Tuesday, March 31, 2009

tagged and caught !!

ok, so lots going on(what's new!).. after I took down the mirror from above the mantel, re positioned it in our guest bathroom(in place of the standard el-cheap-o clip on mirror that came with the house), showed Andrew the new light fixture I had found for above the mirror, and told him of the painting, new hardware, and distressing to the vanity... along with the possibility of having our friend Travis put in new tile on the floor..... THEN, I went into the living room, rearranged the art from one wall, took down the two pieces from another wall(that I have never really liked).. showed him a picture of a new print I want framed for above the mantel, and a gallery wall that I want to create on the other wall he just looked at me and said
"this nesting thing is ridiculous. seriously, honey, you're out of control!! "
He doesn't understand why I want to go around changing things up when they are fine the way they are. well, um.. we've been here for 4 years, and I am getting bored.
just go with me hun.... I am the decorator in the family, remember?
Ok, so I was tagged by Shelly and here are the rules:
(and of course she looked awesome, as usual)!
1. Take a picture of yourself right now. No primping or preparing. Just snap a picture.2. Load the picture onto your blog.3. Tag three people to play. Remember, if you are tagged on another blog, we will all be heading to yours to see if you played along.
so I tag.............Heather,(b/c I dare you to do it w/o hair and make up done!! LOL.. I know you're beautiful!)..... Emily, (because you need to show the world your baby bump)..... and Ronda,(b/c I haven't seen your smiley face for a while)

this was me. I came in to the computer, and then had Andrew snap this b/c I had a fixed lens on the camera, and couldn't get it close enough.-we had been out on a great family day. starting with Chuck E Cheese at 10:30 in the morning! We usually avoid that place at all costs.. though Brigham has had 3 birthday parties there recently, and we've had to go. Its udder chaos. bad food. not the cleanliest of facility nor patrons., but we do it for the children right? He loves it. and now his lil' sis is joining in the fun.

so my friend Summer, invited us to a birthday party about a month ago.. yet it was at 9:30 in the morning! I didn't even know they were open at that time! She is a regular at this, and told me the secret of coming there early .

* its totally clean. yep, even the bathrooms had not even been used!

* the salad bar is fresh, and the proper items are still in the proper containers

*you have the entire place to yourself.(at least we did for the first hour and a half) and then only 3 other families showed up.

*Your kids can run wild, and you don't really have to watch them.

* the kids get to play any game they want, (mom and dad can play any game they want) with no lines

*you get to pick up the tickets from all the games, that they tested before they opened.

yep. we scored about 700 tickets(which is far above our normal 22)

so Brig and Tate got to bring home a tad bit cooler piece of crap toy, then they usually pick out!

**disclaimer*** the pizza is still sub par, even at this time of the morning.

----------------------------------------------------

but we had fun, and then ran errands, and tired out the kids for looong naps yesterday.

over the weekend I made cookies. and sister got caught!

I walked into the kitchen, just to see this... of course I grabbed my camera, that happened to be on the counter


she was so busted!


and she must have thought the giant lens covering my eyes kept me from seeing her.
she thinks she got away!!


ok...... so those of you that I tagged. GO DO IT!!
and those of you who stopped by.... leave me a comment.
remember this is the 3rd post that I am picking comments from.
next week is the drawing for the uber cool prize!!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

signs of spring !!

yay!! my first little bloom. funny, how I planted a bunch of these crocus bulbs, and so far just one little guy has popped up! I have about 15 bunches of daffodils on the verge of opening up any day! I can not wait!! and we are finally in the 60's every day! this was Tatum after church on Sunday.. we went to grab Subway and then headed outside....
and Brigham on his bike.. he still isn't too thrilled about it! Though his little sister not only constantly stands at the front door and says "go side"... , but after she gets outside, runs to the garage and gets "bike"..(a little one that Brigham used at 1-2 yrs), but she also tries to get on Brig's big boy bike!! we are so going to have a little dare devil on our hands with her!

