Need another reason to smile today?



What can I say?  Guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.

I think his big sister would be content to sit there and turn that handle as long as he wanted.  You would too, wouldn't you? 

Now go back and watch it again.  You know you want to!  :)

cj

Putting Your Foot in Your Mouth . . .

When was the last time you "put your foot in your mouth"?

We've all done it at least once.  Probably more.

And it's never a pretty sight.  Not even a cute sight.  At all.

Not to mention embarrassing.

But this little one

has put a different spin on it.

I mean, seriously. 

Can putting your foot in your mouth get any cuter?

I think not.

And he isn't the slightest bit embarrassed.

I know!  Isn't he cute?

 He can get that foot up there pretty quickly, too. 

That's why he went home with green beans on his socks . . . 

Thanks for stopping by!

Cj



Peas, please!

We kept Nolan before Christmas while Molly and Ryan went to see Garth Brooks. 
The highlight of the evening for us?
Feeding Nolan "real food" for the first time.
Mommo's out of practice and wasn't quick enough for Mr. Nolan.   

I'll get better . . . I just need more practice!  hint hint 

Enjoy!

** oh, my **  I forgot Chip panned out and you could see the state my den was in.  This was December 22nd.  See all those packages and boxes in the floor?  Someone had been Christmas shopping that day!  :)

@ five months

1983.

It's probably not who you expected.

Seems like yesterday, and seems like a lifetime ago, all at the same time.

I tuck this picture into the branches of my Christmas tree each year.  When I pulled it out tonight, it took me by surprise how much Nolan resembles Ryan at five months. 

Cj

Happy Post Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving celebration with their family.  Ours was a bit different in that it was just Chip and myself making the trek to Kentucky.  Our family has reached that point where not all of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren can attend each family gathering.  I knew the day would come, and I want to handle it with grace.  It's all part of aging and the whole cycle of life thing.  It makes you stop and own up to your age, though, and that kinda stinks if you still think you're 40. 

Whatever.

But enough of that.  Thank goodness I'm not still 40 or I wouldn't have these precious pictures to share with you!

And you know I love me some baby feet!

That's it for now.  Nothing crafty to share.  It's been nothing but transcripts since my last post.  And a little turkey.  Speaking of little turkeys, Miss Kaitlyn has her first basketball game Saturday.  I can't wait!

How 'bout a little peace and quiet . . .

Chip and I were delighted to have the opportunity to watch Nolan Sunday afternoon.  He's such a good baby.  I knew we could enjoy both him and the Titans game.  But seriously?  This is what we got instead . . .

Blog it . . ..

One of these two kiddos suggested I take a picture of this and "blog it."  Can you guess which one?  And I might have been reminded to get a picture of his little hands holding her fingers.  I might have more blog posts if I had her someone here to keep me on my toes.

Four months already ???

Well, four months and a few days for this post, but the pictures were taken on the 1st.

Lucky for you I'm all proficient in my Shutterfly Studio collage creating, or this would be an extremely photo-heavy post.  You may still consider it such, but please indulge me...

These are the shots where he's studying my camera. 

As soon as I would peek out from behind it, he was all smiles.  

Would ya look at that.  Somebody's got a belly!

And you know I had to take those socks off and get some baby toes in the pictures!

                          

And finally, a layout.

The lace I used was given to me by Nolan's great-great-grandmother, Grace, years ago.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cj

Halloween recap

Hey there!  I mentioned doing a little fall crafting, and I did it on Halloween day.  Over a year ago -- or maybe longer -- I bought yards of burlap for a project I never completed.  Okay.  I never started it.  But I knew the burlap would be put to good use eventually.  So many possibilities.  I've seen some cute burlap table runners in blogland.  I decided to start simple, and I made a runner for the chest in the foyer.   

Cute huh?  My next one may have hemmed sides and a 3-inch ruffle on each end.

Things I learned for next time: 

Don't work with burlap right after you've dusted your house.

Don't wear black pants.  Please.

Use a tape measure instead of "eyeballing" it.

Don't work with burlap right after you've dusted your house.
Yes, that deserves being mentioned twice.

