mmm....

delicious. i have always been a fan of envelope liners, so i decided to make my own! these are for some new years invites that we sent out inviting a very few amount of people to ring in the new year. hopefully we'll have enough room to house all the kiddos if people do come. i letterpressed parts of those cards as well, and i am fairly pleased with how they turned out. at first i totally didn't like them, but they have grown on me, and i'm happy now. i'll be sure to put them up once i know the people who read this blog have received it from us. don't want to ruin the surprise... ha.

the photo above shows the simple process i went through to make them!

c'est finis!

this is the card prior to putting the little lovely's name on it.

the baby announcements are done! as it turns out, all is well, and they like them a lot! i'm lucky to have such cool clients/friends. here are a couple of shots of the cards. they took some sweat, but nothing that was too bad. hope you like!


this is what it looked like done. the lighting isn't awesome, but oh well!

celebrate!

we had two Christmas parties in one weekend. what's funny is that is all that we have to attend! kind of nice to knock them out all in one time, but also sort of a rush. i was exhausted by sunday. here's a photo from the end festivities on saturday night. the hosts had sparklers left over from a wedding that they attended. i didn't feel comfortable holding one, since i am fairly pregnant, and decided to take photos. i have decided that sparklers are *awesome*.

my passion

i have a passion for using the letterpress. recently, i was able to acquire a project that i'm super duper excited about. it is for the friend that i walked with a couple weeks ago, and i am just over a third one the way done. you can see the first color in the photo. i had to make a LOT, so they were spread all over the basement. hopefully i can push this project out and that they will like it a lot. their new daughter is *beautiful* and i am so thankful to have met her! the wrapping paper in the background is actually what i used to wrap a pair of baby legs that we got them. they are super cute. i can't wait till she is big enough to fit into them.

o Christmas tree

yay! it's up. and done. well, we want to add some tinsel, but that probably won't happen this year. i've been wanting to hit up the sales that are after the holidays to buy some sweet ornaments and Christmas decorations. hopefully this year, i'll remember. i figure since i'll be staying with my parents, and with my super-saving mom on hand, i might remember. we'll see.

one sad note is that the tree's decorations are dominated by my ornaments from growing up. i enjoy this, but it seems weird when you're trying to form a family of your own. i know that the hubby must have ornaments, since i saw at the in-laws over thanksgiving that his twin had several handmade ones on the tree. you know how twins are, there is basically no way that he doesn't have some, too. apparently, since they are in use, i think that his mom is still excited about having them. as for our kid- he has more ornaments up than the dad. oh well. this is where our *super sale ornaments* will come in handy. when does the transition from my life's ornaments dominating the tree to our kids happen? i figure it will be soon enough, but it is quite an interesting thought. my dad has two or three ornaments that are super special from his childhood. you can see how special it is from the look in his eyes. i think that look is fading over the years with the idea of tradition and stuff, but i know that it would be hard if for some reason the mini-harmonica and this other thing were missing.

hope you don't mind that this post's photo will look like my header! :)

phew! the holidays are here!

we got our Christmas tree. it was COLD!! it was fun cutting down the tree- though the tiny man had a bit of trouble with the temperature. started crying. a lot. boy did we feel bad. it worked out, though- and i think that he still loves us. we'll be buying him a snow suit soon for the cold. and because it's snowing!!! (actually i just threw something out and it's practically hail-snowing) oh! and we want him to enjoy outside (learn to walk soon, buddy!).

pictures of the decorated tree as soon as that happens :)

he's better

you ever have one of those days where you're *so* close to getting it all done, but you know you won't? for some reason, that is every day for me. i was super busy all day today- and i got nothing done. i'm embarrassed to tell my husband what i did because i honestly don't really remember being all that productive. eugh. disgusting. i did: finish a book (i apparently only had one chapter left... there was a lot of goof-ball stuff at the end), filed a metal block (i should take a photo of this so it's not weird sounding), took a long nap, made some squash stuff for the kid, went to the grocery to get some needed things (and a bunch of not needed items), played with the kid and made sure i read a couple books to him because i realized i didn't yesterday! what kind of mom is that? i mean- we spent 2 1/2 hours on the road to deliver a meal to a mom with a new kiddo... and then about 3 hours he was at what i'd call essentially day care while i was doing a women's bible study. doesn't leave much time for *learning*, but i didn't take advantage of it. oh well- today there was learning to be had. and it was good. :) so i guess i did a bunch of stuff...