and the NESTING has begun..... the entire garage got swept out, cleaned out, and re organized. AHHHHHH. such visual peace.. I LOVE it!! this weekend we are heading to Menard's to pick up one of those big plastic storage benches for toys(sports equipment). I got a bunch of little plastic boxes and lids and put them on the shelves, so that everything has a place. I would love to put down tile floor and paint the walls... but I suppose I have to have limits.. LOL
I did however, paint my front door!
It used to be a duller, more Mulberry color, and I wanted it to POP, so we went with this red color!
don't mind the streaks though...
(it still wasn't dry when I took the pics)



and in preparation for our newest arrival, we are having to reorganize the kids room... meaning switching out the changing table /dresser from Brigham's room, into Tatum's room, and getting him a new dresser. We did some furniture shopping 2 weeks ago, and as we did find the dresser for his room, we also found a new bed for our room!
We've been looking for a few years, but never find exactly what I want.. and for the right price.
this had both =)
My hope is that in the next house, everything in our master bed/bath rooms will become the guest room. I love the cottage-y feel to it, and how everything matches so well.
and plus, the fact that I already have decorating ideas for our new master bedroom!!




and this adorable thing showed up in my mail box over the weekend! so cute, and thanks to a uber talented 'pea' on the photography side of 2-peas, who so kindly made it for Tatum's nursery. thanks Heather!






oh, and the nesting(spring cleaning..) continues.. I am taking all my albums and converting them from strap hinge into 3 ring binder types. The ones I like best are American Crafts.
It is so much easier since, I scrap in such a random order. I can just put them in a sleeve, and flip to where I need to insert the page. easy peasy!
I am using pink and green for Tatum.


and red, blue, black for Brigham!





So I totally love hearing from you all!! I am so glad to 'know' who is checking out my blog! I still know there is a whole bunch of you that didn't speak up.. so here is your chance. You can comment on this post, and I'll do another one soon too.
The more you comment, the more you get entered into the drawing....which will happen right before Easter.
so I know I haven't revealed the prize... but it will include chocolate for sure!!






Wednesday, March 18, 2009

a few randomitities

yep. its that word again. notice how I use it when I am lacking creative titles? it couldn't be that our lives are always random?. no way. ..lol
------so lots going on... the weather has finally gotten nice here in Indiana! 2 weekends ago I was out in my yard getting it all cleaned up and ready for the bits of green sprouts to start taking over! I can. not. wait! I actually get giddy this time of year and have officially changed my favorite season from fall to spring. I got my first pedicure of the year, and some new fun flops. ( i live in these all summer long.. could be why my feet have expanded and my heels are one mega callus.
anywho.. its fun, and I love hearing the birds sing and the airplanes buzz overhead.
Tatum is having a ball too, as this is all new to her. We have realized that she is lightening fast and also a dare devil. nothing at all like her older brother. I have a feeling this is going to be the summer I actually go buy one of those kid leashes. Oh, my goodness, did I really say that?
Ok, I would never put my child on a leash, but we'll have to put the smack down on boundaries quickly!
Brigham is super psyched to get back on his bike, and he is already practicing baseball. We'll sign him up for t-ball in a few weeks. Let the craziness begin.
--------went out for St. Patty's day last night and got carded. Yep! either its a normality to have prego women coming in for an evening that is all about the excess of alcohol consumption, OR the wrinkles on my face are not as visible as they seem, and I still do look 19 years old.
we did have a great time out, and I wish I had brought my camera. It was amazing to see the time and effort that people put forth in their Irish gear!
---Thought the kindergarten decision was a done deal. now there is a petition (of sorts) getting started to create a single half day class. While I am ok, with pulling him of an all day classroom, this would be more ideal. They need to have 20 kids, and so far they have several parents leaning this way.. not sure the number, but it could happen, as a few moms put the pressure on the principal of the school.
Truthfully, I would be ok, with sending him to all day kindergarten, but we're not sure that the teachers could handle him that long!! Plus, I am slightly hoping that he will get tired out from longer 5 days a week, and therefore take naps along with Tatum and his new sibling.
------Brigham was helper of the day today. It cracks me up the things the kids take for show and tell. Today was a stuffed parrot , that I got at Oriental Trading last summer for his jungle party. He just found it tucked away in the closet last week, and it has now become his favorite thing! I made some yummy 'fruity pebbles' rice krispie treats last night around midnight, while my husband continued the festivities in our living room.
If you haven't tried making them.. they are heavenly (in a non chocolate sort of way!).I am so glad I made extras.. as this un born babe has a definite sweet tooth.. lol.
---here are some pics from a quick photo shoot I did with Tatum. Found the wings and tutu at Michael's.. not the greatest, but it was super cheap(money wise) and I wanted to see how she would do . I actually am wanting to get her a peti skirt for her birthday session. I am still waiting on my new back drop and seamless papers to arrive, so I pulled out my mega hunk of white fabric.. threw it in the dryer and once I started editing, realized that the wrinkles show up pretty good. which makes these pictures pretty bad. =(... so instead of these being used in some marketing, they're going to scrapped up. I still think they are uber cute.






















