Snow

It's snowy, icy, and frickin' cold around here. So glad I didn't have to go anywhere last night or earlier today. Mike had to work but put the chains on the truck and trucked on into Portland to save the city from itself. Chains were required on the freeways and all Portland roads. Luckily he bought some last year for a drive to Moses Lake WA and didn't return them. Here's a picture from last night before Mike moved the truck to the street and got to putting them on.

That's all for now. I haven't been in the chatty blogging mood lately. Maybe after the holidays, I'll be able to get back to regular updates. Or maybe tomorrow. Who knows.

I'll try to put up a picture of the kiddos in their Christmas tree shirts, but if I don't, Merry Christmas. Stay safe out there.

TTFN ~Crys

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Girl

Happy first birthday little MaeMae. You are loved more than you'll ever know. XOXO Mama and Daddy and Brother.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone's turkey day was a nice one. Our Thanksgiving was very low key. Mike started his workweek on Wednesday night so we were home all day. I cooked a turkey for dinner and Mom and Dad came in to help us eat it. I wasn't very happy with my stuffing, but it's been so long since I've made it, I'm not too upset about it. The awesomely delicious apple pie makes up for it. We're going to their house on Sunday for the big family dinner. I think I'll get to try making stuffing again since mom's recovering from being sick again.

I made the kiddos turkey bird shirts and they turned out pretty cute. It's impossible to get a nice picture of them together and none of us were in the mood for a long photo shoot to get really good pictures so here's what we have. We'll try again Sunday.
Maemae has a cold so she's still tired, was beginning to yawn, and just wanted Mama to hold and snuggle with her.

The kids and I ventured out for some shopping this morning. None of the 5am craziness since there was nothing on sale worth getting out of bed that early for. We left at 10:3o and got back at 1 and only went to 2 stores. But about 1/3 of my Christmas shopping is done, some in the closet and some on the way from amazon.com and I have a list for the others. I'll be able to finish it next week when Mike can stay home with the kids.

I'm off to sew and to figure out what I want Clella's 1st birthday invites to look like. Can't believe in 19 days my baby girl is turning 1.

TTFN ~ Crys

more pics

At Mom and Dads.

Mom and Dad's - walking with Peanut while Dad and Mike work on firewood.

Yummm bananas.

What Peanut does if the baking cabinet is unlocked and Mama's taking a time-out to read a blog.

TTFN for real now.

a few pics

Playing with legos.

Peanut's super sweet smile.

Maemae's hill billy smile, but only for a few more days as that last front top tooth is cut through and working down to join the others....FINALLY! It's been a rough week for sleep for us all.

That's all. A few pics for Mike as he's a work tonight. I'm back to sewing. I'm making a few gifts for Christmas this year and I'm using new patterns so I get to make mine first to see if I like it enough to make a few more. So far, I do but I'm only in the cutting out stage. Going to thread the serger to begin the sewing together stage.

TTFN ~ Crys

Here Mom, let me help you pick out some thread to use.

Crystal decided to re-arrange her sewing area this week (oddly enough it looks exactly how I had imagined it when we moved in...weird), her new configuration gives her alot more room and really opens up the space in our office/sewing area. With the open room, we were both working on things at our computers and Clella was playing in the new open space, then we heard the rustling of zip lock bags and DVD's coming down off the shelf. Then we knew it was little Mrs. Mae doing her shelf clearing act. She loves to get into Elliots room and clear off the shelves of his bookcase...in reality, this is how Elliot gets a good mixture of books read each night cause she always comes in and rearranges them, shes a helper, its what she does. As you can see from the moving boxes in the background, there are still a couple unpacked boxes, but they have Crystals stuff in them, so I really don't care. We are putting up some new shelves this week which should make room for those last couple to get unpacked then we really will be "moved in". I gotta go glue up some shelves for some DVD's to go on in the living room for Elliots movies, and Crystal is putting Clella down to bed, Elliot went down like a champ right at 8 o'clock, you could set your watch to his night night time...or as he calls it...nye nye

Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,

Please stop leaving your chicken shit messages in our comment section. If you don't have the guts to leave your name and be addressed in conversational matter about your views and opinions about "our" lives, please don't bother posting things. No where in the Gretchen post does it say anything about our children being near guns. Not that I have to explain anything to you, but we have a gun safe, its always kept locked, they are not allowed to touch them, they usually don't even get to look at them. So again, do us both a favor and STFU about things you clearly have no clue about.