but i still felt like i was running around with my pants halfway falling down. :)

pray...

this lil' guy is pretty sick. it's so sad. he's doing his best, but it sounds like he can't really breathe well at all. his nose is a faucet.

he's sad.


*note* the bruise in this photo is gone :)

baby, it's cold outside

the little dude wants to go outside on a fairly frequent basis. i'd say it's about every day. i try to accommodate, but it is tiring when i'm pregnant, too. :) friday we went for a walk with a friend, and he sort of. um. lost it. it's the second time i think that he has ever been not dressed well for the occasion (cold!). anyway- it was good to be able to have some time with my friend, because she is due in a couple weeks (or a week, actually- and it is *so* exciting!) so i wanted to be able to enjoy her non-mommy status at least one more time. you never know when babies will pop out, you know? she's looking really good. i'm hoping i can keep (start) eating well so i don't blimp.

that's the news- yo

should i?

or shouldn't i... knit this for my hubby. i'm gonna go with no. i think that he would look a little weird. i'm a part of the email list for the lion yarn stuff and this was the pattern a couple weeks back. it sort of surprised me because it was obvious to me that the pattern is not targeted to me. i'm sure that it is something that would work well for many, many other people... but not me. :) (or my hubby) the funniest thing to me is that the background makes it look like a school photo, but the person is wearing something that you'd like, go hunting or something.

he's one!

well, tomorrow he will be. i can't believe that he's actually going to be one year old. it's crazy. i'll be thankful for the day that i know that he's doing *all the things i could hope* for, but i'm guessing that doesn't happen. maybe expectations change? i know that i'll be proud of him no matter what happens. he is God's creation!

lets celebrate!

happy halloween!

we dressed our little man up as a mummy. we went through a lot of different ideas and until the mummy idea came up- we had a golfer idea pretty much set in our minds. i would say that 1/2 of the people's houses we went to knew owen was a mummy and the other 1/2 thought that he was really, really hurt. some of the little tykes out there pointed to him and told their parents that he had a really bad boo boo. cute.

apparently our neighborhood has a special halloween celebration in the main section. it was pretty sweet because we were a block over and people went crazy. there was a mad hatter tea house that was giving away apple cider and some serious candy. they were dressed up like the characters from alice and wonderland and also had a private party going on in their back porch. it was crazy. another house had a carnival thing going and it was a little bit rated too high for the little man so we skipped it. apparently the guillotine isn't too gory for him, though (note photo above). owen touched the hand that is to his right and then kept his hands up like that. too bad he was super tired when the trick o' treating started. he got a 1/2 way second wind on the way back, and that was cute. we met several people on our street, which was nice because we've primarily kind of kept to ourselves this whole year.

our candy loot was completely empty when the end of the evening came, which is good- but we didn't put out our backup bags of candy... which is bad. :) owen got one good thing for halloween that he's actually allowed to enjoy, and it's a mini rubber ducky. it's super cute.

happy halloween, readers.

cider mill

this is our little man at the franklin cider mill. he was super duper tired that day since he didn't take a nap. i think that he still looks fairly handsome, though. aside from attacking his nose (it bled) on the way home, i believe that he had a good time. he was eating our friend's donut out of his hand. it was funny. somehow we managed not to get any bee stings, but they were all over the place! it was a good day to head out there.

new shoes! i'm a big shoe fan, and these are the latest. just got them last weekend. i think that i'll have to get a bigger size. the sales associate assured me that the shoes stretch, but my toesies are sort of struggling. one size up, please!


