Merry Christmas!! May your day be full of joy, peace and happiness as you celebrate with those you love.

Santa's Little Helper

Monkey helped me big time today. She brought gifts to me to wrap, then took them out to the living room for me. I had to trim the ends of the paper on a couple of the gifts, so I put these curls of wrapping paper over her ears. These are, as she calls them "earbows". LOL Funny little girl. :D

You know your're tired when...

You can't keep on jumping, but just want to go to sleep. Thank you to medication and lots of carbs for lunch - baby girl is SACKED! Hopefully her sleep will help her feel better.

House Builders

During the afternoon on Cookie Day, Gayle set up all the fixin's to make gingerbread houses. All the children gathered around and created their own houses. There were graham crackers & a tub of royal icing, along with mini marshmallows, gumdrops and a bunch of other candies for decorating. The children had a great time and each one got to take their house home. Big, BIG kudos to Gayle for taking on the task. You did great!

All faces on the first pic have been blurred out, to protect the identities of the children.

The construction crew hard at work building thier masterpieces



Hannah's house



Lillian's House



Mia's House



Chloe's House - you could even see the people inside sitting on the couch watching TV!

Cookie Day 2006

Our family has a really neat tradition. Each year, we all gather at my sister Kathryn's house on a Saturday between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We bring our prepared cookie dough, along with any candy we want to make or pretzels, etc for dipping. We try to get there as early as we can, but no earlier than 8am, or Kathryn would be upset.

We bake all day long. We all help each other, rolling cookies, dipping pretzels, or whatever needs to be done. Usually one person mans the oven, while another takes the cookies off the baking sheets to cool. It's just a huge team effort, and the payoff is great.

Not only do we have a great time together, but we all end up with an assortment of all the cookies that were baked, along with what's left of our own cookies after they're divided. Only the people who participate are lucky enough to get cookies. It's a really fun tradition, and it's almost more anticipated than Christmas each year.

Peter was put to work mixing the Monster Cookie dough - looks like he was just the man for the job, they turned out delicious!!

Cookies waiting to go into the oven...

Jonathan freehanded holly leaves & berries on these choco-dipped Oreos. He did a really great job, especially since it was his first time ever using a pastry bag!

Just a portion of the cookies & candies waiting to be divided. There was at least this many more that I didn't get a photo of.

The dipping station. This really cool crock-pot has two sides so they could melt both white & milk chocolate at the same time.

Can you say chilling?

I walked into the the living room, and Mazie was in the playpen. Even when I went into the office to get the camera, she never moved - just lay there and let me take pictures! Needless to say, within a few minutes after the "photo session", she was fast asleep. Love the way she sucks her thumb - she doesn't really suck on it, but sorta chews on it instead.

Bad Hair Day

I love these pics of our Monkey. She's so silly!

Busy, busy, busy

Can't say what I'm up to, but let's just say that I've been super busy yesterday. Christmas is right around the corner, and right now, hustle is the name of the game. More details coming later....

Friends

Isn't it wonderful when your friends can somehow sense that you're in need of a pick-me-up and reach out to you just when you need it the most? Well, I'm blessed with a couple of wonderful friends like that.

Yesterday was a really bad day. Apparently some of my leftover baggage from the past has been roiling around in my subconscience and manifested itself in a horrible dream sometime during the wee hours of yesterday morning . Not just an ordinary dream, but rather, one of those dreams that stick with you all day long. I knew that it wasn't real, but the residual feelings that went with the dream just refused to leave, and I found myself near tears for most of the day. Ukky way to spend the day, right? Yeah.

My sweet friend Shannon called me just to talk, and by the time we got off the phone, I felt much better. She even had me laughing - which was a great accomplishment on her part. I really appreciate the friends I've met through scrapbooking, and the way our friendships have progressed way beyond just getting together to crop now and then. It's amazing how some people come into our lives just when we need them the most. She's like the other half of me. We're so much alike it's almost freaky, but we have so much fun together. :)

Then this morning, out of the blue, Mona called me. Turns out she and her husband were coming into town and we decided to meet up for lunch. We called Mom, Lori and the girls and all met at Beauregard's for some food & fellowship. We had a marvelous time, and now my heart is so full of cheer that I can't imagine feeling the way I did yesterday.

