Lazy Day After Christmas

One of the best parts of Christmas is the day after. The house is trashed. I have no idea where I am going to put all of the new toys. I can't even begin to put them away because the kids just keep dragging them out. I spent the whole day playing UNO Moo for Preschoolers, Busy Pets, Whack-A-Mole, Pattern blocks, and hot wheels on the racing track. We watched Pocahontas and UP. We ate Christmas cookies and drank hot cocoa. About 1 o'clock I decided to shower...and then I just put my sweats right back on. I made a scrapbook page. I watched a lifetime Christmas movie with Matt. We ate left over spagetti for dinner. It was a wonderful day. Hope you and your family had as much time and fun enjoying one another this Christmas.

Gingerbread, Marshmallow Monsters, and Tutus

I love gingerbread houses. This year I decided to try one of the kits from Winco. I highly recommend this, it's easy, the candy comes in the bag, the frosting mix is in the bag, and the house is prebaked. For kids, especially, this is the only way to go. We had a great time!



While the kids made gingerbread houses, Leanne and I make snowmen on a stick. We stuck three marshmallows on a lollipop stick and then dipped them in white chocolate and added mini m&m's for the eys. While we worked, Dallie ate marshmallows, although it looks like the marshmallow may have tried to eat her. She was happy as a clam with marshmallows in her ears, her hair, and on her face. Love this shot!



This is a shot from Marianne's dance recital on Saturday. Marianne is pictured below. She is such a talented young lady and has started taking dance in Meridian this year. The production was beautiful. I love all the tutus and lights.


She wasn't very excited about posing in her tutu, but I made her. Here she is!


I finished up some odds and ends today in town, and i believe I am 100% officially done Christmas shopping. We made reindeer cookies at my Grandma Yates house this morning and spent a little time with Leanne and Dallie at her house this afternoon. I am freshly waxed (eyebrows and mustache) and ready to get ready for Christmas. Tomorrow is our final craft project, chocolate suckers, and then it's time to finish wrapping up presents, iron clothes for church, and clean the house for company. I love this time of year!

Christmas Crafting

Really? It's really December 21st and I have only posted nine posts this entire month? I really had every intention of posting daily and recording all of our Christmas activites and stories, but time has seemed to run away from me and it's already almost that time.

Here are some shots of the Christmas crafts Cameron and I have been working on every afternoon while Tucker is asleep. She is at such a great age to do this kind of thing with.

I am hoping like crazy to get back into the swing of life after December and 1) finish painting my bonus room, which is half white and half brown and one wall kind of purply brown and 2) finish up my scrapbook for the year, which I left off on back in September. It seems like no matter how hard I try I can't stay up on those. Matt is going to work on a bigger work space for me this winter while he is off, with a whole bunch of countertops and a whole bunch of storage, mainly so he doesn't have to look at the mess anymore. It should be nice, can't wait till it's all finished.

A little Holly Jolly

And the count down is on! We are only counting until Christmas Eve here since we will start opening gifts at Matt's parents house at 10 in the morning, so that leaves us with just three days to go.....

Here is the photo of Cameron, Tucker, and Dallie on Santa's lap. This was taken at the church bazaar a few weekends ago....

And here is my newest addition to my Christmas decor, designed by my good friend Aimee...this is my third nativity set, but since it is the reason for the season, I may just go ahead and start collecting them!


A photo of some of our Christmas books. Each night in December we pick out two to read. I have about five different versions of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" but we love them all. Me being a teacher and all, my kids are pretty much book lovers/nerds whether they want to be or not. This photo just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.


This is probably the most popular Christmas decoration in our house. I had to break down and buy this when Cameron was two. She loved it. It plays music, lights up and blows snow around inside the globe. Cameron even took it for show and tell last week. It isn't my usual type of decoration, but the kids love it.


And last, but definately not least, in fact, very much my favorite is Cameron's Christmas gift from preschool. She brought this home from school all wrapped in tissue paper for me. But then she got excited and opened it. Anyways, it's an ornament for our tree and it's her face on a colored angel. I don't know why I love this so much, but it just gets me excited for all of the handmade glue and paper and glitter that is to come for our tree. There is nothing better than kid made Christmas ornaments.

