Noel Wall Hanging

Yesterday I completed this cute little wall hanging that says "Noel". I really wanted to try embroidering on paper, this was my first try. It was fairly successful, but the original plan was to embroider all 4 circles. As you can see, I only did 1. It takes a lot of patience, time and embroidery string. I ran out of the color I was using with the 1st circle. I decided that must be a sign that I wasn't meant to do all of them. :)

The project came from Close To My Heart. I used the Everlasting Paper Packet, Cottage Floral stamp set, buttons and sparkles.

Mini Photo Star

I had a few mini barn stars sitting around. So last night I decided to see if I could make one with pictures on it. I have made a couple using just paper. By golly it worked! It is a little busy being that the star is so much smaller then the larger sizes and the pictures are in color. I'm still happy with the finish product. They are all pictures of Shane from last winter.

I used all my fabulous CTMH products: Aspen paper packet, sparkles, buttons and rub-ons.

Here is the end result.

Christmas in November

Kenny and I decided a few weeks ago that we wanted to give Shane a wooden kitchen for Christmas. We also decided that he should get it ASAP. Since this year he still doesn't understand what the whole Christmas thing is, we figured why wait a couple months when he can be playing with it now.

It arrived about two weeks ago. We spent three days putting it together.

Day 1: Sorting out the pieces

Day 2: Half way there

Day 3: All Done!!

We brought it into the house Friday evening after Shane went to bed. We wanted him to wake up and see it. Saturday morning Kenny brought Shane down and he saw it instantly. He just loves it. Hours have already been spent playing with it!

Memory Keepers Box

I had this Memory Keepers box from CTMH up in my scrapbooking room and I've been really wanting to get to it. But I just wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. I took it out on Thursday and started to mess around with some ideas. As I was thinking I came up with the perfect use for it...a place for Kenny to keep all his concert and baseball ticket stubs. Currently they are in a ziplock baggie packed away in some box. I figure at some point Shane may find them interesting to look through. I presented it to Kenny Thursday evening as a little surprise. Now we just need to dig out the ziplock baggies of ticket stubs.

Halloween Fun!

Shane didn't wake up knowing that it was Halloween, but he sure enjoyed wearing his Giraffe costume and going door-to-door trick-or-treating. He took us by surprise and totally caught onto the treat-or-treating part of the evening by the 3rd house. We went out with our cul-de-sac (8 other kids in all). He would walk on up to the door with his buddies, hold out his hand to get the candy and then stick it into his pumpkin. He was then ready for the next house. He only made it to about 7 houses though. When I asked him if he wanted to do another one or go home, he turned around and headed down the street back to our house. One strong point in his personality is he knows when he is done with something.

Welcome Gracelyn Diane to the world!

Congratulations to the Johnson Family (friends of Kenny's from college), Melanie, Greg and Big Brother Jeffrey. They welcomed a baby girl into their family on October 26 at 3:37pm. She weighted 7lbs 9oz, and was 19.5 inches long. She even scored a perfect 10 on the apgar!

We wish the family tons of rest and an easy adjustment to life with two kiddos at home!

Journey To Director

As some of you already know I'm a Consultant for a scrapbooking and stamping company called Close To My Heart. I've been doing this for over 2 years as a "side gig". I joined the company in California after attending a gathering and falling in love with the products. I had scrapbooked a little here and there before attending the gathering and had really wanted to get into cardmaking at the time. Now I'd consider scrapbooking, cardmaking, altering, etc., a huge passion and hobby of mine. As well as a business that I would like to see grow.

Recently CTMH has started a 12 month program called Journey To Director. I'm currently a Manager. Your title is given by the number of "downlines" you have in your "unit". I currently have 4 downlines, but need to have 20 to become a Director. This means growing my business by leaps and bounds. Which also means having the time to do that.

The past month I've developed a new schedule that has helped me a lot to focus on my goals of growing my CTMH business. I still haven't found quite enough time in my schedule that I need, but with time I think it will come (as Shane gets older).

Mondays and Wednesdays (during nap time and evenings) -- I work on CTMH business
Tuesdays and Thursdays (during nap time and evenings) -- I work on house work
Fridays (in the evenings) -- Date Night for Kenny and I
Saturdays and Sundays -- Family Time, CTMH Time and Personal Time

CTMH has lots of great perks as a consultant. One of them is each year you can earn an incentive trip/cruise. The next one is in 2010. I would LOVE to earn this cruise for Kenny and I. It will require a lot of hard work and time, but it's a goal I'd love to achieve.

