The best part of waking up...

I had a coupon for a free Starbuck's coffee {free always tastes best!} and Chip was kind enough to pick it up and drop it off for me this morning. It was a tall half-caf coffee of the day and I added a generous splash of coconut creamer. My favorite creamer flavor. =)

I then poured half of it into my mug and headed out to the deck to enoy the morning sun- as the heat will be kicking up later in the day. Gotta enjoy the sun and mild humidity while we can! As I took my first sips of coffee, Crew came over and said, "mmmmmm" over and over. He loves coffee. With lots of cream too. I gave him a few sips and then he pointed to the rest of the leftover cup. We enjoyed our coffee together. He read his favorite "Good Dog, Carl" books... and I flipped through "30,0o1 Baby Names" book. It was the perfect way to start the day.

Hope you enjoy your day too!

All is calm...

We're enjoying our first snow day of the winter today. Three of my kids didn't sleep in, but it's still nice to be in jammies and take in an extra leisure morning. If you do have to be out and about- even as the holiday season progresses- one of my tips for you is to grab a "Perfect Oatmeal" from Starbuck's if you're needing a quick pick-me-up. Skip the fast food burger and instead fill up on this tasty, warm meal. I like mine with all the toppings~ brown sugar, dried fruit and mixed nuts~ but I only use half of each packet. The other half I eat on my next bowl of oatmeal I make at home. As a self-proclaimed cereal fanatic, you now know my top favorite food. Which surprisingly doesn't include whipped cream. =)

The little pink tree is one I put up in Ava's room and it was a surprise for her when she came home from school one day last week. I had to move a pile of stuffed animals to make room for the mini tree and decided that I'd just use them as decorations on it instead of pulling out a whole bunch of ornaments. She was SO happy with it. She kept saying, "You made my wish come true; I love my pink tree!" It was a very simple thing to do, but clearly was one that enhanced her merriment this season. I love when that happens. Sometimes it's the little things that make the season brighter. I have had to threaten to take it down a couple of times already, but for now it's still up and she remains on "the nice list". =) Bella has a silver mini tree in her room and is just as pleased with her tree as Ava. Wyndham has a mini dvd player in her's and is happy to be able to watch Barney's Christmas movie whenever she wants to.

Now... back to some cardmaking and more coffee for this calm morning!

Merry & Bright.

The top two photos here are not mine. But I am making it my personal challenge after yesterday's post to blog as much as I can through the rest of this month. Even if it's just simple stuff like links and photos of different things that are inspiring me this holiday season.

I am really enjoying how so many people seem to be crafting and creating handmade things the past couple of years- and one of the things I keep seeing all over the place is cute garlands. The scalloped one you see pictured would be sweet hanging up on a mantle in holiday colors/print. You can find the link and tutorial right here. I'm adding that to me "want-to-do list". =)

Right next to the garland on my list is to make some chocolate-covered marshmallows. I know my kids would like these rolled in sprinkles or drizzled with chocolate or even covered in red and green sugar. Nothing says Christmas like sugar on top of sugar...right?! It's the time of year for indulging. Or is it bulging? Ha! Either way, I thought these were cute and fun and if you want you can follow this link and buy them online and have them shipped to you or your friends right here!

I did find a few quiet minutes early in the morning the past couple of days and I pulled out some of the coffee sleeves I've been saving all year long and cut up some patterned papers and then added some ribbons and a few other little things and voila! Little coffee sleeve albums- just waiting to be filled with tiny pictures and handwritten notes. Hopefully I will have them wrapped up and in the mail early this week. I may not be getting all my Christmas cards written, but I am going to spread as much Christmas cheer as I can. Maybe I've even inspired you to save your cup holders and turn them into something fun to pass on this Christmas too. They'd make great gift tags or even cute garland if you strung a bunch of them together and added letters to spell something like "Tis the Season".

Here's to making the season merry and brighter!

Just passing along the good news...

Tomorrow morning- between 4 am and 10:30 am (or until pastries run out) Starbuck's is offering free pastries with the purchase of a beverage. Sounds like a nice way to jumpstart the day, if you ask me! Although I guarantee you I won't be headed to my nearest Starbuck's anytime before 7 am. =)

In bigger news...

Happy Birthday to my MOM!!

Feel free to leave her a birthday wish here today. She's turning the big 6-0, but you didn't all hear it from me! In honor of her being the youngest 60 year old person I know, and also for the fact that I wouldn't be here and you wouldn't read this blog if it weren't for her, I'd like for 60 of you to leave her a birthday wish in the comments. She claims she's my biggest fan and she is an avid reader of this blog even though she won't turn on a computer herself. =) I happen to find that endearing, Mom. Among a million other things I love about you. Like your zucchini bread recipe- which I made today while I was thinking of you.

I wish you a whole lot of love, Joy and happiness in your life.

