Naughty Napper

When I put Adelaide down for her nap, the bedroom was clean.

Harumph.

Why do kids resist naps?
I feel like I could nap at any opportunity, not that I often get the chance to test that theory.

Apparently wreaking all that havoc really wears a girl out.

And who needs a mattress when you've made yourself a nice little nest out of every single piece of clothing you own?
Thanks Adelaide, it was so much fun putting it all back.
But I love you anyway.

Very Slowly Decking the Halls

Step One: Finish wreath that I started making last year but didn't have enough ornaments.
Step Two: Hang wreath.
(It's not perfect and my door is filthy, but it makes me happy - the wreath, not my filthy door.)

Step Three: Put away Halloween decorations and Matildas Birthday decorations.
My poor Thanksgiving turkeys never saw the light of day this year.
It's okay, Turkeys. Next year, in Jerusalem!
Or, you know, my kitchen.
Whichever.

Polka Dot P.J.s

Around here we always bust out our Christmas Pajamas sometimes as soon as Thanksgiving night, so as to get as much Christmas seasoney pajama wearing in as possible.
We were a couple of days late this year because I hadn't made them yet.But now they are done and done, son.
Except that now I might have to make a pair for myself...

Elf-ishness

I know it's hard to believe, but this is the best picture out of the five that I took.
Our poor camera is on it's last legs and can't take the twenty attempts per shot that is my usual.
Oh well.
The Newbys have a house guest from now until Christmas Eve.
She's the one behind the girls and her name is Miss Peeps.
Isn't she a cutie?

I read a post on Brassy Apple about a sweet tradition they have where a little Christmas Elf comes and stays at their house between Thanksgiving in Christmas, to keep an eye on the kids and report to Santa.
I thought it sounded like a cute idea, and what have I got to lose? Maybe the girls will get caught up in the fun and start being nice to each other.

Maybe.

I only read about it a few days ago and didn't really feel like making or finding a stuffed elf, so I improvised and printed up this little cutie. I made a few tweaks to the poem and tonight we introduced her to the girls.

I'm listening to Christmas music as I write this and Miss Peeps is watching me from across the room.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and I love it!

Dee-Lish!

Want to know what's my new go-to, tasty treat to bring along to holiday gatherings or girls night outs?
Of course you do!
Well behold...
Bloomin' Onion Bread!

I made this for a get together a few weeks ago mainly because it looked and sounded good, but imagine my delight when I realized that it's really easy to make too! Definitely win, win.
Click on over to Your Homebased Mom for the whole recipe (by the by, the picture is borrowed from her as well) you won't be sorry.
I would just note that instead of slicing the cheese I just grated mine which worked great, and I also sprinkled some bacon bits (you know, the good kind) over the top which we thought was reeeeeeeeaaaally good. We had some leftovers of this bread with that potato soup that I like, and oh my heck, it was carbtacularly heaven-ish.

Nick of Time

Let the record show that we did make a Thanksgiving-ey craft...
Yes, I put it off to the last possible moment, but still a victory.
Happy Thanksgiving, loved ones!
I wish we were all getting full, sleepy and round together.
Maybe next year!

Just in Case

I don't usually blog about giveaways (mostly, I'm just too lazy) but this is for something I really, really, reeeeeaaalllly want.I don't pretend that I'm crafty enough to justify buying this little beauty but oh, if I won, I would make good and deserving use of it, I promise.
Then I remembered that the only other time I blogged about a giveaway we totally won!
I think we can all agree that I've got this thing in the bag;)
But just in case you want to try too, visit Just a Girl.
Good luck!

Oh, The Weather Outside is... Frightful?

Or maybe not.

I LOVE living in Oregon.
I'm not sure why, but snow is such a big deal!
Rumors have been swirling for days that we would soon be getting snow, snow, snow!
You can't help but get caught up in the excitement and check weather.com every hour to see when, when, when?
But the thing is, it seems like half the time it just never happens.
Finally last night around ten it started to snow!
For about twenty minutes.
This was the only picture we were able to get before our the batteries in our camera gave up, but I wanted to post it for a few reasons.
One: This is the amount of snow that it took for our school district to cancel school today.
I had thought this was completely laughable, but when I went out for my run today (five miles, woot!) I realized it was actually surprisingly icey, so maybe not quite as laughable as I originally thought, but still.
Two: Adelaides first time playing in the snow! Awwww.
Three: Dressing like a hobo is Tillies absolute favorite. Pre-kids I kind of maybe thought things like 'why do parents let their kids out of the house looking like that?' But now that I have my own determined Tillie and zero energy, I totally get it. She loves putting together INSANE outfits and she's always so proud of them "Don't I look beautiful?" "Look, I'm all fashioned up!" I'm sure she'll grow out of it.
I'm hoping anyway.

