MicroMachine Mind

Do you remember the guy from the MicroMachine commercials?  The one that must have been an auctioneer at some point in his life.  Well lately I feel like my mind is going as fast as his mouth.

BUT...before I get into that all of that! 

How was your Christmas?

Ours was really wonderful. 
Although, I am still trying to figure out where all of the new toys are going to go. 

Back to MicroMachine guy and my mind...

Do you know that on this Friday the 31st I'll have only EIGHT weeks left of this pregnancy?
EIGHT weeks of only having one child.....
EIGHT weeks left of having things pretty easy despite the fact that this one sweet child o' mine has managed to push every button I have including the ones I didn't know existed. 
HOLY CRAP!  If I might say.  What happened between July 4th when I confirmed I was pregnant and now?

Do you also know that in 5 weeks my ONE sweet (button pushing) child will be turning TWO!
HOLY CRAP (again)!  Where did my BABY and the TIME go?

Okay, okay...back to our Christmas because I'm sure you'd rather see some cute photos and not reading the words HOLY CRAP over and over again.

Here is Christmas Part 1. 
On my side of the family because we are so spread out (Tucson, Marana & Queen Creek) and because we are always so busy running in opposite directions we decided three years ago now to celebrate Christmas early so come Christmas day we can spend it with our husbands, kids and in-laws.  The day is about visiting, eating and of course the presents for the kids.

One gift Bug received from his Aunt Kissy, Uncle Dan, Hailey and Chase was not as a Christmas present but rather as a hand-me-down and think this may be his favorite gift of all! 

 I am not sure why or how it happened but my son has come to LOVE horses even though I don't think he has ever seen one in real life.  He loves his new horse so much that one night he asked to sleep on it.

Where does he come up with this stuff!?!?!

The second Christmas comes in the form of Christmas Eve.  There is a long standing tradition that Daddy's whole family comes together on the EVE and exchanges gifts.  Just like with the first Christmas there is great food, great people and great times.

 Turns out Aunt L. and Uncle S. bought the gift that not only fascinated a toddler but all the adults and kids as well.  Good buy Aunt L and Uncle S. 

The Third Christmas would be at our house Christmas morning where Bug, Daddy and I all swapped gifts.

Every year I have Bug, with my help of course, write a letter to Santa and leave him a cookie that we made.

Even poor Nitto was forced to get into the action

Bug's big tiger from Aunt N.

Santa and Daddy where both very kind to Mommy this year.  Of course it helps when Daddy buys a really nice rifle for himself just after Thanksgiving.  I wish I could show you the most awesome gift in the world but you can't really take a picture of it when you need the gift to take the picture. 

Daddy scored off of craigslist a Canon Rebel XSI.  I am in LOVE!  Of course all my other gifts were just as great including the velour pants I wore for two days straight or the jammie pants & sweater I'm wearing now or the really cool cast iron corn bread skillets...just to name a few. 

The fourth Christmas takes place at Grandma and Grandpa's house just as soon as we finished breakfast at our house.

Well it seems I wasn't on the ball and I didn't take any photos of the gift opening. 

Here is one Bug took.

And here are two I took just because Bug was being cute.

The last Christmas of the day only took place because my Mom and Dad bought Bug a gift to keep at their house when he comes over.  I figured it would be best for him to open it there figuring he would be more okay leaving their house without it as opposed to my parents leaving our house with his toy they just gave but took back.

Here is Granddad and Bug playing with Stinky.

Of course there can't be a new toy without Daddy getting to play with it as well.

And here I am seizing the opportunity to try out my new LOVE!

So there you go Christmas 2010!  Next year we'll have two babes to celebrate it with!-HOLY CRAP!

Lots of Love-SL

Holy Fork!

This may not be verbatim but here is a general idea on how a conversation went between Daddy and I a few months back.

Me: "Hey Daddy.  I would really like a pot rack so we can free up a cupboard."

Daddy: "Where would it go?"

Me: "Oh, I don't know.  That's your job to figure out."

Daddy: "Okay.  What should it be?"

Me:  Oh, I don't know.  A fork would be kind of cool."

Now fast forward to the present.....

I suppose this is the net result when you are married to a metal fabricator extraordinaire. 

Lots of Love~SL

Catching Up

My blogging duties have fallen way behind and I have some (fairly) good reasons why!  First, the computer I blog from is pretty old and it has more issues than I do if you can believe that so it's kind of a task to download pictures from the camera onto this computer and then upload them here.  Second, this computer darn near crashed about two weeks ago so as a precaution I removed every file off of here so now it's a little more of a hassle to get to my photos.  Third, CHRISTMAS is a coming!  I've been working very diligently on a gift for an ever so sweet child in my life.  As soon as Bug falls asleep at night sometime around 8:30ish I'll stay up until 1am most nights working away.  I'm starting to understand the life of a Santa's elf.

I would really like to take the time tonight to share some pictures from what we've done over the last month or so but I recently went back through all of Bug's photos and I thought it would be neat to share pictures from a year ago and sometimes more to now.  It's amazing what a year does to a child at this age.  Heck, it's amazing what a year does to my waist line!

Let's start with Thanksgiving 2008...

Moving forward to Thanksgiving 2009...

And now to 2010...

It seems I have a pattern going....Pregnant one year, take a year off, pregnant again.

Now onto Bug!

Thanksgiving 2009...

 

Now Thanksgiving 2010...

Now how about setting up the Christmas tree!

2009...

Now this year...

It's a little short and sweet cause Daddy is hollering for me.

Lots of Love-SL



If cute-ness came wrapped in a blanket....

this is what it would look like....

The blanket is my newest creation made for LB's little brother.  Of course LB is making sure it gets broken in properly!