Tonight is Cameron's Ballet recital and I am getting ready to put some chili in the crock pot and take a nap with the kids so they will be rested up enough to survive the performance. Then after that, it's off to confession to prepare for Christmas at church and finally home. Busy day!

How many more minutes till Christmas?????

Here is a Holly Jolly Matt on the side of the bonus room roof trying to get the Christmas lights to work. He will do anything for Cameron, but he never would put lights up when it was just the two of us. They look beautiful.
A little holiday cheer for the day...the top of my Stocking pole.....


And Cameron working diligently on Christmas activities. I swear, I can't keep the girl in crafts. We went to Michaels last weekend and bought a bunch of ceramics, cookie cutters, chocolate molds, activity kits, etc. $42 later we were ready to rock and roll. She is bugging me to death because she thinks that until every craft is done and on the tree, we shouldn't stop. I was hoping for more of a 12 days of Christmas approach. Atleast she's excited.


Today I took Cameron to the doctor for her second follow up to her ear infection. Luckily her second round of antibiotics did clear up the infection in her ear, but now she has a Urinary Tract Infection. Poor girl, we're on antibiotic #3 for the month of November/December. This antibiotic has been too hard on her stomach so she's had some upset tummy trouble this afternoon. It's very hard to watch your kids hurt, but she's resting right now and watching some Cailou Christmas so I've snuck upstairs to regroup and enjoy the quiet.

This past weekend my friend, Amber, a fellow Mom of a preschooler, hosted her annual ladies Christmas party. I look forward to good food, good games, drinks, and conversation all year. I won an absolutely beautiful wreath that her mother made. I just love how it looks on my door. Maybe I'll get a photo of that posted.

Friday of last weekend we went out for our friend, Cody's 30th birthday party. We went to Tepenyaki's Japanese Steak house in Boise, along with about 9 other couples. It was such a nice night out, and a total change of pace from our regular Olive Garden date night. I can't believe all of my friends are turning 30....has it really been that long? All of a sudden 30 just doesn't sound as old as it used to sound.

I think I am finally finished up on my christmas shopping. I am working on two teacher gifts for Cameron's teachers and a few white elephant gifts for our Christmas Eve at my parents house. I paid our looming tax bill today at the court house. Whoever made the due date December 20th seriously has to be the biggest scrooge ever.......but what can you do?

This weekend we are going to watch my sister perform at Northwest Nazarene University for ballet and then we are going with the cousins to see the Frog Princess. Cameron has been waiting and waiting for that one. Then she has a performance at church Sunday morning, she is a sheep in the Christmas song. Then Monday night is Cameron's ballet performance. Busy week and weekend ahead. I'm getting so excited for Christmas morning, can't hardly stand it.

A little Christmas cheer

So much for "December Daily". I really had the best of intentions, but alas, four days have gone by and I haven't so much has even thought about my blog. I have been busy working on getting all of my Avon orders delivered so I know if I have any "spending" money for Christmas. I finished Christmas shopping yesterday while my sister kept the kids (yay for sisters!) and I also got my Christmas cards ready to go. Now I have the looming closet of gifts that I need to start wrapping, but I am waiting as long as possible because I'm afraid if I leave the room for a second they will get opened...last year most every gift had a small tear in it that nobody seemed to know how it had gotten there. That nobody is four years old this year and has a two year old brother that she uses as a pawn in all of her evil plotting. I can only imagine what they would be capable of.

Here are some Christms photos of our tree. Cameron's friend, Ainsley helped us decorate. I was very patient and let them put each and every ornament right where they wanted it, which was smack in the middle as high as they could reach. It was terrible. I have slowly moved ornaments and they haven't seemed to notice. The top photo is Cameron pouting while I finished "fluffing" out the branches. She is not very patient.

