Thursday, December 30, 2010

Crazy Christmas Lady

Someday I might be one of those people with every room in their house completely crammed to the gills with decorations from November to mid-January. At this point I have stuff for every room, but it's not wall to ceiling anywhere.

Yesterday I stepped one foot closer into the Christmas insanity and redecorated both my trees. I took all the ornaments off each and swapped them. I got us new stockings that are in a red/green/white color scheme and our main tree was in the jewel toned scheme...so rather than waiting an entire year to see how they all look together I spent almost all day yesterday redoing each tree.

What I originally wanted to do was change our main tree to some sort of "New Year" color scheme but I didn't have enough gold, silver & white decorations to pull that off. I've never been a fan of any of those colors for Christmas...but I'm getting there. :)

I was tempted to get Kira a lavender tree today at walmart since they're only $10, but I resisted. I don't know if lavender will fit in her room next year because everything she has now is pink, green and brown. The zany thing is I absolutely love the color purple on her. I spent all this time waiting for a pink princess and now I like her in purple better! That's the kind of problem I have no problem with.

Monday, December 27, 2010

dreaming of white christmas trees

Some people think white trees are tacky...I used to be one of those people. Now I think they are so pretty. I don't want to stop using the ornaments I have but I am getting kind of bored with them, so next year having them on a white tree will make them seem all new again. Can't wait!












All pictures were found on Google images

Saturday, December 25, 2010

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


Three more hours left of Christmas and I am beat! Last night was a late one, and today was a long one. Riley got so many great presents, and I got a Cricut! I am pretty excited about that. It is way more complicated than I thought, but I will figure it out. Riley and Kira's bdays are just three months away so I have lots to plan for! :)

We had dinner at my mom's and it was soooo good. I'm so lucky to have a mom that's a great cook. On Christmas we have ham and I love it! Tomorrow is my favorite part of Christmas, going shopping for ornaments half off! I am always on the lookout for tree skirts and stockings. Now that our family is complete, I can finally get "nice" stockings that all match. This year I'm also wanting a white tree. Full size. Not sure where it will go next year (my bedroom) but I'll find a spot! :)

Thursday, December 23, 2010

write that down


I'm a secretary! My boss is three feet tall and uses a sippy cup. Ever since I wrote down that little story for Riley he's been walking in my room with a pen and a piece of paper saying "write this down mom".

A mother's work is never done.

If you've seen Van Wilder you get the 'write that down' reference. If not, here's another one of Mr. Van Wilder just for fun. He's single again :) Does anyone else remember when he was on that show 15?

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

three more days...

till Christmas! I really can't wait for Christmas morning. But before that, we have two family parties to go to on Christmas Eve, and I get to see my bff since 3rd grade who lives in Colorado on the day after Christmas...lots of things to be excited about!

Riley doesn't have a 'gotta have it' toy in particular, he just wants ABCs and 123s. What does that mean? You got me! He's got a jillion (I counted) sets of letters already, but he always wants more. He will be getting a Big Wheel, and I'm pretty geeked for that. I had a Big Wheel when I was little and I thought it was just about the coolest thing ever.

I am feeling pretty lucky to have two sweet babies to celebrate this holiday with!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

a story by riley

Riley was typing on his computer today, asking me how to spell a word every couple of minutes. Finally I just asked him to tell me the whole story so I could write it down, and he could read off my paper to type it.

So here is my son Riley Scott's first story. I copied down exactly what he said and didn't correct his made up words. I did tell him that it should be 'went' instead of 'goed' but I want to remember how cute he is right now.

Mom woke up to get Riley some milk.
Mama goed back to sleep.
She woke up and was working on her scrapbooking stuff.
Then Riley goed potty. He got his underwears on by himself.

He just started putting his underwear on all by himself in the last couple weeks, so that's a big deal right now.

Monday, December 20, 2010

argh, inception!