I really am thankful for the wonderful friends that I've been blessed with. Even across the miles, and although we may see each other infrequently, I always know that they are there for me, come what may. These friends, along with my family, are the ones that get me through the bad times and help me to focus on the good. And for that, I just want to say "Thank you. You are loved right back."

Muahhhhhhh!!!

Addictive personality

Sometimes it's a blessing, sometimes a curse, but I'm one of those folks with an addictive personality. I get hooked on things that are fun, but sometimes aren't that good for me. Some addictions, I've kicked, which is never fun, but is really rewarding in the end.

Lately, I've developed two new addictions. Well, three, really. Somewhere online I found a super easy, super simple version of Tetris. So I downloaded it. And now I'm hooked. Then there's this fun game called "Chuzzle". I'm SO hooked on the Zen version. It's relaxing to play.

Last, but not least, someone on one of my online hangouts posted a link for this awesome webcam. I resisted, but finally clicked the link, and yep, you guessed it, I'm SO hooked!! I try to watch it around 10am and around 8:30 or 9pm to see all the animals come out to play. Well, really to get a drink. See, it's a webcam set up at a watering hole on Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve, in South Africa. So far, I've seen baboons (lots of those!), gazelles, water buffalo, frogs, birds & wildebeests. Then just tonight, I heard an animal call that I recognized but couldn't name. And when I clicked over onto the cam, there was an entire herd of zebras! Some of the ladies I talk to online have also seen elephants and giraffes. The girls love to watch this with me, even when nothing's at the watering hole. Just the sound of birdsong is relaxing.

So there are my three latest addictions, maybe you'll be inspired to get hooked on at least one of these as well! :D

Now I'm going to go take care of my fourth addiction/necessity - SLEEP!! Have a good one, and if you read all the way to the bottom of this post, please leave me a comment!

It's almost Christmas time!

And I'm SO getting into the Christmas mood. Finally! I've got the Christmas music going 24/7, mailed the bulk of our Christmas cards out yesterday (all handmade!), and we did the last of our shopping today.

We're listening to commercial free Christmas music while wrapping gifts, and I even got the bug to make some super easy gift tags to put on our gifts. I have my list of which gifts go where and I'm checking off as I wrap. Can't wait to see if the gifts I got everyone are as perfect as I'm hoping they are.

It's going to be a bit of a lean Christmas here, but that's all good - it's the joy in the giving, not the amount you spend, that is the real reward, right? I've been buying through the year, and spent yesterday scouring the Sunday advertisements and we went around town in a circle today and in less than 4 hours, we got everyone covered. That feels so good!

Last year was sorta a bust, I'd just had 2 surgeries and spent almost a week in the hospital and got out of the hospital on the 18th of December and felt like twin Peterbilt's had run over me!! I had to rely on others to buy the bulk of my gifts for me and I just didn't ever get into the mood for the celebrations. This year, I'm SO into it - I'm excited, and looking forward to being with family and loved ones. Just the anticipation of seeing the girls' faces when they open their gifts is thrilling, as well.

I'm also looking forward to tasting the once-a-year treat that is one of my favorite customs - date/nut pudding. It's super duper easy to make, but for some reason, it's reserved for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's been a favorite of almost everyone in the family for years, and without it, it just doesn't seem like Christmas. I'm planning to make a bowl of it to take to our Christmas Day gathering at my niece's. Can't wait!!

Soooo, are you almost finished with your shopping?? Are you in the Christmas spirit yet? What's your favorite Christmas tradition? Please leave a comment and tell me about it!

Awesome Secret Santa!

I participated in a Secret Santa on a site that I've been hanging out on for years. I received a GC to CMK and added just a few dollars to it. I got my order today, and this is a pic of all the yummies I got. Now I need to scrapbook so I can use some of it! :) Thanks, Bons!! You are the best. Muahhhhh!

The Pied Piper

The babies love being around Peter. He came into the room a little while ago and all the girls stopped playing and immediately went to him. He'd been home for a few hours, and had been in the room with him, but for some reason, whenever he's around, they're practically right on top of him. Guess I picked a good one when I picked him. :-) I couldn't resist getting a shot of them together this morning.

