{remember} taking the entire day to decorate the house for Christmas: enjoying the slowness, and knowing it's probably the only bit of slowness we'll have all month.

Remember Today 11.29.08

{remember} decorating the tree--a whole week early. Logan and Maddox actually did most of it and it shows: 2/3 of the ornaments are in the lower 1/4 of the tree.
And a movie night with Perry: Juno and 27 Dresses--brings us back to our pre-kids date nights: movies and popcorn on the couch every weekend.

The Fake Out

Never say never. I've broken possibly my first "I will never do that". We put our tree up today, the day after Thanksgiving, for the first time ever. But that's not the "never" part I was referring to. First, here's a picture of our tree this year:

Isn't it beautiful?: the shape, the proportion, the fullness, the green-ness, the abscence of needles on the floor, the missing ten gallon pot of water leaking onto the rug. Yes, we have gone fake this year. And, no, I will not be missing the daily vacuuming of needles scattered all over the rug and throughout the house, the waking in the middle of the night because I have forgotten to water the tree, and the scent? What scent? Our trees always died within the first week anyway--there was never any scent. They make a candle for that stuff anyway. I am not at all regretting going fake. And I ask you, do these look like the branches of a fake tree?

The 12 tags of Christmas

Tim Holtz is at it again this year with his 12 holiday themed technique tags from Dec 1st through the 12th. You can spark your creativity here and check out last year's creations here. If I play along, I'll be sure to post my creations, too.

Remember Today 11.28.08

{remember} resting my big ol' still-full belly by staying in bed until 8:30 this morning (not sleeping, of course with Maddox crawling all over me, but in bed nonetheless). Spending the day (down one child--L stayed over at my parents' on Thanksgiving) putting up our tree (more on that later) and lounging around (i.e. watching kid movies, laying on the couch, putzing around the kitchen, playing Balloon Lagoon with M, really accomplishing not much of anything and not feeling at all guilty about it!)--great day of nothingness.

Remember Today 11.27.08

{remember} Happy Thanksgiving! Giving thanks for my Mom's great cooking, family togetherness, lots of laughter, healthy, happy children, a supportive, loving husband, wonderful friends, simply. . . a beautiful life.

Remember Today 11.26.08

{remember} hanging with the three boys home from school, a trip to the library for loads of reading material for all: some C George and hockey for Cam, puppies and food for MadDog, and after being shown the hockey section by Camden, Logan exchanged his graphic novels for Gretzky (of which he read the first 14 pages laying on the floor in the library: "Mom, did you know Wayne Gretzky was so good at hockey at age 6 he was placed on a team with 11 and 12 year olds? Mom, listen to this: At age 17, Wayne Gretzky was signed to pro". . .). I checked out these two: Living the Creative Life and Visual Chronicles. A trip to the Y with friends to break up the day and then dinner and a movie (Harry Potter, which the boys had never seen) before bed.

Remember Today 11.25.08

{remember} Camden helping Maddox to finally log his pet onto WebKinz for the first time. Of course, Camden had ulterior motives: 2000 webkinz cash to spend outfitting a pet with new digs; but it was so sweet to see him showing Maddox what to do and M totally engrossed in what he was doing (at least for 10 minutes or so).

Remember Today 11.24.08

{remember} getting my gas for $1.28 a gallon (thank you Stop & Shop) and lobsters for $4.99/lb. So, so yummy! I only wish I had bought one more for Logan (then I wouldn't have had to share mine!).

Remember Today 11.23.08

{remember} a day of crafting and creating this little cutie:


For more details and info on an upcoming class, check out Life Made Creations.

Remember Today 11.22.08

{remember} that as much as Perry and I can bicker about all kinds of petty issues, we really do work beautifully together (like when we moved two large pieces of furniture and a 200 lb 32" tube tv down a flight of stairs today).

Remember Today 11.21.08

{remember} chaperoning Logan's field trip: an outside, chilly, bundled up trip back in time. Our favorite: the potter and his pottery.

Remember Today 11.20.08

{remember} how afraid Maddox is of Santa. Santa's coming is something that is mentioned at least once a day around here in one form or another: "Santa's watching" or "put that on your list for Santa." Today at the grocery store, M was coveting some Lindt foil wrapped snowmen chocolates. As I made a mental note about stocking stuffers, I told him we were not buying those today and he could ask Santa for them. "No, I'm too scared of Santa" was his reply. An hour and 45 minutes later from the backseat of the car on the way to the library comes his little voice: "Mommy, who will tell Santa I wanna have those chocolates? Will you tell him, cause I'm gonna be sleeping. I don't wanna see Santa when he comes." Precious, but I'm a bit nervous that someone may be too scared to sleep on Christmas Eve!

Remember Today 11.19.08

{remember} a little afternoon tea, shopping for Christmas jammies for the boys (and me!),Perry home in time for dinner. . .

Happiness is. . .