Weekend Christmas Fun

I wasn't able to get any pictures uploaded from the weekend yet, so here are a few photos from the past two years. I can't believe how much the kids have grown and changed! This weekend Matt and I left the kids at my parents house on Friday night and we went to Boise to finish up some shopping. I had bought Tucker his Spike the T-Rex toy at ToysRus the day after Thanksgiving thinking that if it wasn't on sale taht day it wasn't going to go on sale. Wrong! This week it was on sale at Fred Meyers for $25 less. So of course I had them hold one at Fred Meyers since ToysRus doesn't always price match. I went and bought ANOTHER Spike the T Rex so we had to return the one to ToysRus. I also had a few returns to make at the Mall. We ate at Red Robin and got groceries at Walmart. Saturday I went to the Carberry Christmas Bazaar, which was nothing but crap, and then picked up the kids at my mom's house. Cameron had a birthday party for her friend Athena and Tucker stayed at home and took a nap with Matt. I got my Christmas cards printed, so now I need to get going on those. Saturday night was the Annual Christmas Bazaar at my church. And if you're Catholic, there's not a better way to raise money than by gambling and drinking, so bring on the beer and bingo! You wouldn't believe how many crazy Catholics you can pack into a hall for a little fundraising if it involves bingo prizes and beer. It's always a good time. Of course we were stuck out in the kid alley playing cake walk and ring toss. Cameron won 2-two liter bottles of Coke and Tucker one a two-liter bottle of Pepsi. Gotta love caffeine for kids! We also won a whole pie and a plate of cookies in the cake walk and numerous Christmas related tatoos (all on Cameron's stomach, the only body part she's allowed to put tatoos on). We also got a picture with Santa, will try to scan that in tomorrow, and played kiddie bingo.

There was a three pack of cheap knock off princess barbies. You know the kind that look cute from a distance because they're dressed similar to the Disney princesses, but then you get up close and they've got the look of a three dollar hooker. Purple lipstick, half-crazed ex wife kind of eyes. Anyways, of course, Cameron LOVED those barbies. So we played bingo to win them. I kept telling her not to get her hopes up that someone else might win first or we just might not win at all. She was adamant she was going to win the 3 pack of barbie hookers. Tucker won.

So of course up to the prize table we go. Tucker looked over the whole table of toys and then, after a lot of deliberation on his part, pointed to the barbie 3 pack and said "Cameron". He truly wanted to get them for her, without any suggestions from me. It was the sweetest thing! He was so proud of himself! Of course we all made a huge deal out of what a great brother he was to give Cameron a present. Then Cameron wins Bingo shortly after and she decides she's going to get Tucker a gift. She gets him a stuffed bear with little or no thought to what he might like, but he is still tickled to death. They love their gifts from each other. And now we have these scary looking cheap knock off barbies. When I went in to tuck Cameron into bed, I had to kick them into the closet because the one looks just a little too deranged for my taste.

We also put up Christmas lights today and also the Christmas tree, which I have photos but I am going to bed for now. Hope your weekend was jolly.

December 3rd

I started making my Christmas cards for the year. I don't make all 50 of them, but I do make about 10-15 and use them on people who appreciate a handmade card. These are it for the year. I obviously fell in love with this line of paper from Bo Bunny because I haven't branched out from it very much....


We took a break from all of the hustle and bustle today to go to the dentist. This was Cameron's first time and she was a trooper. We have no cavities and we left smiling so it was a great first experience. I also left without cavities, but on the verge of tears as my gum recession has continued to progress, which means sometime in the future, I will be having to graft tissue from the roof of my mouth onto the exposed roots of my teeth. I imagine it will be about the time I turn the big 30. I don't really think I"m getting old, but sometimes I take a step back and realize things are really starting to just fall apart! This sucks!

Cameron is watching a Charlie and Lola DVD titled, "How Many Minutes Until Christmas", which is appropriate for her excitement. Tucker is sleeping, which is appropriate for his level of excitement. I just turned in a huge Avon order, mostly last minute stocking stuffers and I am ready to kick back and watch Oprah for a few minutes before I start a pot of potato soup for dinner. Hope you're all having a wonderful day!