---got my spring marketing whipped up and ordered, and will hopefully get them sent out early next week. I'll post a sample soon. Hoping that with this nicer weather, people will want to get out and I can not wait til' the color starts popping up!
----oh, yeah... I totally know that there a bunch of you that read my blog regularly.. but you never comment. So here is a challenge.. the next time you stop by leave me a comment.. tell me hi, and how you came across my blog. For my next 3 posts, I'll take all the comments.. put them in a drawing for a super cool prize. don't know what that is yet.. but it WILL be super cool.
promise.
have a fantastic day!


















Tuesday, March 17, 2009

happy St. Patty's day !!


may the luck of the Irish be with ya today!
we're all in green today... eating green foods, and tonight Andrew and I are going out with friends to an Irish pub where my brother works. They have a cool band, and its always a good time there.
Enjoy your day, and leave me a comment with anything you're doing to celebrate!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

yipee ky yi yay!

or something like that..

last week we had kindergarten roundup. total western/cowboy/round up theme.. get it
round up?

everything was decked out hard core.. like the kids got there and they all had sheriff badges with their names on it, and they got to pick one of three color bandannas to wear.
the kids were sent off to one of the three class rooms, while the parents went to the library (totally themed up) to hear from the principal, nurse and each of the three kindergarten teachers.

I really thought the whole evening was going to be like an open house thing, where we just walked around and stuff.
The speakers were very informative and I can not believe all that they offer at this school.
Poor Andrew was in and out of the room, as he was chasing Tatum around so he didn't get to hear much.. but when it was done, he came up to me and said " I don't know why you even considered a private school.. you should see these class rooms.!"