Long time, no see

Wow, didn't realize that it's been so long since I updated. Sorry for the lapse. :(

Not a lot has been happening here. It's been a weird couple of weeks. Neither of us has felt like actually doing anything, so here we are. We finally caught a wild hair and did a few things around here today, which felt really good. Tis the season for the blues... LOL

We got our plumbing fixed - called another company and had to pay them to get it fixed, and it seems to be done right this time. We never heard back from the other company. I will be asking for a refund, since they were out here twice and didn't fix the problem. And it's not like I had the funds to just basically pour down the drain, anyway. But at least we can wash clothes and take a shower without ukky stuff bubbling back up into the bathtub. Yay!!

Peter and I went to a "Card Buffet" this evening. We had fun stamping and assembling Christmas cards. I had already made 40 cards last week, so I'm prepared for next year already. Yay me!! We had a blast, and just for the record, Shell TOTALLY rocks!! :)

Tomorrow is our annual Cookie Day. We all get together at my sister's house and spend the entire day baking cookies. Last year we made around 250 dozen cookies. Everyone brings home an assortment of all the cookies made, which is always fun. We have so much fun but are always so ready for bed when we get finished. It's something that the whole family (well, those who usually attend) looks forward to each year.

Hannah's here for the weekend, she got to go to Card Night and will be going to Cookie Day with us. She's talked about these two activities non-stop for the last week. Love that baby and she's just so much a part of our lives, I can't imagine life without her in it. :) We're so blessed to have her (and the babies) to lavish our love on.

So that's what's going on in our world. What's going on in yours?

Plumbing woes

I'm so degraditated at the moment, I just want to howl. But I won't. I'll be a big girl and deal with it.

We started having issues with the drains backing up about 3 weeks ago, so I called the plumber and they came out to clean out the drain between the house and the road. Two weeks later, they had to come back out. They were here on the 14th of November, and I had to call them again on Monday. Well, they haven't bothered to come yet.

Yesterday, I ran the dishwasher and the drains in the bathroom backed up. Peter was rinsing dishes a bit later, and they backed up again. Then I flushed the toilet - BIG mistake. So I called the plumber. They have a 30 day guarantee on their work, so I figure they need to make good on it, right? They have YET to call me back.

Now, we can't flush the toilet, take a shower, wash dishes, do laundry - nothing that involves any amount of water. It's disgusting. And the plumber - I've called them numerous times this morning and keep getting a generic answering machine, which makes me wonder if they're going out of business? I'm really disgusted and disheartened at this point, and just want my drains cleaned out.

I've stopped drinking anything at home so that I don't have to use the bathroom, and we're going to have to go to someone else's house to shower. This irks my tater. Ugh. I've even programmed the plumber's number into my cell phone. On my SIM card!!! That's just sad. I think I'll go try to call them. One. More. Time. :(

Thankful

We have a lot to be thankful for. Not just one day a year, but every day of the year. We have been so blessed, it's just amazing to think of where we have come from and where we are now. It almost boggles the mind to try to comprehend. That's an excellent thing. :)

Yesterday was a family day. Mom's out of town, so Peter and I were invited to spend the day with Lori and her children. We had a marvelous time, a great meal, and excellent company. Niki and John were the hosts for the day, and she cooked a huge feast. Faith and I helped her with several dishes. We got to love on Emma and Savannah, visit with everyone and spent the day cut off from almost all technology (the football game on in the background doesn't count, since we weren't in that room).

I'm thankful that Lori and her family include us in their festivities and celebrations. Without them, Peter and I would spend our holidays alone. We don't have a problem doing that, because we enjoy being together, but it's nice to feel like part of a bigger family than just the two of us. Sometimes we feel like we're interlopers, but I was reassured yesterday that if we weren't wanted, we wouldn't be invited. We owe Lori and her children a big thank you for including us. You make us feel so special, and we love you for it. :)

I just want to let the world know that I'm thankful for these few things and so much, much, MUCH more. Hope you had a wonderful day of remembrance and thankfulness as well.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

MAY YOUR STUFFING BE TASTY, MAY YOUR TURKEY BE PLUMP. MAY YOUR POTATOES 'N GRAVY HAVE NARY A LUMP, MAY YOUR YAMS BE DELICIOUS, MAY YOUR PIES TAKE THE PRIZE, MAY YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER STAY OFF OF YOUR THIGHS.

