My 2012 Wishlist.

2011 has been a decent year. Like so many others, we had our bumps, but we got through everything and look forward to a year with little (or no) hiccups.

In 2012, I want to do a lot of things.

I want a new flash for my camera. I'm tired of crappy looking photos in crappy lighting.

I want a wireless remote for my camera, so maybe I can be IN some of the pictures.

This is a want that is more a NEED, but I want to lose the rest of my weight. I've been working on it on and off for more than a year, and I'm ready to feel better about myself again. I wouldn't mind seeing a size 8 tag on my clothes in 2012. 

I want to get away for a few days with my husband. This has been offered for the Spring, but I haven't decided where I might like to go. First world problems over here. Spending time with just him, no diapers to change, my noses to wipe, no fights to referee.. Ahh, it sounds amazing. 

I want to keep up my GPA in school, and hopefully do well in my classes in 2012. I have a lot on my plate educationally (is that a word?) and have a ways to go before I can obtain a degree. I started off my college education with a bang, and I plan on making sure it ends that way as well.

Christmas Stuff.

We've had our tree/decorations up since Black Friday. We've been respecting the turkey and doing everything on Black Friday for the past couple of years, and it has worked out well. I love our tree and the decorations, so why not have them up for as long as possible?

The ornaments are all jacked up because Hannah likes to play with / reorganize them.

We also brought an elf into our house to help Santa keep track of Cameron & Hannah. He is always finding fun stuff to do while he watches.

like zip lining.. 

roasting marshmallows.. 

hanging out in Cameron's stocking..

and fishing.

Having Chipmunk (that is what Cameron named the elf) in our house has been helpful. Cameron knows that Chipmunk talks to Santa, so he needs to behave. He loves getting up in the morning and going to find Chipmunk. I just need to keep the creative ideas coming, because there are still 18 more nights until Santa comes!

Wordless Wednesday

I'm not sure if you heard, but a snowstorm rolled through Portage last night. It started around 4 and lasted for about 4 hours. And in those 4 hours, about 2 inches of snow fell. Nothing too scary. Until 7, when the power went out. It went on and off twice, then finally went off for good about a minute later. Ugh. Nothing like living in the dark with 2 little kids (who are battling minor colds, by the way) that were looking forward to watching Rudolph on TV. Anyway, the rumor going around is that the snow (there wasn't a crazy amount) somehow knocked down power lines, and of course, we are always among the blessed folks that lose their power. Sigh.

After a quick trip to Target for some warm jammies for sis, we settled in for the night. Hannah in the office in the pack & play, and Cameron on the floor in our room, laid out on a sleeping bag (that was on top of a yoga mat for a little more cushion). Here he is passed out on his 'sleeping bed'.

And you're probably wondering why we decided to stay in the house if it was freezing and there was no power. Well, thanks to advice from a family friend, last year, we purchased one of these:

This isn't the exact one we have, because let's face it, I don't remember the brand names of boring house stuff, but it has been a life saver. That thing works on natural gas, so when the power goes out, it still works. We have it attached to the side of our furnace in the basement, and it's hooked to the pipes to heat the house, which means even when the power is on, the furnace hardly ever has to be. I'm loving that thing, and it definitely kept us warm last night.

(sorry for the not so wordless Wednesday post. I had a lot to say today. :) )

Then & Now - Anniversary Edition.

Today marks the 6-year anniversary of the day Josh and I started dating. Six? Holy crap! It doesn't really seem possible.

As you can see, it's been a busy 6 years, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. Here's to 50 more!

Our Christmas Card.

A Wonderful Year Christmas Card

Personalize your holiday card this Christmas with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

What's on their wishlists.

Cameron has really been digging all the toy catalogs that have come to our house in the past couple of weeks. He has taken time and scoured each and every single one of them to find the best and coolest toys out there. He has decided that he wants the following things. Are you listening, Santa?

Imaginext Batcave

Stinky, the talking garbage truck. 

A camera that can tolerate his roughness.

Legos. The kid is obsessed.

Hannah is still a little tough to buy for. She has started playing with babies and My Little Ponies, but there has to be something out there for her. I'm thinking:

See? Cameron is easy to list stuff for. Hannah? Not so much. In reality, she would rather get into whatever her brother's playing with, she's not really into anything yet. Oh well. The excited girl-mom inside of me is thrilled to buy pink things and keep on trying. 

For both of the kids:

Dual, headrest DVD players. To make longer drives tolerable.

Who doesn't love Winnie the Pooh?

This is in no way included in our budget, but how fun would this be next summer?

Christmas Cards!

I'm sure you all remember my post from last year, this one, about how much I love Shutterfly and their products. We received rave reviews on the cards we sent out last year, so I was really looking forward to working with Shutterfly again this year.

