornaments, cooked dinner and then finished the ornaments while Andrew read to Mickey.

Mickey loves to be read to. After every book, he'd jump up and say "more book". Andrew would give him the book to put away and off Mickey'd go to get another! Very cute stuff.

And finally, the updated list! With photos!!! :D

1. Pick up photos at Costco (just ordered a ton for some gifts) Nope, weather too bad to drive there.
2. Put photos in albums and such Nope, no photos!
3. Wrap albums and such Can't wrap empty albums!
4. Make ornaments for my little family Done!

I printed our pictures on transparencies, rolled 'em up and tucked them in the ornaments. Added a little glitter and ribbon and voila! Our ornaments for 2008!

I stamped the date on them with my White Stayz On pad. It actually worked better than I thought it would! Go Stayz On! :D

5. Make ornaments for three certain people Done!
6. Alter two more Rubix Cubes Going to work on those tonight.
7. Wrap the presents that I have May do a few tonight depending on how the Rubix Cubes go.
8. Figure out meal planning for two days consisting of four Christmas events. (This is another list all on it's own!) The events are changing/cancelling as we speak so I'll just have to wait.
9. Clean my house! Maybe tomorrow...maybe! :D

Christmas To-Do's and a Snow Update

Well, we had a lot more snow today and Mickey and I got to go play out in it.

He loved it! He had a blast sweeping snow off the driveway and telling me that he was cleaning. So funny!

Then we went for a walk and he knocked the snow off of a bunch of arborvitae.

He thought that was hilarous. When we got back home he just wanted to sweep some more. So, I let him.

Finally, his little hands looked too cold and I drug him back in the house, kicking and screaming. Well, just screaming but still. (He had gloves on during the walk but he can't sweep with them on.)

Inside, I made him his first hot chocolate. We drank our cocoa together and he had a little snack of Cheerios and raisins. He liked the cocoa but didn't love it. I loved mine. :D I do need to buy some marshmellows though, it's just not the same without them!

I still have a lot to do Christmas-wise. I've got all the decorations up and all the Christmas cards mailed. At least I hope I do, I always seem to forget someone. I made a spreadsheet last year but it's still living on my non-functional laptop.

Here's my list of Christmas to-do's.

1. Pick up photos at Costco (just ordered a ton for some gifts)

2. Put photos in albums and such

3. Wrap albums and such

4. Make ornaments for my little family

5. Make ornaments for three certain people

6. Alter two more Rubix Cubes

7. Wrap the presents that I have

8. Figure out meal planning for two days consisting of four Christmas events. (This is another list all on it's own!)

9. Clean my house!

Here's what I'd really like to do.

1. Scrapbook! Preferably with some fun gals I know!

2. Buy the Canon 50mm 1.4

3. Sell my darn house!

4. Open that tempting little envelope

5. Have someone else clean my house!

(See, I do want it clean, I just don't want to do it! LOL!)

Christmas Guilt

Well, my Christmas guilt this year is that I didn't handmake my cards like I did last year. Sigh. Time just got away from me. That, and I had absolutely no inspiration for one! It's a good thing Costco came to the rescue! :D

Today I ventured out!

I'm not a big fan of driving in the snow and I really don't drive when it's icy. But, this afternoon, I had to zip over to Costco to pick up our Christmas cards. I really lucked out because they were ready earlier than the website said they'd be. It's supposed to snow more tomorrow and I'm sooooo staying home! Anyway, at one point on I-5 we were going about 5 miles an hour! And, I got to finally put my truck in four wheel drive in the parking lot! LOL! I also bought some frozen food at Costco and put it in the back. Well, my canopy door is frozen shut now! Ha! I'll have to have Andrew open it when he gets back from bowling.

After Mickey goes to bed, I'm going to try to get a picture of the house with the lights. If that doesn't pan out, I'll try again tomorrow around dusk. Which reminds me, I haven't taken a picture today! I did take one last night of our tree. I think it turned out pretty darn good!

Andrew might have the day off tomorrow. We'll get a call tomorrow morning around six and know for sure. I really hope so. We can take Mickey out and play in the snow together. Mickey will be so excited!

A Blog Award and a mini book

First, the Blog Award! Yay! Lovely Miss Liz has awarded me with the Kreativ Blogger award.

Isn't it cute? I've got a thing for damask. :)

Soooo...Here are the rules:

1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.

2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.

3. Nominate 5 blogs.

4. Provide links to their blogs.

5. Leave a message for your nominees.

Ok, so here are my nominees. Marilyn, Laura, Christina, Kay and Joscie! :D If you haven't been to their blogs before, I highly recommend you check them out!

