~Happy New Years~

2011 has been an amazing year for our little family.  We have experienced so many joys this year that it is impossible to contain them all in one post.  Much of our happiness can be contributed to this little man, who made 2011 the most memorable year yet.  

From our family to yours, I hope you all have a happy and healthy New Year!!!

Welcome 2012!

~8 Months Old~

Dear Rowen,

Today you are eight months old, I simply can't fathom that in four months you will be a year old!  This past month has been amazing with you as you continue to grow into your little personality!  This time last year your dad and I were anxiously awaiting your impending arrival, and never in my life could I have imagined how much love we feel for you today!

This month we have seen some big changes with you!  Two itty bitty teeth have finally appeared on your lower gums! For a few weeks I thought you would never get teeth and then suddenly they appeared one day.  You put anything and everything in your mouth including but not limited to water bottles, car keys, jingle bells, and books.  I learned my lesson about letting you have the car keys when on the day before Thanksgiving you were playing with them while we were leaving the grocery store and you ended up locking in the car.  I felt like an epic mom failure but thankfully the store is only about five minutes from our house and your dad came and unlocked the car for us!

You bah bah bah and sputter all day long!  If we are not paying attention to you and you want our attention, you start grunting and laughing hysterically, you can be quite the character!  You are also starting to stand up and pull up on things.  I don't think you will walk anytime soon but we shall see! In mid-November we took you on your second plane ride and you did great! You could tell we were the people no one wanted to sit next to but everyone who ended up with us remarked on how well you took to riding the plane!  Hopefully it will be just as easy later this month when we fly to your grandparent's house!

You continue to sleep through the night and wear mainly 9-12 months clothing.  This month your dad and  I broke down and finally put shoes on you, and they make you look so much older!  You are wearing a size four shoe and it seems like you have a little room to grow in those little shoes.  Food is pretty much the same this month but I think once those teeth come in a little more we can start giving you table food.

Firsts this month:
1. teeth
2. Thanksgiving
3. standing up
4. Christmas tree

Happy eight months Rowen Joseph!!

~Homemade Christmas Ornaments~

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the ornaments.  Rudy and I have been collecting ornaments from everywhere we go so that one day we will have three trees worth of ornaments like my parents do! I love going home at Christmas and just staring at the trees and looking at all of the ornaments, which if anything, is a representation of how our family has evolved over the years.  Sprinkled amongst all of the meaningful ornaments are the homemade ornaments.  Some I made at Girl Scouts, others my brother and sisters made in school.  All have withstood the test of time and are proudly displayed on the trees.

This year I wanted to start our own homemade ornament tradition with Rowen.  This is a step by step of how I made the ornaments and I think they turned out wonderfully and I look forward to still having them hanging on my tree when Rowen is 25!

~ To make the dough I combined 4 cups of all purpose flour, one cup of salt, and one and a half cups of water.  If it still seems a little dry just add a few drops of water but don't over do it.  You will have to kneed the dough for about ten minutes to get it ready to roll out.  

~Once your dough is ready, roll it out on a non-stick or lightly Pam-ed cookie sheet.  To get the handprints for us it was a two man job, one person holding Rowen, and the other maneuvering his hand.  Be careful they don't dig their fingers into the dough because then you have to start over again.  Once you have the hand print you want, trace out the shape of a circle around it.  To bake, set the oven at 350 degrees and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until golden brown.  The thicker you make your ornament, the longer it will take to bake.  Once it has hardened it should look something like this...

~I let mine cool for about 25 minutes before I started to paint.  I wanted my ornaments to be gold so I used a metallic gold which I think highlighted the textures of the ornament very well.  I picked this up at Michaels...

After one coat my ornaments looked like this...

~ To complete these I put on two more coats and a coat of clear gloss glaze to seal the paint.  I grabbed some red felt ribbon from Michaels to hang them from...

And I may still add some tags with Rowen's name and the year.  I am so happy with the final results and they are now displayed prominently on my tree...

Overall I think this was a fairly simple and quick project that will last for years to come, and I hope to do it each year as our family grows! What homemade ornaments are you all making this year?

I'm not the grinch...

...but I'm in a Christmas funk.  I love Christmas. It is my hands down, favorite time of the year.  But this year I can't get into the spirit and I don't know why.  I could go into the long list of what I haven't done and how I blame my funk on my Christmas tree (it is missing its wow factor and I can't exactly figure out what it is) but all of these things aren't important.

