{discovering} life

Happy Holidays!!!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! I can't believe it's here! We spent last week rotating through a 24 hour flu bug - it was truly not any fun! On Saturday, I got hit with it hard and it was the last day I was planning on running some errands. Plus, my hubby went to Las Vegas for the Pioneer Bowl (even though he isn't a BYU fan, he had a great time)!

So, we are in recovery mode thank goodness! :) Off to run a last minute errand today and then relax and enjoy the week together! I hope that you are able to do the same and have a wonderful Christmas holiday!!

I'll be back after the New Year with some fun things to share! :) Happy Holidays!

Seriously....

Hello! :) Sorry to leave you all hanging there for so long on the drawing! Things have been soooo busy! First of all, thank you sooooo much for all your posts and sweet comments! Thank you for your great advice with the baby names...I loved hearing what you all liked! My hubby would ask me every day what the current tally was! LOL! So thank you! I think it has helped us narrow it down to 2 or 3! :) I'll surprise you all  (and us) when he gets here!

As for winners....I did the random drawing thingie online and it came up with the numbers:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

48
11

Timestamp: 2007-12-18 01:36:28 UTC

So...counting up from the first post, it looks like the winners are:

I had the same dilemma 7 years ago! He ended up being Cortland, but I said my next would be Jaxon. Love the spelling! Cooper is great too. And your ornaments are so lovely! I have the same colors on my tree and in my living room. Off to Pottery Barn I go!

Posted by: Nicole Foster | Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at 11:42 AM

and

Robyn!!

We were the same way when having to pick out baby boy #2 after already having a little boy! We have very good friends with a son named Boston and we LOVE it. I also adore Landon too! Best wishes, I know it is hard!! Parker our four year old has decided this week to "change" his name to Alex. Apparently any name with a letter X in it is much cooler!! Although today his name was Diego.

Angie

Posted by: angie | Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 04:55 PM

PLEASE EMAIL ME YOUR ADDRESSES AND I'LL GET YOUR STAMP SET OUT TO YOU THIS WEEK! ENJOY!!! And thanks again to everyone for your advice! I wish I could give you all something!!! :)

***

My parents came into town on Friday night and we have been busy with them all weekend. They just left this afternoon and we will miss them! It was so wonderful to have them visit at Christmas time - to be able to share our decorated homes with them, our trees and enjoy this time of year with them. On Sunday night, we had dinner here at our house and then went over to my sisters to have an early 'Christmas'. It was so fun and my parents were so generous with gifts! The kids have been playing all day with their toys! Saturday was my nephews baptism so that was a special day! We had a great visit!

I am swamped in work right now - trying to get things done with these two crazy kids during the day is hard lately. They seem to always 'need' me for some reason. So funny - Hudson has to show me every train or dump truck or cool toy that comes on tv. It's cute and I need to enjoy it all - but with being so prego and the holidays and all - I'm just trying to keep my head up! LOL!

Here is a photo of our clay manger scene from last week. That's Hudson there on the table behind it. It turned out cute and was a cute little project to do! Ryan and the kiddos are out running neighbor gifts around so I need to go get some work done while it's quiet! Thanks again for coming by! Hope your having a wonderful holiday season! Hugs to you!

 

In the Spirit of Giving...

First of all, thanks everyone for your way sweet comments on the ornaments below! :) You all made my day and your words meant a lot to me so thank you!! :)

I can't believe how many days have gone by since I last posted...time is flying! I think I started to panic a bit this weekend that this baby is coming sooner than I thought! We went to Target (yes, again!!!) on Friday night and loaded up on bottles, formula, diapers, a new baby bath, diaper rash cream, burp cloths....what else? Binkies! I feel a little bit more prepared now but I'm sure I'm missing many things.

On Saturday, we worked hard and getting the kids rooms all organized and moved around to welcome this little boy. It was a lot of work but at least it is how we need it now. We didn't get the crib up yet, but I think we'll keep the baby in our room for the first little while so I figure we are okay with that. It felt good to get things up and done - it really needed to be done.