From me and all the Nitty.Gritty. Family.... Happy Birthday today!

We love you so much!

05.06.09

While baking a double batch of zucchini bread in the morning, Chip brought me a Starbuck's latte and oatmeal. [Nice.]

While he had stepped inside the house for just a minute, he left the car running and door open. He came back to his car, after making me a happy, to find a big, stray dog had jumped in car and muddied the seats and dashboard all over. [Not nice.]

Later on, we brought bread to deserving teachers and staff at school. [Hopefully they thought it was nice.]

Came home and enjoyed the sunshine and cherry blossoms outside our front door. [Very nice.]

Children got out of car when dropped off from school- scurrying and arguing. [Not nice.]

Calmed them quickly with afterschool snack and listened to the recap of their day. [Nice.]

Kids in jammies and tucked into bed at their usual bedtime. [Nice.]

Crew awake throughout most of the night...teething and stuffy nose. [Not nice at all!]

Rocking him and realizing these sorts of days go by so quickly, I closed my eyes and thanked God for every blessing He has given me and asked for more patience and insight to "be in" and even enjoy the not-so-nice moments. [Undeserved...but very nice.]

May 6, 2009... a day that could easily blur from one to the next, but I'm learning to savor and remember these "ordinary" days as much as the "special" days. [Nice.]

A few pictures...

of just Chip and me. I sometimes forget what we look like as a couple. =)

The truth is that it's a rare thing for the two of us to go out alone. We know it's a healthy thing to do and it strengthens your relationship, but it just doesn't work out all that often. We did enjoy a nice dinner with our friends and we did have Crew along too.

I think it's funny that people look at us and see a couple with their first baby, when in reality we're far from that! You never know how many kids someone has home with the babysitter. =)

I do love getting away for a bit...free time/down time is a good thing.

I carried that over into a bit of scrap time with Ava yesterday morning and turned out this little mini album. I have been saving coffee sleeves whenever (on rare occasions too!) I get a latte and decided that they would make great little covers for a small book.

So don't throw out your cupholders any more. You can whip up some cute brag books or tiny notebooks of your own!{You can see the whole book here, if you like.}

Since I'm in such a carefree mood, leave me a comment telling me where you go or what you do for "downtime" and I'll do a random drawing and make you a blank mini book too. I'll draw a winner by Thursday. Saying you read my blog for downtown doesn't get you any bonus points. Although I will get a good chuckle from such comments. =) Happy Tuesday!

A different kind of birthday.

Today I turned 36 years old. I awoke and showered, finished packing everything I could manage {with Chip's help} to pack for a family of 7 into a Honda Odyssey and headed out for our trip to Minnesota. I am blogging for the first time ever in a vehicle. We're on Int. 90 headed toward Wisconsin. The roads are nice and clear (we just passed a sign for Belvedere/Sycamore, IL) for the midwest this time of year. Especially since we had a snow day yesterday and the storms have been all around this route and are possibly swirling for us to drive into as well.
I am sandwiched (tightly!!) in the back row between Bella and Ava. All the kids are watching individual dvd's and I'm on the laptop. Crew is snoozing nicely in his carseat and the driving is left for Chip to maneuver, and hopefully make good time too.
So far, I can't complain about the trip. Besides the stress leading up to it, and the last minute hassles of packing and loading everyone inside, I really can't complain all that much. I was treated to a quick stop at Starbuck's for a nonfat, half-caf, Hazlenut latte as we took to the road and as I sipped my birthday latte I thought to myself how lucky I am right now. Things could be much worse.
Lots of people have taken this route with family in tow- only in a covered wagon with no comforts of heat or wireless internet. My birthday wish this whole year long is that I count my blessings and look at the many things/reasons I have to be grateful before I utter complaints or criticism in the midst of any given situation.
I'm thankful today for my health, my family, clear,dry roads and new window wipers, cigarette lighters that provide power to dvd players and gameboy systems and so many other things too.
Yes, it's a bit of a different birthday, but I still there are lots of reasons to celebrate. Now, as long as we don't end up in a blizzard for the second leg of the trip I think being 36 is going to be a pretty good thing! =)

Documenting December & Photobooth pics.

Among scrapbookers there is a wide variety of books and classes and just different ideas out there as to how to document the days of December. Last year I kept a little journal of the daily activities we did in our family to make each day a little bit more special- some were more of a big deal than others. In my little book, I wrote what the special event or treat was and then I added things like stickers, hand-drawn doodles and other items like Christmas tags and ticket stubs, just to keep track of the fun we had counting down to Christmas Day.

I pulled that book out yesterday and found I hadn't even kept up with it the last week of Christmas, I'm sure it was because things goto so busy. But, as I flipped through the pages that I did keep track of, I was so happy because there were a lot of little memories I would have never remembered. And there were good ideas for me to do again this year! It was fun to reflect and 'see' that we were having a great month and the anticipation did build up til Christmas. I'm glad that I have that little journal and I think I may write it in again this year.

