Love Is...

...Kate. She just walked over to me, put her hand on my thigh, looked up at me with big smiley eyes and said, "Hap-pee."

Yeah, me too.

How Do You Spell Exhaustion?

T-R-A-V-E-L. But it was well worth it. We had so much fun hanging out with some cute kids (and other family members), eating great food, and just chatting and hanging out. I have the best family in the entire world. Brian even got to go golfing with Pat and also see his brother. The kids played together really well and there was only one trip to the emergency room the whole week (poor 'King'). Kendall got very whiny and clingy the last two days but I think that her daily 4am wake up may have had something to do with that. She is just a kid that likes structure and vacations are very go with the flow and they take a toll on her eventually.

We actually ran into my bestest friend from high school in the airport on the way out!

Kendall and I had a bit of a date this morning. She came with me to my eye appointment then we braved the crowds at Target and then had a little lunch together. We have all the suitcases unpacked, the fridge stocked and laundry going. This afternoon we're taking a family trip to the local library and tonight we'll get in our PJ's and watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Since we've been home I've been admiring a pair of shoes I got there and I've been working on some clove oranges, yummy.

Give Away?

I've been thinking about going through a bunch of my scrapbooking material and purging what I don't use. I was wondering if I had enough scrapbooking readers that would be interested in a give away. Let me know what you think.

I haven't posted any pics of the girls lately so the grandparents may be going through withdrawals. I actually haven't taken any recently but I'll dig through to find some you haven't seen.

We'll be in Florida next week so blog posts may be few and far between.

Gra-yummy

I think I have mentioned before that one of my favorite breakfasts is granola with thick and creamy yogurt mixed with fresh fruit (berries are the best). This combination is brought to you by the fabulous Scenic 90 Cafe in Pensacola, FL.

Kendall has decided that she loves granola too and we're going through the boxes at alarming rates. The super cute Jenn (how long has your blog title on my sidebar been misspelled?!) whose blog has sadly gone private recently mentioned to me that her equally cute twin sister Amy gave her a granola recipe. Well, Kendall and I tried it out today and it is delicious!

Try it out, it's so much better then the boxed stuff.

• 6 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 cup chopped nuts (slivered almonds are tasty)
• 1 cup dried fruit (we're using a tropical mix but keeping it on the side to add in as needed).
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 cup wheat germ (I was fresh out of this-although I do usually have it on hand)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1/3 cup oil (olive is good)

Mix oats, nuts, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Warm honey in microwave for about 20 sec or until thin. Mix liquid ingredients together, pour over dry ingredients. Spread over a couple flat cookie sheets (ones with sides are best) and bake at 300 F for 30 min, stirring every 10. When its done (golden brown), mix in the coconut and wheat germ (they burn easily so add at the end). Cool thoroughly- Before putting it in an airtight container to store, mix in the dried fruit. (If you bake it or mix the fruit in when its warm the raisins get super chewy.)

Whoo Hooo

Look what I got a good deal on. I know it should be longer (I wish it were) but I love the color and the fit and the buttons and the sleeves....I could go on but I'll spare you. I found it at a little boutique near my house, they have great stuff, I think it will become my go-to place for clothes now. Sorry for the crazy flash pictures.

This is me looking cold, do you see all that snow out the windows?

Over Caffinated

The last two days I have over dosed on caffeine but as a result my entire house has been scrubbed with a tooth brush. Seriously, yesterday morning at about 7ish I had a cocoa/coffee mixture that left me crazy hyper until I finally hit the wall at 4. Lots of cleaning, crafting and playing was done.

This week the girls finally realized that they have a built in playmate with their sister. They have played nonstop together with minimal to no fussing. I recently read the book Siblings without Rivalry and it has really taught me how to help them work out their squabbles on their own. Obviously Kendall has been listening to me because I've heard her expressing things with her words instead of other physical ways, "It's really frustrated when she sits in my seat." or "It's really frustrated when you have to share your (fill in the blank)." I love it. Not only is it ideal that she is voicing her frustrations instead of pushing Kate or snatching things but it is also just plain adorable to hear her work through it.

Today Kate had her first haircut. I think we only had two little snips of the scissors but we really needed to trim up the back to let the rest of her hair catch up. She was not a big fan of the whole situation.

Also, I was so bothered by Sam's (the doll) torso that I had to make a different one for Kendall. Meet Sophie. She likes to knit and listen to Jack Johnson on her iPod. Her favorite food is sushi and she has a weakness for sweater vests. Next up will be painting on the little faces and shoes!

Meet Sam

She's a linebacker and enjoys playing football with the boys. In her spare time she plays the tuba. This one turned out better in terms of craftsmanship but man, this material turned out bulky and made her a big boned girl. I may have to try this one again.

Meet Lucy

Her friends sometimes call her Lou. Lucy's favorite book is Pride and Prejudice and she loves to sit with it in her big arm chair next to the fireplace while sipping an over sized mug of Hot Cocoa (with marsh mellows not whip cream). Lucy has been strategically positioned to hide her bum arm, poor Lucy. She over compensates for her disability by over lifting weights with her other arm.

Face and shoes to come later. I have to make her best friend.

Doll Making

So far so good. Not going as smoothly as I had hoped though!

Wow

It's Awesome. I never thought this Florida girl could love this season so much. I wonder how I'll feel about it at the end of winter :)

Perfection

Today was a day of perfection. The snow fell softly all day today, when I walked outside I could hear the snow falling, it's one of the most beautiful sounds in the world, I think. The girls must have sensed the peace around us because they played so nicely together today. There wasn't a minute that they weren't doing something together they even went to the basement to play by themselves. I heard this exchange all day today, "Kate, do you want to go (fill in the blank)" quickly followed by Kate's, "Mo" (because she says no to whatever question you ask her). And Kendall's unfazed reply, "Okay, let's go!"

