A Matter of Life & Craft

arena racing

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

When kiddo was 10-months-old, he got the chance to walk his uncle out during the big feature event one night at Arena Racing. It was time to finally get those photos scrapped, and that page put into his first year album (since I didn't have the photos when I originally "finished" it before his birthday.

From Scrappy Jo's: Simple Stories Year-o-graphy collection (papers & elements) & American Crafts Thickers
From Stash: Bazzill kraft cardstock & Brown ink

Share the Memories // Bi-weekly Digital Scrapbooking freebies #2

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:46:00 +0000

As promised, due to my affiliation with Share the Memories/My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software, I am sharing with you the most recent freebies on their site.

Freebie 1:

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_1

Freebie 2:

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_2

Freebie 3:

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_3

Please note that all of these are .png files only, not MyMemories Suite Templates. They are usable in any software.

Links valid for these digital scrapbooking freebies until February 12, 2012. On February 13th, the next set of Quick Pages will refresh on the site (on these links), and I'll have them to post for you in the days following.

Please link up in the comments any pages you've created using these Quick Pages, and always remember to use coupon code STMMMS6541 when purchasing My Memories Suite.

How Does She Do It? (She being me.)

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:36:00 +0000

I try not to do multiple blog postings per day anymore, but this is definitely a reason to do so.

One of my favorite craft sites (run my someone who really IS local to me) is Craftaholics Anonymous. Not only does Linda run this site, but she hosts two Handmade Gift Exchanges (I became involved in the 2010 Christmas one and that got me hooked to her site), and she also runs a Facebook page where she will post your crafty questions for her fans to help answer. It is fab-u-lous!

This morning, the following question was posted:

I find myself constantly wondering, "How do all of these Moms find the time and energy to do so many amazing crafts (both with/for their kids and without their kids, either for their business or just for fun), do all the "Mom stuff," *enjoy* said mom stuff and their kids, AND blog about it???????? Sometimes, I feel like I MUST being doing something wrong. There are so many blogs that inspire me to enjoy my kids more, do more crafts, get my house more organized, and document it through a blog (something I was very good about doing before kiddo #2). Yet, even though these blogs *inspire* me, I don't ever feel like I come anywhere close to what the writers of all of these blogs are experiencing...AND, a lot of these Moms have more than 2 kids...thereby making me feel even more like a slacker! :) Any advice? Tricks? Tips?

There has been so much input on this. We only see the perfect. We don't see the mistakes. April writes: "You are comparing your 'behind the scenes' to their 'highlight reel'." How true is that?!?

So this is my moment to share: I am not perfect. I do not live the perfect life. I do not have a perfect home. I don't get everything done. Enough is done so that my home is a clean and healthy environment for my family.

Let's backtrack a bit...

What are my obligations and responsibilities?

I am a stay-at-home-mom to an active toddler. I feed him, change him, make sure he naps, bathe him, play with him, craft with him, read to him, rebuild his train track, clean up after him...and everything else that goes along with having a child. I am involved in a highly active playgroup with Joey, which involves a minimum of 3 playdates a month and hosting at least once every other month. In a year, we have participated in well over 70.
I am a wife. Even though Harry is away more than he's home, when he is here, he is totally here... 24/7. There is time involved in being a good spouse.
I run a home. I manage a budget (sort of); pay the bills; clean the dishes and put them away' wash, dry, fold and put away laundry; do the shopping; care for our cat...and the dog, when he's here (which he, once again, is); clean; and all of that other home jazz.
I am a crafter. I scrapbook for myself and my family. I also scrapbook as part of a Creative Team for Scrappy Jo's Scrapbook Supplies. I make a lot of gifts I give, especially as of late with tons of diaper cakes. I take online classes to expand what I'm able to do.
I write blogs. This one, yes, but also Hampton Roads Mom, which involves so much time in updating the events calendar that it's almost not funny how much it is. I also contribute to Scrappy Jo's Scrapbook Supplies and Scrap Happenzz Critique Group.
I run two Facebook pages - Hampton Roads Mom and Scrappy Jo's Scrapbook Supplies. The HRMom Facebook page takes time out of my every day. The SJSS page is just a time or two a week, or so.