Where's November?

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving already. This month has FLOWN by! One reason for this is that I have spent just about every spare moment I've had crocheting to get ready for the craft fair that I do with Angie. It took me forever to decide what I was going to do, so I didn't even get started until the first of the month, but here is what I ended up with:An army of sock monkey hats!

Now, I actually really like these hats, and I totally plan on making one for myself - uh, because I'm awesome! - but after I got them all set up like this they started to seem kind of creepy, and I actually became quite convinced that I wasn't going to sell a single one, and would have wasted my entire month of November.
Luckily some people seemed to enjoy them and I sold eleven, phew!

But what I'm even more proud of, quite ridiculously proud of even, is this:The little bags I came up with.

I geek out over the silliest things (which I know you already know) but this is such an improvement from the first year that I did this, when it didn't even occur to me to bring bags.
Anyway, it was a pretty good day, it's always fun to hang out with my cousins, and I have to say, I'm glad that I can take a break from the frenetic crocheting for a while. Seriously, I've got a couple of crochet callouses on my right pinky and it ain't pretty.
Just keeping it real yall.

Writing it Down

Being the worlds best mom, I realized that I had never really written anything down about the day Matilda was born. So this is me, doing that. Keep in mind that this happened four years ago so I'm not sure how much we're gonna get, also I don't quite expect anyone but me to really read this one, but here I go:
As usual, I was overdue. Matildas due date had been November 3rd, which came and went with Matilda still firmly lodged inside. I was growing as big as a house and feeling ridiculously uncomfortable. With no end in sight at my final prenatal appointment they scheduled me to be induced at seven o clock in the morning on November 13th (2006).
My mom and Kirsten were in town for the big event, staying at my Grandma Valdines house and I remember being over there with them the night before I was supposed to be induced and I had planned on staying for a while longer, but around six o clock I just didn't feel very well, so we headed home.
That night, or rather, quite early the next morning, I woke up around four o clock in the morning having to go to the bathroom (probably not the for the first time that night) when all of the sudden there was a wetness and I remember thinking, 'did I just not make it to the bathroom quickly enough?' Which, if you've ever been nine plus months pregnant, you know is a very real possibility. After going to the bathroom and then pacing around for a while it became clear that my water had in fact broken. Yay!
I took a shower, we gathered up our things and moved a sleeping Ruesie out to the car and we were on our way! We delivered Matilda at the Willamette Falls Birthing Center which happened to be about three minutes away from where we were living. I remember that there was a pretty good little windstorm going on that morning.
We got to the hospital and got all checked in, and I'm pretty sure I was dilated to about a one. I remember I didn't even feel my first contraction until I was lying in the hospital bed with the monitors on, in hindsight I guess I could have hung out around the house for quite a while longer but I was TEN DAYS overdue and quite ready to get this party started.
I don't remember all that much about the labor at that in between point. When contractions started getting uncomfortable I remember they had me bounce on a birthing ball - and I absolutely HATED it! I was wearing a hospital gown and my pink robe and had all sorts of wires hooked up to me and now they want me to bounce around on this thing like a clown? It didn't last long, and I don't know that I was even at a three when I decided to go for the Epidural.
Ah, the epidural. This was my best epidural experience of the three, I will sing it's praises forever! It worked quickly and perfectly and I didn't feel a single thing, ahhhhh, just the way that I like it.
At some point after that I had Jordan take LaRue out for lunch with his family, and I think I tried to catch up on some rest before the big event.
Around 1:00 people came back to the hospital and things were moving along.
I was surrounded by loved ones, my mom and Kirsten were there. Rand, Laurie and Jerilee were there. Jordan was there of course, and LaRue was there but took a perfectly timed nap on the little couch as things started to get exciting.
I don't remember all that much about when it was time to push, just that it went quickly and really easily. I remember Laurie saying something about me being surprisingly calm and quiet- I guess I should note that it's easy to be incredibly calm and quiet when you have the worlds most perfect epidural to help you. When I gave birth to Adelaide with the worlds worst epidural, calm didn't factor into the equation - but we can pretend that it says something about me being serene, strong and courageous person. No, just reading that makes me laugh.

Then suddenly she was here, and she was absolutely perfect.


I have to say that of my three deliveries her was definitely the easiest and most pleasant. Having so much family there was really lovely. Not to mention that Rand took this picture of Matilda which is one of my all time favorites.