Makin' a list

Today we went to my sister's house to try to get the first annual attempt at the perfect "cousin shot". All three kids were in red Christmas attire and my sister bought each one of them a pair of reindeer horns. I am a cynic about taking pictures of kids in a group. They never work. One is always making a weird contorted face or falling over or looking away or crying or pooping or something. I hate them. But, surprisingly, the reindeer horns and Leanne and I singing Jingle Bells and dancing around like idiots captivated them enough for Mike to get the shot. I wish I had it to show, but it's on my sister's camera. Maybe I'll get it uploaded in the next few days....

We finished all decorating that does not involve the tree. The garlands are up, my cupboard shelves are decorated, and all fall is packed away tightly. Cameron is more than ready for the tree, but I am going to still try to put her off until Sunday.

Here is my altered Christmas notebook that I made to keep myself sane. Usually what I do is I buy a crapload of "sales" and then hide them away. When I finally go to take everything out of the closet, I realize I didn't save a dime. I over buy. This year I made myself a notebook, I carry it everywhere. I keep all receipts in there. I tabbed pages for Tucker's Stocking, Tucker's gifts, Cameron's Stocking, Cameron's Gifts, family gifts, and so on. I have prices in the right hand column and so hopefully there will be no surprise in the closet on Christmas eve.......

Gotta go, Rudolph is over so the kids are out of control again.

Deckin' the Halls

So before I can start decorating for Christmas, I have a few jobs that never get done any other time of the year. The first thing is that all of my grapevines and greenery comes down, get's washed, degreased, and packed away. This in itself is a time zapper. I hate it. But, if I don't have a reason to do it (Christmas) I never will. So here is the mess on my kitchen table. The kids hate this time. They REALLY want to pull out the garlands and lights and this is just a waste of time. I couldn't agree more. Next, all of the Turkey art comes down and put away for future scrapbooking endeavors. They were pretty proud of their hand turkeys. Oh, and if you love this board, my good friend, Aimee makes them special order. The only problem with this one is there are not enough hooks on it for the mass amounts of art that get produced in our home.

And finally, we go on a scarecrow and pumpkin hunt. We even managed to round up a turkey or two to dust and put away for next year. This is just a small sampling of what I have to hide away in my so called "linen" closet which has become a shelf and a half of fall and two full shelves of Christmas. Towels and linens are overrated anyways.

So this was today's project. I managed to get a few lights up around the tops of the cupboards and a few garlands hung, all the while Cameron is heckling me and yelling about the importance of the Christmas tree, which our neighbors decided to put up the day after Thanksgiving. I myself will probably wait until this Sunday. That's one less week we have to break ornaments and get yelled at for touching the tree.

Here is a picture of my latest swap, a December flip calendar. I did the 4th and the 21st and in return I have a 6X6 calendar to use to count down the days. I actually got two copies so I'm trying to decide who gets the other calendar.........

Day 21

Day 4

The final project.

Happy December!!!

December Daily

Merry Christmas everybody! In case some of you don't know, around these parts we get pretty into the up and coming holiday. We are already in the thick of decorating, shopping, and singing Christmas carols. With the kids being the age they are, I"m expecting to go full blown "Christmas" and I plan to document it all right here....daily. So get ready to see what Christmas at the Brown house is all about.....




And in the spirit of the holiday, I thought I would share Cameron's Christmas list that she made with Matt while I was out on Black Friday. I plan on sticking this one in her scrapbook...

Cameron's Christmas Wish List 2009 (Age 4)

1. princess piano
2. princess wand that disappears at night
3. cute baby bottle
4. princess party decorations
5. Cinderella blanket
6. princess pillow
7. princess watering bucket
8. very own Christmas book
9. princess frames
10. very own spring book
11. duck duck goose book
12. princess vaccum
13. princess purse
14. princess hat
15. angel she can paint and decorate with stickers

Tucker's wish list consists of one thing....

1. A T-Rex

Gotta love the difference between boys and girls.

100 things to be thankful for....

