Without further ado, and in no particular order, here is what the mailbox has been providing of late:

Sara from WormeWoole made this newborn hat for our little guy. It’s in the hospital bag ready to go with us on Friday. It’s hard to believe that he will be so small!

Rita from SammysGrammy is a multi-talented lady who saw that I was interested in something RCMP related, and made this -

Wow, eh?

I ordered something from Crystal’s shop (KraftersKorner) and when it arrived, the package was much larger than expected. Instead of only stickers, she had sent these cute little outfits for Mattie. Pat’s been fascinated by the ‘car car’ on the 3 pc set:

Lorrie (WitsEndDesign) heard that the baby’s room has rabbits on it, and sent me this Peter Rabbit cross stitch. It is hanging on the wall close to the crib right now. Cute, eh? She also sent a bib that she made. It looks so cozy We’re hoping that this little guy will eat better than big brother #1 and #2. With the low standard that they’ve set, it shouldn’t be too difficult

Now I was surprised a few months ago with a book in the mail from Nelly. It’s called Supernatural Childbirth, and really provided me some food for thought. Nelly has really encouraged me to think more about some topics that I thought I perhaps had a handle on before… this is a good thing She’s also a fellow Canadian and I got to meet her in ‘real life’ too, along with Rita!

It’s so nice to have some ‘just for Matthew’ items Thanks guys!

…and I’ve heard a few rumours that Matthew has more things on the way

Here’s a few pictures of Zach and Pat as babies.

Zach surprised us with his light coloured hair:

Here’s Patrick:

And I like Pat’s expression in this photo. Zach was just 19 months when Patrick was born:

This year, Angel from BAM Craftymommas was my ‘Santa’. Her Etsy shop can be found here. She was very generous. She knows that we are expecting our third boy in the Spring, so sent these gorgeous bibs and burp clothes. I am totally impressed. Most of the baby bibs we have are well-used and stained by this point, and few are handmade. I think the best word I can find for these is ‘lush’. I was totally impressed. Aren’t they awesome?

She included these for the boys, and Zach got right to work colouring on them. They are from Baby Zebra Creations and can be washed and re-used, which is a really cool idea. Here’s Pat doing his colouring this morning, and a picture of his finished work:

She sent Mike a coffee sleeve, and he is the big coffee drinker in this house, and sent me these awesome boot cuffs from Chocolate Dog Studio. I’m really into boot socks and boot cuffs currently. I suppose when nothing else fits right that’s a good incentive to look for accessories, right?

Thank you so much Angel! You’re awesome! My whole family thanks you

Here’s to another round of Secret Santa in 2013!

Here’s goes:

So here’s my thoughts so far. The four shoe boxes of card go at the front. Each section is divided by that clothespin so make it easier to flip through.

I’ve got a ‘middle layer’ which I’ve tried to raise up with some boxes underneath the table cloth. This has some paper flowers, and the reusable cards on it.

I’m hoping that my mom can help me find a less ‘clunky’ alternative to the boxes underneath. We’ll see.

The back layer on the left has a small Christmas tree (I had to buy it- boo), with some presents underneath which feature bows and tags made by yours truly.  The back layer on the

right has business cards and some paper covered clothespins. The frame tells the price of the cards.

In the centre at the back there are more bows. They may be a bit hard to reach though. Hmmm.

The old suitcase holds tags and each has the price marked on it. I’m thinking that this will go on a chair that will be off to the side of the booth.

I still need an idea for where to put the banners. I also have a sign that says my shop name, but that isn’t completed yet.

Any ideas? Preferably using items that are easy to find around the house

Thanks all!

I love personalized items, and think that this is such a sweet idea.

Here’s little Pat with the mail when it arrived:

I thought that having both on the same side of the tag looked too busy… what do you think?

Here’s the other option:

Now as for size. The cut outs are about 2.5 to 3 inches plus the cardstock that they are adhered too. I was making some of them 2.5 x 4 inches. Does that seem too big though? I made a few smaller.

And where would you prefer the holes to be to hang it? Off to the side or centred?

So I need some help. Any input would be appreciated.

I also have a bunch of these tags made that can’t really be listed since the sizes differ a bit and they’re each a bit different, so if anyone wants some, let me know and I’ll ship them to you for free – the only catch is that I need your input about them!

We usually order pizza or barbeque hamburgers, but we went for shish kabobs for something different. They were very good. My contribution was to prepare the rice with the help of Uncle Ben. I was laughing at how much rice I prepared. Perhaps a bit too much?

Here’s the birthday boy’s brother with his paternal grandparents:

The ‘gift’ that Zach was the most taken with was this Cars bag that was reused from Christmas. His gift from my parents was a tricycle but he found it a little too scary, so Patrick tried using it instead:

Here he is blowing out the candle on his cake with the help of some cousins:

I made some Bingo cards for a game and made some little trains out of candy (that I forgot to give out) but I see that the pictures I took must have been relegated to the recycle bin from my husband that organizes photos. Rest assured though that the Bingo cards were very cute. I used some phrases that Zach says often and if someone heard Zach say one of those phrases they could mark it off their sheet.

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And on a very different note, I now have a facebook page for my card shop. so check it out if you haven’t already and ‘like’ me.

So tonight is the eve of Mother’s Day and the eve of my firstborn’s birth.