All that to say I have a couple of WONDERFUL, talented artist/friends, who are keeping December/Christmas blogs and sharing inspirtation and festive projects and ideas for whoever wants to stop by their blogs.

One is by my friend, Wilna {Hi Wilna!} and I guarantee you will enjoy seeing her art/pages and ideas here. I just know she is going to make her holiday beautiful and special. She will likely have some mention of Starbuck's between now and Christmas too. She has a thing for their Peppermint Mochas and collects their bears too. =) I know you will love her blog!

Another one is called Sugarplums and Mistletoe and this blog is going to put you in the Christmas mood, no doubt about that! One of my favorite persons is sharing her passion for all things holiday... you will love it! Thank you, Sarah Bowen for being so generous in sharing yourself with so many people in this way. You've made my holiday better already!

I, myself am also reading through the book of Luke in the Bible this month. I just think it is another way for me to draw my heart and mind into the 'real story' behind Christmas. I'm so thankful that God gave us His scripture so that we can read about the actual events that were all so perfectly orchestrated and then played out according to His plan. I love that so much.

Okay.

What do all the pictures have to do with all of that? Truthfully? Not much. Except that today is December 1st and I am documenting some of the random details of my month here too. I keep telling Chip that Crew reminds me a lot of Teagan when she was a baby and after snapping a bunch of photos of him [and me] today I went looking for some pictures to compare them as babies.

I came across some Photobooth pictures of me and Teagan and really they just made my day. As I looked more closely at them I could definitely see the resemblance, and these aren't even the pictures I was thinking of. But since I found those pictures of Teagan and me, I figured I might was well share the pictures I took of Crew and me. Even though the self-timer isn't nearly as great as sitting in a booth. I tried. =) I did like a couple of the pictures of Crew by himself though...especially the one of him in his fuzzy moon hat. I couldn't resist taking a picture of his knitted booties either- today was a perfect day for hand-knit booties.

Now, to close my first day of December, I am looking forward to climbing into a freshly-made bed with flannel sheets. I love flannel sheets!

All month long, please feel free to leave me comments as to what your December daily is... from fun activities to favorite carols and poems to recipes that you think are divine. I'd love to 'see' what different things you do and be a part of your Christmas countdown too!

What we did this weekend...

Wyndham and I worked in the kitchen making food like rice pudding, Jell-o (remember when I was excited that I made Jell-o when I had my first baby? Teagan was 3 weeks old and I was thrilled and called Chip at work to tell him I had made Jell-o...now I do 10 times more work by noon and I have 4 more kids...how does that happen?!) and blue "Welcome to the world, Crew" cupcakes (Wyndham is signing cupcake in the top photo and doing a silly dance/song thing in the other three pictures.) for a cookout we hosted for our neighbors. The men all helped Chip put a shed up in our backyard, and were "watching" the kids at the same time. As you can see, the kids were more than happy at the lack of supervision. But don't worry, at least the dads were wise enough to take the key out of the atv ignition whenever it wasn't in use.

I am finding life with a newborn to be sort of "extreme". While Crew is very mellow, I have bursts of energy countered with long stretches of fatigue. Hence, the blogging is sporadic and when I am tired I find I feel guilty about it. At this point, I am feeling good- which means yesterday was a bit more rough.

You'd think I'd have this 'balance thing' all figured out, but it's not so. It's called 'listen to your body' and at 35 I'm still not keen on that. I like the idea of push yourself and then hit-the-wall for some odd reason. I guess I'm a little bit crazy and yet feeling pretty good at times, so that's when I forget to 'listen' and rest.

Tonight I plan to get to bed early- just like last night and see if I can stay on top of things a bit better. If not, there's always Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Lattes. =)

Mmmm, pumpkin. And prayers.

You all made me very hungry with your favorite fall dessert comments. I especially agree with anyone who said "with whipped cream". I too love anything pumpkin and apple and crisp and cream. What a great time of year for dessert, huh?! Even Starbuck's counts as dessert if you ask me...it's more based on calories and taste, so for sure a Pumkin Spice Latte qualifies in my book.

I thought I would share one of my favorite recipes with you...one that can be modified to suit even the chocolate lovers that stop by here to read each week. It's a easy, delicious, calorie-laden dessert that I found after watching Paula Deen on Food Network one fall afternoon a few years ago.

The dessert is pictured above and you can link to the recipe by clicking here. It's called Pumpkin Gooey Cake, but the recipe has alternate flavors, like Chocolate Peanut Butter or even Banana flavor, for those of you who like things a bit fruitier. I've tried some of the variations, but have to say the pumpkin one is my favorite.
I also thought I'd share a link to some free desktop wallpapers for some of you who are skipping dessert these days. You deserve a little something too! I just changed mine to the picture above and am liking the clean look- yet with an autumn thought.