oh, my gosh, where they cool. each room had a different theme.. and for all of you know how crazy I am for themes.. I was in heaven. seriously, from the outside of the hallways and into the classrooms, every inch was done in theme.
stuff like... a Paris cafe(where they had cafe tables set up, black and white and pink and windows all had cute little curtains hanging..
and a beach theme, where everything was fish,shells, surf boards and umbrellas and chaise lounges and palm trees, etc.
and there was a diner theme.. and yeah, they had brought in like a table and vinyl bench set for the kids to read at. lots of neon in this room.
I can't remember all the other ones, but oh. my. gosh. sooooo COOL!
the school was built 10 years ago, and when they did, they went around to the area schools and brought over all the Golden Apple Winners(which my friend Emily won last week =)!!), and other award winning teachers and clumped them all together in one school.
this place has state of the art technology, and they gave examples of the kinds of things they do in kindergarten. AMAZING!
oh, yeah.. and in the cafeteria.. they have centerpieces on the tables. the principal finds that if the environment is nice, than the kids will behave better and not mess around at lunch.
I hadn't shared on the blog about the frustrations we were having in the last two months, trying to decide on what to do about Brigham's schooling next year.
The cut off here is Aug. 1st, and he will turn 5 on July 13th, making him one of the youngest kids.
All last fall, we were set on holding him back and sending him to another year of PreK, mostly so he is bigger and more mature for sports(of course).. academically, he is pretty far ahead of many kids in his class. Since he could talk, he was obsessed with letters, reading and then in preschool last year, he developed a big interest in spelling. Basically as parents we are constantly talking to him about words, spelling, and last fall we started doing math. He is super interested in these topics, which helps, but we take advantage of many situations, in the car or at the dinner table to work with him. Actually the kid will spend an hour at the kitchen table with one of those fat lined notebooks, and just write his letters over and over, and then try and write out sentences. kinda funny.
so yeah.. in that sense he was ready, but we weren't sure about maturity.
We also looked into a Christian school here. Part of me was interested in the spiritual side of the education, but I also knew that a private school can't compete with state funded technology. they can't always attract the best teachers either. We also knew several people that send their kids to this school, and we didn't want to get stuck in that "christian" bubble. in a smaller school, where almost all families had SAHM's I just knew there would be too much drama, gossip and busy bodies. Not to mention it was $4ooo.oo a year!
personally, we as parents work with him almost daily on spiritual teachings as well as the solid program he takes part in at our church. We were kinda leaning towards wanting our children to be a light around potentially non-churched kids, rather than keep them grouped with kids that all had the same values and beliefs, etc.
The week before we went, I talked with his prek teacher, and she said he was totally ready. In fact, he would be really bored if we kept him in prek again, and even worse by the time he went to kindergarten at 6 years old.
So anyway, after the roundup, it was super easy. Plus the fact, that when we went to get Brig out of the class room, he DID NOT want to leave. He asked the teachers if he could come back tomorrow. And he said he wanted to come back to that school for a whole week!!
pretty cute.. I am so glad he had fun. They made rattle snakes, cowboy hats, and wrote their names out in rope... keeping with the theme of course!
So our decision is now whether to put him in half day or full day. The school actually doesn't truly offer half day, but what they do is put the kids in full day and then pull the (half day) kids out at lunch.
Sounds like they won't be missing anything academically by leaving early.
Also, to go all day it costs $1800.00!!
There is a chance we could qualify for a discount on that, but we won't know until July.
I remember a few years ago, when the first talk of all day kindergarten was brought up, many of my friends, were all like 'no way, I am never sending them all day.. I want to keep them with me, etc. etc.'. I felt so out of place, b/c I never felt that way, but I was made to feel like I would be a horrible mom if I wanted to send them all day. Many of those same women either are or plan to home school, so I guess that makes sense why they thought like that.
I actually can't wait to get the kids in school, so I can go back to work full time. Now with the baby on the way, obviously, I have to wait awhile, but I am still thinking that having Brigham in full day(if we afford it) would be good for him and a huge blessing to me with a newborn and a 2 year old at home.
luckily we don't have to make the decision til summer...
and the other yee haw thing, is that I have been busy planning Tatum's 2nd birthday party!
Its going to be a cowgirl/western theme, and I am so excited! I already have lots of good dishes/ props/decor left from Brigham's second party which was the Barnyard theme.
I have also been shopping online and picking things up here and there as I see them.
I already have the invitations in mind, and the menu and games planned out.
Her birthday isn't until May 9th, but I know I'll be busy nesting and doing other around then! (who am I kidding? nesting has already begun big time)

speaking of baby... had my 6 month check up and everything is moving right along.
I am craving salty things, and lots of sweets too. I have been eating a Klondike bar almost every night!! LOL
but mostly at lunch I have been eating fruits and veggies, so hopefully it balances out.
not really gaining much more weight. having fun wearing prego clothes ..Thanks Summer! =)
really popping out too, I'll have to take some pics this weekend and update ya'll on the baby bump!
well.. that's all for now!