Here are the two boys that have made me a mommy. My silly, tender-hearted oldest, and my more serious youngest. Patrick loves his mommy and I can often find him at my knees wanting to be held. After rubbing my hair and sucking his thumb a little, he’s ready to go back and play. Zach loves tricks and ‘funny things’, which often involves throwing toys in the air and just all around making a mess. He’s quick to say ‘sorry mama’ and wants me to be pleased with him.

And I am pleased. I’m pleased with both my boys, both my blessings.

Recently I’ve noticed Zach taking my hand when we walk places. I insist on holding hands to cross the road and in the parking lot,  but in the mall and in the park, as long as he stays where I can see him, I don’t insist on it.  But recently, he’s been coming up to me to hold my hand when he doesn’t have to. And that means a lot.

At the very least, our photos seem to be more ‘in context’ now. We’ve also been linking up to each other’s shops in our new listings. I’ve sent him some business cards and some samples of my cards to include in his sold orders.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for how we could go about doing this? Does anyone do anything similar?

I seem to recall this from Grade 12 Physics. This was the course that I managed to get an 80% in, despite not answering a significant chunk of the exam. How did I do this you may ask? I made a solid effort in the course and went in for extra help on many occasions. I remember the teacher telling me that ‘everything would be fine’; I believe that was in regards to the exam. After all my questions in class, the homework I couldn’t answer, assignments that I couldn’t do, the help from him that I didn’t understand, he obviously knew that I didn’t have a sweet clue in my head about Physics.  I didn’t do fine on the exam… but I did do fine in the course. Figure that one out! Anyhow I do remember that law that I quoted above and I believe it’s true in relation to blogging. When I stopped, I remained at rest and it was easy to just stay that way. But now I’m an object in motion… so watch out!

I had a few things that I wanted to mention, so I’ll give you a peak around my house and add them in that way.

We’re going to start off with something new in my basement workspace.

We have a new addition on my Family wall. The new addition is a tribute to Mr. Wilbs, our deceased pig. Wilbur was drawn by Niki (http://www.etsy.com/people/VintageNiki). I won a giveaway of hers and she drew me a cute picture of our piggy. Now he does look a bit out of place there on the wall, but he’s in his plastic still and I used some clear photo corners on the plastic that come off easily, so no harm will be done to him until he is ready for his permanent home.

Next up is Zach and Pat’s sign for their room. Currently Zach sleeps in the crib and Patrick has a playpen, but they both have their big boy single beds in the room that is currently just Pat’s room- did I confuse anyone yet? The plan is for it to eventually be both boys’ room and here is a custom made sign, done by another Etsy seller (http://www.etsy.com/people/DesignsByLeeAnn). Cute, eh? Their room is mostly blues and greens.

I decided to make something for Zach for Easter. I had seen something like it in the past, then my new Martha Stewart Magazine (birthday gift thanks to my brothers and SILs) had something similar again. It’s a good thing that you can’t see what Martha Stewart’s eggs look like when you see mine. Basically mine were supposed to be egg shaped. There’s layers of crepe paper and under the layers are different treats. I have a Kinder Surprise egg at the base of a couple of them, some stickers, more candy, a memory game, etc. I used a little hot glue to keep the layers together.

I know that Zach won’t be bothered by the distinctly non-egg shape.

Now for my favourite item of the day today… my sweet little Pat! Today I bought him a big stuffed toy. His brother has a big giraffe that Patrick likes to hug and rock. I love seeing him like that… so I got him his own toy, a stuffed lamb. That’s my dad holding my boy.

Thanks for reading…

30. I’m thankful for my brand new  Spellbinders Grand Calibur and my sweet husband who researched it and drove around for awhile trying to buy it. AND kept all of that a secret from me. Thanks hon!

29. Seeing that sweet little face of Pat reminds me of how thankful I am for little Patrick. Patrick’s middle name is Jonathan meaning ‘gift of God’, because I thought that I had lost that pregnancy, but thank God little Patrick was ok.

28. I’m thankful for Zachy. I found him playing downstairs calmly on his xylophone. Love it!

27. I’m thankful for Mike. I’m happy that our marriage has just gotten better over these years. I appreciate the effort that he puts into his relationship with me and our children.

26. I’m thankful for so many good friends both at what used to be home and here in Ottawa in our current home. I have to add an especially big ‘grateful’ for Glenda and Alex.

25. I’m thankful for my parents- for how they’ve raised me with a Christian upbringing, for how they care about us and our children, for how they’ve been willing to help me whether by listening and being there, by helping us financially, etc. Thanks mom and dad!

24. I’m thankful for Mike’s parents, my in-laws. They’ve been loving and accepting from the start. The stereotype of the meddlesome in-laws sure does not apply to them. I thoroughly enjoy spending time with Daddy Gene and Mommy Ruth…and do we ever eat terrific food when we visit!

23. I’m thankful for Etsy and the way that being on Etsy has encouraged my crafty side. I appreciate the friends that I’ve met there. A big shout out to the CAST team! And, I’m thankful for each and every item that has been purchased from me 

22.  I’m thankful for the chance to be a parent and for seeing a gentle, nurturing side to Zachy. Must mean I’m doing something right, right?

21. I’m thankful for being able to read the Bible and for learning from it.

20. I’m thankful for my boys’ nap time. I’m serious.

19. I’m thankful that I can stay home with my boys instead of working outside the home.

18. I’m thankful for my grandparents and for the chance to write to my grandma.

17. I’m thankful for chocolate. In fact, I’m going to get some now.

16. Grateful for my brothers and their respective others (Karen and Tia).

Stay tuned for the rest of the ‘thankful’ list!