If this offended you while reading it, well, that's too bad. Crawl back into your perfect world and leave us alone, we don't come post crap on your blog, so don't litter ours with yours.

Good day.

huge pics

I know the pics are huge. I'm too tired and lazy busy with the kiddos to resize them smaller.

Happy Halloween!

One costume still on, another lasted about 3 minutes.

We have a cold in our house so Peanut is not feeling well. But looking super cute in his mama made costume.
Maemae isn't a big fan of her mama made tutu. It catches on her knees when she crawls and really pisses her off. So it lasted long enough for a few pictures and then was put back into sweats that help facilitate quick getaways.
Maemae and I ran to Fred Meyers yesterday during Peanut's nap time and picked out pumpkins for carving. He didn't want anything to do with gutting the pumpkins, so I did that, Mike carved his (and Peanut's), and Peanut drew all over his and the counter.
Maemae admiring Mama's carving job on her pumpkin.And since it's raining and chilly here, we're trick or treating our chiropractor's office and then handing out candy. We better be handing out candy; I've never done it and I'm excited to. I grew up where no one trick or treated us, we went trick or treating in AZ so we missed handing it out there, and had 3 people visit last year at our old house because it's on a flag lot. This house is right on the street, in an awesome neighborhood that is well lit and safe. I really hope to hand out candy or we have 9 bags to eat. When did a bag of candy get so little?

TTFN ~ Crys

Choo Choo!

Yesterday we took the kiddos on the Pumpkin Patch Express railroad ride out of Hood River. We all had a great time despite having to get up early and drive out there. The weather was a cool 48 when we arrived at 9:00, but the sun was out and it warmed up to low 60's by noon. Peanut LOVED it. Then Mike bought him a Thomas the trail whistle and he LOVED it even more.

Loving that they don't have to be in carseats while going for a ride.

Trekking across the big field where a very small pumpkin patch was set up behind us.

How Maemae and I enjoyed our time here. She eventually fell asleep and I had my own personal heater to keep me warm.We got back to the car at 1:30, stopped for ice cream, and got home just before 3. It was well worth the early morning wakeups and the skipped naps to enjoy a new adventure for our little family.

Later, I tried to get a good picture where both kids are looking at me, or smiling, or just not looking goofy. This is the best of what I got. I'll keep trying when they're both not so tired.

Maemae got her first dolly last week from a gal on my forum who sews super cute stuff for sale. I know I can make her one, but I don't have a pattern or the time right now to start. And this one is done and ready for loves. And it has blond hair and blue eyes to match Maemae.

That's all for our quick update. Maemae is napping, Peanut is watching a movie and I need to work on his Halloween costume. I should be done in an hour, hour 10 at the most. :)

TTFN ~ Crys

A new toy for Mikey....

I've been wanting one of these for some time now, and finally decided to treat myself to alittle something special. It's an early Christmas present to me! I felt terrible after buying it, stupid buyers remorse! But Crystal quickly helped me get over it by telling me I work hard for what we have (want) and that I deserve to treat myself now and then...I'll still have alittle guilt about it, but guessing it will melt away quickly the first time I pull the trigger with one in the chamber. I went to the gun store today with a print out of the one I wanted to order from a company back east, and the gun store had one on the shelf with the exact options I wanted...but $70 cheaper than the one I was looking at, and this one comes from one of the top names in the AR game...so I was pretty happy with that. I wanted a flat top rail, and as you can see, I got it. A chrome-alloy barrel and bolt, got those too. The one I wanted only came with 1-30 round magazine, but this one came with 2...take that Clinton! So, now all I have to do is decide what kind of optic I want to have on the top rail and she's ready to go. I'm going to order a standard sight for the top for now, so at least I can go play with it. Thankfully we have lots of gun shows that roll through, wonder if I'll be able to convince Ernie to go to the shows with me so I can get a good optic for it....hmmmmmmmmmm he has been known to like him some gun shows in the past. The only other thing I need to do now...is name her....



