Visitors

Last week my sister Aubry and her family got to come visit us. We were so happy to have them here, and enjoyed every minute we got to spend together. Although we didn't do much out of the house, we tried to make their visit enjoyable. Ryan and I enjoyed having Michael and Aubry here to play games with at night-I always enjoy game nights! We all loved having Jada here to play with. Carson and Halli really enjoyed helping to feed her! I have some cute photos of them feeding her, but the computer won't load them so I'll have to have Ryan bring his computer home this weekend and I'll upload them tomorrow or Saturday.
Aubry took lots of fun photos while they were here...she is the photographer so I always let her capture our time together. Then I never get the photos-I just hate my camera and can't wait to get a new one so that is another excuse for not taking photos. I did have her take pictures of Carson and Halli for me, and she captured some really cute moments. I can't wait to post them on here...when she sends them to me! Thanks to her for doing that for us every time she visits. It saves me a trip up to the mall, screaming children, and a headache. I can't wait to get them printed though, and hung up on the wall!!!
This week we have been taking it easy. Carson's pre-school went on a field trip, but I of course forgot my, previously mentioned, amazing camera. So all you are missing is some blurry shots of them running around a kids museum. They had a good time...I had an alright time. No, I enjoyed being there with them! I've been doing a lot of yard work this week to prepare our lawn to be over-seeded again. I am determined to get more grass back in the front yard, and get rid of the weeds that are trying to take over our backyard. We really do take good care of our yard, but you just wouldn't be able to tell right now. Our goal this spring/summer is the transform the house on the outside. We'll be painting and doing a lot of yard work. We also put in raised beds for our garden this year, and I've planted seedlings inside. I'm going all out in the garden this year-hoping for the best.

Croup

So apparently my kids aren't just sick...poor little Halli has croup. I was up all night with her last night, and she has been "barking" all day today. I feel so bad for my little girl. Being sick is bad enough, and then she has a horrible horrible cough that isn't easing up at all yet. I'm taking her into the doctor this afternoon-even though croup is a virus and they can't really do much for her. I talked to the nurse on the phone, and she heard Halli coughing and said I better bring her in. (She probably just wants my money...but oh well, I'm a sucker.) She said the doctor may prescribe her something to help with the coughing-I sure hope so because we're really tired today.

We're Alive

Everytime I think about making a post I just think "what am I going to write about?" There hasn't been too much happening with us. I am just excited the weather is warming up a bit and we don't have to be cooped up in the house all day. I just don't do the cold so we haven't left the house much this winter. We did some yard work this past weekend, and it felt really great to get out and work in the yard again. There is a lot of work to do out there so we'll be spending a lot of time in the yard this spring/summer. I'm excited for the upcoming weeks and months.
Today is a sick day here at home. Carson and Halli both have colds...again. We spent the morning on the couch watching movies. Carson and Halli both got to choose one movie and we just spent too much time staring at the TV, but it was nice not to do anything. I didn't worry about cleaning, laundry, dishes, or anything else on my list of things I need to do. I just had a good time hanging out with the kids, and snuggling with them. I sure love those two, and the wonderful time I get to spend with them everyday. Here they are in their spot this morning.

Moving On

So I finished my projects, and I'm glad to be done. It's now time to move on from focusing on those projects on here, and focusing on us and what we are doing. It seems like for the past year all of my posts have been about those projects, but now they are going to be about our family again. So here is to a new year (a month late), and a new future for the blog. So look forward to being updated on us, how life is going, what fun things we are doing, and what is changing! So I'll be the first to welcome us back into the world of blogging. 2011 will be a better year to catch this blog.