What do I sacrifice in order to do everything?

I don't get it all done. Period.

I schedule posts. Every time you see something pop up in your reader, on your blogroll, or however it is you came to be here, it was not written exactly when it's been time stamped. I used to post without a schedule. It lead to lots of posts on some days and none on others...for days, and weeks... Now, everything is scheduled, except: Joey Right Now (I post once I complete the previous week's card, usually on Friday or Saturday) and my Monthly Roundups for 2012. Sometimes I do get a bit excited about something and post it as soon as I finish it (like I did earlier this week).

The laundry gets washed, dried and...stuck in our laundry baskets. Sometimes they get folded and put away immediately. A lot of times, not. The dishes stay in the dishwasher until the double-sink is full and forces me to put them away, more often than not. I do attempt to empty the sink daily, though.

I don't vacuum daily. I don't pick up Joey's toys every time he naps or goes to bed at night. I don't put his train track together every single time he tears them apart. Truth: his train track is in complete disrepair right now. Both Harry and I have not fixed it in days. But that's okay. It makes him play with other things.

I sacrifice sleep. I stay up to scrapbook, to write blog posts, to do my chores, to watch my shows...

Sometimes, I sacrifice everything else just to nap during kiddo's naptime.

And that's all right, too.

What does this all mean?

It's one big balancing act. Priorities come into play. What needs to be done today/now? My calendar is my friend. I keep my commitments, Joey's play dates, Harry's racing schedule, birthdays and paydays on it. I use Google Calendar which syncs directly to my phone so I always have my calendar with me. I also include tasks on it (which does not sync, but that's fine with me). I include anything I may need to bring to a playgroup as a task, the handmade gifts I have to make, appointments I need to schedule, etc. Here's what that craziness looks like for my February already (keep in mind that February is a month Harry will not be home and so I won't be tracking a schedule for him after 2/5):

And, yes, I am tired. Last-minute plans really through a wrench in my life. But again, it's okay...

It means that what you see is not always my best, but never my worst.

It means that some of my posts are long and detailed...and some are simplistic (see: Joey Right Now).

But ultimately, it means... I get it done. I get the time with my family. And that's what is most important. I DO get the memories recorded. I DO get my "me" time. Giving up something else for those is totally worth it. Getting those memories and those crafts up here...giving up something for that...totally worth it. Even if I feel like I'm talking to myself more often than not, lol. :)

Joey Right Now | January 27

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:57:00 +0000

I'm pretty sure I've also heard him try to say "Bye, Kratt" after watching Wild Kratts.

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Joey Right Now is a weekly project aimed at getting written down the changes in his life as he grows in 2011 & 2012. Inspiration for this came from karenika's Us Right Now project.

Introducting my Year-long Documentation Project: Roundup 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:26:00 +0000

Earlier this month, I took a class by Katie Nelson on her Monthly Roundups through Big Picture Classes.

While I do plan to post my monthly roundups here on my blog--and, in fact, have a running blog post that I add to as needed--I wanted something tangible to house this project. And, so, this gatefold layout was born. This is designed to fit inside of a page protector in my albums--width is ~11.5". Lifted/Inspired by this gatefold album tutorial which I thankfully pinned on Pinterest back when I first saw it.

My "cover" is a simple, using the 6x12" Page Elements and some alphabet stickers.

Inside, each month journaling card is attached to a binding on either side.

Each monthly 4x6" card allows room on the back to put my info for each month. I am, honestly, thinking just of printing journaling strips for this step and adhering--directly from my blog posts.

The back allows room for a montage of photos, etc. which speak to the whole year. I may actually just have a 10x10" photo collage made at the end of the year to go there.