This is how I see things....

If you've had the blessing (or misfortune) to walk around my house lately then you might have noticed the new decorations that have popped up over the last few months....

 Stickers on the back of the cabinets....

 Stickers on the fridge....

 Pencil on the wall...

 Crayon on the wall...

 Crayon and a sticker on the door....

 Stickers on the hamper...

 Stickers on the ground outside...

More stickers on the wall with sticker placing in action....

YOU might see that I have a whole lot of cleaning ahead!  Each marking that has been placed on the wall by a crayon accidentally left out, or a pencil swiped off my desk or for the oodles of stickers I've collected recently--I leave them all there.  Some of you may walk into my house and never notice the pencil marking or crayon drawings and some of you may walk in and never take your eyes off of them.  Some of you might think my house has been overtaken by a busy toddler but do you know what I see? 

Each marking and each sticker is a reminder to me.  A reminder that I am eternally blessed. 

I am blessed because I was finally given the ability to get pregnant after a long struggle. 

I am blessed because I carried my first pregnancy full term. 

I am blessed because I gave birth to a perfectly healthy boy. 

I am blessed because my dream of having a boy was answered.

I am blessed because my son is so amazing.

I am blessed because my son has his daddy's brains and my goofiness.

I am blessed because my son continues to be happy and healthy.

I am blessed because I have a little boy who loves me more than what words can describe.

I am blessed because I've been given the chance to do it all over again with Carsen.

I am blessed because I have a husband who firmly held onto my hand and walked through life with me.

I am blessed because I know my husband will never let go of my hand.

I am blessed because I have such amazing parents.

AND did I mention that come February I'll be blessed all over again!!! 

I know you are getting tired of hearing about how blessed I am and how blessed I feel but this is how I feel. 

I am a on-the-go kind of person so I don't always take the time to sit down and "smell the roses" and truthfully who really has the time too!  The "smell the roses" time comes for me when I glance at the wall and see what LB has drawn this time or when I find a sticker has popped up somewhere else new or when I sit down at this computer late at night looking through photos to get my inspiration for the next blog posting. 

I am blessed because I am oh-so-thankful for what I have now.  I no longer sit and dwell on the things that have yet to come into my life to make me happy.  The future no longer holds my happiness....the present does! 

Have a good night! 

Love~SL



Weekend accomplishments

This turned out to be a fantastic weekend!  I feel so accomplished!  Well truth be told I barely finished the laundry, the house didn't get vacuumed, the floors didn't get mopped and I didn't convince daddy that getting chickens before Carsen arrived was a good idea but this is what did happen...

-Saturday morning I purchased my first sugar pumpkin of the season and immediately came home and roasted it up so I could make pumpkin butter.  While the pumpkin butter was brewing on the stove I roasted up the seeds so I could enjoy them all weekend long.  The only evidence left of that pumpkin was the skin that I kindly fed to our compost.

-Saturday night for dinner we cheated and purchased one of those whole rotisserie cooked chickens from the grocery store.  What was left over was saved for Sunday morning....

-Sunday morning-first thing-I tossed the left over chicken carcass into a pot of water on the stove and let it boil for hours and hours. 

-At 11am I put Bug down for a nap, kissed Daddy good-bye and then I went on a mommy date!  My mommy date took me to the 22nd Street Antique Mall (my first trip there) to get a start on my Christmas shopping. 

-1:00pm I SCORED!  I picked Bug up a 1960's Roadmaster tri-cycle for $8 bucks!  Yup, a fully functioning, all the guts are there, worn down here and there because of love for-EIGHT DOLLARS! SCORE!!!!  I also picked him up two stocking stuffers-three tiny wrenches and a rolling pin! 

-1:30pm.  After a quick stop at Starbucks to conclude my mommy date I was back home to enjoy all the wonderful smells coming out of the pot on the stove. 

-By 2pm I had strained the chicken from the stock, sorted all the bones from the meat, cut up my celery & carrots, put everything (minus the bones of course) back into the pot with the additions of barley, pepper and garlic salt for a few more hours of cooking.

-Somewhere between here and there Bug, Daddy and I all ventured out into daddy's shop to help clean, sort and get dirty. 

-Somewhere after here and there I manage to rest a little bit with Bug, eat some of the DELICIOUS chicken & barely soup I had made, make Daddy some brownies from scratch, clean the bathrooms, finish the laundry, can and freeze the soup for the start of winter, eat dinner and collapse on the couch!

By the end of this weekend I was feeling like a true domestic diva housewife, with a side of urban homesteading in there. 

Life is great and it's weekends like this that reinforce that my family and I are completely blessed!  We are simple people, who don't make a lot of money.  We focus all of our time & energy on just our growing family and therefor stress has been cut from our lives.  We really wish that everyone would be given (and cease) the opportunity to jump out of the rat race and live a simple life. 

Have a goodnight!

SL 

this moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

this moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Craigslist Find....

Daddy and I, in an effort to cut costs so one day I can be a full time mommy, have turned to craigslist, estate sales and thrift stores to buy some here and there needed items for around the house. 

(On a side note....thrift stores are the BEST for crafting.  Stay tuned to see why)

One day while searching through the antique section of craigslist I came across this awesome kids trike... (see awesome bike below)

 If you have ever been to our house then you know we like to use old, rusty bikes as yard art.  After a week of hemming and hawing I finally decided I had to have this trike.  It ain't a bad buy for $20 bucks!

Little did I know but it seems someone else has fallen in love with it too.  

I have begged Daddy to let me restore it for LB's use but he insists that it's "way cooler" as yard art.  So, behind Daddy's back, I am secretly hoping to find another one in my budget that is fully functioning.