Here's a shot of the chest in the foyer as we waited for trick-or-treaters.  What's significant about this picture, you ask?  Well, it's the yellow melamine bowl.  That was the bowl we used for our candy when I was a kid on Sunset Drive.  And now I always use it for our candy. 



That bowl also held lots of green beans, and macaroni & tomatoes, and mashed potatoes in its day. 
No, no, not in my house.  On Sunset Drive.  It's my candy bowl, remember? 
Me having a bowl for mashed potatoes would give my family a good chuckle.  ;)

 Here's a shot of the front porch.  Instead of putting mums in my planters this year, I just added pumpkins.  Much cheaper.  I'm hoping they'll last through Thanksgiving.  It doesn't show up very well in these pictures, but there's a grapevine draping thingy (I can't think of the word I'm looking for!) with some burlap ribbon woven in it and hung over the door, along with a "boo" sign, and a spooky spider web is stuck to the storm door.  That Kaitlyn is full of good ideas!  ;)

 

Oh, look.  You can see Chip sitting in his chair with his laptop, and you can see part of my still-summer mantel.  The smart thing to do would be go straight to a Christmas mantel, but I am determined to celebrate Thanksgiving in true fall style.



And since these pictures were taken on Halloween day, it's only fitting to end the post with a cute little pumpkin.

And a cute little '50s diva!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cj

Happy Halloween!



  

My little monsters spent a little time with me Saturday.  Kaitlyn only had about an hour after basketball practice, which was just enough time to get a craft done. 

We used a treat bag she'd gotten last year as our inspiration. 

I cut out the hair, but the rest of the handiwork is hers.  

When I told her we could sew the mouth, she said, "I call the pedal!"   

And you're not going to believe this, but I couldn't find my camera.  Ryan already had Nolan in the car seat, ready to get home and get K ready for a 1:00 birthday party.  But I kept looking, because I'm stubborn that way.  I sometimes hide my camera when I leave the house.  (Robbers:  Steal my computer, tv, whatever, but please don't find my camera!)  And it would be a little counter-productive to leave myself a Post-it saying where I'd hidden it, so I often find myself looking for it.  Ironically, it was where I usually put it, I just didn't see it the first time I looked. 

 I got Kaitlyn to stop for a quick picture while her daddy was waiting for her to leave.  I reeeeally wanted a picture of K and Nolan together, too, but I didn't think Ryan would go for that...

Look at that sweet smile.  Right.  She could care less about the camera at this point.  She's wanting to fish a pumpkin out of that jar of mixed candy you see there. 
And she knows her daddy is waiting . . .
and Mommo is wasting her pumpkin digging time. 
I've got her number.

Here's the back of her "card."  Even though we're always telling each other "It doesn't have to be perfect!" ... and that usually works ... she wasn't pleased with her commas.  She thought they looked too much like 1's.  So we made a small, last-minute "repair" and we were good to go!

 I don't have any pictures of Nolan from yesterday, but here's a couple from last week.  He's growing like crazy!  And smiling like crazy.  And I promise you he was singing "Your are my Sunshine" with me!  Such a shame there were no witnesses.   ;)

There will be pictures of these two in their costumes next week.  Plus, I'm doing a little fall crafting today which I'll share with you.  Stay tuned!

Happy Halloween!

Cj

Kiddo update

We got to keep Mr. Nolan for a bit last weekend, and I discovered something.  If you're babysitting and you need, say, 30 minutes to get something done around the house, put the baby on this little play mat and you're good to go. 

Not that I do that.

I waste spend that 30-minute window of housecleaning opportunity and watch him entertain me himself.

I've gotta tell ya, that picture is actually quite misleading.  I think he's in some sort of a self-induced trance here.  Typically, his hands and feet are in continuous movement when he's "playing" on his mat. 

Case in point:

I need to talk to him about that.  It makes it really hard for Mommo to get good pictures...

And looky who's discovering his hand!  And it's always the left hand.  Wonder if that means he'll be a lefty like his big sister, and his daddy, and his Mommo...

I think he'd like to say hi to you-all real quick before we move on ...

Hi!