We got outfitted for all the snow that is supposed to be falling this week.

Our woodland creatures payed us a visit, Chippy, four deer in the backyard this morning and the raccoon (unfortunately). Tonight he disturbed the peace to do some noisy stuff under the deck. It scared Kendall, she kept saying, "That bothers me!" and getting close to my side. I peeked my head out the back doors and his little nose poked out. Tomorrow I'll be calling a Critter Getter I'm afraid.

I was able to get my desk and studio picked up quite a bit. But then....I found these online and I've added them to our homemade Christmas list. I started on them tonight. I think the girls will love them. I'm actually using their old baby clothes for the body fabric.

Decor

The countdown to Christmas company is on and it's high time we start 'finishing' the house! Today we worked a bit in the foyer. Mirror and lamp. Phew, hard work (actually, the walls are plaster so hanging that heavy sucker was hard work...for Brian).

You may remember that at one time I mentioned creating a Pottery Barn-esque display of frames on the mantle. Well, we're finally getting around to it. Today I picked up the remaining frame I was missing as well as the mattes that I needed. Tonight I'll be looking through photos to order (expect an email from me Lorie). We're going to stick with all black and white photos and mostly candid (not posed) shots.

That's about it for us, we're going to try out a local restaurant tonight and afterwards snuggle in to get out of the snow...I see hot chocolate and a cozy fire (?) in our future. Oh and we have plans to watch our wedding DVD tonight because it's our 6 year anniversary today too.

Oh What Fun It Is To...

Shop.

That is what we did today. The top two items on my list were new winter coat and some winter shoes and I didn't find either. When I'm in my hometown for Thanksgiving I'll visit a few shops there.

Generally we put our tree up over Thanksgiving weekend but we're going to have a few crazy weekends coming up and we'll be out of town for a little while so we went ahead and did it today. So much fun. We had a lot fewer rooms (and smaller rooms) at our old house so we may have to fill in with some new decorations. We decided to prevent premature opening of other people's presents (by the littlest Chicklet) by putting them up on the mantle.

I'm so ready to see the girls open their presents this year. I can hardly stand it!

Playing Catch-up

Well, we had our nature walk and then did our leaf rubbings, tracing, and stamping. Kate had a lot of fun doing this too, she caught on quickly and wanted to gather things and shove everything in her bag. Well, except for her meal-ulk that she wouldn't part with.

I made this little game for Kendall and she has been having fun working with it.

Last night I made a few more felt foods (although I've already wrapped their present and will have to either open it up or try to slip these in once they've opened it). I saw all of these online and then just tried to work without a pattern. I don't even cut a straight line, I just trim and change as I go.

Oh, and I'm a winner. Ha, I've one two different things on two different blogs this week!!! However, I did not win the photo printer, bummer. Generally, I'm pretty lucky in contests. Once I won season passes to the Broadway series in our town by singing the Beverly Hillbilly song on the radio, that was a bright and shinning moment for me.

I felt like a big winner today when I got gas for only $0.69/gallon. Yep, that's right I filled up the SUV from empty for only $14.40. Our grocery store gives you $ off each gallon depending on how much you spend. We bought a bunch of groceries this month and a lot of gift cards too. I have never been so excited to get gas. I had to call people afterwards to tell them.

You Are Getting Sleepy

Well, last night was pretty awful. Kate is such a champion sleeper really but last night something kept her awake between 11:30 and 1:30. I tried everything: Tylenol, tummy filling, patting, playing, crying...but she was just having none of it. I heard a thump again at 2:15 but she seemed to be asleep. I finally fell asleep myself and someone else was at my door at 4:30. Ack, luckily she went back to sleep until about 7:15. I knew that today was going to be a very kid centered day. If I didn't keep both of them very occupied then the grumps were going to come out in full force. We spent the morning at the library and picked up lots of fun books. We had a little fun with tissue paper and glue sticks. Next we ate lunch and made some home-made cookies. We used up quite a bit of Halloween candy (chocolate bars and m&ms) in them too. We watched part of The Polar Express before nap time. Now they are both quiet and after nap we are going to go on a leaf gathering walk and then do leaf rubbings with colored pencils then paint and stamp them.

Not much scrapbooking or cleaning getting done but we are having a lot of fun with no squabbles!

I'm going to rest on the couch with a notebook to jot down my list of house things that need to get done and in which order.

P.S. I have been a month off on Kate's age for about a month now. She will be 20 months on the 19th, oh brother. At 20 months Kendall started sleeping in a big girl bed!!! Crazy now that I think about it but she had no problems at all. Check out all that hair!

P.S.S. If anyone is interested in receiving emails when the blog is updated let me know. I can add you to the 'mailing list' or feed or whatever it's called. Basically when I update my blog the new post arrives in your inbox in the form of an email.

Monkey & Business

Kate is such a little monkey, she has been making silly faces at me a lot lately.

She also likes to feed her Elmo. I think Elmo might be saying, "Yumm, that's good but could you please let go of my eyeball?"

She always messes up my studio floor so today I gave her a muffin tin (one of my favorite purchases) to 'sort' stuff into. Actually, not much sorting was done but she did have fun rearranging things.

She also likes to sit on the first step of the staircase. I don't know what she thinks about but she just sits there and looks at her things.This is what I see from my studio:

Last week while Brian was out of town the girls and I got a lot of our Christmas shopping done and even wrapped it all! We have a few more things on order and a couple of gift cards to pick up and then we're finished! Woo hoo!

I am going to attempt to stay away from the computer for a couple of days. I have an enormous stack of photos from a Paper Chick client that I want to finish up and get FedEx'd out to her.