another note is how we put owen in this 0-3 month snowsuit monday because it was cold. owen was sort of, um, uncomfortable when we put him in, but then adjusted when he realized that it was cold outside. look how cute he is!

clap + video

so this is how much owen claps when he just woke up and is barely awake. kind of hilarious b/c i just showed him the video and he looked (almost) disappointed b/c he didn't clap a lot. he made up for it after watching it just now. he really does it all the time. eating, whenever i encourage him, and for random test runs :)

sooo cute!

applause...

guess who started clapping on saturday? the little man himself. *so* proud of him. he's sooo cute. only time i wish he wouldn't clap? when he's eating. i'll post a video of it all soon-ish.

great, great stuff!

schrute bucks

ooooh man. the office hasn't been my most favorite show this year, but i'm still enjoying it. i also missed last thursday's and i heard very good things about it. i still get a good laugh watching the show. *And* i still give caleb crazy faces when i see/read something that is of not so good behavior. which makes me happy because then i know my heart hasn't hardened too much. these buttons crack me up. big tuna. assistant TO the regional manager. a-ha!…… kevin is disgusting, but during interviews about the show, he seems so endearing. angela actually seems like she could be a cool girl, but only in real life. i think that we would seriously duke it out if she and i came into contact in her tv life. i would be like- you call that a Christian perspective? um... no. not really. poor dwight. he's clueless. jim. bring on the faces any day. pam. awesome. michael- i praise the Lord every show that he does something stupid that he's not my boss. if he were, it wouldn't be long because i would so be out of there. SO out of there. i love how pam is an artist and how jim encourages her.

ok- just a random... non-kid post.

q-t pi

this is the little man himself. he's really growing up super duper fast. i feel like he looks like a handsome fella. he's really growing up. i don't really enjoy this teething phase, but i plan on posting these cute photos every once in a while and enjoying them when i am on my last moment. i need to be able to be a good, patient mom.

see ya! feast on that.

mobile

i am still amazed at my kiddo for figuring out how to crawl with his belly off the floor for long extended periods of time. he has known for a while, but i don't think that he saw and value to using his arms like that. the past two weeks have been precious, and i am trying to document it with photos, but the camera is proving slow. or maybe the camera operator :) either way, owen sees the camera aimed at him and he speeds over to me before i can take a side photo prior to him crawling straight towards me. also, yesterday, he was playing with a car. with caleb's help (he is so good with him!) he showed owen how cool it is to push a car along and crawl next to it. it was super cute. of course, no photos of that, but at least i can hope that blogging this will be good enough for now.

hoping his teeth pop out SOON- the little man isn't sleeping for his naps and he is beating himself up. i'm SURE i can get a photo of that- because his nose is all scraped up from him rubbing his hands (and fingers) around his nose/eye region. so sad! i saw it all happen and i couldn't stop him. i'm just hoping there will be no scars.

pray for patience during the non-napping season. orajel and the like are dulling the pain, i believe, but it's not enough to knock the kid into a good sleep.

birthdays

my kid's *first* birthday is coming up, so i made an invitation. this was more effort than i thought i would have to go into since i had this *incredible* idea in my head. as usual, i had to change things around. :) very typical for any artist, i guess. anyway- i think it turned out well, and knittingma was nice to say good things about the card.

here's a glimpse! (address/phone are blurred for home safety)





* the stamps are from stampin' up (i can hook you up with a seller), and the paper is left over from other projects. the picture was printed at target for super cheap!

simple things...

ok- so i love how owen is playing with this shoe for SO long. it is precious. i think that he played with it for at least 10 minutes... i caught it at the tail end of excitement, but i think that you (the viewer) can still get the gist. isn't it crazy how a kiddo can be so excited about having something so simple? these shoes have been around for about 8 years. i'm about to throw them out because my knee has begun to hurt when i wear them. i'm trying to avoid it because they are my most favorite shoes... i've never had a pair of running shoes this long. just ask my mom. well- i did buy two of the exact same pairs one point in my life. those ones were *awesome* but that was two pairs, and they sure did NOT last 8 years. whoa.