In the spirit of the holiday I would like to make a list of things that I am thankful for tonight. I have a book titled 14,000 things to be happy about and it has inspired me to make my own list, although I am too tired for 14,000, I think I will aim for 100. The key to this book is it's randomness. It's not deep, it's not thought provoking. It is just a simple list of things to be thankful for. Here goes my own attempt.

1. Kids in general, but especially mine. They are the best one's I've found.
2. Dogs, especially mine. I've found some I like a lot better, but still love her to death.
3. Husbands, and only mine. I mostly find all others to be irritating.
4. Money. It does make the world go around, no matter what they say!
5. Heat. Thank you God, I get to bitch every month that the gas bill is outrageous. I couldn't imagine not having that option.
6. Food. Again, Thank you God. I gripe because I just spent $140 at Albertsons. How lucky am I?
7. Religion. Especially mine. It works for me and I am so thankful that I was born into a family that has it. I'm also thankful for others that have it, even if it's a different version.
8. Music. It can spark a memory so intense, it can soothe a mood, it can create a mood, it just makes life interesting.
9. Books. Some of these are my best friends. These keep me from feeling like I'm loosing all intelligence while I live at home with my kids.
10. Children's Tylenol. If you have kids, enough said.
11. Insurance co-pays. They still suck, but thank God we have them.
12. Red wine. The perfect way to end a day.
13. English Tea. The perfect way to start the day.
14. Relatives. They keep you grounded. You know where you came from. You may not like it, but you are genetically attached to these people. Scary....
15. Blogs. How else would I waste enough time every day to avoid cleaning house?
16. Facebook. Another great leisurely activity.
17. My scrapbook room. My refuge.
18. pink and brown anything
19. Pottery barn kids rooms Someday.....
20. Coupons
21. pajama pants
22. Cell phones
23. cool looking baskets
24. Christmas recipe magazines
25. Jello
26. Barbies on the living room floor
27. Diaper genies
28. Parenting books
29. ribbons
30. Cameras
31. Wiggle cars
32. Subdivision neighbors
33. friends from the past
34. friends who still mail things via "snail mail"
35. friends who never forget your birthday....not for the whole 14 years you have known them.
36. imagining taking your kids to Disneyland
37. snuggles
38. alone time
39. old CD's from junior high
40. Dixie Chicks
41. Jay Leno
42. Ti-vo'd anyting
43. the idea of Paris
44. education
45. independent
46. expression
47. ability to ponder
48. ability to zone
49. Grandmothers
50. Aunts
51. Memories
52. possibilities
53. stay-at-home moms
54. patterned paper
55. Silver jeans
56. ANEW Retroactive facials
57. Diet Pepsi
58. Archivers
59. Target
60. freshly flossed teeth
61. brothers
62. sisters
63. neices
64. nephews
65. in-laws
66. connections
67. fate
68. direction
69. spiral notebooks
70. recipes
71. shoes
72. mushroom pizza
73. singing in cars
74. laughing so hard you pee (a little)
75. when your kid tells you they love you, for no reason
76. sun tans
77. buy one get one free sales
78. fractions
79. hair spray
80. the giving of gifts
81. drinking anything with a straw
82. quotes saved in an old notebook
83. favorite teachers
84. dressing up
85. creativity
86. movies made from novels
87. meeting friends for lunch
88. cheap jewelry
89. the realities of marriage
90. beauty
91. happy times
92. a chance to listen to silence
93. that I am needed by three people
94. inside jokes
95. exercise machines
96. knowing I don't have to set an alarm
97. waking up to "Mommy, wake up"
98. options
99. winks
100. Welcome home kisses


Happy Thanksgiving.

Tis the Season....for two whole months!

I took the kids shopping this weekend. We had to go to Target to get pictures for Christmas and then we went up to the mall. When you are two and four, Christmas is the biggest thing in the world. When you are two and four, a month is an eternity, but two months, is a disaster. There was Santa in the center of the mall with a line of screaming kids a mile long. We looked at Santa for atleast 20 minutes. Three times. They were so upset that we couldn't go down and sit on his lap and Cameron was panicked because she hadn't made a list yet. It's only November. 14th. Seriously. Poor kids. The Christmas music, the decorations, the incessant talking about it on tv. What happened to Thanksgiving? No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't commercialize a holiday that's entire purpose was to reflect on the gifts God gave us as a nation, so we just skip that one. It's pretty sad.

