Nov 29, 2009

A weekend of Thanksgiving

I just loaded the weekend's pictures onto the computer and I seem to be missing a few.


...Due to the fact that I never took them. There's an idea for a new year's resolution (not that I really do those). I really do need to get pictures of everyone.

I do apologize for the red-eye in the picture of Adrian with Grandpa L. I tried to correct it but it ended up looking even worse.


I think the picture of Jenny and Adrian was taken by Jeffery. (Or maybe it was me, I can't remember.) Adrian was so funny laying there; he had been fighting sleep and he kept popping his eyes open and looking at everyone and smiling. Then his eyes would close. Then all of a sudden he'd pop 'em open and be grinning, looking around again. And then they'd close again...I could almost swear he was teasing us.

Those are the only two pictures I have of Jeff's family. Ridiculous, I know.

It was an interesting Thanksgiving. We all crammed into my little kitchen and somehow managed to find our plates among the dishes of food that pretty much covered the entire table. It was around 80 degrees most of the day, or most of the weekend really. We ended up throwing the windows wide open to get it back to a reasonable temperature. Ironically, our landlord had called a day or two before to say "I just wanted to remind you to keep your windows closed for the winter." (Our heat is included with rent so windows are supposed to be closed if it's below 55.) I told him that we keep our heat set at 65 and I don't remember the last time it clicked on and that it often reaches 80 in our apartment. I suspect the lady downstairs keeps her place pretty warm. Luckily, he's a pretty nice guy so he just said that it's fine if we "crack it open to get fresh air" but to make sure everything is closed up if we go out of town. The windows actually stayed open all Wednesday night and it never dropped below 75. And it was SNOWING outside!

The entire group (a whopping 6 people) played card games every night (Phase 10 and Skip-Bo). Of all the games we played, I won only one single time. It was fun anyway! Jeff and I used to play games fairly often but we haven't in a while, it was nice to get some use out of those cards again.

There was a Rangers hockey game on Saturday night. Adrian loved all the sights and was perfectly content even though it was so LOUD! He only got upset when he started to sweat...and Jeff was the one to figure it out. He is definitely his dad's boy. I had him all bundled up worrying that he'd be cold and he ended up being too hot!

This week's goal: to get Adrian to go to sleep on his own. These past two weeks have been a little crazy for him. We were up north twice and then had company so he's gotten used to falling asleep in my arms and going to sleep at all hours of the night. Hopefully it won't take too long to get him back to normal! And hopefully he'll really be sleeping through the night after this. He usually only wakes up twice to eat and goes right back to sleep but the past few nights he hasn't slept well at all...I'm crossing my fingers!

Nov 28, 2009

What's wrong with this picture?



Jeff's crew managed to get the plane done in time so he did NOT have to work on Thanksgiving. And for that, I am thankful.

We had a delicious dinner and of course, ate way too much. I had pie for supper and was completely stuffed again after eating just one piece. We all played Phase 10 in the evening and for some reason never finished the game. It happens. I was losing anyways.

Oh yeah, don't worry, the turkey didn't catch fire. That's just the light in the oven. ;)

Nov 25, 2009

A Picture from the ever fabulous Emily


The sweater and hat were made by my godmother, Laura. I'm so disappointed that the hat is too small already, I love it!

Jeff's family arrived safe and sound.
I promise pictures by the end of the weekend.
It's going to be 85 degrees tomorrow.
In my apartment that is.
I'm crossing my fingers that Jeff doesn't get called in to work tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Nov 24, 2009

It's Officially Official!


Adrian can roll over!


He's rolled over a few times now when he gets really mad. He gets his little butt way up in the air and sort of tips over. I just wasn't sure if he actually knew how to do it.


Then, today, I had him laying on his belly on the floor while I was baking and he looked like he was trying to roll over. I kept watching and sure enough, he rolled over! And he wasn't even mad! The best part is, when he finally rolled over he just started chewing on his hands like "oh look, now I'm on my back, what's the big deal?" All the while, I'm practically jumping up and down yelling "You big boy! You rolled over! I'm so proud of you! Oh, you're so big!" and clapping my hands.


And then I made him do it 17 more times.

Nov 23, 2009


You know somethin? I feel better when I have an excuse for not blogging. I feel like I've been so busy lately. And yet, somehow, I still feel as though I have nothing to show for it. Instead of boring you with the mundane things, I'll just tell you that I've been working on Etsy stuff (and not enough) and trying to get ready for my in-laws to arrive in a few days. (Yes! We have family coming for Thanksgiving!)

