Glimpses of Christmas

Busy Weekend

We had a fun filled and busy weekend....

Friday night: Dropped the baby off at Grandma & Grandpa's and headed downtown.
Had a hurried but yummy dinner at Red Robin.
Ran through the chilly but beautiful downtown to the Performing Arts Center.
Saw an AMAZING performance of The Lion King.
Tired, tired babies...the show was from 8-11!

Saturday: Shop, shop, shopping with Mom & Quinn.
Hit Target and B&BW's...
Dropped Quinn off with Daddy and Grandpa and hit the downtown again.
A quick one hour of shopping had us hurrying to our
pedicure appointments at a VERY nice hotel downtown.
(I have been sitting on a lovely gift certificate to this spa for a year now!)
Walked like little penguins back to the parking garage in the chilly temps!
(We had to wear the little flip flops the spa gave us after our pedicures all the way back the the car! Our feet were so slippery with lotion that it was quite difficult and quite comical!)
Did a quick change and was off the Greg's company party.
Drove almost an hour to a wonderful and rustic steak house.
Ate, ate and ate some more for the next three hours...

Sunday: Had pancakes and eggs with my parents.
We all headed downtown again to the VERY nice hotel mentioned above..
Viewed twelve beautiful Christmas trees and entered the $1 raffles like mad men to win them and assorted prizes! (Fingers Crossed!)
Said goodbye to Nama & Papa.
Forced a very good natured husband and kids to shop for next three hours at the mall.
Home to nap.
A good pork loin, mashed potato and gravy, and cauliflower dinner (a very white meal).
Watched the finale of The Amazing Race and a show about obsessive Christmas decorators.

And there's the recap folks...

Pop Culture

Just getting back into the groove of life after a fun three day weekend at my sister's...enjoying all pop culture had to offer...

THURSDAY
*Flew to Seattle with Greg & Quinny (saint of a Grandma came and stayed with the older kids)

* Went to see New Moon at midnight on Thursday. Seriously. Can't believe I'm admitting this publicly. We were only two of oh about 2,000 people at one theater to see this...craziness and a little disappointing! Didn't get to sleep until 3:00 that night! Sat in the theater for an hour and a half BEFORE the movie started...consumed WAY too many calories courtesy the concession stand...listened to a prepubescent boy whisper "yummalicious" behind me when Jacob took his shirt off. Totally disturbing...

FRIDAY

*Obligatory visit to Target.

*Went to a nice seafood restaurant on the water with Greg, Nicole and Ian....no kids! Sooo nice. Had the best lobster fettuccine ever!

*Caught up on all of our missed t.v. shows with sissy...best person to watch them with!

SATURDAY

*Helped decorate sissy's house for Christmas. So lovely..enjoyed the lit tree and cozy fireplace!

*Drove to Everett for the So You Think You Can Dance show...so very fun! Will NEVER buy floor seats again - sat behind big fat head hat guy. He blocked the center of the stage for me the first half and kindly switched seats with his girl so he could block the center of the stage for Nicole the second half. We are equal opportunity sisters you know. The show was great though. We didn't realize that it was the last stop on the tour so they mixed it up a lot and did all sorts of silly stuff. Very worth it even if we did have to drive home an hour and a half in the pouring rain very late at night!

SUNDAY

*IKEA! Record shopping at IKEA...we were limited on time so it was a quick hour of shopping time. Just enough time to walk through and drool over all the new stuff! And I was limited to what I could bring home on the plane..no van to fill!

*Flew home to a lovely clean home courtesy the saint of a Grandma mentioned above...happy and clean kids to boot! Way to go Grandma!

So now you all know, I've exposed myself...YES, I read those books and YES, I watch those shows and I even read People magazine! Terrible I know...

Child's Play

So you know our house is on the market. Not normally a time to indulge in your creative design impulses. Well, I just can't live like that. Like any day now someone is going to come along and buy our house. It drives me crazy. And with how it's going we could be here for quite some time.

I've decided to just enjoy my home. I won't do anything crazy...no fuchsia walls (like I'd ever do that one), no faux painting of the cabinets....(never do that either just in case you were wondering)...

