Sunday, December 21, 2008
The Christmas Suit
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
New Traditions
Trimming the Tree
After the tree was up and lights were on, it was time for me to work my magic. As I was decorating the tree, Rylan and Seth layed down and watched The Polar Express. Rylan had never seen it and due to his adoration of trains, I thought it would be appropriate. He was in love and was glued to the TV for the whole movie. He just layed right by Seth the whole time. Then when it was over, he said, "Agaaaaiiiinn", so they watched it twice! I'm sorry to say that I also let him watch it again this morning. He adores that show now!!
Ok, so I promised I would post some pictures of our trees for Keri. She taught me all I know about tree decoration, and although I am no where near the professional decorator that she is, I still think this is by far my best tree creation to date. Thank heavens for the after Christmas sales last year! Now, taking pictures of a Christmas Tree stinks! The trees really are so pretty and then I take a picture of it and I'm like, "that looks no where near as pretty as it really is!" If you don't believe me, leave your computer right this minute and take a picture of your tree that you worked so hard on and I guarantee that you'll be so disapointed. I almost didn't want to post pictures simply because it makes everything seem ugly when its not. It's just not the same without the sparkle. Oh well, here goes nothing...
Ugg. Even now I'm discusted. I promise it looks sooooo much better in real life! By the way, there are flowers at the top of the tree by the star--that isn't all ribon. So, here are my favorite parts:
The "Let it Snow" piece. This thing is soooooo heavy and I love it to death. It was one of the first pieces I put on the tree and soon after it fell right off and broke. I nearly cried. But I found some extra strong adhesive and put it back together. This morning when it dried, I used wire to attach the sign to the "trunk" of the tree so now it's secure. Phew, that was a close one!
I adore these snowflakes that I got at Tai Pan. In all honesty, I think I could have a whole tree with just white lights and a bunch of these snowflakes, that's how much I heart them. You can't tell from this picture but they are ultra sparkly and beautiful when the lights are on and it's dark in the room. Actually, almost everything on the tree has at least a little sparkle to it.
Also, I think my absolute favorite thing on the tree are the miniature antiqued ornaments I got from Pottery Barn. You can see one right above the snowflake and then one in the bottom right hand corner of the picture. They are so small and dainty and I just love them to pieces! What in heavens name would I do without the after Christmas clearance sales (I'd have a boring house at Christmas time for sure) and also without the loving guidance of Keri!
Ok, now for the tree in the back room. I am actually very proud of this little tree although it does come out to be quite ugly in picture form. I have really taken a liking to the brown/copper tone ornaments available now. Again, lots o' sparkle on this tree so you don't get the full effect. However, it really is quite pretty for a monochromatic tree I think. Even Seth likes it.
So there you have it. I love Christmas trees. In fact, I still have two more! Actually, one is another Aspen tree for Rylans room that I'll do in more colorful, juvenile items--I may or may not post a picture of that one, and the other one is a small one for my front porch...nothing too exciting there. But I really think I would have one of them in each room of my house if I could! I just love the ambiance it brings into the home at night. So there you go. If you like them, tell me what you think (if not, keep your thoughts to yourself...hee, hee).
Deck The Halls
I wasn't sure what to put on the shelves once I got them lined. I finally decided to drag out the old village I started painting with Tricia so so sooooo long ago. I still have so many pieces yet to be painted. Who knows if I'll ever get to it! I haven't brought it out for many years so it was fun to think of all those fun memories I have of painting with Tricia.
On the top shelf I put the "moose-tivity":
Thanksgiving Feast
Monday, November 24, 2008
Christmas...Really?
It was pretty cold outside this day but there were a few remaining flowers. I told Rylan to smell the flowers and he did! It was so precious and I'm so glad we got this picture of him.
My family just loved spending time with Rylan and he sopped up all the attention he could. Everyone loves the fact that even though he has a lot of my facial features, his body is shaped just like Seth's. He's such a cute little guy. One day my sister Keri teased that maybe this next one will have Seth's face and my body. That could be scary! I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Here is a picture we got of Rylan with an expression on his face JUST LIKE SETH...
Well, now that I'm starting to get back to our "new normal" I'm hoping that I'll be able to update a little more regularly. Especially since this time of year tends to be a picture-taking time, I should have plenty to share. Rylan's birthday is coming up, we're getting our family Christmas pictures taken this weekend, and then the holidays. So stay tuned for some special times...
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Frank Jr.
P.S. Please excuse this highly messy room. This has now become the playroom and Rylan loves to spread himself out during the day. I do clean it up at night but usually by 7:00 a.m. the table has been moved and toys dumped out all over again for the day. I think tonight I'll weed out some toys...