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

tid bits, ta-da's, and ta-ta's

ok, so lots going on....
-first of all, THANK you so much for the well wishes for Andrew.
He still hasn't passed the stone, at least he hasn't found it. We're hoping that it just dissolved.
Unfortunately, we were not able to go to Indianapolis for our weekend get away.
When we returned home from the hospital , Friday morning, he was able to sleep. He was pretty doped up on meds, and wasn't complaining, so I basically just continued planning and packing as scheduled. The kids both napped earlier than usual, so we could head out of town by around 3 pm. I actually didn't have Andrew do much in preparation, and I was prepared to drive(even though I was really hoping to dig into my new scrap magazine =)......
anyway.. the car was packed... we stopped for gas and munchies.. and then headed to the interstate, when the check engine light came on in my car. Lovely. I thought it had been driving a bit weird, but Andrew was convinced it was just due to the fact that I ran into a curb the night before. yep.and I wasn't the one on meds.. lol-
so he got out and drove it a bit... but really wasn't wanting to take it out of town. We couldn't go get his car from the hospital garage either, b/c lately his car has been in and out of the shop, and Andrew wasn't sure it was ready for a road trip quite yet. Lovely.
We tried stopping in at a mechanic, but they didn't have the right system to check a Jetta's controls. So we went back home, all the way I was fuming in side, more disappointed , and Brigham kept asking when we were going to Indianapolis. I hated to let my kids down. And who was I kidding, I was really looking forward to some time away.. to make messes and not have to clean them up, and just relax with no schedules to follow.
As we got home, Andrew proceeded to tell me that he really was still in pain, and that the car thing was just GOd sending us a sign that we shouldn't go. I really feel badly for not putting the needs of my husband first. I just didn't realize what he was going thru, was really that bad. So needless to say, the rest of our evening contained some shouting and a whole lot of tears! The kids and I went to bed around 8pm, we were all so exhausted.
We got up the next morning to drop the jetta off at the dealer, and then we went to IHOP for a special breakfast. and later a trip to Target.
I think that smoothed things over with Brigham.. and of course Tatum had no clue! Target definitely smoothed things over for me =)
Good news is that my car only need a new vacuum hose so it was only $50.00. phew!
Andrew 's stomach pain ceased, but he has had lower back (kidney?) pain for the last couple days now. He is still taking meds, so he basically slept thru church on Sunday!! lol..we were sitting in the second row, too, so afterwards, he apologized to the pastor, for sleeping during his message!!
-our church celebrated its 2nd anniversary, with a big Mexican Fiesta... it was really good.. and I paid big time for it all afternoon with heart burn.
- I have finished a long and detailed task for my philanthropic organization, PEO. I was asked last spring to be chairman of the program committee, and I said yes, without fully knowing what my responsibilities would be. Since last fall, I have been busy, trying to find hosts, and hostesses for each meeting(twice a month) and then a program for each meeting. Basically the last two weeks have been spent finalizing the program to be put into our booklets, and also getting changes in membership to update our books..so yeah... I am glad that is over. I was just asked to be on the committee as well for our guest tea in June, but I think it should be fairly easy..
-been playing with my camera on my boy for a change.. love his expression here.
just wait , I got some uber cute props for Tatum to be my guinea pig with... hoping to get to that this week...
-last week at MOPS, we had a pampering day. ahhhhhh. it was so wonderful.
got my makeup done
(you can kinda see the pink streaks better, with the way my hair is done here.)


got a manicure. that lasted all of 3 days!! maybe this is why I stopped getting my nails done after I had Brigham. ( for 12 years before that, I was an every two week kinda girl for getting my nails done)

and the TA-DA is..................................


my photography business! yep. this is what I was going to reveal months ago.. but kept wanting to work on things some more, before the big reveal.. so anyway... the above is a glimpse of my business cards . and you can check out my site :
I have been up and running since about September. I have had lots of success so far, and am having a blast with it. Its amazing that my hobby, and love for being creative, as brought us income so quickly! It totally has been a God thing, because, we had been talking about me going back to work at some point, but this business has been able to help with financing the 'extras'.
I can't believe how much fun I am having doing it too. I love to meet new people, and especially new little people =).
I'm going to set up a link on my blog to my site, so check back often, for fun stuff. I am getting ready to launch a spring special soon.


and the Ta-Ta's ........
actually have a double meaning.
last week, while in my room, changing my clothes, Tatum was keeping a close watch on me(as she often does). As I took off my shirt, she pointed at my chest area and exclaimed with a huge grin... " ta-ta's"!!!.
so that had us laughing for awhile.
until just a few days ago, and Brigham started trying to get her to say her name.
She is really becoming verbal now and knows about 20 words, and is easily repeating what we say.
So proud big brother, keeps asking her "Tatum, what's your name?" over and over until finally.. she exclaims with a big ol' grin.....
"ta- ta"!!!!!.
and she hasn't wavered from this either. we even were on skype with gma and gpa Holland over the weekend and they were asking her what her name was, to which she proudly screamed out
"Ta-Ta"!!!!






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