Anyways, I told Cameron that we don't visit Santa until after Thanksgiving and she challenged me with the fact that all of the other brats in the Mall got to sit on his lap. I didn't have an answer to that except that their families must have different rules that ours. It's getting harder to be a good parent that always has the answers now that Cameron always has the question.

I am looking forward to Christmas in the worst way because the kids are going to absolutely love it. There's nothing better than when they're old enough to understand but young enough to be innocent to the whole Santa thing. Can you imagine the magic? It's hard for me to remember the excitement and the joy of it at that age. I won't sleep a wink that night I'll be so excited to watch them open their gifts. And it's only a month and a half away!

Craft Fairs in Boise

Just had to add these quick photos of Tucker's first experience at carving a pumpkin. I have been up since 5:45 this morning becaue I can't quit coughing to sleep. It sucks. I have already had tea and medication and I still feel like crap. I am off to the Eagle Craft Bazaar, even though I feel this wa because this is the one time that Matt knows he's got the kids for the day. No matter what. I live for these shows so hopefully I can get it together enough with a shower to make due for a few hours.

I have to share a pretty funny story. Last night Matt wasn't feeling well so he went to bed early. I figured he was out cold and I REALLY didn't want to get sick today so I decided to go with my Grandma's old home remedy of eating garlic. I took a piece of wheat bread and completely slathered it with butter and then used my garlic press and pressed a whole clove of garlic into the butter. I rolled it up and downed it. I could smell my breath. A little bit. But I went to bed and was lying there reading and he wakes up out of a dead sleep and says, "Becky. Something stinks like onions and garlic." He starts coughing and gagging and I think he actually went into the kitchen and gagged in the sink. He slept in Cameoron's room because aparantly the whole house reeked like my breath. I couldn't quit laughing even though it's not funny. I imagine he's going to be pretty peeved at me this morning, but you know, there are times when he stinks pretty bad too and he doesn't seem to be very considerate when he does this so I think maybe we're finally even.

Halloween photos and ear infections

It's been a few weeks since I've posted, so here are some updates.

I had to show these off. We were invited to a couple's Halloween party and Matt and I had the hardest time coming up with a couple's costume that wasn't just trashy or lame. Anyways, we started with the idea of going as a priest and a nun, but I couldn't come up with good costumes, all of them were pretty cheap looking. So we went with this look, all based around the black wig that we borrowed from my Grandma. I am proud to say that I think we can totally pull this look off, so when that midlife crisis time comes around.....Cameron and Tucker may have this to look forward to when we sell everything we have and buy Harleys. Ha. Those pants are pleather, which is basically lined plastic and they do not breathe. I was stretched so tight into those and they were getting hotter and hotter. I was so afraid to even sit down for fear of blowing out the butt, something I haven't done since a dance club my freshman year of college. I never thought I'd attempt pleather after two kids, but hey, in the spirit of the holiday, I had to give it hell.

Happy Halloween! I don't know what Tucker's deal was, but early in September, I grabbed one of the Taste of Home Halloween magazines at the checkstand and Tucker was obsessed with it. He would carry it around and stare at the food and make me sit and look too. Every time we got to the spider cake page, he'd say, "Make dat Mommy?" over and over again. OF course I couldn't say no, so here is Cameron and Tucker's version of the spider cake. Of course theirs was beautiful and black, but have you ever tried to make black frosting? It just doesn't look black. I guess I'll have to go to Michaels and get the real black frosting dye for next year. This year we went green. I baked the cake in the Pampered Chef mixing bowl and then frosted it with big globby spoonfuls of frosting. Then we stuck licorice in for the legs and oreos for eyes and nose and smarties for the mouth. I was thinking licorice for the mouth, but we couldn't get it to stay, and when you're baking with a two year old, it's all about speed rather than details. So here is Tucker's spider cake.