Living without Wal-mart

For years and years, Peter and I have shopped faithfully at Wal-mart, putting thousands of our hard earned dollars into their coffers. Mom worked at Sam's Club for several years and kept telling us about their lousy treatment of their employees and we just let it slide right in one ear and out the other, just shucking off her words of warning like water off a duck's back. The prices were simply too low to even really try to find an alternative. Why mess with something that works for us, right?

Well, my conscience has been dealing with me for about a year now, and I've really been noticing things that happen when a new Wal-mart opens in a small town. I've been listening to the news, reading things online, reading things in magazines, etc. There are several things that really bother me about the chain, and I can't in good conscience continue to patronize their stores.

The prevailing phenomenon that's been really popping out at me, searing into my brain is the way all the Mom & Pop type stores tend to close shortly after having a new Wal-mart come into their community. They basically don't stand a chance. They can't compete with the low prices. They don't have the buying power that the retail giant does, and their clientele tend to gravitate toward the lower prices, and eventually, inevitably, they have to close their doors. Family businesses that have been going strong for generations are closing. The death of small-town America is imminent. They treat their employees much worse than most companies, and their motto is no longer "Made In America", but now they import substandard goods made in third world countries by people who work 18 hour days for pennies a day, live in human cattle yards and are treated inhumanely, then sell the goods to us for what seems to be a great price.

When you look at the actual cost of the "low price", it's a lot higher than we'd like to acknowledge. The high cost includes: the loss of American jobs to third world countries, the demise of small-town America, employees who have to use the social programs we pay tax dollars into since they don't make enough to live because they aren't allowed to claim their overtime hours, among other things.

Sam Walton must be turning over in his grave. I'm sure that he never dreamed that his small retail chain would ever grow to be the monster that it is. The numbers are astonishing. The effect it has on our society is daunting. The facts are sobering. He would be ashamed of the way things are run these days. He was an American and took pride in selling goods that were made here, by Americans. His family should be ashamed of their actions and for allowing things to become the way they are. They could do so much good for their employees, but they choose not to. That is so sad.

Having said all that, we have chosen, as a family, not to shop at Wal-mart any longer. It's a bit more expensive to shop at other stores, but it's worth it to us. We buy virtually all our groceries from Kroger, we shop at Target, but lately, we've been really trying to shop at the local small businesses, or at chains that are more socially responsible. Those who give back to the local economy and support programs and charities for those who live in our great country. It's a choice we have made, and we feel very comfortable with that choice. It's not always easy to pass up that wonderful "low price", but when you feel good inside about choosing the high road, it makes it all worth it.

To learn more about the facts behind the Wal-mart empire, check out WalmartMovie.com. It's very enlightening, and you may find yourself shocked at the actual facts & figures behind the low cost, which comes at a very high price.

For all you BAMA fans....

BOOOOOYAHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Whoop, there it is!!!!
FEAR THE THUMB!!
FIVE in a row....

Final Score
Auburn 22
Alabama 15

Ahhhhh, life is sweet. Here's lookin' at SIX!!! :D

Child in a hurry...

Hannah's got quite an imagination. She's also SO funny! She walked over to me this morning and I noticed she had something stuck in her dress. We've been talking about baby Emma, who I got to meet yesterday and I told her that I want to take her to meet Emma tomorrow, so this got her on the baby kick. Her poor puppy/bear/whatever-it-is stuffed animal didn't stand a chance. At least she's here by herself and won't teach Amber to do this! Love this child!

What a weekend!

So it's been a few days since I updated you all with the goings on in my humdrum excuse for a life. Actually, it's not that bad, really not bad at all. I'm just really, really tired and need to go to bed, so it comes out that way.

It's been a weekend. A rather long weekend, but most of the weekend was fun. I got to bed somewhere around 12:30am on Friday night, then was woken around 3:30am by lightening hitting something relatively near our house, because I felt the boom, then the thunder immediately rumbled, not even a split second between sounds. Not to mention that all the hair on my body was stickin' straight out. Not a pretty sight! Guess I should have shaved my legs before going to bed. Anywho, finally got to sleep, then woke up at 4:30 for a potty break. That's when you KNOW you had too much coffee before bedtime when you gotta take a potty break while sleeping. Note to self: only water, and stop drinking 3 hours before bedtime!!