MATERIALS:
From Scrappy Jo's: Simple Stories Year-o-graphy collection - Page Elements, Journaling Card Elements 1 & 2, Capture this Moment, and Expressions
From stash: cardstock - Bazzill; other - ATG

Christmas Part Deux

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:31:00 +0000

I know, it's nearly the end of January and here I am talking about Christmas...again.

Last weekend -- no, not the one that just passed us by but the one before that -- we hosted Harry's family for a Christmas dinner / unwrapping extraordinaire. For the child, of course, because you know almost 30-year-olds don't get excited about opening gifts or anything... ;)

As you know from Christmases past, generally our celebration with Harry's family is anything but wonderful. There is little to no thanks for the meal prepared...or misguided thanks to Harry for everything I'd done. He and I both get gifts that are useless (tools which he already owns or clothing that's extremely large on me), and even Joey has been the recipient of poor gift choices (way small clothing).

But this year, the year that really mattered in our young son's Christmas experience, everything went right. The company was, for the most part, nice and comfortable (minus them trying to "help" us clean up which just made for an even longer/larger cleanup in the long run).

The gifts: appropriate. The unwrapping: dude, he loved unwrapping! And what was even cooler was that he would pull off a piece and then hand it to one of us to be thrown away instead of just making a huge mess to be cleaned up later.

There were more tools and power tools than the boy will ever need in all those packages, to go along with his workshop from Santa. And there were tractors, Finn McMissile, and megabloks, and a piano, and clothing that fits!

But seriously, the happiness on his face when he'd uncover something new. Priceless.

egg hunt

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:59:00 +0000

More and more, I love the idea of pages that are simple to put together but yet have a big impact. Like my right now: words layout earlier this month, this Egg Hunt layout involved using mostly just the piece of one pattern paper, cutting and lifting some to go over a mat & photo, and then applying a few stickers to just add to it (the birds, clouds, flowers, alphas, numbers, "April" and "Life Is Good").

MATERIALS:

From Scrappy Jo's: Simple Stories Year-O-Graphy collection (papers, elements & alphas)
From Stash: Zig writer - brown

Joey Right Now | January 20

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:45:00 +0000

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Joey Right Now is a weekly project aimed at getting written down the changes in his life as he grows in 2011 & 2012. Inspiration for this came from karenika's Us Right Now project.

Joey Right Now | January 13

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:56:00 +0000

This is, sadly, something that got put to the backburner when I got a new computer last weekend. And, since I'd moved everything already to the new laptop, without having any form of Photoshop installed, I had to wait for my software to arrive this morning before I could finally do this.

And, so, I have decided I don't care for Photoshop Elements 9 after having used Photoshop CS (the original) for so long...and CS2 prior to that.

But here's the important thing: it's done. And I will figure out PSE9. I will find tutorials that actually answer my questions. I will find a way to manipulate PSE9 into doing what I want it to. Somehow.

Any PSE tips or tricks you can share with me?

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Joey Right Now is a weekly project aimed at getting written down the changes in his life as he grows in 2011 & 2012. Inspiration for this came from karenika's Us Right Now project.

Share the Memories // Bi-weekly Digital Scrapbooking freebies #1

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

As promised, due to my affiliation with Share the Memories/My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software, I am sharing with you the most recent freebies on their site.

Freebie 1:

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_1

Freebie 2:

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_2

Freebie 3:

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_3

Please note that all of these are .png files only, not MyMemories Suite Templates. They are usable in any software.
Links valid for these digital scrapbooking freebies until January 29, 2012. On January 30th, the next set of Quick Pages will refresh on the site (on these links), and I'll have them to post for you in the days following.

Please link up in the comments any pages you've created using these Quick Pages, and always remember to use coupon code STMMMS6541 when purchasing My Memories Suite.

29 Projects | Snowflakes

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy simple, easy, instant gratification projects?

Yep, I have, in regards to my last project -- the keystone paver snowmen.

So when I saw this idea on Pinterest (love that site), and I had a bunch of popsicle sticks in my arsenal (plus, it's not like they cost very much), and I was uber-ticked off at the world, I sat down with my hot glue gun and glued away.

