The Christmas Spirit

Christmas is coming, that's for sure! Our tree is up and we have a few decorations up, but I haven't really had the energy to get the rest of them up yet. Considering I didn't get our tree up until the 21st last year, I'm actually doing pretty good.

My mom works at a greenhouse and she let me bring my kiddos in their beautiful Christmas clothes to take some pictures. You know how they say the roofer's roof always leaks? Well, the photographer's kids apparently never look at the camera. This was an interesting session but we got a few keepers, so I'm happy.

The next day we came back in regular clothes to meet Santa and see my sister perform her harp. Big Man E asked for about $1,000 worth of Legos, so we have been trying to explain that even Santa has a budget. Sorry, buddy. They had a blast though, I love that they all still believe in Santa so much and Christmas is so magical for them.

Ripple Baby Blanket

This was an amazingly fast project! I bought several skeins of baby yarn on clearance at JoAnn awhile ago, and I have 2 baby blankets due to my church the first week of November. That deadline is creeping up on me so I decided to get started using up that yarn. (JoAnn Sensations "Little Treat"). I found the pattern Rainbow Ripple Baby Blanket  that is FREE, which made me very excited! I started the blanket and was able to get through 1 skein a day for three days, making it a really good size blanket. about 3 1/2 feet in diameter. I had another 2 skeins of this colorway, but I figured out I would get another 4 rows total out of the two skeins, and I decided it just wasn't enough of a difference to make me want to keep going. BUT, I love that I was able to make a great blanket in only 3 days!

My girls got jealous I was taking pictures of the blanket, so they jumped in and we had fun for a bit :D

I have already started my second blanket, a pink and purple colorway of the same yarn. I'm hoping because these are getting done so fast to have some wiggle room with the Christmas presents I have planned. We shall see! Update coming later this week on some other finished projects and UFO's. Blessings!

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Project Life 2012

I finally finished my Project Life Album for 2012. It's taken me this long because, well, life is crazy! Most of my scrappin' stuff has been in storage until the basement is finished, but my bestie lets me keep my PL stuff in her craft room and lately we have been escaping while our kiddos play and we scrapbook. I started sorting my printed photos for 2013, hopefully I will finish much earlier this time. Anyways, enjoy!




Details: I used the Cobalt kit and page layout A. I have always loved this layout, it keeps it consistent and simple. I tweaked it a bit this year to accommodate more photos and instagram, I have over 500 pictures in this album and I only used about 1/2 - 3/4 of the core kit. I really love how it turned out, though! There are a few spaces where I know others have the photos I need, but in the meantime I just put pieces of cropped paper in their places. Thanks, Becky Higgins, for developing such an awesome system!


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Packing Lunch

Tomorrow is Ethan's first day of first grade. As I packed his lunch and laid out his clothes for the morning, I found myself wanting to write. Not all the cute mommy blog things like how to pack a healthy lunch for 5 cents or less or organize it really well, but about the feeling behind packing him lunch and getting him ready for the next day.

When we told him it was time to come inside and eat dinner and get ready for bed he said "Yup, I have a big day tomorrow! I better get ready!" He has grown so much over the last year, and I realize I have too. I'm not normally the kind of mommy who cries when her kid goes to school, I have always loved school and have felt nothing but excitement for my kiddos and all the neat things they will get to do. This year feels a little different, though. It's the first year he will be gone all day long. I have never had to pack his lunch before, except for the occasional field trip day. I find myself wondering and almost worrying, where do I pick him up? What if I didn't pack enough for him to eat and he's hungry? What if I pack too much and he gets in trouble for taking too long to eat? What if he's tired at the end of the day? I always thought the mommies who wrote their kids notes inside their lunchboxes were kind of cheesy, yet I wanted to (and did) the same thing because I know I will be thinking about him throughout the day and I hope he thinks about me too. It's funny, I have been looking forward to school starting for weeks, and now that it's finally here I don't know that I'm ready for it. I'm going to miss that little guy.

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International Geocahing Day

Apparently August 17th is International Geocaching Day. We had no idea, we just knew Saturday would be a good day to go Geocaching so we went to Estes Park for the day. Our first stop seemed like it would be pretty easy, but a muggle was landscaping so we decided to leave the cache alone. Our second stop we had heard about from our friends who had found this cache the day before in the dark. Turned out it was in a small cliff face and I just about lost it on the kids, totally convinced they were all going to fall off the cliff face and die. My hubby ended up going to find it by himself.

Our third stop was a bridge with a film canister hidden under it, but without a lid and the bag for the logbook had a hole in it so the log was damp. Cadie did great and found it though!

Our last stop was a cache hidden near an eagle statue along the Thompson River. Hubby looked for it for a half hour but couldn't find it, and our friend had even hidden a replacement recently. We'll go back and find it though, someday.

Photo by  McLeodsOfTomball

On top of all this adventuring, we enjoyed some of Bob and Tony's pizza, homemade ice cream, and walking in the river. Estes Park is definitely one of our favorite places to visit! Happy International Geocaching Day!

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GeoCaching Adventures

I keep meaning to blog about this, and I keep forgetting. Our family has continuted GeoCaching, though a lot more as of late. It actually really makes my day that my hubby loves it, I think we found the right niche for him between technology and the outdoors. Here are a couple of our adventures over the last month:

My dad hid this one by his work. Turns out it's a really common place for homeless people to come sleep at night.

My sister and her husband hid this one, a total of 16 containers in a Choose Your Own Adventure type of cache hidden throughout Loveland and Fort Collins.We started this one in the beginning of July...

This one was hidden near the river that runs through our hometown. We discovered it while playing on the banks of the river and catching toads.

This one was hidden in a lampost and SCARED THE CRAP out of me when it fell out and wiggled :D

A park we had never been to.

My dad hid this one, had to make the kids stay on the asphalt as there was broken glass and asbestos everywhere.

Finally discovered our first "fate" in the Zombie cache. We hope to eventually find all the containers.

I found this one in a lampost in the parking lot during my husband's visit to the doctor.

At the nearby Cracker Barrel.

We were never able to find this one, but we did find several unused (thank God) condoms and beer bottle caps. I suspect some over anxious teenagers took it.

We visited Denver and took our cousin caching, found in a lamp post.

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Happy Birthday JoJo!

Happy birthday to my sweet, wonderful little girl!! I love you oh so very much!

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Crocheted Baby Doll Carriers

I found this SUPER CUTE pattern on Ravelry the other day and I just had to make one for JoJo! (I asked Cadie and Ethan if they wanted one too, not interested.) It worked up super fast and I LOVED how it turned out, and already one of my friends asked me to make one for her little girl! They are a blast to make and I decided to list them on my Etsy shop. Enjoy!

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