I finally got up for good somewhere around 5:20am and left to go pick up Lori, and decided to stop at Starbucks on the way. Well, apparently their baristas hadn't fully woken up, because I sat there for 20 minutes in the drivethru before I got my much needed coffee. Oh, and there was only one vehicle in front of me!! And they only got one coffee!! Grrr. I thought a gingerbread latte sounded good, so I got a venti. Not a wise choice for me. After I got it, I held it up to my nose, and I don't know if the girl goofed while making it, or if she may have dipped her big toe in it, but it smelled like dirty feet. It tasted a bit better than it smelled, but looking back, I should have gotten my usual white choco mocha with a shot of caramel. I would have enjoyed the way it scented my van much more! Oh, and the cranberry bliss bar.... divine, I tell ya!! Mmmmmmm.

Got to Lori's finally and got her luggage all loaded up, then went to pick Mom up. We were well on the road to Birmingham by 6:30am. Then we got into rain. Now folks, the only thing I hate more than driving is driving in the rain. Hate, hate, HATE driving in rain. But I pressed on like a good soldier should. I drove all the way to Birmingham without giving in and allowing Lori to drive, since she wasn't feeling well.

We went to a really nice museum on the Cahaba River to scrapbook and we left there around 3:30. I drove back, because Lori wasn't feeling any better. Now, the only thing I hate more than driving in the rain is driving in Birmingham, especially during the afternoon traffic. Then there's the looooong, very high bridge from 280 onto 20/59. Did I mention I hate heights?? If I'd realized that I'd be driving over that bridge looking down onto fifty-leven lanes of traffic below me, I'd have let Lori drive, even though she didn't feel good. My hands are still aching from gripping the wheel so tightly!

Then we stopped for gas and after my card was approved, I tried to get the gas cap off. No go. I tried and tried, then Lori got out and tried to help me, still no go. That sucker was on there and had no plans to go anywhere! Then this really nice fella who was at the pump behind us came to help. Now this guy was bigger than Peter, so he was huge! Even he couldn't get it off. So he went back to his car and got a tool. He worked and worked, and finally pried the top off - it seems that it was put on crooked. Amazingly, the cap wasn't harmed, but we thought he was going to have to destroy it to get it off. Then I had to go back in and talk to the guy because I couldn't get any gas. Turns out the pump cancels the sale if the nozzle isn't lifted in so many seconds. But when I got home, there are two charges on my bank account, which are just placeholders of sorts. I'll be watching closely to make sure that the one charge is reversed, or it's gonna get interesting. :)

We got back into town in plenty of time to surprise my honey when I got home. He was a busy bee while I was gone. He put up a new light fixture above the kitchen sink so I can see while I'm washing dishes (as if!! That's what dishwashers are for, right?), and put some neat little lights in my canning pantry so's I can see what I'm looking for when I'm looking for it! He also put some wunnerful bright new flourescent bulbs in my scraproom so I can scrapbook after dark. I lovest that man!!

Today, I scrapbooked, and we watched "The Slave Narratives", which cause me to cry until my eyes and nose were all red, Peter wanted to turn it off but I wouldn't let him, even though it tore my heart up to hear and see what those poor people were put through. Then we took a nap, and I scrapbooked some more.

I got 2 double page layouts and two single page layouts completed since Thursday. I also did 12 cards. That's more than I've done in the past few months combined! I took part in an online 3-day crop, and had a blast. My goal is to do at least one layout each day if I can. I've got to get caught up somewhat. I want to preserve my memories and those special moments for the ones who love me to remember me by when I'm not here someday to share with them in person. That's why I do it, not to mention that it's relaxating for me. :)

So now it's 10:30pm, and it's past my bedtime, so I'm gonna call it a night and go try to find something to read. I have a magazine that I'm almost finished with, but I might pull out my Foxfire3 book to read. Yeah, I think that's what I'll do - nothing like reading up on how to cure and tan a hide while trying to go to sleep...

Sweetheart

I love this layout of our sweet Savannah. :)

She did it!!!

Peter was trying to take a nap on the couch and called for me to look at Mazie. When I did, she was standing up in the playpen. He said she did it all on her own!! She'll be 9mo on the 15th of November, but we haven't been pushing her. Now the fun part starts... her getting into everything!

One of those days...

Ever feel like this??? I'm ready for this day to be OVER!!!! Hopefully tomorrow will be MUCH better!!!

Done, done, DONE!

