Goodbye 2008

Hello 2009!!!
Wow I cant believe 2009 is already here. Its seems like just last year everyone was freaking over the BIG, which turned out to be ridiculous, Y2K scare. (How many of you stocked up on bottled water and flash light batteries?) My 10 year high school reunion is this year. I'm really starting to feel old and notice how fast time is passing me by. When did I grow up?


How was Christmas for everyone? Since I'm no longer a kid, and have kid of my own Christmas sure was different this year. I think Santa forgot me. He didn't get me an Ipod or anything at all, so if you happen to see him, I give you the OK to smack him upside the head. I guess I was on his naughty list. Hmmmm. My MIL gave me a cozy thrown blanket, in a lovely shade of orange, which I love.

Being back in Georgia for Christmas was really strange. I thought it would be more exciting (and for lack of a better way to say it) a better holiday time, but it wasn't. My mother is not the family type, and doesn't enjoy gathering and Christmas parties. etc. For many many years now, a card with a Benjamin is her idea of a Christmas gift. My father finally made the trip (around 2 hour drive) to meet his first grandson. He brought Blake a noisy police car, which Blake does love, but me not so much. On that note, Christmas for Blake was magical. At my last count, he received 40 things from everyone combined including dvds, shoes, toys, hotwheels cars and Lightning McQueen things for his room........Note to grandparents.....its not nice to out do Santa. I loved watching him rip into the wrapping paper. He really enjoyed that part. And the look on his face once the inside was revealed precious and priceless. He stopped for a moment to looked at his gift, like wow this is for me. So cute and innocent. Christmas from the eyes of a child is pure magic.

Santa got this new big boy set for his new room.

Santa got these cool kid shoes too.
(yeah santa brought needed items bc the
grandparents took care of the toys and then some.)

Cool Kid Explanation. While shopping in walmart, I over hear a conversation between a boy around 10 years old and his father. We were all walking down the main aisle and he says "look dad that baby kid is wearing DC's." Dads says I see that, and then the boy states "that means he is a cool kid." Of course this makes me smile. So in case you didn't know Get your kid some DC's so they can be a cool kid too. Disclaimer: I do not work for Rob or DC, lol, but I do love theirs shoes.

Nana bought this to play cars.

And this Elmo bc she spoils him.

Opening at Gurny and Paw-Paw house now.

Maybe his favorite gift of all.

Opening Gifts at Pappy and GiGi's house.

Blake and mommy Christmas Morning!

I hope everyone has a happy and safe new year in 2009. May your days be filled with Peace, Love and Happiness throughout 2009.

fruit and wrapping paper

I can't believe Christmas is in 2 days. How exciting! Blake is only 20 months old so he doesn't really know whats going on. This past Saturday, we attend for the first time as a family, Josh annual family Christmas party. They were tons of aunt, uncles, cousins and of course kids. Around Thanksgiving, Libby held a name exchange for the kids, so every child received a gift or 3 to open. Here is Blake opening his gifts. To be so little, he really knows how to tare into the wrapping.

Here is a group shot of most of the kids.

The adults get a gift to during a friendly or somewhat dirty game of family Bingo. Basic rules.... every player brings a gift for the same sex resulting in 2 piles, one for the women, one for the men. The first player to Bingo select from their piles, open it. As other players Bingo they get the choice to steal someones already opened gift if they want it, or open something from the remaining pile. It can get interesting to say the least.


Now this lady is Josh's grandmother Lois, AKA maw-maw. She is a very kind and caring lady. Always respectful and the type of person everyone likes. She is quiet and very lady like. She lives on a budget, yet makes sure she buys everyone, and I mean everyone in the family a gift. She doesn't leave anyone off the list from her children and their entire family to her great children. Now thats what Christmas is truly suppose to be about. Opening ones heart to giving to others and making your family feel wanted and loved. It truly is the thought that counts. Not peolple trying to impress with the most expensive gift, or out due another person becaue they can afford too. (PS she is going to teach me to knit, and I cant wait)




As for an update on my family's situation. We have finally found a new place to call home for the next 4-5 years. All the proper permits are in place and we are one step closer. We cant wait! So that leads us to the next question.....the kitchen is all white, tile counters, appliances, doors, cabinets even the walls. In the military, I was never allowed to paint so do you have any suggestions on kitchen colors. Its pretty open to the living room. The island houses the sink and dishwasher. If you look close you can see its higher on one side and drops down to eating height on the other. Kinda strange! Currently it has a wood floor, but its not in the best of shape, so we will probably change that out with some kid friendly vinyl. We have a octagon shaped window in the kitchen. Should I cover that? If so I could use on ideas on that too.