A bit later, after all was together and the glue had dried, I brought them all outside to paint white. Once again, our purchase of tons of extra white spray paint has come in handy for my random projects.

There is a fourth snonwflake -- this one made out of the jumbo popsicles. It's probably my least favorite. The second one is my absolute fave.

**Be sure to check out the two great deals I found earlier this month!**

Right Now: Words

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:32:00 +0000

I apologize for the lack of posting these last few days. I have been changing everything over from my old computer to my new, working on my Hampton Roads Mom blog (changing the design, much like this one), and we held the last of our family Christmases yesterday at our home. We should be back on track now...I hope(?).

And, so, the promised layout with all of the words Joey is saying right now. Of course, since I did this on January 6th, it is already out of date. Plus, as this hung on my art display in the living room (for both Joey's "art" and a few of my layouts every now and again), I continued to add more words to it during the remainder of that day as I would recall ones I hadn't included.

This is my first January project for Scrappy Jo's Scrapbook Supplies and first time ever using Simple Stories products. "Year.o.graphy" is an awesome collection and I am interested to figure out how I will use all of the supplies within the collection since I am not intending on doing a Project Life type project, which is what this collection seems very much geared for.

MATERIALS:
From Scrappy Jo's: Simple Stories "Year.o.graphy" papers & alphas
From Stash: Bazzill cardstock; Zig brown marker; ATG

Hope you enjoy! And hope you had a wonderful Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

My Story mini (a Scrappy Jo's Challenge!)

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Ready for a NEW Challenge! Do you want a guaranteed Prize?

For 7 lucky people that's exactly what you will get. How do I claim my prize, you ask? Make your way to Scrappy Jo's purchase the December Challenge Kit for just $5 dollars (this price includes the shipping and handling charges).

Make a project using your kit and upload your project to both our blog and facebook page before the end of January 2012. That's plenty of time to buy and create! No Excuses!

Here's my quick & easy response to this challenge: a maze/accordian mini album. Literally, it's embarrassing to tell you how long it took me to make. Get this: less than 10 minutes.

How-to:

To make the album, fold 12x12" paper in half.
Take the 6x12" piece and fold in thirds until you have a 4x6".
Open and cut down the first fold line for the first 8".
Fold the pieces back-and-forth, and you have a quick little mini album.

MATERIALS:
From Scrappy Jo's:

Kaisercraft - Chapter One Collection ("Motivate"); G.C.D. Studios - Soul Food Glitter Chipboard Word Sticker ("My Story")

29 Projects | Snowmen

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

This has probably been one of my favorite of the projects I'm done, so far. Very quick, and there's almost instantaneous gratification.

These keystone pavers were found in my backyard. I hit the with a few layers of white spray paint that was leftover from a project from this past summer. Some fabric and buttons from my stash, pipe cleaners stolen from Harry's airbrush cleaning supplies, some spray adhesive and glitter, and a quick trip to Walmart for some pop-poms, and they were done.

I love that I only had to buy the pom-poms, which kiddo has found and enjoyed having a "snowball fight" with. :)

Simple project. Big impact.

Blog Changes & life

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 02:12:00 +0000

I am still working on the blog redesign. I took care of the storage issue I discovered when I attempted to upload my new banner image. And, I am working on new category buttons....except I can't find some of the images I was really hoping to be able to use for them... *sigh*

Dare I mention that in the midst of all this, my left shift key stopped working? I took it off my laptop and discovered that a tab is broken, so now I wait for Harry to get home (tomorrow, yay!) and see what he can do about it. It's an almost 6-year-old laptop...

Outside of that all, I've been fighting a personal battle. (Extended) Family life is not, what you would say, happy. I was put in a very bad position yesterday. I did what was necessary and in the process pushed away one entire side of my (not Harry's) family. My nuclear family -- parents and sister -- are fine at the end of this mess, but I made a tough choice...and that choice is going to follow me to the grave. I'm not happy. I'm not sad, necessarily. A weight has been lifted, but that's not to say that good thoughts wouldn't be welcome.