However,

I was recently inspired by this
I initially saw this photo on this gal's blog...and tucked it away for some future stair project. The other night I was looking through this book and stumbled upon this photo again.

TA DA! My mind was illuminated! I had the perfect stairs for this project right here right now! Not in some imagined future house - but here !

So I went out and made do with the number stencils I found at my local grocery store. Not quite as cute as the ones pictured above but all right. Picked up some charcoal grey acrylic paint and went to work. I will probably need to coat the stair riser with some poly at some point or these little numbers will scratch right off....
These are the stairs off of or living/dining room that lead up to our attic bedroom. We have always used this room as a guest bedroom so it is rarely seen or appreciated. We always have the door leading up to them closed partly because the door blocks our hallway while open and partly because we have little ones that were always wanting to climb them.

So I think we need one of these...The door that is...I'd take one of those kitchens too but I don't think we are to that place yet!

My husband agrees too (which is always the hard part) but now I need to find one for less than the one I saw at Lowe's. Any suggestions?

A door with windows would let in so much natural light (there is a window at the top of these stairs) and it would make our tiny house feel a wee bit bigger as well. Always a plus when you are trying to sell!

P.S. I just have to add....when we bought this house these stairs were painted (with the rest of the house) in a not so lovely faux way. With very dark paint I might add. I had to paint them oh...five times in order for the very dark faux paint job to be hidden forever. Well, two of the paint jobs were because the very heavy floor sander gauged it's way back down the stairs and when we couldn't get our Queen box spring up the stairs and had to rip apart the freshly painted door frame to push and cry and pray it up the stairs. Yes, those go down in the annals of home renovating hell.

Tips anyone? I am attempting a crazy quilt and I'm sure there is some great technique for piecing together wonky pieces of fabric. I don't know it. It is like putting a puzzle together and I'm not quite savy enough for this to be easy.

There are so many things floating around in my head that I have wanted to blog about but it is like creating right now...I am itching to create but I can't decide what to and can't make myself do it. Thanks Aminta for suggesting I participate in one of those question/answer games! It gets me back to blogging!

1. Where is your cell phone? Amazingly it is right next to me and charged! Ask my sister and she will tell you it is never charged and often lost.

2. Your hair? Recently cut in an easy short do - I will probably never go long again.

3. Your Father is: supportive, loving, talented, Godly...

4. Your favorite food? Anything creamy and cheesy...

5. Your dream from last night? Not sure but I swear I was awakened by Addison screaming from her crib "I want fries, I want fries!"

6. Your favorite drink? Sweet, sweet iced tea or coffee heavily doused with cream and sweetner

7. Your dream/goal? Hmmm...family dream? To have a close and loving family who loves and follows Jesus all their days. Personal dream? To be able to use some of this God given creative passion for some purpose! Open a store?

8. What room are you in? The basement/kid zone/office

9. What is your hobby? Reading decorating mags! I try my hand at all sorts of crafty things but do not excel at any of them. Love reading, thrifting, repurposing old junk!

10. What is your fear? Something terrible happening to someone I love. Went through it once already and realized you can survive but don't want to have to realize that ever again.

11. Where do you want to be in six years? I would love to still be at home with the kids and have found something creative that I could do to bring in some moola.

12. Where were you last night? At home, in a very clean house listening to Christmas music and watching my kids dance around the living room to it. Enjoying a very yummy dinner that my honey helped me make...lovely.

13. Something you are not. Not the life of the party. Not particularly outgoing or loud. But I think a pretty nice friend to have regardless.

14. Muffins. Eh, take em or leave em. Usually leave them. Unless they are double chocolate chip - I might reconsider those.

15. Wish list items. A new house, a new house and yeah, a new house

16. Where did you grow up? Fairbanks, Alaska and a four year stint in Salem, Oregon.

17. Last thing you did: Literally the last thing I did? Told Addison "No screaming!" Before that? On the phone with anyone who would commiserate with me on the house thing. (We had a showing yesterday...the couple loved the house! Great! They walked out and our neighbor across the street had a car full of people out front with the bass booming. Apparently they were hanging out all over the porch. Total turn off and deal breaker for this couple. Really? This never happens! Terrible timing!)