***If you don't want to know details of this movie, don't read this!!!***




I watched Inception for the first time last week and I just cannot stop thinking about that ending! There are so many theories about what actually happened in the movie and what the ending means. The director himself says that there is a definite answer, but he's not telling. THAT bugs me. If he wanted it to be completely ambiguous he needs to say "It's supposed to be up to your own interpretation". But he doesn't say that, he says there is a yes or no but he wants everyone to be burning up the internet talking about what they think happened. Other than the open ending, I really love the movie. But not knowing what it all really was feels like a big F You from Mr. Nolan.

So what do you think? Was the entire thing just a dream that Cobb had on the plane? Was he still dreaming at the end? Was it straightforward and they completed the job and Cobb was in the 'real world' with his kids at the end?

Thursday, December 16, 2010

one of those days!


When the first thing your son says to you in the morning is "Mom, can you wash my hands?" that's a clue to bury your head under your pillow and go back to sleep. Yesterday I caught Riley just as he was about to make a big ol mess with FOOD COLORS. But he hadn't opened anything yet so it was ok. I put them way high up where I thought they'd be safe. Here's another clue:when you're hiding things from your mischevious boy, don't let him watch you do it. This morning he got his little chair and some boxes and climbed right up to where they were hidden and got them down. He squeezed out the entire bottle of green and some of the yellow on his floor and was finger painting in his water color coloring book. Needless to say his hands are completely green, his legs are pretty green, and he's got splotches on his face where he was probably scratching or whatever. Luckily I was able to clean all of it off the floor but the grout will have to be redone.

Of course today I was planning on having the kid's picture taken with santa. I decided to try and get that done even though I have half a green kid. We get to the mall and Riley refuses to go in the Santa area. He would stand outside and wave at him, and say hi, but he would not go in. The mall is run by money hungry bastards who won't even let you take pictures AROUND the Santa area. You can't even be in the chairs around Santa and have his seating area in the background...you HAVE TO PAY for that privalege! Is that not the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard in your life? It really irks me that the Santa Picture people are so greedy. Ugh.

So after that I tried to have my dad take some pictures of the kids just sitting on a bench w/some poinsettias behind them...neither one of them were having it. Kira was totally sleepy and Riley just wanted to get to the play area. Finally I just gave up and got him to the playground and let him play. He loves going to the play area but he's alot bigger than the other kids, and he plays rough. Every single time I tell him he needs to play nice, and not touch other kids, etc, and every single time he does it anyway. Today was no exception. I'm watching him play and he cut in front of some little kids to go down a slide so I go over and tell him he needs to play nice and all that. Two minutes later I see him on a different slide, pulling another kid down by his collar, and the kid is crying. So that was the end of playground time! I think he lasted 5 minutes total on the playground. I feel really bad because he loves playing with other kids but he will not get it into his head that he can't play so rough with them! I do not know what to do about this problem. After the holidays he will be starting preschool and I pray that he's not sent home after his first day with a note that says 'riley can't come back'. This was one of my fears, having 'the bad kid' in the classroom!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

oh christmas tree(s)!


It's time for Thrifty Decor Chick's Tree Party! I absolutely love having a tree at Christmas time. When I'm in the room with one I just sit there and stare at it...I can't help myself!

Our main tree. It's 8 feet tall and used to be mom's, thanks mama! It is fake...growing up we'd always get a real tree but I'm a fake tree convert now. I like being able to bend the branches the way i want them to go. I don't feel like I'm done decorating this tree yet; I need to go to Hobby Lobby but haven't had the chance! The colors are not traditional Christmas, it's kind of rainbow-y. This one has all our special family ornaments and will have the ones the kids make when they start doing that. I need to find something to make with Riley for this year...


Lennox angels with the boys' names on them from my mom

I used to have two Jimi Hendrix ornaments and one broke this year, so this one is extra special! ha

A new one for Riley this year :)

good old Chewie

i was pretty happy to put this one up this year!

My mom got me the A R & K so I decided they needed their own tree. Riley decided he wanted his picture taken too!

This tree is in my bedroom! It's our old tree, and since I have enough ornaments for it and there was a space for it, of course i had to put it up. The color scheme on this one is red, lime green and turquoise. All my santa ornaments are on this one, mixed with a couple Mickeys and snowmen.