So, feeling a bit better about all that. Now, I have a bunch of scrapbooking assignments to get done by the end of the year. Who would of thought that December would be so busy! I got the 2008 Hero Arts catalog in the mail the other day and wow - so many great stamps! It made me so excited!! I'm working on some fun things for their site for the launch of their new catalog so I'll share as soon as I can. Gotta get busy! :)

And, I also got a fabulous package from Autumn Leaves with all their Memory Trend Show releases. Love it all! :) I love getting new product in the mail - it totally makes me beam. I love looking through the box and getting inspired with everything I see! So fun!

In the spirit of giving....

I want to give a RAK away! :)

But, I need your help! :) We are totally lost on a baby name for this little guy. We had names chosen for Madisyn and Hudson early - but nothing is clicking this time around. Ryan and I met in New York so we chose names for our kids after places in NY. But, we can't find anything that we like this time. His father is from Germany and my parents and family have spent time in Germany and we just love it there - so we were trying to then think of German names. Tough!

So, here are some of our top choices. Just post the # that you like or you can write the name, etc. in your comments and I'll draw a winner or two for a new set of Autumn Leaves stamps! :) Such goodness!!!

Ok, here are the names:

1. Carston/Karsten/Karston
2. Dresden
3. McKay
4. Landon
5. Jaxon
6. Jaden
7. Aidan
8. Boston

...I'm sure there is more but those are the one's I'm thinking of right now! See, we have name issues! LOL! Help us!

I hope that you all have a great day!

****

Journal log for me:

Friday, Dec. 7: Ryan came home and decided that he wanted to try to go out - just the two of us. We luckily found a babysitter and went to dinner at Applebee's. We then went shopping at Target for baby stuff...not much holiday stuff today but had to get that done.

Saturday, Dec. 8: Moved the kids rooms, got baby stuff and furniture organized. Organized closets. At 5 pm we went to the Nativity festival at the Stake Center down the street. The kids loved looking at all the baby Jesus'...it was a nice time. We ate at Sharkys. We then headed over to the mall and saw Santa - they both sat on his lap and told him what they wanted for Christmas. We did some shopping as well. I then ran into Old Navy  to grab a new jacket for Hudson and ran into Target to return a few things.

Sunday, Dec. 9:  Church and then our home teacher came over and we made a nativity scene out of clay.  Ryan and I laughed at our lack of skills, but it was still cute. Got some cute picts of the kids with it. It was a fun little project.

Today was also the day, 11 years ago, that Ryan proposed to me! :)

Monday, Dec. 10: Kids had school and that night we went with Opa and Grandma to Tuachan to see the lights, Santa and the train ride. It was sooo cold and windy that we didn't stay for the live nativity show but maybe we will go again. Came back to the house for hot chocolate.

Tuesday, Dec. 11: Hudson had his Christmas program at preschool. Grandma and Daddy came and it was soooo cute! It was a lot shorter than Madisyn's programs there before, but still darling. Hudson knew every song and action and was just so cute up there. I got emotional - seeing my 'baby' up there. It was just different for me than it was with Madisyn. He made a glitter snowflake that we later put on the tree - so precious.

That night, we worked on the gifts for Grami and Pa since they are coming here this weekend for Jameson's baptism. We had each of them color on a white plate and they did so good - they turned out so cute!

Glittery Happiness!

Does glitter and all things sparkly and silver make anyone else as happy as it makes me? I have been fascinated with silver since I can remember - and now add some glitter, well, let's just say, that I can't get enough of it! :) Our Christmas tree last year was all silver, glitter and white and it remains that way this year - with a splash of the color Robin's Eggs blue, and some silver glittery birds and butterflies. I just love it! :)

I've been anxiously waiting to find some time to do these photo ornaments. I got them at Pottery Barn, in a set of 3 for like $14. I can't find them on the site right now but hopefully they'll get them back in stock. I love them! I am totally going to change the 4x6 insert throughout the year and hang them on the hooks from my hutch in my studio. So cute I thought.

I took an hour and got them done today. I was planning on hanging them on the tree, but then I thought to hang them over this mirror in the entry way. I love the touch of Christmas it brings - and seeing my smiling kids faces right when I walk out of my studio makes me happy.

I used American Crafts ribbon, Heidi Swapp chipboard mini shapes (butterflies and stars), Martha Stewart silver glitter, silver decorative paper, Bazzill scalloped edge white cardstock and Narratives (by Creative Imaginations) scalloped lined paper.