18. What are you wearing? Skinny jeans (to wear with my cool new boots) - I'm trying people...not naturally stylish here...grey top and green cardigan sweater.

19. T.V.? Turned off if the kids did it after they were done watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

20. Your pets? Hudson, a two year old Wheaten terrier. Very cute, very sweet, serious runaway.

21. Your friends?
Lovely
22. Your life?
So very good, so very blessed
23. Your mood?
Peaceful
24. Missing someone?
My friend Michelle
25. Your vehicle?
Honda Odyssey - Minivans rock!
26. Something you are not wearing?
Shoes, earrings
27. Your favorite store?
Hurd Mercantile
28. Your favorite color? Red but not to wear. To wear - turquoise

29. When was the last time you laughed? In disbelief at the sucky timing of our neighbors yesterday (see #17)
30. When was the last time you cried?
Maybe a little this weekend, feeling sorry for myself.
31. Your best friend?
My Mom and my sissy
32. One place you go over and over?
Starbucks, sad to say.
33. One person that emails me regularly: No one really.

34. Favorite place to eat: Picabu Bistro - Fire Pasta. Only thing I have ever ordered there. I am committed, addicted. Chelle is moving right up the hill from here...lucky girl.

So I guess the deal is to tag a few other gals...I pick Amy, Nicole and Laura...have fun!

Hudson

My doggy needs to go to doggy jail. He is such a naughty little doggy. You see, he is a runaway at heart. Every chance he gets, he flees. The funny thing is 99.9999999% of the time he runs to my sister-in-law's house. They live just a few blocks and two crossings of busy roads away from us. He has a friend there. Her name is Meeka and she is black and she sheds a lot.

So yesterday as I was leaving to pick Eli up from school I noticed the gate to our backyard was open. Hudson was MIA yet again. The bummer about this time was that he was tagless. What kind of irresponsible dog owners do you take us for? Of course he has tags, they just weren't attached to his body.

So I do a drive by of Meeka's house. Not in the yard. I do another drive by after I get Eli. Still not in the yard but I open the gate so he can get in when he inevitably returns there. (You see, he NEVER, NOT ONCE in all of his running has returned to the house where he lives. He ALWAYS goes to Meeka's.

I drive around the neighborhood for about an hour. Eli naps in the car. No sign of the delinquent.

Greg drives around for the equivalent of about two hours later in the evening. Nothing. Nada. No sign of the little stinker. Of course now we are worried. I think he must be injured or someone has picked him up for him to not have returned to Meeka's at this point. Poor little stinky puppy out all night in the freezing weather.

So we prayed. We asked for a miracle. And we slept.

We got a call before eight this morning from Greg's sister. Meeka started barking at 3:00 in the morning. They got up to check and Hudson was on their deck. No worse for wear. All he had to show for being MIA for about 15 hours in freezing cold temperatures was some evidence of rolling in poop? Or something similar.

So now he is home. On a food and water strike. Leashed to the back door until I bathe the little monster. Oh yes, we are thankful that God answered our prayers. Really, we aren't the monsters here.

Roller coaster

I seem to be stuck on a roller coaster ride and I really don't like roller coasters. I usually keep my eyes closed the entire time I am on one. Too bad I can't keep my eyes closed for the next three months. You know, that might get in the way of feeding and diapering and driving. Things like that. Three months. That is how long we are set to have our house on the market.

Anyone who has ever sold a home knows what I am going through. Everyone goes through this. It's just that this is my first time. At first I thought it was great that we were going to get feedback from our realtor after our house was toured. Now I'm not so sure. Someone toured our house this morning. "It was nice" they said. "Done really nicely" they said. "It's just too small."

Darn.

I got that feedback way too quickly. I don't even get the day to daydream that they may want our house.

Double darn.

And we are only a week in.

Triple darn.

We've toured a few houses ourselves. Fell in love with one waaay too expensive for us. Walked through waaay too many that are too tiny for us. Saw some that need a lot of work and money. Saw one that (gasp) is a seventies (scream) four level (shudder) that hasn't been updated since (shiver) the seventies. Surprisingly, that is one even I am willing to consider if we were able to update some things immediately. Hey, don't judge. Any of you could be persuaded to live in Grandma's house if you had the promise of a new kitchen that you got to design.