All the apples are worked up, canned, and the kitchen is clean!!! We're through canning for the year. Yay!!! :)

Over the past three weeks, we put up three bushels of apples for Peter and myself, and we got 46 pints of applesauce, 25 quarts of applesauce, 21 pints of apple butter, 5 pints of apple jelly, and 14 pints of apple pie filling. My pantry is full, which is so gratifying.

Altogether, we did 2 bushels of apples for Mom, she made applebutter, applesauce & apple jelly. We did 1 1/2 bushels today alone.

We're so stinkin' tired, but it's a good tired, after a very productive day. We should sleep well tonight!! :)

Thankful

I've been thinking the past few days that I really need to share my list of things that make me so very thankful. I've done this in the past, but it's always good to update, right?

The past few weeks have been busy ones, and lots of changes have been happening, most of them good ones. I love life and feel especially happy with my life at the moment.

I'm thankful for:
My loving husband who has rearranged his schedule to be home with me more when he realized how much I have missed him.

The progress on the kitchen - it's neat watching it transform. It's exciting to have proper places to organize my food finally!

The hard work my sweet husband has put into making the change possible.

My sweet Mom who has sacrificed her evenings for the past few weeks to come up and can apples with us.

Having plenty of food in my house (I have way more than I realized!) and knowing that I can prepare nutritious, healthy, wholesome meals for my husband and the babies.

Having my canning pantry stocked up again.

Having a husband who enjoys doing the laundry and ironing, and who has taken on the job willingly (partly because I'm bad about getting sidetracked and forgetting to switch it out).

Sweet babies who are learning and growing day by day. It's so much fun to watch them learn new things and see their little personalities growing and unfurling like a blossom coming to life.

My beautiful home. Although it may seem like we're never going to find a home for everything, and the chaos sometimes frustrates me, I know that when we're all finished with our renovations, our home will once again become the comfortable spot that people enjoy visiting again.

My online friends who never hesitate to share an encouraging and kind word with me. Thank you!

My best friends who love me unconditionally and always bring a smile to my face, no matter how down I am at the moment. Without you, my world just wouldn't be complete. I love you.

Meg and Tavy - not only do they trust me to be their girls' "Daytime Mommy", but they trust me to teach their children morals, manners, kindness and everything else a child needs to know. Thank you for believing in me and giving me encouragement when I just want to throw my hands up. Together, we're raising some wonderful young girls who will someday be wonderful young women. :) I love both of you more than you know.

And finally, I'm thankful for YOU! Yes, you. Thanks for checking out my blog and leaving such nice comments. Thanks for putting up with my fifty-leven-million pictures and my repeated posts about mundane things happening in my world. You totally rock!! :)

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Apples (again)

Mom and I each got another bushel of apples yesterday, so guess what's on my stove cooking? Yep, a lard can full of apple butter. This batch is Mom's, and she's got a little less than 1/2 bushel of apples left to make apple sauce with.

I came to realize yesterday that a pint jar of applesauce just isn't enough for our little "family" at a meal. Once the babies each get 1/2 cup, there's 1/2 cup left for either Peter or myself. So I'm going to do a bushel in quart jars. :) And somehow, when we can eat a pint at a meal and we have applesauce with lunch at least twice a week, I don't think 44 pints are going to go very far. Therefore, the apples. Yay!!

In other news, we're getting our kitchen organized, and MAN, does it feel good!!! I've been being majorly OCD, making databases of everything in our pantry, by type/catagory. That will help me when I go to make menu plans. And it will help us not to buy duplicates of things we didn't rememer having.

I made a double batch of Chex mix this morning, got it into the oven before my first cup of coffee!!! Hopefully it'll last longer than the last batch did. Guess I'm getting into the whole holiday spirit, wanting to cook and bake. Thinking about making a batch of cookies this afternoon. :) Am planning to make a fresh banana cake and some banana nut bread to put into the freezer this afternoon as well. Have bananas here that need to be used, and that seems to be the best idea I can come up with.

Sometime this weekend, I want to go through my paper piles and get things shredded, thrown away, sorted and filed so that I can reclaim my desktop. I want to scrapbook, but have lost my mojo, but maybe getting my area clean will help me. :)

And that's what's going on in our world today. Hope everything's going great in yours. :)

Updated!

I was getting bored with my blog, so I finally changed it. I like the colors - they make me feel happy. The template was designed by www.zootsdesigns.com, who is a Huntsville resident. If you are looking for a new look, check out her site for some really cool designs! If you update your blog, please let me know so I can be sure to check it out! :)

Finally!