Miss Kaitlyn has been on fall break last week and this week.  I was hoping to have a "Camp Mommo" while she was off, but it just didn't happen.  She did come spend a day with me, although I think her plans were more to come over and play with Amanda, a little neighbor girl. 

We did get a little craft time in before Amanda came over.  I'm so glad "our" scraproom is back in order so there can be more of this taking place:

This girl is in her element when she's crafting. We've designated one of my scrapbooking t-shirts as her painting shirt.  We started that when she was younger.  She hardly makes a mess now, though, at all. And did you notice which hand she uses?  =)

Hope you enjoyed the quick update on the grandkids!

Cj

Sweet, sweet sounds

So are you ready for some sweetness ???

We'll show this to them in a few years when he's following K around and won't quit asking her questions.  ha!

Cj

Smile File

Does this make you smile as much as it does me?

One of the boys decided he'd had enough.  And it wasn't Ryan.  Although he may have had enough, too, but he didn't cry about it . . .

That's all I've got to share with you today.  Hope you smiled.    =)

Cj

These are a few of my favorite . . .

. . . things people! 

We had some visitors today.  Always happy to see these faces.  

This cute little monkey girl had a big time.

And it was hard to get a good picture of this little fellow today.  He doesn't lay as still as he used to.  And to think this is only the beginning.  Here are a few shots of him talking to his mama.

If you look closely in the last picture of Kaitlyn in the tree, you'll spy a sliver of fall leaves.  I'd love to have a yard full of maple trees.  Their fall parade is hard to beat.  Follow me throughout the fall and you'll probably see a hundred few pictures of the pretty leaves . . . and the pretty little girl.

Speaking of fall, it was a bit nippy today.  I'm ready for the change of seasons.  I was inspired to do a little fall decorating today, but then I got inspired to take a nap.  The nap won.  And I enjoyed it.  =)

Happy fall, y'all!

Cj

Extended Family . . .

Whoa!  Where did the time go?  Looks like this ol' blog is yet another thing I procrastinate with -- on.  Whatever.  Yes, I ended a sentence with a preposition.  It's my blog.  =)

So I left you last time with K's big fly ball.  Lo and behold if she didn't catch another one!  Of course, then a few games later, she hit a fly ball and it was caught.  There may have been a tear or two shed.  It's tough being seven and a half.

So for a quick September recap, we went to Ryan and Molly's to celebrate Pam's birthday.  I'm pretty sure she's 49...  Kaitlyn made a nice birthday sign that greeted everyone on the front porch.  Ryan had the iPod set up with music he knew Pam would like, and had the Ping-Pong table and the corn-hull-bean-bag-toss-thing (whatever it's called) set up too.  Nolan went to sleep right on cue, and the whole time we sat outside and ate and visited, he was snoozing in his stroller.  It was the perfect night to sit around outside and enjoy just being there.

Yea!  I got pictures to upload!  Uh-oh.  Y'all are so in trouble now, that's all I can say.

The next weekend we were invited to Whit and Janet's house, Molly's dad and step mom.  It was another great night and we got to enjoy eating out on the deck.  I'd already heard what a cook Janet was, and she certainly lived up to her reputation!  I may or may not have had a piece of both her homemade key lime pie and her homemade caramel pie.  I'm just sayin'.

Lillian and Kaitlyn had a big time, with everything from playing with the American Girl dolls, riding the zip line, providing us a little entertainment inspired by the "check it out girls" on tv, and topping it off with a game or two of Twister .  The older kids -- Ryan, Wes, and Chip -- provided musical entertainment of their own.  Janet had said she was going to make Ryan play for his dinner.  We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

I have been so blessed with this new extended family of ours.  They've all stepped right into Kaitlyn's life without missing a step.  She and Nolan are truly the blessed ones.  My heart is just spilling over.

Okay.  I think I'll call it quits here with the family recap.  I've got more to share, so never you worry.  I've got ball pictures to share, a scrapbook page or two, and there may even be a picture of a certain little almost-three-month-old.

Oh, wait!  How did that happen?  Told ya y'all were in trouble.  I'll be posting again really soon . . . now that I can add pictures!  I'm literally clapping my hands and letting out a little squeal right now.   =)