Girls, you rock my world! And Liz, thanks for the love! :D

Now, for something scrappy...a minibook of Mickey throughout 2008. (Because you all never get to see any pictures of him!) I made this using my one-page mini book tutorial and embellished it with a Making Memories kit that I bought at Target. It's not quite done yet. I have to get a good December pic and figure out how I'm going to label the months, but it's close enough.

I actually made this for my mom to take with her to Colorado to see my step-siblings and their families. She wanted a few pics of Mickey to show everyone. I thought this was much more portable and I'd have a mini book to finish when she got back. Hope you like it!

It's Snowing!!!

Whoo-hoo! :D

Snow, good snow, a couple of inches acumulation snow, rarely happens around here. We did get about an inch last year on Christmas Day (pretty cool). But, normally for us, it's just a light dusting maybe once or twice a year.

This stuff should stick around for a few days as we've got cold weather (2o's!) ahead through Satuday! Glad I stocked up the fridge yesterday. :D

How's your weather?

Goings On...

Yesterday, I had PT and I was so tired! Early that morning (3 am) I awoke with a huge pain in my lower right abdomen. I could hardly walk and if my destination had been any where but the bathroom, I would have stayed in bed. LOL! I actually had to move my right leg with my hands to get back to bed. Fortunately, it stopped hurting once I was in bed and when I awoke it was all gone. I had something like that occur with Mickey but it was during the day and I had to walk around and it was torture!!! Thank goodness it just messed with my sleep! My need for caffiene was great that morning! But, the exercise helped and I made it through to the evening where I got a second wind and made a mini book for Andrew's boss. It featured the pictures of everyone from the Christmas Party.

Today was a good Mickey day. He didn't get into anything he wasn't supposed to and he awoke fabulously from his nap. Normally, naptime awakenings involve tears but today he was bright and chipper and I got a big "Hi!" when I opened his door. We had a bunch of tickles today and he helped me carry the mail in and he learned how to say radio. He also went to bed pretty easily. I however, am not as happy with my sleeping habits. I can't fall asleep and I wake a couple of times during the night. I'm so tired I can't even make a coherent to-do list!!! The only thing I really wanted to do was work on my December Daily album and I just haven't made any headway! ARGH!!!

Hopefully, tomorrow will be better. :)

We are supposed to go get our tree this weekend but I'm not sure it's going to happen. Our friend's tree farm is just outside of Estacada and the weather is supposed to be snowy. Well, if we get any snow they are sure to have more. And, I just don't want to risk the drive up the windy, hilly back roads. I do want to see Julie and George though. We haven't seen them in ages and I really miss them.

Lazy Days!

Yesterday, I slept until ten! Well, off and on, sacked out on the couch in the living room. So far, this has kept Mickey from getting into stuff he shouldn't while I'm napping. :D Cleaned up and did house stuff until noon and then started crafting! Well, after we ate lunch of course! I got some gifts framed and made one for my nephew. It involved lots of cutting of photos and a bunch of Modge Podge!

I also edited the pictures from Saturday's party and ordered them and a photo present for my uncle Doug and my granny. Up late doing that.

Today is another lazy day. I slept horribly and so the napping on the couch was repeated! Mickey is coloring right now (his favorite color is pink at the moment!) and I'm getting ready to get ready. I'm hoping to get the rest of the laundry done and two more Modge Podge-y gifts, oh and get started on my cards!!! I think this year I won't be hand making them like last year. It will just be some premade ones from my days as a Hallmark employee. But, I'll be enclosing a funny little picture of little man. Gotta have the funny! :D

Santa...OSU style!

Yesterday we took Mickey to see Santa at an OSU alumni event in downtown Portland. It was really cool! Mickey got to see Santa (not his fav), Benny the Beaver (loved him!), play games, do crafts and play golf!!!

Oh, and check out Benny and Santa doing a chest bump! I totally caught them mid air! :D

Before this Andrew hung lights because I'm so not doing ladders right now! :D

You can totally see Mickey's face in the window! LOL! Wow, I just realized that I need to compost those pumpkins!

Yesterday was also Andrew's company Christmas party. It was a lot of fun and everyone got a door prize. We picked a big camping stove!

Ugh! I really needed to edit this photo! The lighting was so wonky in there! :D

Anyway, that was our day yesterday! Very busy and very fun. Today, I'm working on Christmas presents, Andrew is over at Eric and Jackie's new house laying tile and Mickey is napping. I'm off to play with Modge Podge! :D

Speaking of Pregnancy Brain...