Our dishes are this warm buttery yellow color.
They have hand painted apples, plums, grapes
and pears on them . *Don't hate them, dont love them
either, but I have ALL the matching pieces so I'm not ready
to buy new now either.

Here it is.
The burgundy is wallpaper will come down ASAP.

Whats a snowball?

Yummy!
Thats what they are!I thought I would share a delicious and quick, no bake holiday treat with you gals today. They are great to bring to holiday parties, hostess gifts, or a quick gift for a friend. And they are pretty.


Snowball Cracker Cakes

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Ritz crackers (Ritz will sue you if you don't use their brand!)
• creamy peanut butter (chunky works too, if you dear try, frosting works too)
• 1 pkg vanilla or white chocolate candy coating (or chocolate)
• holiday sprinkles (to make it Prudy- i like the glittery ones.)
• wax paper (to dry on, not to eat)

Directions:

Spread peanut butter generously between two crackers. Repeat to desired #. Melt candy coating in saucepan on low heat, stirring often. Dip peanut butter crackers into melted coating. Let excess coating drip off back in the saucepan. Place cookie on wax paper and immediately decorate with sprinkles before coating hardens. Eat and Enjoy!

*Let me know how they turn out if you make some.*

I'm trying to decide between these and nutter butter reindeer's for a family Christmas party next Saturday. I'll share the recipe for those if you gals like

Head full of cobwebs

This week was sorta productive for us. Josh and his dad, spent a couple days removing trees from the property. The later part of the week, was spent trying to get all the proper permits in place. (Hopefully we will know something on those this week.) We're getting there. I am going stir crazy. Its funny how lost you feel without your treasures or junk around you in easy access. I cant tell you how many times I reach for a particular item to realize its in storage. I miss my junk.

All boxed and loaded onto the truck.

The huge moving truck.

And if you know how much I love this car,
this is when I was about to freak out. My front
bumper is so low and this incline was so steep,
Almost didn't happen to say the least.

Since I cant scrap, and the Internet stinks in this apartment complex, I have been spending my time making sketches. I'm definitely not good at it, and usually end up changing things around, but this will have to work bc I don't want to lose the basic idea in my head. They are certainly without a doubt, some cobwebs up there, for sure!! I thought I would share a few with you guys. If they inspire you to make a page, I would love to see the finished layout.

This of course is a Christmas sketch.
I was thinking O'Christmas tree.

Its beginning to look alot like Christmas

OMG its December already. I swear this year has flew by. Its seems like just last week Blake was learning how to walk and now he is running. I cant believe my baby will be 600 days old tomorrow.

Our thanksgiving was nice. We went to Josh's moms house. She over cooks by far, the woman cooked 9 pies, so needless to say everyone took left overs and entire pies home. Yay I love the leftovers almost as much as the feast itself.

Afterwards the kiddos decorated her tree. They were excited to get their little hands into all the decorations. She went with the classic red and gold with white lights. Also the colors of my tree, which is stuck in storage, Makes me sad. I love decorating for the holidays and adding to my ornament collection every year.

Blake wasnt sure what was going on really, but he was happy to be helping anyway.

This is my favorite one of Miss Bailey. She looks so excited to be helping.

Isnt this one of little Brennan cute. He has all the candy canes together.

These boys are learning to play good together. After not seeing Brennan for a few weeks, he wanted to be near him. It was so cute.

I cant believe I forgot to get a completed tree pic.

Colors, ER, and ranting.

So I could really use some help decorating the master bedroom. This is the furniture set I have. Its a dark cherry finish. Which I loved 5 years ago when we purchased it, but don't prefer now. I need help with paint colors and bedding colors. This is the exact one I have.


My plan was to paint the walls burnt orange with a honey glaze and use creme and dark chocolate brown bedding. Now that I've been thinking about it, I'm not sure the orange and the cherry furniture will work together. Please Suggest away. I need the distraction.

On another note Blake had his second visit to the ER last Friday. His little big toe, became infected and I dont know why. They gave him meds and its clearing up now. While there we did the height weight thing and this little guy only weighs 22 pounds. He doesn't gain weight for nothing or eat. So any advice on that would be great also. I dint know what to do any more or what to try when it comes to him. They are days he will only eat a couple goldfish. I have asked his doctor several times and everyone medically and everyone says he will eat when he's hungry. Ok I do understand that, but the boys has only gain like 3 pounds in the last year. That doesn't sound good to me. He is in the 5% for his age now. And in the 50% for his height.

halloween

<---------Yep that's right. I gots new hair!!! It's darker and layered and I have bangs again. I'm loving it right now, but I can't say the same for Josh. He likes me better as a blond. Agh nothing against you blonds out there, but everyones doing that.