I've been working on my ornaments for Circle Boutique in our spare bedroom and it is absolutely turned upside-down. I'm hoping to get it turned right-side-up before Wednesday evening. Or just WednesDAY, I need to find out when they will be here!

If you haven't checked out our shop on Etsy, take a look! My Mom, my sisters Sara, Emily and Amanda, and myself opened up Circle Boutique a few weeks ago. We are filling it with handmade baby items, mittens, pre-made scrapbooked albums, ornaments, and so much more to come! I know I have a whole list of items I plan to make in the future so check it often to see the latest items!

Nov 14, 2009

One Year

I neglected to blog Thursday about the fact that we moved one year ago. Close your mouth, I know, I couldn't believe it either. In a way, it feels like we moved last month. This year positively flew by! On the other hand, it's almost as though we've lived here forever. We were welcomed into the small congregation here so quickly and openly. I honestly don't think I could be as happy as I am today if we didn't have a church here, I just don't know what I would do.


We moved here after Jeff graduated from "airplane school" so he could start his job as a mechanic at the airport. He had opportunities to work in Idaho or Texas but we chose here. We get free flights through American and American Eagle airlines, anywhere they fly. I remember dreaming about all the trips we could take and even the "we'll just fly to Maine for a lobster dinner and come back" trips we would take. Guess how many times we've flown in this past year? Once. That's right. Just once. We went to visit Jeff's aunt and uncle in Texas. Now, I have to go off topic for a minute (oh wait, that's nothing new). I had NEVER met his aunt and uncle before going on that trip. Talk about stepping outside my comfort zone! The trip went really well, his aunt is EXACTLY like his mom and his uncle is incredibly inquisitive so there was never a silent, awkward moment. I'm really glad we went and we're still trying to figure out when we'll be able to go again. Anyways, back to flight benefits. As good as that sounds, American has no direct flights downstate so it's actually a lot easier to drive when we visit our families. Bummer dude.


Jeff graduated at the end of October (if I remember correctly, and I usually don't) and was scheduled to start training on the 17th of November. I think we both worked up until the 7th so we would have a full week to finish packing, get everything up north, and settle in somewhat. We moved on the 12th because my sister Jeanie's birthday is on the 11th and she wanted us to be there. We left that Wednesday morning with our cars loaded down and nothing but the raaaadiooo. Actually, I had CD's, Jeff was gracious enough to let me drive the car with the CD player...the only car we have these days. I think it snowed that day. And stayed until May, and that's no lie. I don't know if I mentioned it before but, we had never seen our apartment before we moved in that day. Jeff went up north one weekend in October and I told him not to come back until we had a place to live. He came back. I wish I had a picture of the outside of the building so you would understand why my brother Danny thought it was haunted. We think it was an old school. There are a lot of apartments like that up here; my sister's apartment used to be a gas station. I can't remember the actual number of stairs to get to our apartment but I can tell you this, there were quite a few! It was the classic looking schoolhouse building with the stairs in front and then we were on the second floor and there were two floors to our apartment. It was a pretty neat setup, the biggest downfall was that it was the only unit that hadn't been renovated. We had faux wood paneling with nail holes all over the place, and a previous tenant's decorations. Let me put it this way, when I asked our landlord about nail/screw holes in the wall, he didn't respond with words, he laughed. Besides the paneling, there were three different styles of carpet in orange (shag), beige (berber), and green (that flat looped style). The bathroom had yellow toilet/sink/shower and SPONGE-PAINTED walls. In a really ugly sea green I might add. Not to mention two different styles of linoleum. On our first morning there, I was making eggs and the second the aroma started wafting through the air, a mouse came out from UNDER THE CABINETS. We bought mouse traps that very same day and caught it that night. I never saw a sign of mice again after that, although I thought for the longest time that we had one living in the gas furnace (we used the electric heat) until I realized it was the birds landing on the vent outside. It was an interesting place to say the least but I'm glad we were only there for three months. I got pregnant and what had already been cold was now freezing. It was very poorly insulated. The heat bill was the reason we moved, our heat is included in rent now!


(Don't mind the drool, it was coming out faster than I could wipe it off!)