This one and the next one were given to my mom by my grandma on my dad's side, and she gave them to me this year. When I was 19 we had a fire in our attic and all our Christmas ornament burned up so these are so very special to me.



this Mickey looks antique but he's not


there are hundreds of pretty trees to look at, and add your own! get to the party!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Kira's Christmas Room

It only took six months but I'm finally done decorating Kira's room! She has her Christmas decorations all ready for Santa's visit...hope he likes PINK!




Still not happy with the higher shelf but I wanted to take pictures today!
Is it wrong to have pictures of yourself in your own room? I don't think it is when you're an adorable baby...


I wish the dress was my size!

Yaaaay!!! Kira has a closet!!! This is the awesome computer desk that we got for FREE...thank you Daddy for hauling it home all by yourself!


Ta-DAAAAHHHH!! Too bad you can't hear me singing that, which I do everytime I open the doors. I've always been fascinated by wardrobes (I blame the Narnia books) but I've never actually seen one in person. So this thing is really fun for me. Easily amused? Maybe! Great work again Daddy on taking all the computer shelves out of the inside and turning it into a CLOSET!! !!

Kira's "main"Christmas tree

I've had the K ornament for a long time...in case I ever had a Kira

The tiara ornament is from Grandma...well most of the ornaments on this tree are from Grandma actually!


Ok her dresser usually does not look like this, usually it has baskets and laundry and little shoes and who knows what else on it. But it looks nice for pictures!


Happy PINK Holidays to all!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

time to celebrate!

Kira has a closet!!!! It's not Carrie's closet from Sex & The City, but her clothes are out of my closet and that makes me very happy!!! We haven't painted the thing yet. While I was taking a nap this afternoon (first one in ages it was awesome) Scott dragged it in and put it in her room. I wasn't going to have him take it back out and wait for him to paint it, who knows when that could have happened! I'm actually thinking about not painting it and getting a new crib to match it. I do love her pink crib so very much, but it's really squeaky. We're thinking of getting her a new crib that will convert to a toddler bed. And if she's going to have dark wood furniture, I think I'm gonna "have to" paint her walls pink!

Yes it is excessive to redo a baby's bedroom but she's my only girl and my last baby...life's too short to worry about being excessive for your little girl!

I've been decorating for Christmas all week. We have the big tree in the living room of course, then Riley has a mini one in his room. Kira has two white ones in her room. And we have a full size one in our bedroom...we had an extra full size tree and there was a space for it so I put it up!

The thing I haven't done is take pictures of any of em. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

winter fat mama

I must be putting on my winter fat because I have been eating like a pig lately. Not just because it was Thanksgiving last week...I've just been ravenous! I'm the kind of person who could go all day without eating usually. This probably isn't a great thing but that's just how I am.

Kira has started to say Mama! Right now she goes "mamamamamamamamama" so I don't know if she's calling me or just making a sound...but I love to hear her say it. She also makes a sound that sounds like "dada" of course. That sounds like "kitty" sometimes so who knows what she's saying!

I am so excited, tonight we got a closet for Kira! It was free. It's this really big computer desk that looks like an armoire. It has a cherry laminate finish so I get to figure out the best way to paint it. Scott has to take the shelves out of the top part and add a rod for hangers and then my baby girl will FINALLY have a closet and I can FINALLY finish her bedroom! This makes my heart super happy!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

3 kids

I still never know what to say when people ask me if I have kids. I guess I should figure it out and just stick to that story for the rest of my life. I have three, but only 2 of em are with me. So I should probably just say two...but I really feel guilty if I ever do that. I know it just makes things easier for the other person but Aiden is my son and I won't ever forget him...it's kind of crazy. It's 5 years and I still don't really know how to approach talking about him with people who don't know me.
I've really been missing him alot lately. Seems to be hitting me harder this year than the past couple. I'm going to decorate the house for Christmas tomorrow so hopefully that will help get me out of this funk :)

Thursday, November 25, 2010

happy thanksgiving!


