Oh, hai!

Remember me?

I'm still around! Life has been hectic. Cameron goes to school, I go to school, I clean a house on Thursdays.. Yeah. Hectic. Not to mention, Christmastime? Yeah. Life in overload. But, for the next 2 weeks, I am free from my school, and next week will be spent at home with no trips to preschool or to the house I clean, so life will be good. I'm kind of excited about the idea of jammies all day long. 

Speaking of Christmas, we're ready! Christmas cards were mailed weeks ago (I'm talking days after Thanksgiving), packages have been mailed for family and secret Santa draws, and our tree is bursting at the seams on December 20th. Let's not forget that we haven't put our presents out for the kids, and neither has Santa. These kids have so many people in their lives that love them. :)

Fall 2012 semester wrapped up last week, and I am proud to add four more 4.0s to my transcript. My GPA remains at 3.98, but that is still something to be very proud of! 

The next few days are consumed with Christmas parties and family get togethers and a teeny tiny bit of snow. I am probably the only person in SW Michigan who would prefer a green/brown Christmas, but it appears that I will get my wish. Yay! When you have as many places to go as we do, we kind of appreciate nice, clean, and dry roads. 

Until next time, Happy Holidays!

Shutterfly Giveaway Winner.

Congratulations, Robert Tuesley! Enjoy your Christmas cards!

It's that time again..

Believe it or not, folks, Christmas is just a little more than 2 months away. What?! It honestly seems like I just took down my decorations and got rid of the snow. 

I don't know about you, but one of my most favorite holidays is Christmas. I love the atmosphere, the decorations, the food, shopping (especially on Black Friday), and just about everything BUT the snow. ;)   I absolutely love Christmas trees and Christmas music and look forward to the day after Thanksgiving (I try to respect the bird!) so I can get all my stuff around. 

For the past 2 years, I have worked with Shutterfly to produce the Christmas cards my family sends out. I have been so pleased with what I've received and love sending the cards out to my friends and family. I absolutely love the Christmas Photo Cards  that are offered from Shutterfly. The quality is amazing and the pictures look so crisp and clear. We are always receiving compliments on them as people start getting them in the mail.

The cards offered by Shutterfly are surprisingly affordable for the quality you get. They have great deals year round on their products as well. Visit this link to check out their Special Offers page.

AWESOME ALERT! If you are interested in winning a $50 credit towards Christmas cards on Shutterfly's website, leave a comment with your name and I will enter your name into the contest. (The giveaway will end on October 26th!)

I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with for Christmas cards this year! Ho ho ho!

*this post is sponsored by Shutterfly*

Conversations with an almost 4 year old.

Cameron is quite a creative little guy..

He loves to give compliments, mainly to me, and often says 'Mommy, you look fabious (fabulous)!'
So when he went up to his room and picked out his own outfit and dressed himself this morning, I told him, "wow Cameron! You look fabulous!" He was quick to reply with a "NO MOMMY. I am not fabious. I am cool." Lol, okay then!

He has quite an interesting taste in music. He lives for going in my car and listening to the Yo Gabba Gabba cd, but has recently started to like different music. Like, Call Me Maybe for example. I played it once in Josh's car and he insisted that we replay it 3 more times afterwards. I think Josh's head was ready to explode.

I don't know if it's something he learned at school or if he just picked it up somewhere, but he has been thanking me after I make him meals. The other night, he was so thankful for the french bread pizzas I made. This morning, he came to me after he ate his pancakes and said "thanks for making me pancakes, mommy." My heart? It melted.

There have been others, but this kid is getting so smart. He asks every morning if it's time to go to preschool. I feared he would be 'afraid' of school and wouldn't want to go, but that is the farthest thing from the truth. He is learning and growing every day and I'm so proud to be his mom.

Cameron's first day of preschool.

He started school just about a week ago, on September 5th. He goes Monday, Wednesday and Friday but hard to start on Wednesday last week because of Labor Day.

We woke up at our normal time (because let's face it, that is early enough) and got ready while Josh took Hannah to Nana's house. It was a half day, so we didn't have to be there until 10. Before he headed out for breakfast, we stopped in the front yard to take some pictures.

We headed to my friend Nicole's house to take some pictures of her son, Nicholas, who is in Cameron's class. 

By this time, it was close to 9, so we got in the car and headed to McDonald's for breakfast. We got done early enough, so we headed to the school to take some pictures there.

As soon as school actually started, it was pretty difficult to get pictures of either of the boys because they were like blurs. Running from activity to the next. I think they like their school. :)

His very first 'art project'!

And because I LOVE these collages..

I wonder how much that will change over the years..

He's been to preschool 3 times now and has had a great time each time he's been. He is always excited to go and it is next to impossible to get him out of the building when it's over. 

Today..

this happened.

More on his first day of preschool (with TONS of pictures) very soon!

I heart Chicago

For the past few weeks, the girls I've 'known' since we were pregnant the first time (so like 4.5 years ago) have been planning a huge get together in Chicago. I have yo-yo'd like a crazy person with so much happening this month (and receiving bad news about a family member), but decided last minute on Friday afternoon to go. I had enough time to take a shower, do my hair and makeup and throw together an overnight bag before I left. I hopped a train in Michigan City and headed to Chicago. I love it there.

I arrived in Chicago at 6:30 and patiently waited to meet up with the other girls. I met one right off the bat and we listened to a tour group guide tell a story about how the hotel we were staying in was haunted, and other ghost stories. Interesting..

As soon as (most) everyone arrived, it was off to dinner at a pizza joint. Holy yum. 

a picture of our pizza, courtesy of Ashley

And I took some awesome pictures of me and a couple of the girls.

Caroline & Me

Tara & Me

Ashley & Me (photo courtesy of Ashley)

Amaretto sours with Tara at the hotel bar

Looks like I really needed more to drink. Oye.

And after that, it was all a blur. To say I had a good time is a massive understatement. While the other girls stayed throughout Saturday and part of Sunday, I was on a train headed home Saturday morning. I had other things I needed to do (and my cold kicked into overdrive on the train), so it was for the best. I'm still holding out hope for another get together in the spring where I can stay the whole time. I had a blast and can't wait to do it again!