Meet...Gretchen:

New bag and a couple pix

I finally had some time to sew for myself. I've wanted a Halloween purse for the last couple years so I finally made one. Turned out pretty cute. I know I shouldn't sew when I'm really tired, but I did anyway last night and paid for it by getting to know my seam ripper a little too much this morning.

Finished.

Thankfully Halloween is just 3 weeks away. It's too small to be used for long. No way I can get our stuff in there, you know, the wallet, keys, phone, lip gloss, pen, sippy cup, a wad of fruit leathers, crackers, pacifier or 2, baby toys, and Peanut's baby when she goes on field trips.

And a few more pix from tonight and yesterday.

My boys.

Be scared of Maemae when she makes this face as she lunges to you. It's her "I just saw my Mama's boob (or arm, neck, leg, basically any skin with no clothes) and I'm starving for some milk" look.

I love the 80's!

Bed time.
TTFN ~ Crys

No longer ONLY 30

I've been in my early thirties for 10 days now. And I'm ok with it. My birthday came and went a few days ago and I had a good day. Got to pick out my present from Mike. And I picked this.

It's a Fujifilm Finepix S2000HD (fancy sounding!) and I'm loving it. A whole lot fancier than the one I've been using. Now I have to read the basic manual and then the real operating manual that is too big to print so they put it on a disk. So far I'm mastering the auto function which is just press the button while holding still.

I also had donuts for breakfast (and lunch) and got a gorgeous purply-pink bouquet of minicarnations from my husband, I mean kiddos. Mike had to work that night (that sucked) so we had a quiet dinner (that I cooked while he got to nap) and put our kidlets to bed together. This new shift still sucks since he's gone at night, but it's nice having him home to help with bedtime.

Here's a few of my favorites with my new camera.

Handsome man patiently waiting for breakfast.

Just after naptime and NOT going to smile for Mama.
One of many Maemae expressions.

Little hands

This hangs over our backyard fence from the neighbors. Any idea wth it is? And do I need to worry about the berries dropping into our lawn?

We're settling in nicely. Mike has been organizing the garage and I unpacked the last box in the kitchen today. My sewing area is a disaster, but in an organized way. I still need to unpack and sort my fabric and unpack our office supplies and find a spot for all that stuff, but for the most part, we are done. Until the next time, which going by our latest history, is 11-12 months away.

TTFN ~ Crys.

Maemae giggles

One of the most precious sound a baby can make is the uncontrollable belly laugh and giggles. Here's Maemae's latest. Turn your sound up and laugh with my sweet baby girl.



Mike is snapping a receiving blanket against the toy tub and it's hilarious when you're 9 1/2 months old. And it's a little shaky because I'm laughing while trying to record.

TTFN ~ Crys

Ellie Mae Baby

What is Ellie Mae Baby? My new online boutique that will be open at 6 am, eastern time! I'm so excited and a little nervous. I don't think I would of done it without all of Mike's support and encouragement. Its a little scary to create something and put it out there for anyone to see and maybe (gasp!) criticize . I'm so used to sewing for pleasure and while it's still pleasure, it just won't be for my kids or for gifts. It's just a different feeling, but I'm really hoping that I do well at it.

Sooo, if you know any babies or toddlers or even adults who need something special on their clothes, bibs, blankies, towels, you name it, I'm your gal.

TTFN ~ Crys

Sometimes its the little things in life....