now that my kid likes to play with them, should i keep them? that is the real question.


unfortunately, i think that the answer is… no.

i'm lost

wednesday night tv isn't the same without my *lost* fix. i can survive happily, but it really stinks when i actually have the *time* on wednesday evenings (should anyone really have the time to watch tv? seriously). the thing is- i want to watch it since caleb is in grad school and is busy on wed. evenings. now, if they keep it to the same late time as last 1/2 of the season, it will be *not* cool, b/c i won't be staying up for it anyway. (yay for on-line viewing- makes me wonder why we even have cable)

in joining in with the idea of *seasons,* i bought some pumpkins (+gourds), apples, and flowers at the farmer's market today. most of the prices are really reasonable. and you know that the products are fresher than those of the grocery. the thing is- i want really CHEAP, good looking, big pumpkins (i bought some minis today- soooo cute). i could buy 3 albino pumps for 10 bucks, but only 2 orange pumps for 10. it's so hard to decide what to do. i decided to think about it for another week. do you know if meijer taxes you on pumpkins? if they do, i'm definitely going to buy them at the farmer's market because at meijer, they are 4.99 (i could save a WHOLE cent!!). ha ha. is it silly that i've been thinking about it enough that i could type it out here?

knittingma, no pictures of the babe with the haircut yet. don't really know why. but- dude- he looked really bad before cutting it (as you know). eugh. he has several of long hairs that didn't get cut by the clippers. since he's blond- so you only see it when the sun hits it just the right way. he's so handsome. at first after the haircut, i felt like it looked like he was joining the army. when i uploaded the photos pre-haircut, i realized he looked... a bit like a girl. ever since we've cut his hair- no one has gotten the gender confused. crazy- isn't it? (and i'm still putting him in the random colored tie-dye stuff!)

what's up for tonight? grey's anatomy and the OFFICE. a WHOLE HOUR. i will miss both because of some fun stuff i'm doing tonight (yay! you can be jealous- but i wouldn't waste your time... ;) ha). hopefully caleb will know how to work the vcr. or simply remember turning it on.

blogger, bloggity, blog

i have been glancing at a bunch of my friend's blogs, and a lot of them haven't written in a while. i was getting bummed until i realized that i have no excuse for saying anything to them unless i hold myself to that same standard. right?!

anyway- the weekend was good. i coached my last lacrosse clinic for the month. i love lacrosse. it is such a great sport. love it. i can't believe that i still want to play after 10 years of learning the sport. i just wish it was *ok* for the coach to play with the kids. i think that i tend to shock them with my skills, and then i realize that i'm just annoying them with the idea that they should know how to cradle the ball in their non-dominant hand, etc. etc. oh well, i'm still having fun.

i'm knitting a sweater for owen's first birthday. my friend at kittingma is helping me get this accomplished. she has really shown me a lot in the skills of knitting, a heart for Jesus, a gentle spirit and an all around patient mother. if you look at her blog, you'll see how happy her little man is. you need to know that it's because she's such a great woman. i wish i could draw that kind of patience out for my kiddo. i will try to store up the fruits of the spirit so i can do that on a daily basis. i'll try to take some pictures as i knit the sweater, but i've already hit a snag- i forget how to bind off, so i'll need her help (and she showed me how to do it already- great student am i, eh?).

ok- now i'm allowed to be bummed that i don't have blogging friends. tee hee! (gotta feed the kid now, what a handsome man-- especially since we cut his hair)

h2o

i love water. today i'm thankful for the rain. my garden is *soooo* close to actually producing some vegetables, and i really want it to be fruitful. i have been working on it since mid-may. it hasn't quite been rewarding, but even if i only get about 6 tomatoes and a few green peppers i will be happy. caleb will be happy if the jalapeños grow. salsa maker. the main thing that has grown thus far is green beans. look at the bean color when i made them for owen. it looks like i put it some SERIOUS food coloring in. i promise i didn't- that would be silly! i can NOT believe he liked them... i had my camera ready for a *grossed out* look. surprises around every corner, i suppose.