Lookie what's in our kitchen!! I'm SO excited! It's no longer in the middle of the floor, which is awesome. Still need to get the shelf on the upper right painted and need to get a shelf made for the upper center, then sand and paint all the drawers/doors. I'm so pleased with all the hard work that my honey has put into this project. It's coming together quite nicely.

It wasn't until Peter got it all put together that we realized the wooden strip under the front of the sliding top is actually painted black. I think it gives the cabinet a bit of "oomph", so we've decided to leave it alone and not worry about painting it. That's why there's a wide black strip on the front. What's your opinion?

Only thing that "sorta" upset me is that the legs don't fit into the standard Hoosier leg skirts and ant traps that I paid a pretty penny for. So we just stuck the casters on it. We may look into replacement legs at a later time, but for now, they're fine as is.

I will post a photo of it as soon as it's completed. Thanks for watching the progress of this project as it happens. I appreciate your encouragement and feedback. :)

Spider Princess!!

Here she is... our own Spider Princess!! So cute, yet a tiny bit scary. :)

Wouldn't you know, when I went to take pictures of her to scrapbook, I ran out of film!! So if the weather's nice enough tomorrow, I plan to have a mini photo shoot with her outside.

Bunnies and Princesses, oh, my!!

The girls' Granny & Uncle Robby came by to get them ready to go out trick or treating. We had to have a photo session, and I think the pics are totally adorable.

Amber the pretty Princess with her scepter and crown. What a doll!!!

Mazie the Bunny. She doesn't like the hat, and I imagine the slippers won't stay on long either. She's still absolutely adorable!!

Funny Monkey

Tavy was here to pick the girls up this evening, and Monkey walked behind her and next thing we knew, she had poked her head between her Mom's legs and gave me the funniest grin. I just HAD to take a picture. I love this baby. She's so funny.

Happy mail day!

I got an awesome package in the mail today. I joined in the Halloween Secret Sister Swap on CMK, and my secret sister totally hooked me up! I got ten sheets of Bazzill, a pack of Bazzill Really Big Chips, a Making Memories Chipboard Letter, a jar of Primas, two packs of Heidi Swapp Blossoms, a Heidi Swapp Paper Distresser, Heidi Swapp Frames, Heidi Swapp Credit Card Clips, a Heidi Swapp Mask, Heidi Swapp Chipboard Accents in pink, a package of Making Memories brads, a really cool card and a bunch of mini candy bars. She totally and completely spoiled me. Thanks, Chelsea!! You rock, girlie. :)

For all you Bama fans...

My baby girl's got it ALL right!!!!

A Face A Mother Can Love

Hannah asked me to take her picture the other evening, and this is the face she made for me...

This is so HER! She is such a ball of fun sometimes.

Never again!

Mazie was fussy the other evening, just before time for her Mom to come get her, so I put a bib on her and gave her an arrowroot cookie. These things are worse than biter biscuits!!! After eating three of them, goo was stuck all over her. Goo was squishing between her fingers. Goo was glued to the high chair tray. It took five baby wipes to clean the goo from three little cookies off my munchkin. Uck. I think that next time she has them, I'll make sure Peter gives them to her so he can clean up the mess. I'd rather give her an animal cracker - it's a lot less messy!

Blah

I've been having issues with Blogger. Major issues. Such as being told that my blog doesn't exist when I try to create a post! And not being able to comment on others' blogs. I've been checking out a lot of blogs but couldn't post, although I wanted to.

I wasn't going to do it, but I finally caved and downloaded Mozilla Firefox onto the laptop. That's how I'm able to create this post. Look out for some fun new pictures later on today. :)

Just their imagination

Amber was sitting by me this morning and I looked over and she had this Jacob's ladder over her eyes and was saying "cheese", trying to get me to smile. It dawned on me that she's seen Hannah do this repeatedly, and she decided to try it. We bought this toy at the Amish store in Indiana last year, and Hannah never figured out how to use it, so she pretended that it was a camera. Now she's playing with it the way it was intended, and it's Amber's turn to play with it as a camera.

I just love these photos - it is just one of those special moments when you can't help but smile and be thankful the little ones can see every color in the spectrum, not just the black and white we tend to see as adults.