And as all of that boils, I'm also in a fight with the website: Savemore.com. A word of warning: do not ever do business with them. They do not send the product promised. They do not carry through on refunds. They do not return phone calls. I've filed complaints against them with the Better Business Bureau, Attorney General of Texas and the Federal Trade Commission. *sigh*

**Be sure to check out the two great deals I found earlier today and just had to share with you all!**

Some Deals // iCaughtSanta.com & Family CookBook Project

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:56:00 +0000

Every so often, I come across a few deals that I just want to share with you, my friends. Check them out:

You can see the photo I did up this past Christmas time of Santa delivering gifts to my home here.

Joey Right Now | January 6

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

You know how sometimes it's just easier to keep doing something than to listen to the repercussions if you don't? This project has become one of those things. Because of my mother. Yup, my mother. "Keep doing it until he's two. We can probably fill in from birth thru December 2010." All righty, then. Not what I planned to do, but rather than listen to her potentially be upset with me not continuing to post these on Facebook, I'm sucking it up and doing it.

Which makes me sound ungrateful TO be doing it. Wrong. It pushed me to make sure I had at least one usable photo for this week. Good thing, too, since he's been having a word explosion and so right now is an optimal time to be doing this documentation.

Thanks, Mom.

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Joey Right Now is a weekly project aimed at getting written down the changes in his life as he grows in 2011 & 2012. Inspiration for this came from karenika's Us Right Now project.

Uh oh....

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 03:58:00 +0000

As I'm changing my header (like the new one?), I finally receive the message I've been dreading. The one that says I've exceeded my storage for photos on blogger.

I suppose I may just have to hand over that $5/year for an extra 20GB.

Sigh.

Christmas Treat Bags

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Right before Christmas we did a lot of cookie making. I was having sugar cookie cravings, and Joey has hit the age where he can participate in cutting out cookies and decorating. After eating the first batch quicker than anything, I made another batch one night then cut the logs and baked them during naptime so we could decorate.

And decorate we did. Unfortunately, now I had too many cookies, and we were heading out of town too soon for us to eat them all, so I had to come up with another plan.

The plan? Cookies for our neighbors, of course! Some cello bags from the Dollar Tree that I keep just for occasions like this, some scraps and some of my December Creative Team supplies from Scrappy Jo's. Put them all together in a few minutes during Joey's nap, and all is done. :)

MATERIALS:
From SJ: Kaisercraft "December 25th" Collection (Believe & rub-ons)
From Stash: Bazzill white & kraft cardstock; Cricut Expression with Christmas Cheer cartridge; Studio G stamps; ATG

Blog Maintenance & Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 04:22:00 +0000

Hi friends. I just wanted to share that there will be some changes coming to the blog. I will be going through the links to the right and weeding out/adding some. I will also be changing out the category links on the left and until I've created the images and I'm ready to to put those up, there will be the awful tag list. (Sorry.) I will also be deleting the archive again...or making it a drop-down, again. Thoughts?

Coming up in 2012:

The end of He & She, and the start of Monthly Roundups (a la Katie Nelson)
The continuation of Joey Right Now until his 2nd birthday, in April, by request of my mother
As an Affiliate for My Memories Suite, I will be bringing you bi-weekly digital download links & hopefully some more giveaways for MMS software....but I can only do that if YOU participate in my blog. The more participation I have from my readers, the more apt I am to do another giveaway. Picking from 10-13 comments is pretty lackluster.
The continuation of my Creative Team work for Scrappy Jo's
The (catch up and) continuation of 29 Projects

I am pretty sure I will not be doing One Little Word this year. I didn't do anything specifically for my 2011 word. It just didn't suit my life adding that project in during 2011.

2011 Round-up

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

We started 2011 with Joey having to show us all of his new skills. We went to our first-ever playgroup meetup (which, to this day, is a blessing), visited Chuck E Cheese for the first time, spent part of the month sick and then little man turned 9 months old.