my little man LOVES water, too. this has been the most exciting thing these days about him. he will crawl straight to the bathroom at any time of day (if i let him) and head to the tub. he'll play around in the tub for a long time in baby standards, and it makes me so excited/proud because i LOVE water. i love swimming, and even though i love water, i'm totally NOT a salt water fan. he is so cute, though. have a look-see!

yippeeee!

i have a new washer. i can't wait to use it. i think that it will be stellar, my clothes will be only slightly damp, and maybe it will last until we move out of this place without a hitch. the technicians, i feel, might be a bit suspicious with the care i give the washer. again- i read the manual. how many people can say that about their washer. what's funny, is that it looks identical to the washer i had before, but it is a new model. i guess that is how i ended up with the same glasses as my sister-in-law even though she bought them several seasons before me (i think). i even tried to steer clear of her pair b/c i really was in love with them. secretly. even though i told her. anyway- oops. good thing we like, never see one another (so sad!), so i can't really bust her style. AND she wears contacts like 95% of the time.

we're back!

we've been gone on a trip since thursday. and i have to admit, i forgot my camera. how disappointing since we went up north. our trip took us to grand rapids, grand haven, to charlevoix. we got to see some beautiful trees, lakes, and friends! our friends, sheri and lance let us stay with them. we hadn't seen them in several months, and so it was a great time to see their place for the first time. ... before they move in a few weeks. their beautiful daughter is so much fun and strong! i think that she will be crawling before they know it, and then walking, too! she's only about 6 months. a fun gal.

after 5 days, i'm very thankful to be home and i think owen is happy to not be playing with girly toys. not that he really knows the difference, but he's never been a stuffed animal dude. actually, lately i have been worried that he may be a biter. he's bitten me twice. not sure what i think about it, but it's definitely NOT good. we'll get it, though, i'm sure. i am thinking it's one part teething, and one part not knowing it's *bad* when it's not toys. i'm actually not a fan of him biting anything, but that's why we're taking the toddler class. i gotta learn! praise God we meet again today!

leaving you with another photo, wish it was from this weekend, but it's not.



a picture of owen, and his buddy, jonah. they look rock'n in their shades, eh?

tomorrow

tomorrow is the 4 year anniversary of caleb proposing to me. what should i do? this is a tough question with regards to our schedules tomorrow. for example, i have to come up with it and complete it today. i will only see him tomorrow morning before work and most likely after 9:20 pm when his class is finished. grad-school is making our lives (his life) busy. i'm thinking that a special note will have to suffice. any other ideas?

-TODAY-
my washer is broken *again* after working well for about 7 loads. i don't mean to be rude, but wow, ge messed up big time on this one. this will be the third service call on our washer in less than a year (still free!). unfortunately, the year ends in 3 months. i'm sure that it would have needed more service if i didn't wait so long the last time. i don't think that i had ever known what this washer could do if it actually worked like it should. anyway- last time it took 3 weeks to repair b/c i let it get so bad. this time- i scheduled immediately because i know what noises it should make (or lack there-of), and how dry the clothes should be. i'm terrified of this warranty running out, but i'm also mystified as to why ge hasn't thought- hunh, we've replaced EVERYTHING but the casing and the person who uses this washer. maybe it is user error (it's not- i've read the manual- and i'm overly conservative), or maybe they have a lemon. do they even have lemon washers?! i wouldn't know.

-LAST NIGHT-
missed MOPS b/c i didn't have a babysitter for owen. i *hate* calling people. i also don't really have anyone to call at this point (this should be solved tonight). a friend told me i should take owen with me. i think everyone would want to pull their ears out if i did that b/c owen's bedtime is right when MOPS starts, and that's *if* he makes it to 7pm. i'm not used to monday/wednesday classes. talk about messing with my mind. oh well. i'll get my act together and get a sitter for next month.

i *can* overcome my hatred of using the phone.

i can.

right?