So you just worked 10 hours, and its 7 in the morning as you start your commute home. You get on the freeway on ramp which has one of those stupid good for nothing metered lights at the top....or are they good for something? As you approach the top, if you are like me, you count how many cars are in the 2 lanes...and make your decision based on the mathematics of which lane to get into. Low and behold, the moron in front of you, can't grasp this basic concept of "the line with less cars is the one to get in", they just based their lane choice on which one looked shorter. The fact that their lane was shorter, had nothing to do with getting on the freeway faster. The fact that my lane had 1 bus, and 2 cars, was still shorter than their line with 6 cars in it...mathematically anyway...visually, I'll admit, their line looked more appealing. But when I got to get on the freeway before them, I just laughed and laughed and laughed. I'd say it had a smile on my face for at least 10 of the 20 minute drive home :)

I'm exhausted, so sorry if I rambled a little :)

Done!

We are done moving out of the 2 story house and are still in the process of unpacking our new house. Peanut and Maemae have settled in already, Mike has his desk set up how he wants it, and I have lots to do to get my things settled. The kitchen was organized, then organized again, and now is a mess. I have too many baking things and not enough cabinet space so me and the kidlets are off to Target tomorrow to get another pantry storage cabinet. I'll put it together during naptime and hopefully get my kitchen set up so I can start cooking again. Then it's organize the bathrooms, laundry room (it needs a couple lower shelves), and then I'll work on my desk and sewing area. And once that's done, back to sewing when I can while my kiddos can play nearby and I don't have to drag my machine out downstairs, sew, and then pack up my sewing tools when it's time to stop to keep little fingers away from pins and scissors.

Mike and I (and the kiddos) patched and painted the walls in the old house and cleaned. It took pretty much all day minus the time I was at home for naps. But we're done, turn in the keys either tomorrow or Tuesday and can be finished with the homeowner who doesn't give a shit about her house. Yay! I was a little sad when I looked around realizing we're leaving with our kids for the last time. This was Maemae's first house so lots of good memories of being pregnant with her and getting ready to become a Mama to 2 kiddos. But this new house will make us all happier and that's what is most important - happiness in our kiddos.

I'm off to shower then bed. Moving is hard work and it's back to the normalcy of Mike doing Guild work during his off days and me being a single parent on his city job work nights.

Pictures in next post...maybe. I found my camera. It was in a safe spot.

TTFN ~ Crys

We are moved....mostly

We did it. Two exhausting days, too many trips up stairs then back down carrying crap prized possessions, sore bodies, blisters, and lots of naughty words. We have 2 or 3 more trips with the van and truck tomorrow to get the remainder. Then return on Sunday (maybe Monday) to do a quick cleaning and then turn in the keys and get our deposit back.

Then, never again, will I force my husband to carry my/our possessions up any stairs. We'll make the movers do it as I sit in a lounge chair sipping my coffee. We see 1 more move in our future and that will be to a house we stay in for a very long time.

Here's a quick rundown of our moving madness. Tuesday morning we picked up a 16' moving truck. And got a discount for being repeat customers. WooHoo! Mike packed the truck Tueasday afternoon/evening with very little help from me. I mostly tried to get stuff boxed up or brought downstairs to make it easier while wrangling the kiddos out of his way. Then Wednesday morning, our awesome friend Steve came over after he worked all night and helped bring our mattress downstairs and moved that and the couch with Mike into the truck. The 2 items I am useless to help with since they are Heavy Mother F'ers. Then we went over to our new house, checked out the inside, and I had a minor (almost major) breakdown (luckily no tears, but they were close) thinking I don't really want to move but Mike thankfully talked me out of. Steve and Mike moved in the couch and our mattress, Steve went home, we signed the lease, I went back home to begin another round of up stairs/down stairs. Mike had to meet his leather repair guy on a job in Hazel Dell. Mom came in around noon and watched our kiddos so I could move stuff downstairs and into the van, then I met Mike at our new house to unload the van and moving truck. Then back to load up again. Mike's brother stopped buy and helped with moving the garage items and Mike's work bench. Mom took Peanut home with her for the night and I carted Maemae around from room to room trying to madly get as much stuff downstairs as possible. I think we did 3 trips with the truck, took it back at 7ish, got Taco bell and got back to the house around 8:30, I fed my baby, ate, put my baby to bed, unloaded the truck, showered and passed out.