It took me awhile to pick a card design last year, since there are so many awesome designs to choose from. We ended up going with this card:

Like I said, people loved the card. I loved the colors, and the fact that the card was printed on thick paper, and wasn't easily bent/folded/whatever.

This year, I'm looking at these card designs:

Like I said, way too many adorable designs to choose from. Besides their cards, I love Shutterfly for gifts as well. Their calendars are incredible, and so are their photo books. And who wouldn't love to walk to their mailbox and find a greeting card just because? I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I love Shutterfly's products, and I am thrilled to be using them for our Christmas cards once again this year.

Ever have one of those days?

Er, weekends?

You know, the kind where anything that could possibly go wrong does, in fact, go wrong?

Like, for example, a trip to Chuck E Cheese with the family. Everyone eats pizza and is having a good time until your kid throws a skee-ball at your head? Yeah, that kind of day.

Or how about receiving the grade for the paper you worked so hard on, only to find that you got a B on it. Hours spent researching and typing away, and you get a measly 81%.

Even better, you spend hours raking leaves in your front yard, only to be blessed with a wind storm for the rest of the weekend, making your efforts completely useless.

And not to be forgotten, also in the wind storm, is the door to your mother-in-law's TrailBlazer that decides to slam itself on your foot.

Of course, there were some good times among the bad.

Like picking up the new coat my mom bought me for Christmas.

Or dropping $90 at Target on an outfit inspired by Ashley.

Or watching Hannah finally perfecting the idea of walking, and seeing her take off, fearlessly.

**In other news**

Please forgive me for being such a terrible blogger. I am crazy busy chasing growing toddlers and going to school full time (1 more month until the semester is over!). But I have some good stuff in store for the good old blog for this winter. A little boy around here is reeeaaallly excited for Christmas, as am I, but right now, I'm a scoch more excited for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. :)  I promise I will try harder to be a better blogger. See you real soon!

Pumpkins!

Last weekend, Josh and I (along with his parents and grandparents) took the kids to a local pumpkin patch. Last year, Cameron wasn't really too into it, and Hannah was only 2 months old. Well, this year, Cameron loved it. He ran around like a crazy person. Hannah still isn't walking, so she spent much of the visit in her stroller, but I think she had a good time too. Let's do some photo comparisons.

We ended up leaving with 3 pumpkins. Cameron will probably paint his on Friday since it's too soon to carve it. I'm not sure exactly what I'll do with the others yet. I love this idea:

I guess we'll just have to see how inspired I'm feeling when we finally decide to decorate them.

Stay tuned for an anniversary post tomorrow. :)

I'm still around!

You guys, forgive me for being such a terrible blogger. I haven't been here to write in 20 days. Gah. I've been pretty busy.

I know you're probably tired of hearing about this, but school started on September 6th. So tomorrow marks 3 weeks since the beginning of my new college career, and I'm doing really well. My math class is awesome. The teacher is good at making everything learnable and I've thrived in that class so far. (Hello, 4.0!) My writing class has been going well too. I've had to do a few assignments, and yesterday I submitted my first paper. It felt really weird to write (for a grade) again. I loved English in high school, so here's to hoping I can ace that one as well. My most challenging class is political science, because let's face it. I am not into it. I'm taking the class because it's a requirement for an associate's degree. I've done the best I can in that class so far, and although I bombed my first quiz, I look forward to improving my quiz taking abilities and acing the rest of them. Who is this over achiever, and what happened to the old me? 2 more classes start in the end of October (Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, both 1 unit classes) and I think I will be just fine. Registration for the winter semester starts October 10th, and though I've picked out my classes I want, that doesn't mean I will get them. Fingers crossed, everyone!

Besides that, nothing new is going on around here. I haven't been doing any dieting, just trying to eat everything in moderation. I haven't gained too much weight back, and definitely haven't lost any more. I have no excuses. I'm just bored of dieting.

Cameron has been preparing me for what he expects to be a super birthday party. He is the most excited about a birthday cake and his requests change every day. Some days it's 10 cakes, others he wants one giant cake. What he'll probably get will be cupcakes with Spiderman, Batman or Buzz Lightyear on them. I haven't decided yet. He couldn't care less about presents. He just wants a 'happy birthday cake'. No problem! ;)

Then and Now.

As of Sunday morning, I weigh less than I have in 5 years. I weigh less than I did on the day I got married (almost 4 years ago), so I decided to try on my wedding dress. I had the mind set that 2 pregnancies probably ruined the shape that my body was back then.

October 13, 2007

September 6, 2011

      As you can see, I was wrong. The dress fit. And most importantly, it is too big. The chest has an extra couple of extra inches and so does the back. If that wasn't a major ego boost, I don't know what is. (Please excuse my appearance in today's picture. I put my hair up when it was wet this morning, and I have a cold. Hot mess over here)

I am 10 pounds away from my goal weight, and am the proud owner of a pair of size 10 American Eagle jeans. I am a few pounds away from fitting into them, but for now, they are motivation.