How can you help me out?? If you know of someone interested in scrapbooking, cardmaking, or stamping I'd love to let them know what CTMH has to offer. If you yourself are interested, then I'd love to book a Home Gathering for you where you can earn some FREE products from CTMH. I'll also take any support, positive thoughts and prayers, too as I work along this Journey To Director.

November's Craft Club Project: Acrylic Album

November's Craft Club project is at my house this time. I've selected an Acrylic Album project. I really like how the album turned out and am excited to have every one make theirs. Each person will be using different paper, so it will be neat to see each individual completed album.

Pumpkin Carvin' and Paintin'

We got the pumpkins all carved/painted this morning. Shane got to paint his and "help" Mom and Dad with theirs. You'll notice in the pictures he is painting with his left hand. I swore he was going to be right handed, he did everything right handed, until this week, he now does everything left handed. Guess he is just trying both options out.

We also headed to a friends Halloween party this evening. Here is a sneak peek of Shane's Halloween costume.

Shane Update

We seemed to have settled into our new routine as of September. With MOPS, Toddler Group and work, we are keeping pretty busy, but still have 3 full free days to ourselves to do whatever Shane and I want (errands, clean the house, visit friends, and have some fun).

Shane is now 16 months old and changing every day. Words are coming at a steady pace in his own language that Mom and Dad can sometimes catch onto. He is super super curious. Pointing and asking what everything is. His two favorite things in the world right now are balloons and diggers (ie: anything construction wise, tractor, bulldozer, crane, etc). He can spot a balloon or digger a mile away. Driving by a car lot (tons of balloons) or construction site is the highlight of his day.

He is really adjusting to Toddler Group. He loves painting, glue and singing the songs at circle time. He even likes it when we do the songs at home. He is also starting to catch onto the routine of Toddler group. It just amazes me to see him pick things up so quickly (ie: snack time, bubble time, circle time, clean up time, etc).

MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers) still isn't going so well. He is still crying during the majority of his 2 hours in the nursery. We'll keep sticking it out though.

His list of words (some he hasn't said in a while, but did at one point and many do not actually sound much like the word, but we know what it means):
Dada -- he doesn't use this much currently
Mama -- he doesn't use this much currently
Dog = "do"
Up = I can't even explain this sound, but it's always the same
Hot = "ot"...he uses hot for cold things too, we are working on that one.
Digger = "di"
Hi
Duck = "du"

Grandma and Grandpa Hussey got him his Christmas present a little early this year. He has been into coloring and he can now do it on his own little table and chair set! Lucky little boy he is!

Pumpkin Patch '08

We took Shane to the pumpkin patch today. It was his 2nd time to a pumpkin patch, but he wasn't doing much last year when we took him besides sleeping. We went to one out in Snohomish called Craven. Last year we went to The Farm. I thought it was going to be really busy, but it turned out to be a small low key crowd. We visited the petting zoo which made up of some birds, caged kittens, caged bunnies and a large fake donkey and sheep. He was really scared of the two stuffed animals and loved the birds.

We then grabbed a wagon and headed out to the pumpkin patch where we discovered Shane was scared of the pumpkins. Yes....he was scared of the plant part of the pumpkin and not so sure about the pumpkins themselves. He was much happier just riding in the wagon. He warmed up to the patch idea a little bit and we all got ourselves some pumpkins to take home.






Finally, we spent some time wondering the farm checking out the tractor (a HUGE hit), hiding in the pirate ship and sitting in a boat.


Shane at the pumpkin patch last year. Gosh...is it even the same kid?!

Doggie Day Spa

Sadie and Dodger spent the afternoon at Petsmart getting all prettied up. I swore that I would never have their coats cut really really short since that isn't how a Golden is suppose to be groomed. But I had them cut really really short. I just couldn't take all the long shedding hair and with the wet weather coming it's extra hard with long tails and feathers, etc. We think they look pretty good though and smell tons better. I even think they like it.

BEFORE


AFTER

Craft Club

My wonderful neighbor/friend, Julie, created a craft club. Similar to a book club, but instead we do a craft. We created our first project last night....the Star. Julie has made a couple of these already and we've all really wanted to get our hands on one, too. I've been anticipating this night for weeks now! It was a very successful evening with everyone finishing their stars. It now hangings beautifully in our living room.

Next month it's here and we'll be creating an Acrylic Mini Album. The craft club is accepting new members if you'd like to join.