A card for Travis

Our oldest nephew, Travis, is in his first year of college at Ferris State University in Michigan. I've tried to send a card once a month, remembering how much I enjoyed receiving mail when I was in college. This time I decided to make a special card since I had the time and it's getting into exam time.

I used 4 papers and then a couple different stickers. I used the bear paw prints on the striped paper and then a picture of a fish since Travis likes to fish & hunt (maybe not bears, though!) so I think he'll appreciate it. I did some orange ink around the edges of the letter "T" and wrote in his name.

No phone

ARG! We have been struggling almost a week now without a home phone. You may be thinking, "In this day and age, you're concerned about a home phone?!" Well, that's because our internet comes from the phone line.

The phone has no dial tone at all. Barry called for service -- they were supposed to come Friday -- but no luck. My goal today is to get this fixed. Either we have to drop the phone and get something else or they need to service the house.

We feel so out of the loop!

UPDATE: The repairman came by this morning and found that the box outside of the house had wires messed up. He fixed it and we're good to go!

All in a morning's work

We spent a couple hours on Saturday trying to get the yard in shape before the weather gets too bad. I mowed the yard and used the mulching bag. Each of these black bags holds about 3 bags from the mower. So that's about 25 or so times we had to stop the mower to empty the bag.

But, the yard looks pretty great and we shouldn't have to worry about it for the rest of the winter.

'Course we were exhausted the rest of the day, but it was worth it!

3 more cards

I used this basic design (from CPS) to make 3 cards for a few ladies in my life. I used 5 papers, a die-cut flower with die-cut heart, a piece of purple organdy ribbon, and the individual's initial. The colors are a bit strange in this picture, but it's a mixture of blues and purples.

Inside I wrote an appropriate sentiment for the person that it was for. I did two "praying for you" for two ladies who are recovering from surgery and one "thank you" for the last lady.

Believe it or not, I made all three cards while Barry was still sleeping this morning. I think that one hour had to be a record -- of course I did the same design so it was just a matter of cutting & gluing.

29 1/2 Weeks

It's hard to believe that toward the end of November that it would be warm enough to wear short sleeves (the high was in the 70s!), but here it is. I had gotten some clothes from a co-worker who's daughter just had a baby, but most of them were too small or summer. In any case, I was excited that I could wear this today.

Scooter has been very active. Monday about wore me out with his jumping around and jabbing this way and that. My guess is he's headed for some growing, but who knows! He's definitely thrown off by the weekend and us trying to sleep in. So, in other words, I am woken up when he decides it's time to get up and for the most part I just get up.

We're planning to do some work on the nursery over the holidays. Since we're not going anywhere we'll have a good chunk of time to check out some places and get those needed items. We still need a changing table, but have come up with a back-up plan should we not find one.

Happy retirement

A co-worker is retiring today! She's worked here 16 years and we had the dinner last Thursday. But, today is her birthday and her last day in the building.

Since she likes moose, I decided to use that as my theme. Granted it was not easy to find moose items, but I did my best. I used 3 papers, green organdy ribbon, and a moose sticker. Inside I wrote "happy retirement!"

Nursery Furniture

My co-worker decided to give us some furniture that she had. Her husband brought it by our house. It is beautiful! Looks like Ginger is already staking a claim to the rocking chair! Isn't the woodwork at the top beautiful?!
We had thought this might work for the changing table, but as you can see the pad is much larger than the top of the dresser. Barry said it was solid wood, which is nice for a long term piece. We probably will look at different knobs, but for now we can just fill it with the clothes & other items that we have.

Baby girl Card

I've been trying to get to know ladies at church who are pregnant since we have quite a few that are (10-15), and through that process, I met Brittany. She was actually at the end of her pregnancy when we met, so she's the first that I've made a card for.

I decided to use a variety of pink papers and since I had the paper with the "tiny toes" written on it, decided to use that sticker on the card as well. I used pink organdy ribbon and wrote at the bottom - Welcome Teagan Elizabeth! Inside I wrote congratulations.

