Wednesday, December 17, 2014

A Little Reading

Recently my son discovered that he could turn pages in books. It makes for quite interesting stories at bedtime! We've also gotten a few Christmas cards with photos and Levi loves to look at them.  So I decided to combine these two new hobbies and make him a book for Christmas with pictures of our family.  There are services where I could have printed a book of photos like I've done in the past, or even a place to print more durable board books, but I just didn't want to pay that much because I really want him to touch it & use it & it will probably end up in his mouth a lot. Not to mention that I'm cheap. Hi my name is Lindsey and I'm on the verge of being featured on extreme cheapskates.



So instead I found this old school small vinyl photo album (okay okay it was at a thrift store but it was NEW) and had some family photos printed when I ordered my Christmas cards (okay okay the prints were free with my order). I stuck them inside and wrote a couple of simple sentences on colorful paper for us to read together. And that was it!  He'll love looking at the pictures, (especially since he is featured on every page! ) and turning the pages and we can change out pictures someday if we want. Boom.  Stocking stuffer!  And with this I think all the presents are finished.  Now to start the wrapping!


Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Christmas Traditions

Have you ever had a brilliant idea and then someone came along and had that same brilliant idea and you could have made millions? ? Well that's me and tree branch slices.  Yeah, I did that before pinterest did. So where's my million dollars? ?  Oh,  I waited too long?   C'mon, man!

Allow me to take you back to where it all began, in the kitchen of our first rental apartment. We had just bought our first Christmas tree of our married lives. it was real because Irefuse to do a fake one.  Our tree came with a little tag that told us to make a fresh cut off the trunk before putting it in the stand.  And we follow directions.  THUS THE GREAT WOOD SLICE TREND WAS BORN!

I've been saving a slice of our tree every year since then, and someday we will be able to hang them as ornaments from a Christmas tree. And we will have a tree full of trees and it will be a beautiful tree and we will laugh at how long and beautiful our marriage has been and how many wonderful years we have been together and how long ago 2010 was and how our lives have changed since that first apartment kitchen and we will have grandchildren who ask us about the slices and maybe, just maybe, a silly thing like tree slices will be cool.  And then tree slices became cool and trendy TOO SOON and it's only been 5 years but already know I know my idea will be a has-been idea. HARUMPH.




But I'm still going to save them and one day we will look at them and smile and think of all the money we could have made selling logs.

So that's my story and if you choose to follow suit my only advice is to do a cut-your-own tree farm (or backyard!)and that way you can get a nice even slice off the stump instead of wrestling trying to hold a tree in place while you saw a slice from the bottom.

Hopefully later this week I can try and get a few good pictures of our son in front of our tree (from my parent's land, driven atop the Subaru for 250 miles, and still surviving!).  I have to find some new cute Christmas PJs though, he outgrew the ones I got him!

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

SEVEN months!

Will there ever be a month where don't say "you changed SO much"?  Well it's not this month.  Buddy, you changed SO much! 

You are full on laughing now and it makes both of us feel like great parents to be able to give you the giggles.  You are eating real food, usually two meals a day because you get so messy it's quite a production to clean  you up.  But french toast is the reigning favorite.

It snowed and we thought you would enjoy playing a bit in it, but we were wrong!  You aren't impressed.

We got to celebrate Thanksgiving with family up north, where you (wait for it) LEARNED TO PULL UP ON & stand against furniture.  You did lots of practicing at Grandma & Grandpa's where it was nicely carpeted and extra cushy compared to our thin rug at home.  The Christmas tree will be a real challenge!  Oh, while we were there you also GOT TWO TEETH!  Yes you've been busy. 

Always on the move and busy busy busy.  Watch out world!

Week 27

Week 28

Week 29

Week 30