today i come back

my goodness. it has been a crazy day. i have decided at the request of a friend, heidi, that i will return to blog-land. at first, my defense was that i had nothing to write. i still feel that way, but i'm giving it a shot, since owen has landed a few good stories lately (not that i remember them now, but with this up and running- i might).

today i had my monthly mom's group meeting. it was fun. i didn't go last month because i had someone working on my broken washer (for the 2nd time in 6 months) and my basement was flooding with the tremendous amount of rain all at once. God works in many ways all at once, i suppose.

i volunteered for a chocolate dessert. little did i know at the time that i would be buying a gargantuous thing of rasberries and would have to consider how to use them all up. anyway- i decided to bring rasberry pie and give my baking skills a hit trying to make it. things were not looking good since yesterday i created this horrendous pot of potato soup and my attempt to make a crust fell extremely flat (or shall i say crumbled). this morning i ran to hiller's, grabbed some pre-made pie crust and booked it back to the house to bake. according to the people who ate the pie, i did well. people asked for the recipe. who can believe that?! that really helped with my self esteem since last night was so, so bad.

anyway- here's my first post. take it or leave it. here's my kid recently. he's cute.

who's there?!

me! man- i can't believe how fast time goes. i've been busy. i've been with a kid who is now 8 months old! recently, we went on vacation to seabrook island in south carolina. it was super relaxing. we celebrated my parents 35th anniversary and my sister's whole family was there as well. i'm so glad that my sister and i swung it and put this trip together. i know my parents really enjoyed it, the relaxing and spending time with all of us and their 3 grandkiddos. sooo fun. here's a picture of all of us on the last day with my extremely fogged up camera (the humidity contributed to this photo). makes the photo look dreamy.


back to front: dad, mom, tim, tommy, michelle, mia, me, hubby, owen! (someday the kids might actually look at the camera!)

grr.

so i was able to finally hack in. sheesh. i set up the account and then after doing so with google, i suddenly lost contact with the world of blogger. weird. i couldn't leave comments. couldn't write anything. i know you all miss my words of wisdom. i know it.

ahhh... well... what can you do?

the kid is good. work is long (freelance). husband is looking around for opportunities. we're relying on God for the strength needed for decisions and patience. i've been walking a lot with the kid. fresh air is GOOD. :)

hope it doesn't really dip down to 60º tonight. that would be strange. especially since today was about 88º.

oh right! that's why i got on the computer. silly me!

wow

who new that so much could change in blog-land during a hiatus? apparently a lot. i now have some sort of affiliation with google in order to use this thing. i might get rid of this since i doubt i need access to myspace, facebook, 3 email accounts and this. why do i doooo this to myself? i remember in high school trying to see how many different emails i could get out there. i think that a couple of the sites no longer exist. if you wanted tinychick2, it wasn't available. anywhere. seriously! why tinychick2? someone at work called me that and i sort of took on the name. 2 was added because hotmail wouldn't let me do it any other way.

well. that's it. this may be a good bye. we'll see. who knows? i have a kid now, and he's not going to wait for me if i want to write in this.

speaking of the kid. mom to the rescue!

so tired

who knew that having a baby could be so tiring? i feel so happy that i've been given such a content little boy... but on the days like today when he's trying my patience i realize several things.
1. i'm not really capable of doing the job of *mom* on my own (thank God for the husband)

2. i don't have a lot of patience... but i want to let/teach owen how to eat correctly-- but after 5 minutes of him *bawling* i break down (not after the recommended 15 minutes) and let him cheat. i just keep praying that i'll keep producing the drink he needs so i don't have to worry about/stress feeding him enough.

3. being far away from family doesn't make being a mom any easier. i talk to friends with mom's in the area who are helping them out a lot, and i almost get envious. i know that my parents would be ready and willing to help out with pretty much anything that i needed, and it's hard to come to grips with the fact that i've chosen to be far away from them (though 3 1/2 hours isn't horrendous- so don't take me for complaining at all in the drive-time). i also wish that they felt ok about calling *me* i love them. it's ok if they do, you know? i'll answer :)

ok- baby's crying... AGAIN.