Fun day. We woke up and watched the parade. I made green bean casserole and sweet potatoes w/marshmallows, those are "my" 2 dishes I make for every holiday meal. Kira wore a pillowcase dress my mom sewed for her, it was soooo cute! She sewed it all by hand. I asked her to make it and she said she would, but then her sewing machine ended up having to get fixed. She was an awesome grandma and sewed it all herself so Kira would have something adorable for Thanksgiving. I hope I can convince her to make another for Chrismas, ha!

After dinner we saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I was pleasantly surprised at how closely it followed the book. In most of the movies I'm sitting there going "that's not how it went" and this time I was not. Things were not changed around too much, they just cut things out all together. And they didn't make stuff up that never happened in the book. The bit with Harry & Hermoine kissing was nuts!!! I don't remember them being described as naked in the book but I suppose they could have been.

I do wish that JKR would write the story of what's happening at Hogwarts while Harry Ron & Hermoine are out looking for horcruxes. It could be about Neville Longbottom since he's kind of like Harry's twin.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

a riley quiz

I asked Riley these questions, here are his answers as a 3 year old.....he also told me what colors to change each line to!

Riley's Favorites
color: blue
Movie: Mickey Mouse
thing to do: ABCs, sing, play on the computer, color, go to the park, scooter
food: Chicken Nuggets
book: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
friend: Ethan
place to go: the mall
person to hang out with: Mommy (I swear this was his answer!)
Superhero: SuperWhy
snack: popcorn
Favorite friend to come over: Ethan
thing to sleep with: white blanket, blue nigh nigh & heart pillow
babysitter: Gramma
thing play with Kira: toys!
Daddy's favorite thing to do: working
Mommy's favorite thing to do: type on the computer
Kira's favorite thing to do: cry & play with Riley

Thursday, November 18, 2010

rhbh


Not like anyone needs to know, but here's what I thought about this week's show...

  • camille creates a sh&tstorm at dinner then walks away- the ladies looked shell shocked. you could tell it probably would have been a fun trip if Camille wasn't there.
  • let me hold up my iphone-Camille played Kyle's (very nice) vm for her two "real friends" who are being paid by Frasier while they were doing her hair & makeup. Not really sure why she felt the need to do that. Other than she's a complete lunatic.
  • fish lip irony-taylor used the phrase "blown out of proportion". i just think that's really funny.
  • pretty presents-Kim gives the ladies a really pretty bracelet at brunch the next day, but you can tell she doesn't really know how to express what she wants them to mean. Taylor takes it but has this stink face on and TH's that Kim didn't give it to her with an apology. I don't get what her problem is with Kim but it's not pretty on her. (neither are her lips)
  • ever met this kid?-Russell trying to make a meal for his daughter was painful. It was pretty obvious that he never spends time with her. At four years old she's already figured him out and dismissed him. Russell will be hearing the phrase "just leave the walllet" come out of her mouth soon enough.
  • oooh girfriend-Mauricio swimming with his girls was totally cute. When he was asking the older one about boys and he goes "ooooh, girlfriend", that was so adorable!
  • underlining issue- the genius Camille says the "underLINING" issue with Kyle is that she's jealous. In the history of time, has anyone ever said "you're just jealous of me!" and it sounded okay?
  • did she really just do that?-when the ladies arrived at the show it looked like Camille smiled and said "Hi Kyle", then immediately scowled at her and turned her back. It was so weird I had rewind and see if it really just happened.
  • frasier didn't want cami company-after the show when Camille goes backstage, could that have been any more awkward? She shoves her way into that little room, and he basically says "thanks for showing up but you can get out now".
  • lisa's purple dress-she wears a purple dress with the flowers across the top for one of her talking heads...love it!
  • in the club-camille comments how good kim's drink is, even though in Vegas she claimed she doesn't drink (in the next episode she is drinking lots o wine with her "friends" at dinner) WTF
  • kim trying to put it out there-in the limo ride when the ladies are talking about how they miss their hubbies Kim was trying to share how she felt in Las Vegas, but she's so nervous she forgot to mention she was talking about Vegas. i really feel for her...I would be very intimidated by that group of women too.
  • big gates-does anyone else find it so strange that lisa and adrienne live in a regular neighborhood....it's just that they have giant houses? to me those big a$$ houses should be out in the country or something, not on a regular street next door to other giant a$$ houses. watching adrienne walk up to those giant gates, in her giant heels...i wonder what it would be like to have that life. i'd like to try it for a day or so :)
  • tea time-did anyone else think it was cute how Cedric was in on the gossip session with Adrienne? does anyone else find him totally yummy in those cardigans? he's like a hot hobbit...i have a thing for hobbits
  • weekEND-i like the way Lisa pronounces weekend like "weekEND"
  • pecking order? -Camille comes out with some crap about there being a "pecking order", and her husband is higher on it than Kyle's husband. I thought Camille was all about coming "out of Frasier's shadow", but she's trying to argue that she's better than someone because of her husband's work? If there WAS a pecking order Kyle would be above Camille because Kyle is an actual working actress, has a beautiful family that she actually takes care of, a husband who actually loves her and friends who actually like her and aren't there just to kiss her ass. Camille is an ex-prostitute who danced on Club Mtv. She also got to be on Frasier once. Now that her marriage is over...I would so love to hear about her pecking order theory now!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

