Here we are - only a week and a half from Christmas. I've finally found my Christmas spirit. (It was hiding in the basement with my Christmas decorations, and as soon as I got them out, it escaped...) I attempted to wrap presents with Casey, but she thought it was much more fun to cut the paper and stick tape everywhere. Thus greatly inhibiting the progress of actually getting the presents wrapped. At least I was able to use up nearly all of my 5 year old paper. Note to self: Do NOT buy the huge rolls of wrapping paper unless you want to be using the same paper for 5-10 years...
Today we went to Julie's house and made Christmas treats for our neighbors. I really enjoy doing that kind of thing, especially with friends. It's so weird to think that I didn't even know Julie a year ago, and now she's my best friend. I love how God works.
About a month ago, Chris bought a pair of "kid-friendly" scissors for Casey. She had discovered how to use mine and I didn't think it was very safe for her to be using a scissors nearly as big as her... Anyway, she LOVES to cut stuff. (Including her hair, it wasn't major, but still...) When she gets going, a room can very quickly look like a snow storm hit. I'm talking microscopic pieces of paper everywhere! My vacuum has been getting a workout lately. Here, she got into some old holiday stickers and immediately stuck most of them on herself, the remainder - well, you can see the scissors at work. You know, if I wasn't a mom, I would never know what this feels like. I'm so thankful to be a mom.
I'm sitting here wondering why I'm not feeling more "Christmasy". I mean, it's that time of year - every time I enter a store or even drive through town, I'm reminded of it. But for some reason I can't seem to find that Christmas spirit inside of me, yet. I say "yet" in hopes that it will show up soon. It is, after all, a Winter Wonderland outside - the weather is perfect for Christmas. And still... Maybe I need to search inside myself and find the true meaning of Christmas. I know, that sounds so cliche, but...I think it's true for me right now. What is Christmas? Is it all the decorations and beautiful lights? Is it the homemade and delicious food? Is it finding just the right gifts for all those people on your list? Where's Jesus in all of this? And how can I remember that He truly is the reason we even have this holiday? How can I teach my daughter that Christmas is so much more than pretty trees and presents?
I'll find it. Christmas, that is. I will. And with it - my Jesus.
What a weekend! We moved our bedroom out of the living room into Casey's new bedroom until our new bedroom is finished. Did you get all that? Essentially, I now have a bedroom, a living room and a dining room, and they are beautiful! Cluttered, right now, but beautiful!
Chris came home from work Friday night and decided that we needed to move upstairs. So that's what our weekend consisted of. It was so much fun, and Casey loved it! As soon as the bed was set up, she started jumping on it, "This is my room! This is my room!" Too bad for her though, she has to wait a bit longer before she gets to sleep in it... She seems to be doing just fine with us upstairs, while she's still downstairs.
I'll post pictures as soon as the clutter is gone...
I've seen a couple people do Flashbacks on their blogs, so I thought I would give it a try, too. I've been sorting through pictures, getting ready to scrapbook again, and just need to share some of these with you.
This was taken the first week after Casey was born. My favorite.
Sometimes I wish I could freeze time, but then life wouldn't be life, would it? That's why we have photographs - memories we can see that live forever.
Casey and I went down to my mom's and spent the weekend with her. It was fun. Usually when we go down, I end up going out with my friends at least one of the nights, but not this time. And it was good. I enjoy spending time with my mom and so does Casey. This was a short conversation Casey and I had while at Nana's:
Casey: "Where's Nana's compooter?"
Mom: "She doesn't have one. She doesn't have a TV either."
Casey: "We need to buy her one."
Mom: "But she doesn't want one."
Casey: "Yes she does."
Oh, the innocence of children...
We had a tea party with Nana. She made cute little pb&j sandwiches and muffins, and of course we had water for our tea. Nana gave us each a little sandwich, but when Nana took a bite of hers, Casey said, "No! That's my sanwich!" To which Nana replied, "There's enough for all of us, Casey." But Casey insisted, and reached over and took Nana's sandwich! She then proceeded to grab each little sandwich on the plate and take a nibble so that she wouldn't have to share any of them! I don't think she gets the concept of a tea party at all... I guess we'll have to more tea parties so that she figures it out. It was fun.
Ok. I've been following a few blogs and have seen some of the coolest photo layouts. So, of course I asked where I could find the program to do the same thing. Thank you, Beryl, for the info, but I don't think I'll be using the Google software. Because I realized I have the best software on my computer already - "StoryBook Plus" by Creative Memories! Check this out, and if you don't think it's pretty cool, you're on your own.
This is my first attempt at this, and I LOVE it! In playing around with this picture, I discovered a whole plethora of things you can do with this software. You can make digital storybooks, photo cards (like this one), posters, and so much more. I know, I sell this stuff and should know what it does...but I've never used this before...and now I'm hooked!! I think I'll start working on a StoryBook, it could be a lot of fun to scrapbook at my computer. Either way, you'll be seeing more of my fun photos.
That's all!
Well, here goes. This is my humble attempt at keeping friends and family updated as to what is going on in our lives. I feel like I should wax poetic here, but am lacking the words. So let me just say that I will try to keep this as current as possible, unlike my myspace page...
Life is going well. I think we've adjusted to living in town, although I must say that I miss being able to go outside without being "properly" dressed...but that's probably a good thing. We are making great progress on the house!
For those of you who haven't seen what we bought - here it is! The lovely "crack" house, as Chris likes to call it.
We've since put in all new windows, but the majority of the work has been on the inside. Chris is hoping to have us all sleeping upstairs by Christmas. Needless to say, we are very tired of sleeping in the living room! My mom came up and helped me paint. I love our colors!
This is Casey's room. She LOVES the purple and shows
it off to everyone who comes over.
This is our room. We're going for an outdoorsy look,
which should make it a lot of fun to decorate.
Monday night I helped Chris blow insulation in the attic. We finished at 2:30am...but now it's done and much warmer upstairs. That was the last big nasty job that needed to be done, until the foundation repair... When we are all done, I'll post before and after pictures of each room so you can see and understand the full magnitude of this undertaking!
Now about life outside of the house. Chris is enjoying his job as a shift supervisor at Total Source Molders. Although, he's ready for this house to be done so that he's not always working - either at work or at home! I'm enjoying being at home with Casey, and all the joys and trials that come with it.
Casey is growing up so fast. It's hard to believe that she'll be 3 in just a few months. Although she likes to tell everyone "I'm Casey and I'm 2 and a 1/2". She loves to talk, read and sing. Her "reading" amazes me - she memorizes what I read to her and then "reads" it back to me, nearly verbatim. She likes to sing at the top of her lungs, and loves playing with her Little People and cars.
As for me, I'm making friends, which isn't as easy as it was when I was working outside of the home, but it's happening. I'm in MOPS again this year, and made the jump to the Steering Team. It's been an interesting experience so far - different - but I guess my only frame of reference is the Grace MOPS, which is outstanding as far as MOPS groups go. I'm still a Creative Memories consultant and need to prove it by actually getting some work done on my albums. I got a digital camera last year and haven't scrapbooked in about that long...do the math on that...it equals a ton of pictures patiently waiting for a home other than the computer and the Power Sort box...that includes the pictures you see here...