February found me trying to stretch my creative muscles in the joy of LOVE photography course and both Karen Grunberg's "Embrace Imperfection" and "Finding Your Way" classes. We had work done on the house, followed by summer-y days filled with lots of outdoor fun. Matthew asked for Joey to join him in going out for his Top Dog race at Arena Racing one night, and he seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.

Probably the best exercise I did in March was 30 Days of Lists. That, and deciding to start a Layout A Day. It was an overall quiet month where we met some new (temporary) friends at the local park and also had visitors, went to the Zoo and also to the Botanical Gardens for the first time.

April brought about our son's first birthday and the party which took place on a day tornadoes ripped through towns near us. I successfully completed a Layout A Day, and mostly finished Joey's 1st Year scrapbook (minus a few pages I needed photos for still). We even got a beautiful day at the beach to round out the month!

In May, after the whole world received news of Osama bin Laden's demise, I joined with many other bloggers in posting my reflections on it, the War on Terrorism and 9/11. As part of the blogathon I'd participated in, I hosted a Guest Post about photography. We spent the month visiting my family in NJ, checking out the Children's Festival, Langley Air Show, going to our playgroup's Spring BBQ, visiting a playground we'd never been to, and I became addicted to Pinterest.

I thought about participating in 30 Days of Creativity in June. I didn't even make it a week. We took our first trip to Busch Gardens for the year, went to the Blackbeard Pirate Festival, checked out the Amococo display on the Va. Beach Boardwalk. On the blog, I hosted by second Guest Post!

In July, we went to the Outer Banks and then to our first neighborhood July 4th party. We, later, welcomed new neighbors onto the street and then spent a lot of time attempting to avoid them. Yes, things have been much better since school started in September and then the time change in November. We also spent quite a bit of time at Water Country USA and Busch Gardens with playgroup and Cathy & Andrew, and I joined a scrapbook store Creative Team.

August found us mostly dealt with an earthquake and then Hurricane Irene, evacuating to Richmond, and then cleaning up.

Almost all of September was taken over by playgroup events. It kept us on.the.go. all.month.long.

We went pumpkin picking, not once, not twice, but three times in October, painted pumpkins and trick-or-treating with the neighborhood crew for two hours.

I hosted a (relatively unsuccessful) Shutterfly House Party midway through November, following a night at Monster Jam with Joey and a family friend. We hosted Thanksgiving meal here since both of Harry's brothers were out-of-town and he was actually home.

And then, December... Where plenty of Christmas cookies were baked, we spent Christmas Day in NJ, and visited a local model railroad museum while there.

Here's to 2012...

Our Visit to a Model Railroad Museum {Christmas in NJ}

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Joey loves trains. Now, this may or may not be induced by his parents having bought him a train table many months ago, but, no matter the case, that love has happened and is here to stay....until he decides otherwise.

Since I've moved away from my hometown and neighboring areas, the Friar Mountain Model Railroad Museum has been built and opened. It's not open very often -- mostly just on weekends -- but during the week after Christmas it was...and so we went figuring that Joey would enjoy it. Which he most certainly did.

Every building is handmade by the owner. Every.single.one.

The obelisk at the top of the mountain is High Point Monument, located on the highest point in New Jersey, not far from where I grew up.

The Christmas trains were running -- Thomas will run in June, there are St Patrick's trains in March, Easter trains in April, and a Halloween Ghost train in October.

I think there were about 6-8 moving trains on the display.

And then a few train cars on dead ends decorated to match the theme.

Definitely a great little way to waste away a morning. Joey was passed out by the time we made it back to my parents' house. :)

Christmas Cookies & Gingerbread Trains

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Our baking and crafting together totally deserved its own photo post. We had a playdate to make and decorate sugar cookies on December 16th. Look at that excitement and the concentration!

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And then, because this mom can eat sugar cookies as though they're going out of style (plus I had tons of leftover decorations), I made more one night, baked them, and then we decorated more which we gave to some of our neighbors, our new roommate, and also brought to NJ with us.