This year is different.  This year we have a sweet little boy who is crawling around and bah-bah-bah ing at us all day.  He loves my Christmas tree the way it is.   Each night I watch him and Rudy sit in front of our Christmas tree and watch our Christmas train go round and round.   He doesn't care if there are not strategically placed glitter trees around the house this year.  He doesn't have enough teeth yet to eat a single Christmas cookie.  I know on Christmas day, he will enjoy the wrapping paper more than any gift I get him.  And right now, to him, a jingle bell is one of the most awesome toys there is.

 

Its hard to convey what I'm feeling this year.  This time last year we were prepping for Rowen's arrival and I never could have imagined how much love we would have for this precious little boy.  I may not get everything done I would like to this holiday season but whats most important is the family we have and the times we share together. That is truly my favorite part of Christmas and the part I look forward to the most. I do hope that each and every one of you are enjoying the holiday season to the fullest and happy 24 days til Christmas!!! 

"Remember, this all began with a child.  Because it took nothing but love to begin it, its not really Christmas if love isn't in it"

 ~The Spirit of Christmas~

~Midweek Madness~

Tomorrow is the first day of December, which means its only 25 days until Christmas, which also means I'm way behind.  This week has felt like it has dragged a little bit, but it could just be the after vacation slump.  I do know December is going to fly be so I better not blink!!

~Yesterday I discovered that One Born Every Minute is back for season two on Lifetime.  I love this show, couldn't get enough of it last year as we waited for Rowen to make his appearance, and I can't wait to watch this season.  Hopefully it picks up more viewers this year so we don't have to wait a whole year for another season!

~ Ebates anyone?  Yes I know everyone knows about Ebates and apparently I did too since I created an account a long time ago.  Thankfully I remembered the log in and all of the cash back may inspire me to not leave the comfort of my couch to complete my Christmas shopping.  Now I just have to remember to go to their site before I start my elf work.  And lets not talk about that, since I haven't started at all, and get hives/feel like an epic failure when I think about being behind.

~ Truth, my Erin Condren life planner has sat on the counter for the last month.  I don't think I am a planner girl, I think it just gave me a false sense of being on top of my game.  And naturally I let the twitter/blogging world convince me that once I got my planner it would be earth shattering, and it really wasn't.  While I love it and think it is a great tool, it just doesn't work for me.  I like to keep lists so back to lists I went and I now have lists of things I need to buy, do around the house, projects, and things to complete for the holidays.  Lists keep me organized, not a life planner.

~And a midweek post would not be complete without a little Rowen.  This week we got Rowen his first pair of shoes, and now I would like to know who this guy is and what he did with my baby.  Its funny how much simple little red walking shoes can age but they instantly make him look like a little man instead of a baby.  Please stop growing my sweet baby boy.

What's on your mind today?

~A Little Black Friday Perspective~

This year, like many other things, Black Friday was different.  Last year as I bustled Rudy out of the house at 4am to join the madness he reminded me to enjoy Black Friday, because it was the last time I would be doing it for a long time.  And while a little part of my shopping loving heart cried last year, when it came time this year to go through the adds and decide my plan of attack, I didn't care.  It didn't matter.  Life is different, and racing out at four in the morning, or even midnight as many of the stores opened then, didn't seem like the thing I wanted to do.  Rudy and I debated getting up super early and heading out, but when that alarm went off at 530 this morning, we simply turned it off and went back to sleep.

When we did wake up, at 730, we got up, got dressed, and headed out to see a little of the madness.  Maybe its me, but it seemed like a lot of the 'sales' this year were just hype.  We walked around, browsed the stores, and were in and out pretty quick.  To stay in the Black Friday spirit, we did pick up these lovely ladies who will be joining our home on Sunday.  They were part of a non Black Friday sale and I hope they are ready to get to work!

This year we had a wonderful Thanksgiving and have so much to be thankful for.  While our families are far away, we joined some of our closest friends, who are like family, for their Thanksgiving and I'm so grateful they asked us to join them, we had a wonderful time.  Its hard to believe that the last picture taken of this group....

was taken when Rowen was a little over a week old...

Thankfully I don't think we look as tired anymore, but I can't believe how quickly the last almost eight months have gone by.  2011 has truly been an amazing year, and I am so thankful for every moment of it!!

I hope you all are enjoying this time with your families and had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

~Fall Family Pictures~

Today the disk of our family pictures taken by the very talented Tracy Marshall came in the mail! Here are a few of my favorites....

I love how red his hair looks in these two pictures!