I feel like this move was the beginning of a whole slew of changes in our lives. I have never been one to approach a group of people I don't know or try to meet new people. I wished that I was, I just never did anything about it. That has certainly changed! Neither of us knew anyone in this area before moving here. The first time we stayed overnight was when we were looking for a place to live (and we spent one of those nights in the car). Actually, I take that back, we both knew a few people that were going to school here and a family that used to live downstate. As far as married couples go, we didn't know anyone. Wait, I take that back again, my cousin lives here. The point is, we felt like we were moving to an area of complete strangers compared to how many people we know downstate. The thing is, I don't think we went to this church for the entire first month we were living here. We may have gone that first weekend but then we went downstate for Thanksgiving and up north after that. After what felt like forever, but was actually really quick, I finally met some of the married girls in the area. Before moving, someone had given me the number of one of the ladies up here who had wanted me to call when we moved. She ended up calling me in the beginning of December to go to a craft show. It was the most awkward thing (for the first three minutes) when I walked in by myself (I can't remember why I didn't ride with them) and tried to find a group of people that I had NEVER SEEN BEFORE! We managed to find each other somehow and I've been meeting up with them ever since.

Another thing that has changed a lot over the past year is my mode of transportation. I have always been the one to drive EVERYWHERE no matter how far or near. Now, if it's within a mile, I walk. Of course, the biggest reason for that is the fact that we are a one vehicle household, so oftentimes, I don't have a choice. However, I've noticed lately that even when Jeff is home, I'll still walk if I can. I never thought I'd see the day. It works out pretty well though; three of my friends live in the same town. I've walked a few times with one of them...and I really need to call her more often to go for walks.

Coincidentally, I've also become more interested in healthy eating. And I don't necessarily mean no sweets. I'm talking about organic and natural foods. It wasn't that long ago when I'd be the one saying "oh well, you're going to die somehow, you might as well eat it and enjoy it." Not anymore! I've started learning about food, the good and the bad, and it's been an eye-opening experience. While we can't afford to eat completely organic, we're taking baby steps to get there. For one, I don't buy any processed foods. Or none that I can think of at the moment. I make as much as I can from scratch, right down to bread and rolls. It's a lot of work but I love to cook and bake so it's been fun, and I'm learning all sorts of things along the way! Who would have thought of making crackers or pretzels? Yum! The thing is, homemade goods taste ten times better than the store-bought stuff. The fact that it's way better for you is an added bonus.

About a month after we moved I borrowed Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover from the local library. (Which was a Carnegie by the way, but nowhere near as nice as the one in my hometown.) We are now, slowly but surely, on our way to getting out of debt. It feels great knowing that, although this is taking longer than I would have liked, we are not accumulating any more debt in the process. As much as I would love a house right now, I am perfectly content to live in this apartment and pay rent for as long as we need to to get closer to our goal. I'm sure we'll have a mortgage when we get a house, although I would LOVE to be able to pay cash for our own home, I just don't think that is possible for us considering we don't know what the future holds.


And imagine that, we now have a three-month-old! This has been quite a year! It's not slowing down anytime soon either. My sisters and my mom and I just started a shop on Etsy. So come check out Circle Boutique! My sister Sara is the only one who is on the ball and listed her (baby) items so far. Emily and Amanda are doing a craft show today as is my mom. I am hoping to have some ornaments listed on Etsy by the end of the weekend. After all, Christmas is just around the corner!

Nov 8, 2009

A Hiking we will go

Don't mind the girls in pajamas behind me.


Jeff's brother and sister stayed with us this weekend. We had the most gorgeous day yesterday, 59 and clear blue skies, so we hiked up Sugarloaf Mountain. There are several sets of stairs along the trail to help you up the steeper areas...wow there were a lot of steps! We were all pretty glad to see the top. ...And yet I was the only one with an extra 14 lbs strapped to me. ;) (I have to admit, I was pretty glad, it's a good way to work just a little bit harder. You can't give up halfway through!)

Nov 5, 2009

What Happy Memories



I almost forgot about these pictures until I saw them again on that other camera I'm using. As you may recall, our weddings were a mere three weeks apart. It was so fun to be planning a wedding at the same time as my big sister; we got to call each other up and ask the other clueless person how or what you were supposed to do for this and that. I never realized that no one really knows what they are doing until after they plan their wedding. Funny how that works.

BTW: Amanda Kay, if you're pictures turned out better than this could you email them to me sometime?! And one more thing, were you wearing heels? Because there is no way that you are this much taller than me!!

Nov 4, 2009

Aaaaahh....

After spending a few hours with some old friends all I can think is: time with the girls is good for the soul. :)

Remind me to do that more often! And we say this every time we're saying our good-byes...

And then remember something else we had wanted to say...

And then say good-bye again..."for real this time!"

And then we talk some more...

You get the picture.

Nov 2, 2009

I found a camera, just not the the one I normally use



I'm loving long-johns on this chubby little dude!
...And I'm noticing now that the buttons are ready to pop. Ha!