So it is all still out there...our dream...until someone decides our little cottage is their dream.

Anyone? Anyone?

I spy with my little eye.....

Yes, yes, you are right. There is a really cute baby here but that is not what I'm talking about.

Try again.

Really? You need me to say that again?

Okay.

I spy with my little eye something.... blue.

Well, that was a good guess. It's not the cute baby's jeans. Those are more of a black wash.

I spy with my little eye something....small.

No, no, not the pumpkin. Yes, it is small but this is smaller.

That thing on the door?

Yes! You've got it!

What is it?

Why it's a lockbox.

You might be thinking "Is this chick schizophrenic? Doesn't she remember her last post?

Things have changed a bit around here and we are just going for it. We figure we will never get much more from our little cottage because it is just that. A little cottage.

We have had three really happy years here. We have welcomed two sweet babies into our family in this home. Our oldest has started school here. We got our first dog here. We have put love into this house. Hours upon hours of painting, sanding, rearranging, building, digging, planting, weeding. We have loved our little cottage but now (we hope) is the time to move on.

We are praying and trusting knowing God has only good things for us. Whether we stay or go we will try to be content through it all.

Realigned

That's me. Realigned. My schemes, my redecorating dreams. After a month of mentally moving out of my little cottage and into a four bedroom two bath bigger cottage I'm having to realign my thinking. Realign it to reality. Out little cottage is just not worth what we hoped.

Now onto new schemes, new designs, new cabinets maybe? One can hope. If I'm going to be in this little place a couple more years I have to have dreams, right?

At least I have cool shoes.

And the winners are......

Thank you so much ladies for making my birthday even that much more special with all of your kind comments and warm wishes!

The first name drawn was Nicoly....she has won the little girl apron!
I know where you live already missy so I'll get it in the mail!

The second name drawn was Heidilynn! You won the three cute little pinch bowls! Just let me know your address and I'll get those right out to you!

The third name was Chantel Monet! You won the two dish towels! Lucky me gets to meet you next week so I'll just bring these along with me!

It's a Birthday Giveaway!

9-9-09

Yes, that is today. It is my birthday. It is actually my super duper special birthday because it is

9-9-09

And guess what?

It's my 33rd birthday too!

Can you figure out this picture puzzle?




Okay, I'm about to go make some coffee if you don't figure it out soon.....



(3 x 3 = 9)

Get it? I'm 33 and it is 9-9-09? I know, I know....a little much but I thought it was kind of fun. Birthdays get a little anticlimactic when you have had like 32 of them like I have so I thought I would do this up a bit.

So in honor of my super duper extra special birthday and my super duper extra special friends who hang out with me here I thought I'd do a birthday giveaway here! (Not an especially original idea but I'm good at stealing those really cool ideas I see floating around!)

So three of you sweet people that choose to comment here (Get it? 3 in honor of my 33rd?) will get one of the following.....


This cute little girl apron modeled by my little Addison. (I got one for her too because it matches my kitchen curtains!) And a cute little list making notebook!


Or....a very soft micro fiber dish towel in yellow polka dots and an Anna Marie Horner flower print dish towel and a cute little list making notepad.

Or maybe even this....three oh so cute polka dot pinch bowls and a sweet little list making notepad!

I gave myself a treat and drove out to my favorite store yesterday to buy these little goodies! It is a little store about a half an hour away in a little country town called Rockford.


I L-O-V-E this store. Above are some shots of their displays. Best to go without children and with time. There is soooo much to look at! Find a friend, a long afternoon, an iced coffee and go visit! They are open everyday from 10-5!

So as I was driving back the coolest thing happened! It really made me laugh out loud and put a smile on my face...really made my day.


See? Even the sky was happy for me!

I pulled into this gas station to snap a picture of something and I pulled in right in front of this sign....


Really? For me? Now I realize that there is some other Courtney out there celebrating her birthday too and that the person who did this meant it for her...but I'm liking to think that God let me see this as a special I love you from Him. It sure did make me feel really special.

So ladies....leave a comment and I'll enter you in my little birthday giveaway! I'm not sure when I'll end it...maybe tomorrow night? It depends if more than three people have commented or not!