Thankful cards

You know that these little 2"x3" cards are some of my favorite little cards to make. They don't take much -- scrap paper and some creativity! I decided to make up a few for co-workers and as you can see used three different themes. There was a blue theme (since I still had the papers on my desk from the cards I made last week), a fall-ish theme with leaf stickers, and a dot paper theme. I did include each person's initial on the card to make it more personalized.

Yummy Pumpkin Rolls

I was looking at recipes one day as I was filling in at the front desk and found this recipe that looked delicious - Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls. My family was coming for the weekend (for our first baby shower) and I thought it would be a great time to try the recipe. Of course things were very busy and we never got to make them.

So, I decided for our small group that I would make the rolls. It was quite an extensive process and I was glad for Barry's help! There was enough to make this big pan and a smaller pan that I took to work. They were yummy!

Leaves

We have tried for weeks now to get outside to do yard work. Either it'll have rained later in the week or we'll have had plans on Saturday. It was the goal today to get at least the front yard done.

I got the blower out and blew the leaves up to the ditch. Our city comes around with a sucking machine and will pick up the leaves so that we don't have to bag them.

The funny thing is that our next door neighbor came over and told me that they came over and "stole" several bags of leaves to put in their flower beds. The thing that was even more interesting is that it hardly looked like they made a dent in what was already on the ground! The back yard will have to wait for another day when Barry is healthy and can help.

Bassinet

Our next door neighbors are good friends and have been part of our journey to having a baby. They had several miscarriages and were never able to have a child naturally. She told me early in the pregnancy that they had this bassinet that she had found at a yard sale and wondered if we'd like to have it. It's one of those older wicker ones and I absolutely think it's adorable.

We decided to get it from them this week as we wanted to get the mattress and a couple sheets with an exchange of another gift from the shower. Since the next shower won't be till January, we decided we needed to make sure the basics were covered.

Trifle for Thanksgiving Lunch

It's a little early for Thanksgiving, but we have a retirement dinner next week so I guess they decided they needed to have it early. I signed up for a dessert and decided to make this recipe from my friend, Judy. We had enough extra that Barry got to bring a bowl for his lunch.

It's a layer of brownie, a mixture of chocolate pudding/sweetened condensed milk and water, and a layer of cool whip. I got 3 layers in the bowl for work and 2 layers in Barry's bowl.

Yum!

Blue Birthday Card

I actually made 3 cards with this same template/design. I pulled out some paper that I've had for quite a while to make this design. Then I paired it with some solid papers. I used a piece of ribbon across the middle. For each of the cards I added the person's initial with 3d tape. I wrote Happy Birthday on the bottom solid strip.

Flower Arrangement

At the shower, they had this flower arrangement at the baby shower. Do you think that the sailor's hat will fit Scooter?

The rose opened up so nice and beautiful!

They had a corsage for me to wear with yellow carnations and a button for Barry.

Baby Shower - Part 2

A few of the gifts that we received...

Changing table pad and cover

Receiving blankets and gowns

A swing (we already have one though...)

Some very dressy white outfits

A warm suit that works in a car carrier

First Installment - Baby Shower

There's so much to share that this will have to come in segments. My former boss, Rick and a good friend at work, Laurie, decided to host a shower for us. Yes, it's a little early, but with the holidays coming up, they decided it would be better to go ahead and have it. (In fact, one of the guests said to me,"I can hardly tell you're pregnant." Yea.) We had a variety of different people come for the party -- some co-workers, some friends from church, our neighbors, Barry's co-workers, and some of Rick's family.

It was a tailgating themed party so we started off watching a variety football games and snacking. Then it was time for games.

Taste-testing baby foods to see if you could tell the flavors.

We did a couple of games where we had to write answers. One game was with the letters of the alphabet and the first person to get the whole list filled was a winner - boy names, of course.

The first game we did involved a variety of baby items that you had to pass to the right or left depending on what the story said. It was very complicated!

There were prizes for the person who traveled the farthest, who had the most children/grandchildren, etc. We actually got to keep all the prizes because they were baby items.

Here's the baby cake. Yum!

27 Weeks

Here's a little update on the progress with Scooter... He's been having some hiccups as well as his normal kicks, rumblings around, etc.