Thursday Mike needed to be here to wait for the phone and Directv guys to show up so I ran a few errands, stopping by the house to get a load of crap prized possessions, and came back home to be greeted by my Peanut and Mom. Mom, Maemae and I went to the quilt show at the Expo, leaving my men at home to take care of things or play until it was nap time. Mike and I did another round of load crap prized possessions into the truck and van while keeping Peanut in the house and Maemae occupied so she wasn't fussy. We did manage to get our computers up and running and online after the kiddos were in bed last night before we both passed out.

And today, while Peanut and Mike napped, Clella and I got the kitchen set up and moved things around since I didn't like where I had put a lot of things. And this kitchen has 1/2 the space the other one did so I think I'll be needing to do grocery shopping more frequently and not buy in bulk so much. Tomorrow's agenda is my sewing area since I'm surrounded by totes and boxes and all my crap prized sewing stuff is needing to be taken out, played with, and put in it's new home. And it's out in the front area now and I don't want people to see how messy I usually keep it.

For now, I'm going to pass out next to my baby. Pictures later, when my eyes aren't burning and I find my camera.

TTFN ~ Crys

Vacation is Over

Vacation is over. Mike is back to work tonight after 2 glorious weeks of being able to sleep during the night. Or sleep as much as our kiddos allow us to. But this week is a 3 night work week for him. Then, starting next Wednesday, we get to move!!! Lucky us. But it's only 1/2 mile away and it's a 1-story ranch house. No more cursed stairs. And it's really close to the park so we'll be able to go play more often. But it still is moving and moving sucks. And this will be move #5 for Mike and me since summer of 2005. But move #6 will be into our own house in a year - 18 months....we hope.

We had a great time at the beach. Our resort was fantastic. We had a 3 bedroom presidential penthouse suite so plenty of room for us all. Five days was just long enough. It was so nice to be ready to go home the next morning as we enjoyed the last night there. The weather was great for the beach. Not rainy, but most days were overcast until the afternoon. Then it was in the 60s, maybe very low 70s.

Here's a few of the pictures I took. We didn't do much. Mom, Maemae and I went to a quilt shop in Long Beach, a shop in Astoria, and hit the Fred Meyers in Warrenton. And we went back to the quilt shop in Long Beach on Sunday to get the few things we should of grabbed on Friday. And we went out to dinner at a pretty good, but busy and short-handed restaurant. Dad took Peanut, Mike and me for a drive on the beach in the Bronco. We saw a dead seal washed up on the beach and did a few cookies. And we walked a few blocks down the road for ice cream. Mike, Dad and Peanut checked out the very small gun show on Sunday in Astoria. And that's all the going places we did. All the other time we watched movies, napped, and hung out relaxing. And we think we're probably going to do the same thing next year with maybe a little more playing on the beach in there.

On the Astoria side.

Going down the roller coaster bouncy portion of the bridge.

Dad entertaining Maemae while we got settled.

The most beautiful mermaid and handsomest shark ever.

How Peanut likes to play in the sand.
Maemae's first beach experience. She wasn't impressed. In fact, she was asleep before we even started walking in the sand.

Our family portrait.

Daddy's girl.

The resort. Our suite was the top left one. Looking at the windows - Left one was Mom and Dad's bedroom, then balcony off the dining room, then the living room small window, then Peanut's room, then our room. And our balcony had a hot tub where Mike had a 104 degree bubble bath thanks to previous occupants.
Mom got this one for me. Each night during the sunset, I was bathing and put a kiddo to bed so I missed them all.

That's all. Both my kiddos are asleep and laundy doesn't fold itself.
TTFN ~ Crys