(Okay...I apologize...the font and size and color of the text in this post is out of control! Really! I can't seem to fix it so sorry!)

It's a keeper!

So yesterday I was so inspired by this sweet friend and her post that I went out and bought my children their very own copy of The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones.

Eli was very excited about it and asked me to read it to him in the evening. We read many, many stories and I told him we could continue later for bedtime stories.

We read one Berenstein Bear book and then the Jesus Storybook at bedtime. He kept asking for one more story in it....so sweet. When I was all done reading he wanted to continue to look at the book with the light on. I agreed and when I heard Addison making a ruckus an hour or so later this is what I found.....


So I have to wholeheartedly agree with Chelle on this beautiful children's Bible. I am in love with it. The beautiful stories made me tear up....I love how the author explains the simple concepts of the Bible....so easy to relate to and understand and her writing is just extraordinary!

Eli got up early this morning while Daddy was getting ready for work and he requested that Daddy read him more Bible stories...

Here is a bit from the book from Genesis 3

Now, God had given Adam and Eve only one rule:
"Don't eat the fruit on that tree," God told them.
"Because if you do, you'll think you know everything.
You'll stop trusting me. And then death and sadness
and tears will come."
(You see, God knew if they ate the fruit, they
would think they didn't need him. And they would
try to make themselves happy without him. But
God knew there was no such thing as happiness
without him, and life without him wouldn't
be life at all.)

I love the simplicity and the truth here. So easy for kids to understand and such a simple reminder of what we all do and how we all need God. We can make it all so complex but it really isn't and this book does a wonderful job reminding me of the simple beauty and love that God has planned for us since the beginning. And how we went so terribly wrong and struggle everyday with the idea that we know everything and don't need God.

L-O-V-E, love this book! Thanks so much Chelle for recommending it!

Wild Hairs....

* Call pest control and have them remove large and scary looking spider from front porch - check
*Call furnace man for annual inspection and cleaning - check
*Call realtor to set up appointment to discuss putting our house on the market - check
*Call orthodontist to set up consultation - check

Still need to...

*Call electrician to fix that thingymajig hanging on our house
*Call Father-in-law to fix water heater so I can take hot baths again

And yes, the pest man and the furnace man were here in the early eight o'clock hour this morning de-pesting us and making sure we will stay warm this winter.

And yes, I did go to the orthodontic consultation and am very seriously considering subjecting myself to ugly braces for the next twenty four months of my very adult almost 33 year old life.

And yes, my realtor is coming to see my house on September 28th to discuss our options. (She is currently out of the country or I'm sure this wild hair could be put to rest sooner than this...)

As for the other two...I'm workin on it.

(And yes, I do realize my picture has nothing to do with my post but what is a post without a picture?)

Revamp old farm table - check

Remember this post? Well, I didn't get everything accomplished those few days.
I didn't touch this farm table until this weekend.
I sanded it down a little, trying really hard to get rid of an iron shaped burn mark on the top of it. I finally decided that the burn mark told a story.....
I applied Restora - Finish to the top and painted the apron and legs with a couple dollar sample container of cherry red. It was a bright pink as I was painting it on and I thought here I go again with a bad choice in red...but it dried beautifully. It is living by our couch in our living room right now until I decide if I want to sell or keep this baby.

The mother of all sales.....

Oh my...oh my oh my......

I found the best little sale today...garage sale that is. I was just winding my way up the hill after dropping Eli off at kindergarten. Just going for a coffee. I only had $8.00 on me.

I got these cute little charirs....one for $8 and one for $5.
The little red and white kids table and chairs was $10.

These two little sewing needles cards were too cute for me to leave behind...there are still some sewing needles tucked inside. And the little miniature photos? Couldn't leave those either.

I've always wanted a little red wagon for my front porch....so cute with flowers in it.

Some silver serving spoons and baby spoons.....they were a steal!

So many vintage linens....some lovely tea towels, six little aprons that tie at your waist, perfect blue and white tablecloths to go with my drapes, and another lovely little table cloth.

Some cute little old canisters for pocket change...

An embroidered picture representing the seasons...loved the colors.



And finally, an original oil painting that looks really beautiful by my front door.