Matilda Jane Newby born Monday, November 13th 2006 at 3:26 pm,
weighing 8 pounds 5 ounces
at 20 inches long.
Oh, how I love this silly little pickle.

Seriously, Four!?

I don't know how it happened, but suddenly Matilda is a four year old.
Sighhhhh...
And I don' t know it happened, but this is the only picture that I have to commemorate the big day.
And if I'm being entirely truthful, this was actually taken the day after her birthday.
But please don't get me wrong. We celebrated, and decorated, and snacked, and had a fun outing, despite the lack of photographic evidence.
Friend Emma spent the night on Friday and on Saturday I took them to the movies to see Toy Story 3. Yes, it's already out on DVD, but going to the movies is just plain fun!

I love this Silly Matilda and can't imagine life without her and her funny antics.
Every day since her birthday she has asked me "Am I still four?"
Yes.
And let's keep it that way as long as possible.
It wasn't all that long ago that she was this little...
Too fast.

Here are some of four year old Tillies favorite things.
Favorite Color: Purple and Baby Blue
Favorite Animal: Horse
Favorite Movie: Harry Houses (what!?) I mean I like to watch um, Monsters Vs. Pumpkins
Favorite Song: Um... um... um... Chickmunk
Favorite Food: Um... Peanut Butter and Jelly.

Thank you so much to everyone who thought of her on her special day!

GOAL!!!

Today wrapped up soccer season for LaRue and Matilda.
Boy, did we have a fun season, but boy, am I glad it's over!
Having two kids in sports is not easy!
Michelle, Julie, and Jerilee, I don't know how you girls do it!
Luckily for us both of the girls games and pizza parties were at the same time and side by side.
Whew!

Look at that girl springing into action!
She had her best game of the season today and scored her very first goal!
Yay Ruesie!

LaRue with her team.
Both of the girls coaches were so nice and good with all of the kids.
LaRue said tonight that she is going to miss her coach.

And here we are at the pizza party when LaRue got her trophy.
She may not look like it, but she was super thrilled to get it.

Tillie started off her game by losing a shoe.
Whoops.
Soccer Coach, as Tillie calls him, is helping her put it back on.

And here we have Soccer Coach encouraging Matilda (fruitlessly) to watch the ball and go after it.

Here's Tillie accepting her trophy and not looking back.
Seriously, she practically took it and ran.
Ah manners.

The gangs all here!
Ignore Tillies mop top and sour expression.
Believe it or not, this is the best picture that I got.
I think our camera is on it's way out because my pictures have been crazy fuzzy lately.
It's possible that it's been dropped A LOT, but I'm sure it's never been my fault.

Tillies coach was so sweet to her, I think he has become one of her favorites.
Tonight at dinner she said he was her henchman.
Silly sweet Tillie.

School Pictures

Look at this beautiful little first grade girl we've got.

She looks so grown up compared with a year ago it kind of kills me.
I love this girl a lot.

Welcome to Wonderland

Also titled:
Happy Halloween!

Also Also titled:
Next Years Costumes are Going to be Store Bought All The Way!

Warning:
Boatload of pictures to follow and they're not even in any particular order.
You've been warned.

My friend Salli and I ended up going with the same theme this year, she made her sons costumes, I made my daughters costumes. I think the number of pictures I've put here is a testament to the amount of time I spent working on them. I do not expect anyone to make it through this whole thing.

Sallis son Dorian as the perfect, cutest, little Mad Hatter.

Adelaide as the Cheshire Raccoon Cat.

LaRue as Alice, enjoying some tea.

Tillie was the Queen of Hearts.

Adelaide was NOT into wearing her costume and she was NOT into holding still for picture taking, which is actually probably for the best, her costume was my least favorite of the three. She was adorable of course, although her whiskers are pretty sad because of the fight she put up when I tried to draw them on her face. Oh well.

And what is that I glimpse?
A cute little White Rabbit.

A little Flamingo/Hedgie croquet, minus one hedgie and substituting with a rock.
Oh, how I wish I had trimmed LaRues underskirt, I meant to, but completely forgot until I had her back in it the day of.

Gangs all here!

I just love this picture of Sallis boys.

So here's where I brag a little bit and say that I made all of the girls costumes without any patterns really. I did use the top of a dress pattern for the tops of both dresses, but other than that all I used were my mad skillz.
But drat that underskirt.

Sweet, sweet Ruesie.

Love it.Salli is crazy talented yall, she just finished being the head costumeress (real word) for our Stakes production of Hello Dolly!
Crazy talented.

Tillie was so adorable as the Queen of Hearts I can't even stand it.
She got to wear a bit o lipstick and she thought she was the bees knees.

I hope everyone had a good and safe Halloween!