As for the mini-book giveaway, I will be sending a package to Christi in Orlando who loves pumpkin cake rolls and other pumpkin-flavored desserts. {Just email me your address: nitty.grittyjody@yahoo.com } and I will put some scrap goodies in the mail for you. Thanks to everyone who played along. I just may have to do more giveaways and clean out my scrap space as a result. I love that there are so many of you who love scrapping and creating and making things- even if they are small and simple. As far as I know the Social Butterfly Collection sold out over at SIStv, but I do know that there is a lot more fun and exciting stuff that will be available soon, so check over there or keep an eye out here for links/details.

You can also be praying for Jeanette and her family {JJ is the owner and my "boss"/friend at SIS} and her husband is going through treatments for cancer of the tonsils. I keep thinking of them so often and just know that God is bigger than cancer, that God is bigger than our fears, and I know that God hears our prayers and loves to show Himself to us through the dark times in life as much as the times of blessing.

I hope that I can update you all and post about Bob's complete healing and recovery at some point. Just as I continue to pray for Jaymun and his family. Nothing is too big for God!

Little things...

I brewed a couple of cups of coffee today for the first time in 2 weeks. I still have Starbuck's Christmas blend coffee grounds- it's been so long. I am sipping coffee as I type this and just have to note how good it tastes. It's creamy and smooth and it is soothing my still-sore throat...but I can tell I am finally on the mend. Isabella is too. She pulled out some crayons and started doodling after eating a PopTart just now. I think we're all beginning to see the other side of this mountain we've been trying to climb since last week.
The good news is that I am looking forward to washing some bedding, towels and just giving my kitchen a good scrub down. I am looking forward to going through some 'piles' of paperwork and hopefully even getting on top of some thank-yous and belated Christmas cards. Which at this point will more likely be covered with hearts and sent as Valentine's cards- a bit early. =)
Some little things I wanted to note about being sick are:
1) It feels good to feel better. Normal suddenly feels almost *amazing*.
2) Chip hopefully appreciates me a little bit more...and was a real trooper jumping in and playing Mr. Mom for a few days. Although I have to admit his cooking skills far outweigh mine- so the kids will be back to their usual dishes and maybe they'll miss Dad's cooking. But that's okay.
3) Speaking of cooking...I lost 4 pounds since Sunday night- which I know will come right back on as soon as I get back in the kitchen. Still, it's nice to know the weight can come off if I ever need to crash diet. =)
4) I am happy to weigh a few more pounds if it means I can do household chores, sleep all night long, and walk up and down the stairs without aches and pains. Yep. I'd rather weigh more than be sick.
5) I've never had so much 'free time' to pray and talk to God than I did the past few days. All the sleepless nights and aching body made my thoughts turn straight to God and ask for help and comfort. Not just for me...but for so many people that are on my hearts everyday.
6) Being sick reminds me that life is not about big houses, luxury cars, designer clothes, latest accessories or anything that our society tries to tell us we need to be happy. I think just knowing you are loved and that you matter to someone is what counts. Contentment isn't even in being in *good health*...but knowing you are loved and cared for no matter what.
My Fed-ex man just brought me a few more scrap goodies today. I am happy that once I get on top of my 'normal life' again, I have the chance to create some fun, new things.
Yep. The cloud is definitely lifting around here. And it feels good.

I do some of my best thinking....

at Starbuck's. I think I should go there more often. Especially now that Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back in season. Mmmmm. For a little over $3, I am full of ideas and smiling today. All due to the simple goodness of a non-fat, extra-hot pumpkin spice latte.
That card reads, "Lattes are the new birthday cake." If that's true, then I have no problem with birthdays...bring 'em on! =)
Hope life offers you a simple joy today. Even if it's a whiff of a hot latte.

Influences...

It is no secret that I am influenced more by packing when I make purchases than almost anything else {except price!}. I was so happy when my latest Starbuck' s beans came packaged in such a cute bag. It came with a mini card attached too- telling how to make iced coffee. But for me it is just a bonus 'scrap embellishment'. =)
The rest of the pictures are just snapshots from some little projects I'm working on right now. I just liked that I noticed such a trend in the colors and brightness of all the stuff laying around my space right now. Fun, bold colors and playful. There's that little owl again. It's still a work-in-progress, but for sure it's now a 'she' and I'm still thinking of stitching around her and maybe I'll add something to the heart she's holding.
I'm getting very excited and swamped with stuff do to before I head out to CHA Chicago in less than a week!! I am so ready for a 'scrap immersion vacation'. The thought makes me very happy. I'll be meeting lots of people I've known only online so far. If you're one of them...make sure you grab me and say hello.
So, tell me...just for fun. What is influencing you in a positive way these days? I'd love to know! =)