bad day

Yesterday was the 5 year anniversary of Aiden's death. As if that day doesn't already have a black cloud over it...we got a call around 10am that one of Scott's grandmas passed away Sunday night. Scott will be flying to Michigan tomorrow to attend the funeral on Friday. We were thinking that Scott would take Riley, but it's just too expensive. So I will have a three year old and a 7 month old all by myself from tomorrow afternoon until Sunday evening. YIKES. I'm already alone with them every day until 7-8pm, so it's not going to be THAT much different, but I'm still wondering how it's all gonna go. I guess we'll see.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

real housewives of BH

So, this week was like two shows. The Real Housewives, and the Camille Show. I would love it if the Camille Show went to the Camille network and that was only beamed into Camille's house, because Camille only cares about Camille so why does anyone else need to bother w/her?

Adrienne & Kim and Taylor & Kyle went shopping. Adrienne had to leave because her uncle died, so she didn't go to NYC either. Kyle & Lisa had a session with a hypnotherapist to help them feel safer flying. The guy brought some funky machine that shows your brain waves and put it on Kyle, Lisa was dead on when she said she looked like Pocahontas in the headseat! ha

Camille arrived in NYC w/her kids and paid companions/staff/"friends". She walked around her 3,500 square foot apartment saying it was nice but small. Every other word was about how small the place is. Well, it's New York City! People have bathtubs in their living rooms there! I think she was really just saying how small it is because she knew she wasn't staying there because she knew her & Frasier were on the outs. So she was just laying the groundwork for when she hightails it back to CA.

Camille is SO BUSY that she had to get a manicure and visit her cancer stricken mother at the same time. She asks her mom how she's feeling, mom starts to answer, then Camille cuts her off with a 5 minute diatribe on how exhausted she is from having tests to see if SHE has the cancer gene. She's so tired you see, because she has 4 nannies for two kids and people to do everything for her, so she's just extra frazzled at all her extra work. Uh huh.

The other ladies arrive in NYC and Kyle takes Camille aside to squash the Vegas crap that went on. Camille still insists that Kyle said "why would anyone want you there if Kelsey's not there". Kyle denies saying this, and I believe Kyle. From everything we've seen of Camille, she craves attention and sympathy, and this is her way of getting it. She has no idea how to have an actual relationship or conversation with another human so she has to make up drama. She was totally baiting Kyle at the dinner, continually poking at her until she blew up. That does not mean you "win" Camille, that means you're a sociopath.

Next week Taylor threatens Kim with "going out back and going Oklahoma" on her ass, whatever that mean. Are we supposed to think girls from Oklahoma know how to fight or something???

