deceptive

i love the way our christmas tree lights reflect on the inside of our new windows and make it look like the bush outside has lights on it.

a story of gingerbread in photos

holiday workshop day at the john michael kohler arts center preschool.

scoutie girl preview

another guest post went live today. above you can see my favorite of today's feature. click here to check out what it's all about and to see the rest of the collection!

december 10, 2008 - photo of the day

huge snowfall

this is what we woke up to this morning. these photos were actually taken after 2 hours of shoveling by my hubby! (of course our snowblower won't start!) i didn't stop snowing until early afternoon. all schools were called off and there were kids sledding all over town. seems that we're getting so much more snow this year than in years past. just a few years ago we were hoping for snow for christmas. this year we already had snow on the ground in november. it's going to be a long, long winter.

december 09, 2008 - photo of the day

december 08, 2008 - photo of the day

15 months

the baby dude turned 15 months about a week ago. he's such a tough guy to photograph since he refuses to sit still for 2 seconds. i actually had to bribe him with a bowl of snacks to sit still, so in half the photos he has a mouth-full of goldfish. and heaven-forbid he ever leave the sign alone. i guess i can't argue with cute.

december 07, 2008 - photo of the day

4 years

the official proof that the little dude is now 4 years old.


there has been MUCH lego building around here since that's all he got for his birthday. i love this photo. he's so happy about his legos. i just wish his face was as in-focus as the legos are. oh well. it's still cute.


can't you just feel the excitement in his smile? this was his big gift from the hubby and i. it's the one he's been asking for for a year now. he calls it his "struction site" (aka: construction site) he got it today at the birthday party we had with my family. he was in lego heaven.

december 06, 2008 - photo of the day

december 05, 2008 - photo of the day

december 04, 2008 - photo of the day

that's what he said : part 7

scene: in the car on a 3 hour trip to thanksgiving. hubby and i were surfing radio stations trying to find something in the middle of the north woods. we came across john mellencamp's: hurts so good. i'm in the front see jamming out; singing and dancing, trying to entertain the little dude and get him to dance along. he wasn't enthused.

mommy: don't you like this song?
little dude: i think i like my music.

december 03, 2008 - photo of the day

nice story #2

as a special treat for the little dude's birthday we took him to mc donald's for lunch. daddy met us there during his lunch break and had to go back to work when we finished eating. the little dude, baby dude, and i stuck around so that the little dude could play in the play-land for awhile. at one point the little dude came over to the table so that he could get a drink of his chocolate milk. (his favorite) he was half-standing and half-sitting on the bench at the table. the next thing i know, he's somehow hanging upside down with his head in a pool of chocolate milk.

i'm trying to pull him up as quickly as i can because he was stuck and literally balancing on his head/neck. he was scared to death and started crying and screaming immediately. as soon as i got him up i assessed the situation. to my surprise his head was fine, but his index finger was bleeding everywhere. no sooner had i gotten him up from the floor when a man came over and asked, "do you need help? i'm an e.m.t.?) i was so relieved to see him there. i was all alone with both boys; one bleeding everywhere. i couldn't leave the baby to help the little dude, so i quickly said, "yes, that would be great."

the little dude sat on my lap while the gentleman applied pressure to his finger to help stop the bleeding and we both tried to talk to him through the screams and crying. (and when i say screams, i mean blood curdling, top of his lungs screaming, in the middle of mc donald's) he had basically cut a good layer of his skin off from his top knuckle to the top of his finger. it was not pretty. i asked him if he would like a band-aid because i know that usually makes things better. he said yes and the gentleman who was helping us said he would go up front to see if they could give him one.

while he was gone, a lady came over to see if the little dude would like some fruit snacks she had in her purse. i accepted in hopes that it would keep him from screaming if he had something in his mouth. no such luck! the gentleman came back shortly with a band-aid and had also told them to bring a mop back to clean up all the chocolate milk! he was definitely my hero of the day. we got the band-aid on and he went back to his table.

