One More Weekend!

The hours have changed a little bit. Friday 1-5p, and Sat 1-6p.

Lots of handcrafted items:
Custom Vinyl lettering
vinyl lettered plaques
Light bricks
aprons
quilted bags
rustic frames, and mirrors
glycerin soaps
darling pillowcases with option to personalize
Key fob wristlets
stretcher bar frames for custom fabric home decor
fire starters
crocheted headbands and flowers
homemade jams
jewelry
baby diaper bags with matching changing pad
custom baby carrier covers
And much more!

Several different vendors with lots to see. Come check it out!

Max is Two!

Thinking over the last two years, Max has been through a lot. And he has done a great job overcoming many of his obstacles. It was amazing to see the difference in him between his birthday last year and this year. I am so proud of him. He is the sweetest, happiest kid. When he smiles and laughs it lights up my day. He loves to cuddle! He is very curious, and adventurous. Along with his adventurism, he is also brave. When he gets hurt he recovers fast, and can go right back to playing. Currently, he is a better eater than Zac. I never thought that would be the case. He is picking up words and phrase very quickly. He is attempting to try new words and phrases too. This most current set of tubes really seems to have done the trick to help his speech progress. He is such a joy to have in our family. It has been a wild ride with this one, and I am sure he will continue to keep us on our toes.

This year for his birthday we just did a simple family birthday party. I have been stretching myself too thin the last while, and I am trying to not over do things. We did breakfast for dinner and it was pretty good. Jon made it home about 6:20p and that was about 15 mins before everyone else showed up. I didn't plan to do things the day before like I should have, ie wrap presents and do most of the big chores. So, the day of left me with tons to do, and on my own, with no motivation. Everything worked out fine.

While I was frosting the cake, Max had woken up from his nap. I forgot to cut the domes off the cakes before I frosted it. Luckily, I had an extra tub of frosting. But in the midst of fixing the cake, while holding one layer of the cake frosting side down in my hand, I started to hear paper ripping! Max had started to open one of his presents. It was pretty funny, and cute. I was actually surprised that he knew what to do. Last year he had no idea what was going on. I was a little concerned about that so a few weeks ago I borrowed a "Happy Birthday" Signing Time DVD from the library. The movie went over all the Birthday stuff. The boys loved it and watched it almost everyday for 2 weeks, often more than once a day. (Boy, does that birthday song get obnoxious!) This year he seemed to know exactly what was going on.

Adam and the boys were playing with balloons. I thought it was funny that Adam seemed as fascinated as the boys were!



I took Zac to Toys R Us for his birthday to get a free balloon and crown and thought it would be fun to do the same for Max. So he could feel special on his day too. When Zac realized that he would not be getting a balloon or crown he was so upset. He started to cry. It was pretty hard to explain to him.

Earlier, in the week Zac and I went to Toys R Us to find something for him to give to Max. I talked about what he thought Max would like before hand. And he thought of some good things. But mostly he was thinking of what he would like, cars that light up ("like the ones he gave to Eddie last year"). After we got in the store he was so distracted with all the toys and pushing all the buttons on the mechanical toys. He could not focus at all on what kind of cars he wanted to get for Max. (They didn't have any light up ones, which is probably a good thing, because Zac would constantly be stealing them from Max). He kept asking me about his birthday. And telling me what he wanted and when was it, and how come it was sooo far away. He was completely self aborbed ;) Maybe Zac is still too young to understand the concept of giving or maybe he is . . . spoiled!? I didn't really think Zac was spoiled before then . . .but maybe he is?

Max loves balloons.


This was the GREAT toy Grandma Munk got for Max. (Zac sure loves it too, maybe more;)


It was so fun to see him unwrap and think what the next part to rip off was.


My mom made these ADORABLE pillow cases for the boys. They even have their names embroidered on them. They are available at their boutique, which will be one more weekend, Dec 10-12! There are lots of different fabrics and styles to choose from!


The boys got so excited they went right to their rooms to get their pillows and changed pillow cases and took a little break from wrapping presents.



Zac was a good helper. And was able to stay "out of the action" pretty well while Max unwrapped. But he did want to hand Max his gifts. This was a big gift. Zac made funny faces while trying to lift it.


It was one of my black friday super buys. A fold-able slide for $15.


Then we had cake. As soon as the candles were lit Max blew them out. Again, I love that he knew exactly what to do. (The simple joys). I had to keep my hand over his mouth so he didn't blow them out til the song was over.



I think this may be one reason the slide was $15. "Some" assembly required. Jon did a great job!


It was a fun night, and I am so grateful my family is around to come and share fun events with us! Hopefully, we can see Jon's side of the family more often too.

Happy Birthday, Max. We love you!!

A letter to Santa

Zac and I are writing a letter to Santa for his preschool to be mailed during the next class. And, OH BOY! He does not do well when he is put on the spot. First he says he wants a balloon toy, with a string and a popper . . . from his description it seems like he is talking about a toy that is made to pop a balloon? Then I ask him what else. And he looks around and thinks for a minute and then he says, "a garbage bag". HAHAHA. Then he hears me laughing and he amends it saying, "a toy one". Ha ha ha. Then I ask him what he really wants. And he says, a door, and soap, no not soap, a toy hand sanitizer. He then brings me the letter and wants me to write that he wants sanitizer. He is so funny! Then he goes on to say he wants a toy kitchen like Bella and Brynn, and a toy chair. After coming out of the bathroom, he wants a "toy towel". He is either going to be really easier to shop for, or really hard to shop for!