Not quite done

I have finally discovered the real reason I fell behind in my attempt to do a craft a week. The job I took totally cut into my craft time at night. It is hard to get things done when the time I had to spend doing things and being creative was taken by something else. Now that I know where I went wrong I feel a little bit better about falling short. Here is what I have done.
First off we have a failed attempt to make an ice cream birthday cake. It didn't seem like it would be too difficult...but it didn't turn out...AT ALL. It looked horrible, as you can see, and didn't taste good at all (I guess letting Carson pick the cake and ice cream flavors didn't work out since they didn't mesh well). Oh well AC#40 (Don't mind the single candle-I couldn't find my package of candles, and only came up with one...good thing he is only 5 and won't remember the single candle or disgusting cake :))
Next I attempted another first in baking. I tried to make caramels. My sister Aubry always make the caramel in our house growing up. I never tried it until this year. I cooked it too long so it was really hard. Once you softened it in your mouth for a bit it was fine and tasted good, but it was overcooked. Sorry to those who received the rock caramels. I didn't have time to make more! AC#41. Good thing I'm only attempting to be creative cause I'm in a run of not succeeding!This project turned out. Christmas goody plates for friends. AC #42I had such a busy day the day before we left for vacation (I did the caramels, cookie plates, got a hair cut, and had my piano recital all in one day!) Here are the simple little programs I made for the piano recital. Project #43
Alright now while on vacation my mother-in-law helped me make this awesome scarf. She saw one in the store and thought I could totally make that (which is where I get most of my inspiration for projects I do...seeing, and then attempting). The scarf turned out really nice, but you'll have to excuse my "I just woke up" face in this photo. And I guess the face that 1/4 of the scarf is cut off in the picture. #44Remember the shelf I refinished (see a couple posts down the page). Well I am going to be putting it in Halli's room and wanted something to put on it so I covered these letters with scrapbook paper and fancied them up a bit so I can fill the shelf-hope it looks good when I put it up! AC#45Ok I have two other projects finished, but I haven't taken photos of them yet so I only have 3 left to go. I will finish, I will finish, I will finish. I just have to squeeze them in between work nights.

Almost There

We've been on vacation for 2 weeks now. We've had so much fun, and enjoyed being lazy. I did some projects while we were here as well, and am almost finished. I know the year is over, but I have a handful of projects left to do. I know it is just excuses, but...I was sick last week and didn't get as many projects done as I wanted to, and then I was going to work yesterday and get the last ones done, but I had a killer headache that wouldn't go away. I decided I'm ok being a week overdue-it happens. I'll finish my 52 projects, and then report what hasn't been reported. I only have 4 left to do, but still need to post about all the other ones I've done. The other problem is that I took photos of the AC projects, but we don't have out cord to get the photos onto the computer so I'll have to wait until we get home to put up photos anyways. I figure I mind as well just wait to post about them. We will be heading home Monday so hopefully by next weekend I'll have everything done and be able to make the last AC post.
I'm making an easier goal for myself next year. This was a tough one, but I enjoyed everything I learned! Happy New Year to everyone!

Finally a Post

I'm finally getting around to posting again....I know it has been way too long. Have I mentioned that we have a problem with our computer, and it won't load photos properly? (I know I have, probably about 20 times!) Well I just never feel like trying to load things, so I just never post. Ryan has been researching our problem though, and thinks he has figured out what is wrong. So...hopefully, with $50 and some new RAM we'll get the little problem fixed and loading photos will be a cinch. I'm hoping to do better at posting and reporting what is happening with us more often (starting next year-when we get the RAM in January).
Life has been rolling on for us. We had a great Thanksgiving here with my sister Lindsey, and her husband Kenny. They got to spend a week with us here in Kansas. Also, Ryan's sister Jenny, and her husband Nick got to come up for the day and hang out and eat with us. We were really sad they couldn't stay longer. We are excited to see them some more at Christmas though. They took the time off work for Christmas rather than Thanksgiving-understandable!
Carson's birthday is this week. Our little boy is going to be 5 years old. I can't even believe it! Speaking of birthdays...my sister Aubry had her little girl on the 3rd of December and she is oh so adorable! So if you know her, or just want to see her cute little Jada Monet (cutest name huh?) go check her out here (I think she is putting up photos tonight....if not, they better be up soon!)
I have still been working on my projects. The years is almost up and I still have a handful of projects to do to make my goal. So...hopefully I can get things together and finish it by the 31st! Here's some of them.
#36 I made some pumpkins for Halloween-don't underestimate how much time it took to cut these out and glue together! It was time consumingI made Carson this cork board to match his room. The photo is supposed to be turned the other way, but oh well-you get the idea. Project #37I made two of these earlier in the year...or maybe it was last year. And I have wanted to make one for myself since then. I finally got around to doing and finishing it. I'll hang it in my kitchen after the holidays are over (I've got something else hanging in it's place for the season.) #38A couple friends and I got together and tied the ribbons on these buckets then made some tags for them. They will be perfect for giving away some goodies this month! #39Ok, I know I still have 13 projects to do in just a couple weeks, but I am determined to get them done. They won't be super time consuming projects, but I'll be reporting my progress as they get completed! Here's to a jam packed month of crafting!