Friday, November 12, 2010

my bday

Today is my birthday. I am 33 years old! For some reason I feel like 33 is going to be an amazing year.

I was trying to remember all the birthdays I've had up to this one, and I can't really recall much of any of them! Growing up we didn't really have big parties or get huge gifts...we'd have cake and ice cream at home after dinner, maybe some friends over...that was pretty much it! And it was FINE. I do not feel "jipped" because kids nowadays get these extravagant soirees from their first birthday on. In fact, I feel sorry for those kids because it's nice to be happy with simple things. If you have to keep chasing that next big thrill, keep having fancier parties...that's just not fun. I don't know what it's like to have thousands of dollars to spend on a party but truthfully, I'd probably stress the heck out if I did!

So now I'm in the 33 Club, and if you are too, YOU ROCK!!!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

thankful

Since today is a day where I'm thinking about what I've lost, I have been trying to concentrate on what I do have that makes me happy...

i'm thankful for....
  • the 26 weeks i got to spend with Aiden in my tummy
  • the six days I got to spend with my Aiden outside my tummy
  • my beautiful little boy and girl
  • my family is all (relatively) healthy
  • i get to be a SAHM and see my kids 24/7
  • the internet
  • wonderful weather in Arizona-no snow!!!
  • i live in a country where i'm allowed to do whatever i want, think what i want and worship the God I want
  • a roof over my head, food to eat
  • Glee
  • cupcakes
I know there's lots more but right now I'm drawing a blank. It's been a day and my brain is frazzled, and Kira is crying again....seems like just when I start to relax one of em needs me again!

Monday, November 8, 2010

five years

Five years ago today I was pregnant with a little boy named Aiden. I didn't know his name was Aiden yet, but I did know he was a little boy. I didn't think I would be meeting him until February 14 of the next year so we hadn't settled on a name yet.

The next day, he decided to arrive.

The next week, he was gone.

I think about him all the time. I wonder what he'd look like and what he'd be like and of course I am always wanting to know what color his eyes are and what his laugh sounds like. I still wonder why God chose to take my baby and why He does it to so many people...why is there so much suffering at all?

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Show Us Your Life: What Do You Make?

Kelly's Korner's Show Us Your Life is "What Do You Make?" today. I so wish I had more time to make stuff these days! I don't really have a craft area here in the house, so that's one thing. When I have to pull all my supplies out and then put em all away when I'm done...that makes me just not wanna do it. I have to see all my "stuff" when I'm working or I'll never use it. It's hard for me to craft when Riley is here or awake because he wants to "help" me. Or go through my stuff for stuff he wants. He's always looking for letter stickers. It'd be fine if some of my supplies weren't really expensive. He doesn't understand that that felt embelishment cost $4.99 and it's not for playing catch with the dog.

But ANYWHOO, this is supposed to be about what I make...and I make paper bag albums! These are little scrapbooks made from paper bags. I started making them years ago and I still find it very fun to create each one. I do have a "style", but I try to make each one different and unique. I like using lots of odds & ends in them, and lots of stuff on each page. My favorite thing to do is a frilly, frou frou girlie girl book. Good thing, because there is SO MUCH more girl stuff in the scrap world than boy stuff! There is alot more boy stuff now and they keep coming out with more, so that's great. But it's definitely a girl's world for the most part :)

Here's an example of a few of my kind of recent books. I keep telling myself I'm going to get busy and get some more books finished to get in my etsy shop but we'll see when/if that actually happens. I have a baby and a little boy, and I don't want to miss a second of my precious time with them while they're little! I watched a bit of Toy Story 3 today and it gave me empty nest anxiety for when these guys go to college!

















the next two pics are of a Superman book I did for a friend who is a photographer...I wish she could photograph all my books!! she's in Florida if any of you are lucky enough to live there she takes AWESOME kid pics!!!


This last one is an example of what they look like with the pictures IN...the ones I make are usually "blank". But making them with the pics is my favorite way to do it because then I can really finish off each page.