Journal for Wed., Dec. 5th: Dad came home a little early and started getting the icicle lights up on the house. Kids played with friends in the front and jumped on the tramp. Dad needed more so him and Hudson ran to Target to get more lights, a new crib mattress for baby and some baby diapers. (I'm starting to get nervous so  we need to get things ready!) Finished up the lights on the house and then we went for a drive around the neighborhood, in our PJs, to look at all the lights. The kids loved it.

Thursday, Dec. 6th: We wrote letters to Santa. Daddy helped Hudson write his letter - he was so funny and couldn't think of anything he wants besides a remote control Helicopter that he saw at the mall with Daddy on Saturday. Too funny.

Madisyn wrote her own letter this year - for the first time! It was so fun! We had to tell her what letters came next but it is so cute! She did a great job and it's so fun to see it in her own handwriting!

Today, Friday, Dec. 7th: A ward (in our church) down the street has a Nativity Festival each year. We are going to take the kids tonight to see all the Nativity scenes - I've heard that there are a ton and that it's really neat.

I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend!

December 5th

Thanks for your sweet posts and emails! I love hearing from you! So thanks for hanging in here with me and saying hello!

Thought I'd give a Dr.'s update: Everything in the Ultrasound looked good! My previa has turned around and the baby is head down ready to go - so that is great news! I don't need to have a planned c-section now so I'm happy about that! Great blessing! I'm measuring a bit big, but I told the Dr. the wrong date when I first went in so the ultrasound said I was due 1/23/08 - which just happens to be Madisyn's birthday...and mine is the next day! LOL! Sooooo not wanting to have the baby that week. I hope that I go earlier than that!

One thing of concern is my blood pressure - it's right on the borderline (8 points) of being high. When I hit that point with Madi I was put on bedrest and was developing pre-clampsia. No swelling right now and I haven't gained much weight with this pregnancy so that is all good signs so far. I'm just worried - worried what this can mean for the next month. I go again in 2 weeks - hoping that things will be okay. Good thing I've got the kids Christmas shopping done right! I need to stay away from Target anyway! LOL!

This photos is one of Hudson at Thanksgiving up at my parents! It was cold - but he wanted to swing no matter what and I couldn't help but snatching a photo of him in his darling new hat and gloves.

Can I just say....

I love this kid!!!

So much!!

I can't get enough of him lately. He is growing up so much! He'll be 4 in April and I think I've been extra sentimental thinking about him not being my little 'baby' anymore. He loves to cuddle with me and for me to hold his hand at bedtime when I sing to him. He's learning so much at school and lately has been so cute with singing 'You better not pout...' Christmas song throughout the day. He's still not eating great - our therapy sessions ended the week before Thanksgiving - we are on our own for now and that's a scary thought considering how much we have going on. It's hard to sit and do therapy sessions with them!

But, this kid, just makes me smile. He still has the softest baby skin and I can't help but kiss him a thousand times a day. He was a surprise baby (just like this one on the way - LOL!), but I'm so grateful that he is a part of our family. Love him so much!

On a scrapbooking note....

I'm totally wanting to create right now. I got some fun things in the mail yesterday for some assignments...can't share yet but at the end of the month I can and I'm excited to get creating! I also want to just do some fun things for me! I've got a fun Christmas project I'm gonna work on today so hopefully I can share that this week.

Anyway - thanks for coming by! Are you working on any fun Christmas projects right now??

Also - if you have any good gift ideas for the men in your life - will you please share!!!! He loves the outdoors and sports and cool techie things - but I'm totally lost. He says he doesn't want anything, but I gotta get him something fun! Any thoughts??

Journal for yesterday, Tuesday, Dec. 4:

When Daddy got home from work (which was at 4 pm cause I was just loosing it with the kids so he came to help me out - so sweet), he took the kids to the park before it got dark. Then, we had them draw a picture for Santa. Hudson did a candy cane (inspired by our book the other night) and Madi drew her usual sun and flower and drawing of her. I told her it would be perfect for Santa since he doesn't get many flowers and sun where he is.