i sat the little dude down so i could get both boys ready to go. (keep in mind there is still blood-curdling screaming going on this whole time) it takes me a good 15 minutes to get both boys in their hats, mitten, coats, etc because i have to stop every 2 seconds to ask the little dude to please stop screaming. (of course it couldn't have been summer so i could just scoop them up and leave!) i felt bad because i knew it hurt, but at the same time we were in the middle of a restaurant and he had already been screaming for quite some time at this point. i finally get them both ready to go, baby in one arm, purse, left over lunch, camera, drinks, and the little dude in the other.

we made it home and washed the crusty chocolate milk out of his hair the best i could, gave him some ibuprofen and put him down for a nap. he finally managed to stop screaming a few minutes after i laid him down. it was quite the event.

i honestly don't know what i would have done if that nice man hadn't come over to help. he saved my day! i never got his name, but i thanked him several times. i'm not sure if he really realizes what his help meant to me. i'm sure in his eyes it wasn't much but, being all alone and not being able to leave one child to help another, he was absolutely my saving grace.

*photo above taken pre-incident

december 02, 2008 - photo of the day

december 01, 2008 - photo of the day

uh oh!

because of some technical glitch, my coupon code at fin+roe decided to shut down early last night and many couldn't get it to work after 9:00 p.m. (i have a snaking suspicion it had to do with time zones)

anyway, i'm extending my black friday (weekend) sale to include today to make up for it. hopefully those who couldn't get it to work will come back and try again today. so sorry for the inconvenience!!

use code: BLACKFRIDAY for your 20% discount!

happy 4th birthday little dude

dear little dude-
today you turn 4 years old. we have been counting down the days since august when your baby brother had his 1st birthday and you wanted to know when it was going to be time for your birthday. you patiently waited while mommy had her birthday, daddy had his birthday, your cousin "e" had her birthday, AND we had thanksgiving. every day for the last 25 days or so, you've torn off a sheet on your birthday countdown. every day you're so excited.

i cannot begin to explain my love for you. it took you quite some time to come into our lives. i prayed for you, i cried for you, i laid in bed many nights wondering why you weren't with us. we did everything possible to bring you into this world and i cannot even begin to tell you how worth it you are. worth the tears, the heart-ache, the years, the money, the drugs, the countless shots. i'd do it all over again if i had to.....in a heartbeat.

you are such an amazing kid. from the moment you were born you were easy. you slept well. you ate well. you entertained yourself while i started up this business of mine. you're still easy. when other moms ask me how i dealt with the terrible two's, potty training, or other common childhood issues, i'm afraid they're all going to hate me when i tell them that we didn't have to deal with any of that. of course you have your moments. every kid does. but for the most part you're truly easy. of course i want to take credit for it and say it was all good parenting, but in all honesty, you were a good student. it was easy to teach you right from wrong. it still is. i'm so proud of the boy you've become.

you're wise beyond your years. so smart that i often wonder where all of this knowledge is coming from. you have such an amazing brain. you can put a puzzle together like nobody's business. you build lego sets meant for children twice your age with no hesitation....you just open the instruction manual and go at it. you remember random facts from over a year ago that even we had forgotten. i am so curious as to what you're going to do with this brain of yours. what will you be when you "grow up"?

you're a perfectionist like me. you have been since infancy. you're a creature of habit and things have to be a certain way. routine and consistency are your best friends. every day for lunch, it's peanut butter an jelly sandwiches with slices of banana tucked in (toasted of course). you eat fruit like it's going out of style. and of course, you need to consume these things in the right order. fruit first while your sandwich cools down from being toasted, then the sandwich, then your "special treat" of a few peanuts, and a few goldfish to finish the meal off. it's like clockwork. dinner is more of a challenge since we force you to eat whatever daddy and i are having for dinner. it's ok if the items are in their pure form. however, mix a few ingredients together and it's the end of the world. casseroles, forget it.

i could go on and on writing about you and your quirks. the things that make you, you. most of all though, i just want you to know you are loved. you are loved more than you could ever begin to understand.

happy birthday little man.
mommy