Sorry Its been soooo long since I posted, but with cleaning up our land from the tornado back in May, we have been very busy. We rented a 30 yard dumpster and filled it with sheet rock, flooring, ugly wallpapers, lol, and all the other garbage that goes along with tearing down an old home. Its hard work but I guess we all have to start somewhere in life.


Halloween was fun. It was Blake's first year Trick or Treating! He was spider-man, and the cutest little spider man Ive ever seen. We went out with Jessica and her children Jaylin, Bailey, and Brennan, his cousins. We had fun. At the end of the evening Blake had 48 treats in his pail, including candies, stickers, stamps, bubbles, and even a plastic ball. He had a blast, but I must say he enjoyed everyone's home decorations, especially the lights, more than the treats. It was cute. Here are a couple of pics from the night, but since I'm using my DH computer they are not edited in anyway so bear with that.

This is the best photo I could get in his costume. He wasnt having any part of the mask, and didnt want to wear the hat thingy either.





Here is the group picture of the kiddos. Notice Blake is not a happy camper at this time. Its only 8:30 but for a little guy he was tired and ready to get back in the car and go home .

5 year plan

Just a quick post to let you know I'm still here. Nothing new or exciting to tell so I wont bore you with nothing, but I have managed to find a couple minutes of alone time to scrap. (yay for me) I cant decide how to scrap our pumpkin patch trip, so I've been working with older pics instead. I think I'm now caught up to Blake's 16th month of life, with the 9th month milestone page exception.

Our house hunt is not getting any better. With the economy as it is, and Josh going back to school full time, we have decided to hold off on buying. The houses in our price range is not in the location we want to be. I need to be able to go out to check to mail at midnight and feel safe doing so and sadly our price range doesn't allow that. We have a 5 year plan in place now so that allows Josh time to concentrate on school. Its not idea, but its the best choice for long term family happiness. So beginning in January 2009, our plan is to put $3,600 minimum a year in the bank for the next five years but $5,000 being our goal. Any extra would be terrific, but lets not go insane with it, everyone likes to shop sometimes.

Burts Pumpkin Farm

Sunday, we visited Burts Pumpkin farm. My sister Connie and Josh's stepbrother BJ and his family went with us. We took a hayride through the North Georgia mountains, in the crisp cool autumn air. The trail leads through tranquil mountain stream into popcorn and pumpkin fields. After stopping at the pumpkin house to hear Burt’s talking pumpkins, Autumn and Gourdy, the hayride then proceeds on a two mile trip down a winding mountain road. The hayride ends looking down from a panoramic hilltop view of Burt’s farm and breath taking Amicalola Falls.

We seen thousands of Pumpkins from 1 pound to 150. The farm was filled Indian corn, cornstalks, hay bales, winter squash, gourds and fall decorations. Blake wanted to walk around and explore the pumpkin patches, he in no way wanted to be held. We had a nice time. I love Autumn. The nice breeze blowing your hair and the beautiful colors around you. I love the burnt oranges, reds, and browns.











Its sad to say, but I think this is our first family photo since we left the hospital with Blake. He is now 18 months old too.

BJ and his family.

House hunting

Look I squeezed in a few minutes to scrap. Ok I'm slowing working on a new page. Problem is Me and the Embellishments are not agreeing on anything, so we decided to do nothing. I need some inspiration. My lack of space isn't helping either. I guess you can tell your addicted when you are forced to sit inside a small closet in the floor to scrap. Yep, I miss my scrap table, and papers and my ME time. I cant wait until we can find a house. In the mean time I'm day dreaming of my scrap room. Im thinking tiffany blue with touches of hot pink with zebras prints and black furniture and frames. Or something a bit more calm like your traditional yellow and black.

So I think we are in for a long and dreadful house search. This week we looked at a few houses. We toured this house and I hated it. I really love the split foyer style , but this is not our house, and I dont care to see another.


The inside stinks. Its very small and all the rooms are extremely square. The owners or previous tenants went crazy with the paint. It was everywhere it should not be. The trims and ceiling were covered where they didn't bother to tape.

For the house flippers out there in North Georgia, I found you a home. The asking price here is cheap at 44,500, and it has 3/4 acres of land. This house needs updating to be pretty again.




The search shall continue......and in case you were wondering the chairs were gone.