...I thought a note I made on the calendar about a 7:10 am appt was another baby checkup for me. So, I woke at 6:00am, got ready, got Mickey ready and off we zipped. I even called my Granny to see if she wanted to meet us afterwards for breakfast. Well, Mickey and I pull up to the office to see...it's closed! Yep! That appointment was for a dentist appointment for Andrew!!! So, we went and picked up Granny and then my mom met up with us a little while later. I was a little embarrassed but, I'd rather be on time for an appointment I didn't have than late for one I did have!!! LOL

...that little envelope is starting to get to me! Not all the time and not everyday but every few days I just want to tear that bad boy open! Must wait until Christmas Eve...must wait until Christmas Eve... I am so not going to be able to sleep that night!

...I made three more batches of Peppermint Cookie Crunch Bark! Now that's not really pregnancy brain related but, I thought I'd throw it in there anyway! ;) Now I'm just getting ready for the cookie swap. Hope they like the peppermint bark and that I don't forget anything!

Today's Rundown

And do I mean run down!!! I'm pooped! Mickey and I left the house about 9:00 and didn't get home until after 2:00! Then we took a nap from three to four and hung out in our cold house until Andrew got home. Ate dinner, rested and then I was off to the grocery store. I got a few necessities and some white chocolate bark to make Liz's Peppermint Cookie Crunch Bark. When I got home I talked to my mom on the phone for 45 minutes. We had some catching up to do as I'd forgotten my cell phone today. Seriously, my pregnancy brain is getting worse! At nine, I popped in Frosty the Snowman and made three batches of the afore mentioned bark. Yum!

I'll try to get some more pictures up tomorrow! :D

Baby, it's cold Outside!

Today it barely reached 50 and with the wind, it's felt quite a bit colder outside. Well, it's cold inside, too! When Mickey and I got back from our errand running today the thermostat was flashing "bat low" so I changed the batteries. Nothing happened. Weird stuff was flashing on the thermostat and no heat. So, I tried two different batteries. Still nothing. Turned it on and off and turned the furnace on an off. Nada. I pulled the batteries out yet again and noticed that the top battery touch thingy (I so can't remember the word...oh, wait I think it's contact!!) was covered in a lovely vertiginous powder. The darn thing corroded! So, I did what I always do when faced with situations like this...called Andrew!

He said he'd fix it when he got home. He'll be home about an hour from now.

In the meantime...I'm cold!!!!

Why scrapbook supplies, a two year old and a pregnant mommy don't mix!

Yep, he got into my orange scrapbook paint. Sigh! Our routine had been working so well up until then. He'd wake, I'd get him out of his crib and get him a banana and some milk and he'd watch cartoons while I napped for another 30 minutes. Well, this morning when I awoke the second time, he'd gotten into my scrapbook paint and painted his mouth, hands, feet and tummy orange!!! He had to sit in his p.j.'s in the empty bath tub in time out while I cleaned up the tile, hardwoods, carpet, sofa and chair. Then, I got him undressed and filled the tub and put him back in the bathtub for his own clean up. I'd cooled off enough to find the humor in the situation and dug out the camera. At least he picked an OSU color! LOL!

We had a better day after that and I made sure to wait to take my shower until he was down for his nap. I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow.

Oh, and I watched Rudolph tonight! Love that movie! :D

The Canby Fire Dept Rocks!!!

So, last night Mickey and I were waiting up for the Canby Fire Dept Santa Parade Food Drive. Mickey got to stay up past his 7:30 bedtime and we watched Santa Claus is Coming to Town and ate popcorn or pop-a-corn as he calls it.


I had my camera prepped and all ready to go (with CF cards), my bag of canned food by the door and I had made four extra bags of popcorn for the firefighters. It was starting to get pretty late and they still hadn't come by. We'd seen them from afar turning down a street a few blocks away and heard them off and on but no drive by. I packed Mickey and I up in the truck to go look for them and couldn't find them. Back home, I called my mom to have her check the paper for a parade route and I looked online. Couldn't find a thing.

Mom suggested I call the department and finally, I did. It was quarter after nine by this time and Mickey was really wanting to to see "engin". I got a hold of the night chief (I think that's what they call him) and asked if the parade was over. He said it was and we could drop off stuff tomorrow. I told him that would be fine and that I was glad they had someone to answer the phone because I needed to put my 2 year old to bed. Well, he told me that he couldn't disappoint a two year old and that, barring a 911 call, an engine and a couple of crew would be right over!!! Holy smokes!! I was so shocked I told them that it was too much trouble and we'd just stop by tomorrow but he wouldn't hear of it. So, this is what showed up at the end of our driveway last night!

They even took our picture in front of the truck with the lights going and everything!

They gave Mickey a hat and a sticker and hung around for a little while chatting. Two of the guys went to the call to rescue my grandma this summer and they totally remembered her! Although, it's got to be hard to forget a 90 year old on a treadmill.