Some other things he "wants":
A wind-up toy turkey
More race cars like the green one who races Lightning McQueen
A black monster truck
A toy house
A duck to put in the bath
A toy snowflake

Black Friday

I have never shopped Black Friday before. And I hadn't seen Black Friday til last year, when I worked at JoAnn's on Friday morning, the doors opened at 6a. People buy full bolts of flannel so they didn't have to wait in line for it to be cut.

I was pretty anxious just thinking about going out to get something on my list during Black Friday. The whole racing, and pushing images were just too much. I was feeling pretty anxious about the whole thing and decided I wanted to get an accurate picture for what it might be like.

To continue from my previous post: I went over to Toys r us to see what it was like at midnight and this is what I saw:

(sorry the pics are so fuzzy, it was my phone)







There were like 1000 people there! It was UN-BE-LIV-A-BLE!! Seriously, I was floored! The line started at JoAnn's. And it was a wide line at least 5 people across, groups of people. It took me 10 mins to drive pass JoAnns, the old Office Depot, fye, Babies R Us and, Toys R Us. And there were a lot of people on the parking lot side, just standing around. I happened to be driving near the door of the store when they opened. I could hear the excitement from the line moving. But it was short-lived. It seemed like they were just letting a certain amount of people in at a time.

Anyway, I was shocked. It scares me just to think what it may have been like inside. I am glad I drove by at Midnight because it certainly killed any anxiety I was having. Now I would be able to sleep. There was NO chance I would get anything on my list. I was just going to tag-along with Rachel.

We she picked me up just before 6a. She wanted to get a tree at JoAnn's. We got there early enough that there was a pretty short line. We struggled to fit that tree in her Civic, and headed to Toys R Us to see if by chance there was anything on my list. There was no line to get in the store and it wasn't too crazy inside either. All the people that I passed by seemed very nice and polite and same with the store associates. I was able to get everything on my list! (Except the 10 pack of Hot Wheels for 50% off). I also got a couple other things not on the list-oops! Rachel was a huge help to go and find a few items and bring them back to the cart so we didn't have to fit through the busyness. Then we waited in line. By 6:30a we were done! An amazingly positive Black Friday experience. And I got some GREAT deals! Then we headed over to Roberts to get some Christmas decor, but sadly our 30% off coupon had expired.

Now, I am basically done shopping, and it feels great! If we could just get the Christmas decorations up. It would feel more like Christmas.

Thanksgiving Day

This year we had dinner at my parents so I was only in charge of dessert. It was much nicer than doing the whole sha-bang. I made 2 apple pies, 2 pumpkin pies, and the required chocolate mousse pie with graham cracker crust.

I spent most of Wednesday, tackling a couple errands, chatting on IM, and trying to make pies. I made some pretty rookie mistakes-even though I had made pies before :( And I didn't realize how basic making apple pie was. I bought pillsbury roll out pie crusts and they turned out great and easy. And I borrowed my moms apple peeler/slicer/corer contraption. I need to get me one of those. They just make eating apples more fun! Anyway, it was pretty simple. And Jon said he thinks it was his favorite apple pie. I took his mom's recipe, my mom's recipe, and one from the Martha Stewart website, and did a little of all of them. And all the amounts were estimates.

On Thursday, Jon made a trip to the gym, while I made cinnamon pull apart bread. Then we picked up Dave and after breakfast headed to a movie. That is my parents' family tradition. A movie on Thanksgiving day. We went and saw "Planet 51". It was pretty fun. It was Max's first movie theater experience. He did pretty well. He sat with Adam most of the time. The last 15 mins or so he got bored. Luckily, my mom still had some popcorn and I brought some Halloween candy. That kept his attention.



Zac wanted to go home and watch the movie again :)

Yum, good food! The last few years I have made an effort to not stuff myself so there would be room for pie and so my plate would fit all the dishes. This year, that went out the window. I was soo full-uncomfortably so.






The boys hanging out while we let the food settle.





Then we cleaned up, looked at ads for Black Friday to make a plan ;), watched "Elf", played outside, and some slept. Then we played a 7 player game called "Shadows Over Camelot". It was pretty fun. A 7 player game where we are all the good guys, playing against Evil, which is the deck of cards. Then we had pie. And headed home. Pretty good day :)

After getting the boys in bed, Jon was packing up for his camping trip, and I was looking over the ads that I "wanted" to hit the next morning. ("Wanted" is in quote because, I can't think of a more accurate word. Whats between "wanting" and "not wanting"?) I noticed Toys r' us opened at Midnight. Since it was 11:45, I decided I would head over and see what it was like, just drive by. . . .

Wall Hangings

I love this fabric! And these wall hangings.


Perfect for a little girl's room


These are in my house and I love them!


My parents are in a Boutique next week and the next week. And you can get items similar to this.

I will post more details soon.

Like Butta'

My darling Husband, got my subliminal messages (the word "knife" texted everytime I made dinner).

Early last week as we were about to sit down to dinner, there was a knock on the door. It was the UPS man! I was pretty confused. What did we order?

I was thrilled to see these in the box!!




These knives are amazing! After reading all the reviews, Jon picked the perfect set! And when I first used them I was shocked at how smooth, clean, and easy they cut-like butta'!! I had a perma-grin, over knives! Seriously though, you don't know what your missing til you try good knives.

Thanks Honey, its so much easier to make dinner now. No more carrots flying across the counter as I chop them.