Here's my two monkeys enjoying our jack-o-lanterns. Cameron has seemed to have lost her pants somewhere in the process, but hey, somebody at every good party always seems to loose their pants.

Halloween has come and gone, but here is the Halloween card I did for our monthly swap. I used a sketch off of a website but kind of toyed with it enough to make it my own. I love this line of paper.

Here are the treat packs that Cameron and I made for her preschool class. It was different from what I originally invisioned, but still turned out pretty cute. I wanted the flap to fold over the top, but my dimensions were too short and Cameron was getting impatient to "help" so we just went with it.

I have been stressing and stressing about the Swine Flu. I have been watching every little symptom that my kids are having in order to make sure we don't get it. I am the hand sanitizer natzi. And so far so good, but they have been coughing and coughing and coughing and I am about to go crazy. Halloween was a long day of missed naps and a late bed time and then, crash, on Sunday Cameron took a nap. That's how I know when she's sick because it is the absolute, ONLY time she will give in and rest is when she's completely exhausted and sick. She took a nap twice. Holy crap. Monday morning she was running a temperature and laying under the coffee table so off we went to the doctor. Low and behold, no swine flu, but two ear infections. Atleast these can be treated. So home with antibiotics and another all afternoon nap. Am I a bad Mom to admit that in the midst off my child's suffering and misery, I secretly LOVE it when she's sick because she sleeps and it's quiet in the house? For three and a half hours, I watched tv and balanced my check book and I didn't have to answer any incessant questioning or demands. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it when she takes naps and since she only takes them when she's sick, I secretly love it when she's sick (but not too sick).

Anyways, today Tucker was in the doctor for the same thing, running a temp last night and this morning and he also has an ear infection. They are both watching a movie on the couch and borderline taking a nap. If I didn't feel like crap, this would be a very productive afternoon, but instead, I think I may take one with them.

Enjoy your afternoon.

My husband the handsome one

I'm on a rush today, but I was organizing pictures from this summer and couldn't help but share this one of Matt wearing Cameron's princess wig. The best part is, without the facial hair, he'd make a really attractive woman! And his legs....if he were a woman.....

Enjoy your day!

Checkin' in and Catchin' Up

Here is one of my quick pages that Cameron and I worked on together. I LOVED this bright pink lined paper (probably the teacher in me) so we made a Top Ten list for 2009. Cameron helped me decide what to write on the list. Here is the list:
1) Princesses (Cinderelly, Sleeping Beauty, all others)
2) Cailou (every day after lunch on Mom's bed)
3)Sonic Cherry Slushes (with a real cherry)
4)pbskids.org
5)"scrapbook" time with Mom
6)Wiggle Cars
7)Your Swingset
8)Dora Memory Match
9) Playing with friends
10)Snack and Tinkerbell

In case you're wondering Snack is her stuffed pink leopard from build a bear. She made it when she was two and a half. I told her to name it after something she liked a lot and she chose "Snack". Because after all, what's better than a snack when you're 2 and a half? Tinkerbell is her other Build-a-bear creation (we make one every year in Eugene when we go to the Logger's Conference with Daddy and have LOTS of time to kill at the mall while he's in classes)and she is a Hello Kitty, but her name is Tinkerbell. Anyways, these are her favorite sleeping partners. She's at such a fun age right now!

And here she is posing in her birthday dress, but didn't want me to forget to document the new princess panties she also got for her birthday. Not probably very lady like, but cute just the same.

And here is a cute one of Tucker. He got this inflatable Superman costume for his birthday because Cameron is always making him play dress up and now he has something "manly" to wear while he's with the girls. Unfortunately, he's scared to death of it because it has a little fan that runs in the back side of it to keep it inflated. This was the only time he would wear it. What a little stud!