To make it even better - the people holding the sale were the sweetest group of Grandma's and Grandpa's....commenting on Quinn and Addison and oh so very helpful.

(Oh yes, I did have to find an ATM....)

And so it begins....

School that is....forever and ever. At least until they are 18 or you know 22 or so.

Here is our first on his first day of Kindergarten.

This is his assigned spot to sit....see his little name tag there on the desk. How cute is that. He has a little pencil box that he takes out of his little cubby and puts on his desk each day. We had an actual school supply list this year. That was fun. And we got to buy a backpack. With his name embroidered on it of course.

He has declared that he loves school. Thank goodness for that! His class is small since it is in the afternoon - only six kids. Four boys and two girls. What a change from last year - he was one of three boys in his class. There had to have been maybe nine girls! I think the smaller class size will suit him well...he won't get lost in the crowd.

It is a change for all of us going twice a day every day. No more days where I am just a home body. That's a little sad to me. No more running out of town to Nama's house during the week. All of our running out of town will have to happen on weekends now.

It is a good change though. Eli is very happy and he really does well with the daily play and learning times...something I'm not disciplined enough to give him all of the time at home. He was a little concerned about the lack of toys in his kindergarten classroom though. I told him that he probably did more learning and less playing in kindergarten. Bummer.

A day in the life of a two year old

* I put a fresh diaper on my two year old and get her dressed for the day (in a lovely matching outfit of course)

* "Why, why?" says the two year old

*"Why, why, why, why, why?" says the two year old again as she strips off her shirt

* I go downstairs to change the laundry and return a bit later

* Two year old is now naked (diaper is nowhere to be found) & there is pee on the floor

*"Why, why?"

* Two year old is "why?" now wearing a diaper cover AND panties and her three month old brother's shirt

* Two year old appears in a pretty dress that was previously hanging neatly in her closet...very proud of herself

*"Why?" she asks agaaaaaiinnnnn.....

*Two pairs of pants, three shirts, four dresses and five diaper covers later......

* It is nap time and I put a diaper on the two year old thinking maybe I should duct tape it on

*Nap time is over, diaper is off, pee is in the bed..."Why, why?"

*Two year old runs naked the rest of the day until Daddy gets home and says "Where are your clothes?"

*Mommy looks around and sees the entire contents of two year old's wardrobe scattered in every room of the house

"Why, Why?"

*(Portions of this post may have been slightly exaggerated for effect. The crazed Mommy who has to clean up after said two year old claims artistic lisence.)

*My two kids are gone for three days To Do List*

* Sew nursing cover
* Hang curtain rods & curtains in kiddos room
* Clean, clean, clean my MESSY house
* Rehab a really cool old farm table and chairs
* workout....gotta lose that baby weight
* Rehab a free to me picked up off the street rocking chair
* Repaint little side table
* Give my sadly neglected yard some TLC
* Get Eli's supplies all ready for school (it starts next week!)
* Enjoy my sweet husband
*Fold & put away ALL of my clean laundry
* Search for new curtains for the lake cabin
* Mail out two packages for two sweet ladies

Birthday Weekend

This weekend we went to the lake and celebrated birthdays...not mine although this sweet metal flower was gifted to me by my MIL for my birthday. We celebrated my sister in law's birthday and my father in law's birthday. August and September are birthday months for us. Between the two we celebrate six birthdays!

Here is Aunt Reen holding Quinnie.
(She turned the big 35!)

We celebrated by eating out at a fun little Mexican restaurant in the nearby lake town, enjoying a boat ride with Grandpa Tom to Flat Rock Beach (wish I'd had my camera...thousands upon thousands of perfectly smooth and flat rocks...so cool!), swimming in the cool lake water and visiting a few artist's studio on a local art tour.

Our boat....we are the only ones in the family without a motorized fun boat! Although we think our little raft is pretty darn fun!

I finally finished Addison's little quilt. I just had the binding to stitch up and it made for a fast ride to the lake. She is wrapped up in it here because she had gotten ALL of the clothes we brought to the beach wet.

Here is a finished shot of it....

Now I have a mountain of laundry to do, a very messy house to clean and three little babes to watch after. However, my Momma is taking the two oldest later this week for a few days....projects a comin!