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Two days after Christmas, as Joey was running out of steam and willingness to be away from home, Mom and I pulled out this Gingerbread Train (from Walmart). I built the pieces before dinner so that we could work on it afterwards, and it would have stood wonderfully (and not fallen over at all) had Mom not broken one of the cars, somehow.

Gingerly attempting to put candies on the icing (and eating them, of course).

Needing to help put more icing on....and tons of icing was added by the time we were done. That's for sure.

Loving his peppermints...and so we didn't exactly have a train with all of its wheels.

And our perfect train, which looks exactly like the picture on the box! LOL! Or not.

Next year: more cookies, more decorating, another gingerbread train/house, and more Christmas crafts together.

Christmas Day in New Jersey

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

It's over a week after Christmas, and yet Christmas is still not yet over for our family. Harry being away in Brazil means that we won't celebrate with his family until after he returns, and at that point other members will be away...much to my mother-in-law's dismay and grief (she hasn't quite gotten over that all her boys are grown adults with jobs that have them traveling).

We went to New Jersey for Christmas with my parents and sister. This was just Joey's stash of gifts. He has yet to receiver his big "Santa gift" from us (the Grow with Me Workshop by Fisher Price), and obviously whatever Harry's side of the family has cooked up (which they haven't shared with either of us).

Unwrapping definitely was of much higher interest to kiddo this year, and he really got into -- to the point where he actually would hand us gifts for him to unwrap. :) His first gift (above) was a Cookie Monster plush and as soon as he had it out of the paper and could identify it, we heard "Cookie" multiple times. How awesome.

And this r/c train (from the Thomas collection) was the absolute winner of Christmas. We'd choreographed the order in which we gave Joey his gifts, to some extent, holding this for when we felt he was starting to get a bit fussy since he'd been awake since just after 6am (a non-occurrence here at home). Good thing we did! He loved it and was totally enthralled by it. I've had to hide it so that I get a break from it. It take 6 AAA batteries (3 in the remote and 3 in the train), and we had to replace the train ones within 48 hours, if that gives an idea as to how much he enjoyed it.

There was the laptop, which we got him so that maybe he'd be content with it instead of mine and Harry's. Mom's thinking we should have just gotten him a LeapPad instead to save my phone. He has enjoyed it on and off, though.

Who else enjoyed it? My 24-year-old sister who we found playing with it after Mom and I thought it was Joey (we were in the kitchen and so didn't see this scene until we got up to check).

Overall, Joey received:

Thomas the Train: Trackmaster R/C Victor
Brilliant Creations Beginner Laptop
Dinosaur Train 1st Look & Find book

Matchbox cars

Thomas the Train: My Busy Book

2 Melissa & Doug chunky puzzles (safari & vehicles)

Cookie Monster plush

Sesame Street figures (all but Bert & Ernie)

Magnet Zoo Animal Playset

Fridge Farm Magnetic Animal Set

And...I think (hope?) that's it. I can't remember anything more, in any case.

He & She // December 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:34:00 +0000

He quit smoking. How long that will last with work being excruciatingly boring, will remain to be seen.

She spent lots of time doing playgroup things -- with and without their son.

He spent Christmas and New Year's in Brazil. And got to watch Rio de Janiero fireworks from offshore of the beach at Copacabana. He also got the best Christmas gift ever offshore -- a wireless mouse...yay?

The rest of them went to New Jersey for Christmas, where their son actually figured out unwrapping presents and loved his new r/c train.

And their son has quite the vocabulary now:
Mom, Da, Pop (for her dad), what is it, eyes, ball, bell, bubble, fish, book, box, shoes, sock, something that may be shirt, cookie (for Cookie Monster AND starting to be for the food, too), dog, duck, dinosaur, seat, sit, hello, hi, buh bye, pee pees, stinky, bear, choo-choo (for train), Ally (neighbor) and probably several more....
**Yes, there will be a scrapbook page coming for this...sooner than later, I hope.**