Just checkin' in since it's been a few days since I have posted. Matt's Grandfather passed away last Saturday so it has been a rather stressful and hectic week. The funeral is not until Saturday but that still involved organizing babysitting and planning clothing for myself (my last funeral dress was used in 2002--pre baby)and for Matt, who is going to be a pallbearer. I'm pretty sure his suit may have been created in the pre-historic era. Luckily for men, they haven't evolved as much from then so a suit is still just a suit. I think it will work just fine. :)

I have been trying to work through the whole death and dying idea with Cameron without a lot of success. She's definately old enough to understand that Papa Jack won't be around anymore, but she's not old enough to grasp the concept of why, how, and where he went. It's so frustrating to try to explain this to her when her attention span is so short. She thinks that Jesus/God is the Priest at church and she's not sure why Papa Jack lives with him now, or why we wont see him on Sunday. I don't know how to make her understand that the Priest is just a person talking about God. The joys of being four.

On a lighter note, my house is clean, the quilting is put away. And I have decided I am not a quilt. I will stick to sewing paper, it's a lot easier. I am now working on a flip advent calendar for someone for Christmas and it's turning out really cute. I am also creating one piece of a swap on twopeasinabucket.com so I will get one in complete one in return. Should be interesting to see what comes back.

Cameron is at preschool and Tucker is coughing his head off. He is really prone to croup, so even when he just has a cough it sounds terrible. The doctor is wanting to remove his tonsils to help prevent this, but I keep waiting it out because he's still so little. I think it's inevitable and will probably happen this year as soon as he is healthy again.

I am headed downstairs to make some applesauce muffins for tonight for dinner and work on planning a big pot of soup. Rainy days just say soup and good bread (or muffins). Have a great day.

Friday Football, Babies R' Us, mopping and scrubbin' toilets

I don't know why this one came in sideways, but I"m not gonna fix it so tip your head to the side and enjoy! One of my favorite layouts of all time! The tree is all glitter and the "o" in "grow" is also glittered. The paper is glittered too. I love pink and brown. Last year's family photos. Figured I should get those into a layout because we just got our new one's yesterday. They turned out wonderful! (Will try to post those later this weekend).

Due to the fact that I have spent the last week "quilting", my house is coming down around me. Therefore, today will be a mad dash around to make it look presentable for the weekend. As soon as I quit wasting time on the computer, I have sheets to change on the beds, toilets to scrub, and a kitchen floor that needs mopped. Then it's off to Boise for some much needed groceries and some supplemental baby shower gifts for my sister-in-law's shower tomorrow afternoon. They are having their first baby and it is a boy, making Cameron the only girl with a brother and four boy cousins on the Brown side of the family. She is smack in the middle of the line up and I would hate to be her in high school. That's a lot of male protection. Atleast on the Posten side she has Dallie (my neice from my sister)...so far.

Tonight we will probably go to my brother's football game here in town and freeze to death in the stands. I'm not a football fan and I'm definately not a cold weather fan of any sort. I dated a guy on the football team at Carroll College and I spent many nights sitting in Butte Montana (coldest hell hole in the world) on two inches of ice on metal stands praying not for a win, but just that they didn't go into overtime....and they always did. It sucked. I swore I'd never do it again, and here I am. Of course, this is nothing like Butte, Montana (did I mention it was ungodly cold?) Last week we went to the BSU game and I froze in the rain again. We left during the third quarter. I'm just not a sports fan. But, watching Gary is worth a little bit of coldness, atleast until half time.

I watched Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, and half of The Office last night. Still waiting for another round of quietness to finish The Office (hopefully tonight). I don't think I'm very impressed with any of these shows this year, but, I will still spend two hours a week watching them just to see if they get better.

I just finished up running a fundraiser for Lake Dance Steps, which is where Cameron takes ballet lessons, and I was able to turn in my biggest two week order for Avon ever. It was close to $2500.00 and I am so excited! I am on the fast track for hitting President's Club this year (which means I have sold $10,000 in Avon products in the last year) and then I get a better commission rate on my sales. Exciting!

Cameron had her second soccer game last night and she actually kicked the ball. Twice. Big improvement from last week, where she just stood as close to the coach as possible and watched the excitement. We're hoping by the last game (four to go) she will get in there and try to make a goal. Four year olds and soccer don't go together very well, but it's entertaining and cute. Pictures to come later.....