*finding cutie owl jammies that I've been eyeing on sale for 50% off today:

*and then some adorable owl slippers to match:

*feeling inspired to sketch a jammie-inspired owl:

Remember Today 11.18.08

{remember} taking Maddox back to the Y for some more swimming, this time with me in the pool--loving watching him float around on his back all by himself.

Remember Today 11.17.08

{remember} hanging at the Y with Maddox after his swim class--so nice to have no where to be and not much to do.

Hello Blog Readers

So, apparently people other than my parents and Perry's parents actually read my blog (hi, Shannon O!). I found this out the other day and now feel like a totally bad blogger because I haven't been updating my blog much, ok, at all lately. I apologize for being 110% completely and utterly engrossed in craft fair preparations (whew, that was a lot of work, tons of fun, but a lot of work). Now that it is over, I feel like a totally new woman with all kinds of free time on my hands (shhh, don't tell my husband). So, this note is to let you know that I am back, will be caught up to date, and will be posting all kinds of craftiness at my other blog, and maybe even a few classes there, too! I am feeling totally energized and ready to concentrate on the upcoming holiday season (thank goodness for this because there are only 5 and a half more weeks until Christmas--yikes!). And the two online classes I am taking right now have me totally inspired to create, create, create.

Do me a favor and leave a comment if you read this post? Nothing elaborate (unless of course you want to), just to let me know who out there is actually reading this. :) Maybe there will even be a little free stuff (aka, leftovers from the craft fair) in it for you!

Remember Today 11.16.08

{remember} catching up on some much needed sleep with a little nap on the couch--nightie-night!

Remember Today 11.15.08

{remember} a fun-filled day at the craft fair culminating in an evening of dancing my butt off (literally!)--great friends, great music, fun, fun times.

Remember Today 11.14.08

{remember} a crazy day of last minute prep for the craft fair and, oh yeah, the You Ball gala--hello dress, wrap, jewelry, shoes, jacket. . .

Remember Today 11.13.08

{remember} the last push for craftiness before the fair, and squeezing in some time for a much needed lip and brow wax (yeah, Camden told me I had some hair growing above my lip again the other night).

Remember Today 11.11.08

{remember} all three boys home for Veteran's Day--a day of nothing while Logan recovers from the stomach bug.

Maddox playing farm on my bed:



Logan snoozing away with Camden by his side:

Creativity Interrupted

So I am sitting in my stUdio last night working on my binder for the online class Stories in Hand when from down the other end of the hall comes the yell of, "Mommmmmmy! I threw up." Oh, yeah, all over the sheets, pillow, and blanket, all over his legs and even his socks. Poor Logan. Somehow this scenario is better than the one from a week ago when Camden woke me from a dead sleep with his vomitting. Well, the vomitting ensued into the early morning hours with me dozing between episodes. The good news, he made it into the puke bucket everytime! Ahhhh, motherhood, is this fun, or what!

Remember Today 11.10.08

{remember} the start of two online classes--let the creative juices flow!

Remember Today 11.9.08

{remember} picking up my display boards that my dad built for the fair--thank you, Dad!! Here's a sneak peak:

Didn't he do a super awesome job?!

Remember Today 11.8.08

{remember} how much darn work this craft fair is--more crafting and preparations.

Remember Today 11.7.08

{remember} skipping out on Pilates to take Maddox to the library; watching Because of Winn Dixie with the boys--a new favorite family flick!

Remember Today 11.6.08

{remember} a day of crafting while my mom had the boys: 9 layouts for the craft fair--check!

Rememeber Today 11.5.08

{remember} savoring my last quiet Wednesday morning at the library while Maddox is at his last day of "school."

A free day

The boys didn't have school today for parent-teacher conferences. I love days like this thrown into the week--totally free, no rush to get up, dressed and out the door in the morning. Lounge-filled, carefree, lazy, do-nothing days. I did have to attend the boys' conferences at noon where both boys received outstanding reports. I was told that Logan "loves to read" (how thrilled am I!!!) and Camden is a very good friend (no real surprise here). Logan could pick up the pace with his work and Camden needs to work on his writing more.






The Lost Boys playing in the woods (Logan's "best day ever") Note the boots on Camden's feet complements of Kayla.

Remember Today 11.4.08

{remember} an early morning run with neighbors--ouch. I am just not a runner--give me a power walk any day.

Remember Today 11.3.08

{remember} Maddox's first swim class by himself, me being able to sit outside the glass all alone for the first time ever. He absolutely loved it, but told me after that he didn't like going under.

Remember Today 11.2.08

{remember} being woken from a sound sleep at 2:00 in the morning in a pitch dark room to the sounds of someone vomitting on the floor next to me. Fumbling for the light switch and my glasses on the nightstand to find poor Camden laying on the rug in a pool of throw up. Ahhh, the joys of motherhood.

Remember Today 11.1.08

{remember} the last soccer games of the season for both boys. Dare I say thank goodness it's over: I need a break, the boys need some downtime, and baby, it's cold out there!