I got Hudson a new Thomas watercoloring book at the grocery store that day, so they each did a page. So cute. And then, we baked the holiday green tree sugar cookies Hudson picked out at the store...they loved them! :)

Ok - have a great Wednesday!
Hugs!

December!!

Wow! It has really crept up on me this year!! I had holiday projects all planned back at the beginning of November and haven't gotten any done yet. Such a bummer! I always feel this pressure to be so prepared and have things all ready - and now I feel like I'm falling behind. I'm trying though...trying to kick that feeling out of my head so I can enjoy what I can do...and be happy with that.

I wanted to do an Advent calendar with the kids again this year. Last year, we just bought some of those cheapo chocolate ones that you open up each day - well, my kids don't eat chocolate, so it wasn't that exciting! LOL! So, as I was shopping at Target (one of the hundred times I've been there in the past month), I saw this darling Advent calendar with everything cut and there for you. I snatched it up and finished it up the other day. Adding a little sewing and photos - not much else...just kept it simple and enjoying getting it done! :) I've put little notes in each box with things to do each day...I think it will be really fun and I'm looking forward to doing something fun with them each day.

Also - in the frame is one of my favorite photos of Hudson and daddy - taken last Thanksgiving '06. I have a bunch of frames on this console table in my entry way - added the Advent calendar next to them all.

We've been busy - and I'm getting more and more stressed about getting things done for Christmas and enjoying this month and holiday season - - - and, preparing for this baby. We haven't done really anything and now I'm starting to stress! :)

Today, I go to the Dr. for our 32 week ultrasound to check on my placenta previa. I'm really hoping that it has resolved itself and that everything is normal and okay now. So, say a little prayer for me. I'm so excited to see this little guy though - I've never had an ultrasound this late in a pregnancy and I'm so excited to see how big he is and to see how much he's changed. I hope that my blood pressure is okay too - it was a bit high last time so we are hoping for a good appointment today.

I've got some more projects up at Hero Arts this week if you want to check them out. They are using the December month clear stamps which have so many great images and words on them.

Card

Layout

I've been trying to clean up this house this morning. We got our new sectional last Thursday and I just LOVE it!! I'll show picts tomorrow. It really fills up our room and looks so nice I think - finally room for people to sit! :) I've got so many piles everywhere and really need to get this place shaped up!

I wanted to write what we did for the first few days of December. I am working on a little journal to write in every day - very simple - but I want to remember these things so just skip if you'd like! :)

Saturday: Dec. 1: We spilt up and Hudson went with Daddy to the mall to get some new clothes for Daddy and they snuck in a visit to Santa. I was a bit sad to not be there but I know that we'll go again. They had a great time together.

I went with Madi to Target and Michaels - got some things for Christmas presents and more. Fun to be with her - she just loves shopping. We then met Daddy and Hudson at Chili's for lunch. I then went on my own to the fun stationary store and got a cute 'heart' notebook and a sketch book that I love. Really want to try harder to work on sketching out layouts in '08 to help speed up my scrappin' process.

Hung out the rest of the day!

Sunday, Dec. 2: I was on my feet so much of the day Saturday, that I was paying for it Sunday. Not feeling well. Ryan took the kids to church and then he was so sweet and took them to his parents afterwards. I got really light-headed and dizzy...laid down and I swear I just passed out. Slept for 2 hours. Woke up still not feeling great so I just sat on the sofa and caught up on 'Heroes'.

When they got home we had dinner and then decorated the tree. I was feeling better and it was soooo fun to have the kids help. They put up almost all the ornaments - such good helpers. So fun to have them at an age where they can do that. They just loved it.

Monday, Dec. 3: Daddy to work, kids to school. I worked on finishing up the Advent calendar and cleaned up a bit. I got a babysitter at 4 pm and went to Roberts, Michaels and yes, Target again. Finished up Christmas shopping for the kids - felt good but I was so tired again. I just can't do it like I could before I was prego. Got  home, Ryan made a wonderful Halibut dinner and then we read the 'Candy cane' book with the kids. Hudson put the candy cane ornament on the tree - so cute!

Ok - that's it for now. Had to get that all down.
Hope you all have a great Tuesday! I'm gonna be better at posting - got holiday projects and more to share this month!
Hugs,
Robyn