Anyway, that was our exciting evening!!! :D

Monthly Planner for 2009

So I picked up this cool aqua planner at Target in the Dollar Spot....Hmmm, I see a trend here! LOL!!!

I loved everything about it except that the front cover had a little bit of gold embossing. I'm not the hugest fan of gold. But, it wasn't that noticable and I figured that if it bugged me that much I could always alter it later. Well, little man got ahold of it and an ink pen and colored all over that gold section. So, I just HAD to alter it now!! LOL! And, since I'd gotten some killer My Mind's Eye paper at a LSS a few days before, I decided to use that.

I cut a section of the paper with the polka dots wide enough to cover the pen marks and trimmed one edge around the dots. Then I glued it to the cover. I did flip it over to trim up the edges a little with my craft knife. Then, I found a pic of Andrew and Mickey and trimmed it and glued the matching frame to the top center of it. I also had purchased a star diecut frame and so I printed out a little picture of Baby H's profile and put it in there. ;D

The letters are all American Crafts Thickers. Green and white are foam daiquiri and the orange is vinyl sprinkles.

Here's the final product!

And, here's a quick shot of the inside. I just love the whole month at a glance! So easy to work with! :D

Tonight, we are waiting for the fire truck to come around with Santa Claus to pick up canned food. Little man gets to stay up for that. And, you can bet I have my camera all ready with fresh batteries, my 50mm 1.8 and a CF card!!!

After I put Mickey to bed, I may work on my days one and two of my December Daily album. Wish me luck!!! :D

Countdown to Christmas!!

Here's my new Christmas Countdown calendar. I made it a week or so ago and I just love it. I hung it up today so it is our first official Christmas decoration!

The pictures are awful because I took them at night! :::oops!::: I used Scenic Route's Roxbury line.

And......I have instructions!!!!

(Well, I'm working on that. My uncle gave me this computer (love him!) and the Microsoft Office trial just ran out yesterday!!! So, I bought a new one (thank you cyber monday sale!) and I'm having huge problems trying to install. So, I'll just finish this post and add the instructions later.)

So, today. Mickey and I had a lazy morning and after lunch we headed out. Mailed bills, went to Costco, went to Powell's, went to Scrapbook Attack, went to the Gap, got lost, went to Craft Warehouse and then stopped by JoAnn's on the way home. Dropped off Mickey, went to the storage unit, then Fred Meyer, then my dad's and finally home. PHEW!!! Pretty successful trip except for the craft stores. I'm still on the hunt for 1" clear glass ornaments. I've got a killer idea for them, I just need to find them!!!

Now I'm watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas and trying to get my MS Office purchase to work by installing a MS Office trial and then seeing if it will let me upgrade to the one I just bought. ARGH! I'm soooooo not the most computer literate person on the block.

Gosh, I hope this works!!!

Yes!!! I did it!!! The whole get the trial thing and then upgrade totally worked. Take that computer!!! Bwahahahahahaha!!!! :D

Okay, here are the instructions for my Christmas Countdown.

Cut an 11” circle out of Roxbury Dearborne St (I used a dinner plate)
Cute a 3” strip of Roxbury Forest St, making sure to get two full rows of trees
Mat Forest St strip on 3 ½” strip of black card stock
Adhere to Dearborne St circle and trim to fit circle
Cut 3 ¼” strip of Roxbury Rockville Park and mat with 3 ½” strip of black cardstock
Adhere to bottom of circle and trim
With Happy Valley Black stickers spell out “Our” in top section
Then spell out “Countdown” with same stickers in middle red section
Using Redmond Stencil chipboard letters in black, spell out “Christmas” on the Forest St strip
Punch out three stars from the Chipboard Stars Shapes. Paint black and while the 2nd coat is still wet add black glitter (this is totally the best way I've found to get great coverage!)
Tie two strands of black Kreinik through five Grafton buttons
Adhere two larger stars to either side of “countdown” and adhere a button to the top of each
Punch 2 holes ½”- ¾” apart in top of pizza tray and tie black ribbon through
Adhere smaller star with a button on it over ribbon between the holes
Punch 12-1 7/8” scalloped squares out of Worn Blue Grid Background paper
Punch 12-1 ¼” squares out of coordinating cardstock
Using Cape Town Black White Square Stickers, adhere the #’s 0,0,1,1,2,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 to the cardstock squares. (#6 will also be used as #9)
Mount cardstock backed numbers to scalloped squares using dimensional adhesive
Adhere a small strong magnet to the back of each scalloped square (I tried that magnetic tape but it only worked when there was one piece of paper it had to grab through. Two pieces of paper and one of cardstock was too much for it.)
Adhere the remaining two buttons to either side of striped paper.
The countdown numbers will go between the buttons and the leftover numbers can be stored on the back
Enjoy! :D