Tire Swing
We all went to Grandma & Grandpa Tubaughs last weekend. Well, everytime we are there Rylan looks longingly at the tire swing and we always try to convince him to try it but he never would. Well, this time he saw it and decided he was big enough. So he ran right at it and was swinging away! We didn't even show him how to do it. After church I happened to have my camera and decided to show you all how cute our little "swinger" is.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Random Post Alert
MMMMM. Yummy. For those of you who don't remember who this is, he is in this movie:
That's right, I had a dream about James Bond. Don't be mistaken, it wasn't a dream about Daniel Craig, it was about Daniel Craig as James Bond. I told Seth about it (as I always do about my wonderfully random dreams) and we both laughed about it. Oddly enough, I was flipping channels that night and this movie was on! How crazy is that! So I watched it and got a double dose of my James. Then I put the 1st picture (from the ocean) as my desktop to be funny. Well, Seth got a laugh but in retaliation he put a picture of a swimsuit model. I laughed but it only stayed up for about 2 minutes. There's only so much I can take of that. Anyway, just thought I'd share. Aren't you jealous?Do You Want To Go Nigh-Night?
The Pumpkin Patch
It was really such a fun day and I'm so thankful that I was able to go with Rylan. It would have broken my heart to have missed such a fun day. He looked so cute running from one activity to the next with a huge smile on his face. It was one of those wonderful days that I was so incredibly thankful to be a mom to this little man.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Here We Go...
Wonderful Days
Thanks everyone for making the long drive! Hope to see you again in April or May!
Little Bits of Randomness...
I know the last picture is a bit blurry but can you see the little dog bone cookie sitting on the floor? Well, I was so excited for them to cool down so I could give her a cute little cookie and she grabbed it and ran into the other room and then stared at it like, "what the heck"? I was really concerned she wouldn't like them after all that work but once she got a taste, she snarfed down the rest. So the boring raining day was a success after all.
Am I Extravagant?
you know when to throw them away when you put your ice and coke in them and it spills out the bottom. So there's a bit of Betty wisdom. So now I feel way too guilty to just throw them away and any one who comes to my house is sure to see a pile of red plastic cups in my cupboard. The wierd thing about this whole experience is that now I'm associating it with everything else. You know those steamer bags that are freaking awesome? Well I used one today and I couldn't throw it away! Now I'll be washing all of those too! Wouldn't want to be an extravagant person...Thanks grandma!
Friday, September 5, 2008
North to Alaska (without me)
I don't know what to really say about this photo other than the three of them were on a fishing trip and here is a picture with some fish (I assume fish they caught). I'm guessing Salmon as we also have some Salmon in our deep freezer along with the Halibut.
OK, now onto the real story. Seth was gone for about a week and a half. I dropped him off at the airport early on Friday morning and then headed to Sam's Club. I have been in my food storage mode and thought I would take advantage of being close to Sam's. Rylan and I went to Sam's and got so much stuff that I couldn't push the cart around anymore. I'm pretty sure it weighed about 479 pounds, for real. I got out to the truck, loaded up and headed to my mother in-laws. When I woke up the next morning I took Abbie out and I was thinking "Hmm. What do you know? It rained last night". It didn't click until about an hour later that Rain mixed with the 50 lbs of bread flour in the bed of my truck doesn't make for very good food storage. Rats!!! So back to Sam's we went. It was my birthday so I treated myself to a new jacket that I had been eye-ing up. 20 bucks, wahoo! Anyway, new bags of flour, even more junk I don't need and the trip was over. I went home the next day and started my work week. I had the bright idea that while Seth was gone I'd work everyday (ideally 10 hours per day) to save up a bit of cash---or at least pay off my latest Sam's shopping trip! I found out really quickly that I just do not have what it takes to be a full time working mom. At least not right now. Man, that was a bad week. I felt like I didn't see rylan at all. And to be completely honest, when I got my check and realized that it was no where near worth it. I won't do that again just for nickels and dimes. It's never worth what you sacrifice. Well, at the end of the week I loaded the truck back up and went to Mother-in-laws for some food storage fun. Melyse, Elaine, and I put all our food up into mylar bags and that is so much work. At first it was fun and Melyse and I were giggling and towards the end we had had enough of that. But it was worth it in the end. My one year supply is almost done!!!! Well, I picked up Seth the next day and here is what I learned while he was off playing: I really love my husband. I NEED my husband. Now I know that is a huge cliche and people say that all the time and you're like "Yack. I just threw up in my mouth". But it is true. It's also a little hard to admit for me. At least the NEED part. I consider myself a pretty independent gal and all my friends around here know I'm pretty much a feminist. It's not that I couldn't do the everyday things on my own (although it is nice to have his help). It's more that I just don't feel the same without him. I constantly feel like a piece of me is gone. When I picked him up at midnight that night I was so exhausted but seeing him was like seeing my best friend for the first time in years. I guess what I'm trying to say after all this meaningless rambling is, I think I chose well for myself and I have never once regretted the choice.