Fall is coming!

Yay! Fall is my favorite season. The air is cooler, the leaves change color, football comes back (we are newly converted football fans in this house), and the cider mills roll out their delicious donuts. Many people think I'm crazy that I wish the summer away, and don't I know that after fall comes winter? Yeah, but I like the couple of months that I don't need to use my air conditioner and the fact that my hair doesn't frizz due to the lack of humidity. God bless you, fall!

Our 10 day forecast is looking gorgeous (after today, Friday and Saturday).

 

Fall is exciting because there is always something going on. There are tons of birthdays and anniversaries in our family for the fall, including Cameron's 3rd birthday and our wedding anniversary. We are celebrating 4 years this October, and it doesn't seem possible. 

So let's get excited for the fall. Who doesn't love to see this?

Random Happenings.

Life at our house is getting more hectic by the month, I swear.

Cameron is coming up on his (tear) 3rd birthday. He has already been telling me what he wants to do for his 'birday'. He wants to go to Chuck E Cheese (ugh) and have a happy birday cake - with Buzz Lightyear and Lightning McQueen on it. I hope I can convince him to do something besides Chuck E Cheese. That place is a migraine waiting to happen. Maybe I can talk him in to going bowling.

His vocabulary is growing by the day, and his favorite word is 'no'. I am afraid that the threes will be more terrible than the twos, and that is saying a lot. He is into kung fu (not sure where he picked this up), and likes to punch and kick things. He spends a good amount of time in time out because his favorite target is his sister. I scheduled his first dentist appointment for next Wednesday, and he is excited. I told him that the dentist is going to tickle and count his teeth, and when he is all done, he gets to pick a prize from a treasure chest. He is so excited. He won't stop talking about it.

Hannah is, well, Hannah. She has seemed to slow down in the growth department (thank God!) and is getting close to walking. She has been walking with hands for a few months now, but is just not ready to take off on her own yet. I am torn on this anyways. I know that once she walks, she will be more demanding, but I'm hoping she'll be a little easier too. As I type this blog post, she is standing up on her own clapping. She does this often. I keep on thinking that it won't be long before she takes off, but who knows.

She's been saying more words, bringing her count up to like 6 words. Mama, Dada, Baba, Baa (bath), Papa and Nana. She loves to read books and I have a feeling that she will be a dancer. She loves music and dancing around.

And as for me, well, I am about to be busy. I start my classes next Tuesday. I am taking 12 credit hours this semester. I registered for my classes a little late, so to get full time status, I have to take 5 classes. Thanks to advice from some Mean Mommies, I have decided I will make myself a schedule to ensure that I get my work done and maintain good grades. I know I can do it, I just need to hold myself accountable. I want to be a better student than I was in high school. Well, let's face it, I had a C average in high school, so I want to blow that out of the water. Wish me luck!

Y3W - Raising 'Em Right!

Little Wolverines fan!

I love a good deal.

Saturday morning, Josh, the kids and I headed to Kohl's for a little retail therapy. Or torture, if you ask Josh. ;)  Anyway, I was browsing the clearance sections and came across some great deals. I am so proud of them, I have to share.

I found a sticker-less candle that looked like a Yankee, so I picked it up and examined it. The tag on the bottom said it was a Yankee Candle, the vanilla frosting flavor to be more exact. There was a clearance sticker that displayed the price at a whopping 80% off. Say what? That never, ever happens. The candle was marked $4.39. That is so awesome!

Unfortunately for me and my new candle, while moving furniture around the living room on Sunday afternoon, The candle was dropped off the top of our bookshelf and the glass shattered. Josh saved the actual candle, so now I have to find it a new home to burn in.

Also purchased on Saturday was a set of wall sconces. Our living room has a wall that has been in need of some sort of decoration. We put up a shelf, complete with the Willow Tree figurines that Cameron hasn't broken (grr...) and a couple of pictures on it and needed something else on the wall. Enter these sconces, regularly priced at $29.99 on clearance for $5.99.

Love them.

And last, but not least, is the best deal of them all. As you know, I am starting school in 3 weeks, and I have been looking for a backpack for awhile now. I found this bag right next to my Yankee candle and knew I had to have it.

Josh and I looked over the backpack a few times to see if anything was wrong with it, but found no flaws. I haven't been able to find it online, so I am assuming it's an older bag marked down because the pattern was discontinued. Either way, $22 for a $55 bag is a great deal.

And I bet you're thinking that is as good as it gets. Nope! I (foolishly) applied for a Kohl's card last year, so I get additional coupons throughout the year. This time, I got a 30% off coupon, so I got an additional 30% off the things I bought.

All 3 items cost me $24. And I saved $88.