Blessing

This morning Kendall sneezed a few times over a period of time and then looked at me, smiled, and said, "Mommy, I keep blessing."

AND Kate learned to wave. She gets super excited to do it too. If you wave at her she waves back with both hands, one moves back and forth and the other opens and closes and she laughs and kicks her feet. She is so proud of herself. This morning during breakfast she started waving to Kendall before we even initiated it.

Today we're just hanging around the house to do some cleaning. Later we'll go to the gym. We have big plans to bake cookies for our librarian friend that we are visiting on Friday and I think that someone mentioned playing with play-doh today too. Big plans.

Class Update

Here is this weeks Paper Chick class, a super cute First Aid Kit. I'm going to keep mine in the car but it would also be a cute gift for teachers or other mommas.

The last class was a recipe book, here is the cover

Jingle Jingle

We've been fighting various ailments here, Kate and I have colds and Kendall a has a stomach bug, yuck. We did manage to have some fun this weekend and we even put up our Christmas tree. The girls and I braved the crowds today and made a trip to Target for some holiday stuff: table linens, glasses, gift for our Angel Tree little girl, and I grabbed a couple of gifts for the girls (movies for our long drive to P'cola later). The girls were great and the lines weren't bad at all. Tonight I got online and finished up Kendall's Christmas gift shopping. She has mastered the "hard" jigsaw puzzle that I bought earlier so I ordered a few more today.

Speaking of Elf

Thanks Lorie for showing me this, check this out everyone!

I love...

...that Kendall calls it "Chicken Pie" instead of Chicken Pot Pie

...that she can get incredibly excited about weird and random things like this jar of mayo. --sharp intake of breath--"LOOK!"

...that when we're driving in the car she says, "Watch out Buddy" Some of you may think this is funnier then others. I call bad drivers "Buddy" but I learned it from my mom. At one point my family laughed when I was Kendall's age because I started to say 'buddy' in the car.

...that my husband purposely picks out cards that are artsy and that look like something I would make

...when Kate 'hugs' me by burrowing into my shoulder (despite the fact that I usually get some unfortunate bodily fluid on my shirt)

...when I feed Kate at night she puts her arms up over her head and stretches. She becomes stiff as a little board, sticks her lips out, and her chunky little cheeks get even rounder.

...that I've been able to be crafty lately

...that with the new desk placement the girls play in here and haven't seen a single TV show in about three weeks.

...learning something new about someone you love.

...Hazelnut iced coffee (thanks Kristy)

...olive oil and rosemary flavored Triscuits (thanks Jennie)

...reading about the lives of other creative people or in other words: reading blogs

...being inspired to create

...receiving a card that is so thoughtfully written that I need to carry it around in my purse just in case I want to read it during the day.

...being able to appreciate my entire family and just life in general.

Bloggity Mood

I guess I just haven't been in a blogging mood lately. Friday night was our five year anniversary. I got royally spoiled: an entire new outfit to wear on our date, two super sweet cards, a dozen roses, and diamond earrings. Crazy crazy sweet. We went to a Japanese steakhouse and Jennie watched the kids for us. So much fun.

Today is Brian's birthday and Kate also got dedicated at church (but we failed to take a family picture!). Brian's ideal day included all of his favorite foods (veggies and dip, cucumber salad, Beef Stroganoff and lemon Italian ice) some couch time, and football games. I must note that his favorite foods are vastly different from mine. My favorite foods more closely resemble Buddy Elf's: candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup.

We ran into our friend Carol at church and I took this picture.

Kendall has been doing this lately:

She has also been helping to put away groceries and building towers out of daddy's special coffee boxes.

Today during Brian's "couch time" and the girl's nap time I made a little art smock for Kendall. I made it a little too small I'm afraid but it was my first, I'll have to make another soon.

I've been busy

With my desk downstairs I've been getting a lot of crafting done.
Some ornaments and decorations:



A layout about Kate (I Photoshopped out the rest of her name for the blog post)











I love when this happens

What's Going On

Kendall woke up the other morning with bad hair, looks like she has been watching that Cameron Diaz movie too. Seriously, I did not style this.

She has also been putting on this crown and yelling "I'm a Queen". Typical two year old, she completely skipped princess and went right to queen. Sadly, the crown broke this week and I had to hide it in the garbage can, looks like her reign is over.

Kate is finished practicing with Mimi and now is trying out her moves on Noah.

This weekend I was getting some groceries and I passed an Amish woman with her daughter. I didn't think anything of it until Kendall started waving her arms in the air, pointing, and yelling at the top of her lungs, "Look, she's Halloween! She's Halloween" I tried to place my body between Kendall and the ladies but I had to speedwalk down an aisle to get away from them before she would stop.

Finally, here are a few scrapbook pages I've done lately.

What Not To Wear

I've applied to the TV show What Not to Wear. Today would have been a great day for them to gather "secret footage" of my bad dressing but man it is cold outside and I had to dress for warmth. Today's ensemble included magenta socks (over thick light pink socks) army green pants (over yoga pants) a Harvard t-shirt and a fleece. Brrr, it was cold. My girls were dressed similarly to me, not so cute but comfy and warm. No need to look cute here, we can't even leave the house. My car is at the dealer, so sad. Something in the dash cracked and it wouldn't push the heat out by my feet or defrost area, only straight into my face. It dried out my contacts, and kept my toes icy.

Yesterday would have been a good day for What Not To Wear to get more footage of me. On the way to the grocery store one of my contacts ripped. After extreme eye irritation and much eye watering I was left with one "good eye". Only one eye had a contact in it and makeup on it. I got to do my shopping and my driving home with the other one closed. That had to have been cute, eh?

Despite the frigid temperatures we did make it outside for a wagon ride. I had the girls wrapped up in two fleece blankets in addition to all their clothes. Here they are before I got them all swaddled in.

Weekend Fun

Kate likes to use a banana styling product. Reminds me of that Cameron Diaz movie

Great weekend.

We got to spend time with Jenn and Justin and then helped surprise Jenn and Amy with a birthday party. So much fun!

• Kate pulled herself up to a standing position.


• I reached my goal weight (Pre-kid weight) also known as 'Ocean City weight' and 'Pensacola Survivor' weight


• Having fun with the Paper Chick classes. This week's class is a clock made out of an artist's painting canvas.


• We added to our office furniture. Brian and I have been brainstorming ways that we can spend more time together. We don't really watch TV in the evenings but we each like to sit and work at our desks. We have been known to email each other from different rooms in the house!! So we decided to combine offices.

By the way I added a link to Amy's business, check it out it's super cool. (on right Amo-Ink