Heaven and Hell all at the same time

Wow, I haven't posted here in a while...First off, Christmas was really nice. This was the first year in about 3 that I haven't come home feeling completely overwhelmed by the amount of STUFF Jake received. Santa did great this year...really good toys that he really enjoys...Megan got some good baby stuff too..and again, not too much..just right! Christmas is always such a crazy time for us. We always have 3 places to go...My dad's, my mom's and then Pete's family. It really is fun, but a little overwhelming at times. This year because of the hecticness of it all, we ended up missing out on 2 Christmas dinners...We left mom's too early to enjoy turkey there, and arrived at Pete's mom's house too late to enjoy honey baked ham. Go figure.
So back to my title...Heaven and Hell. Well that's what the last 4, but especially the last 2 months have been. Heaven because I've got be home with my 2 beautiful kids...got to experience being a stay at home mom. I have loved every minute of it and I would not trade it for anything. But it's been Hell too. These last 2 months have been extremely difficult financially. We've had to pinch every penny possible (and then some). And then right when you think things couldn't get any worse..... Bam! Something else throws you for a loop. I don't want to whine, or to make anyone feel sorry for me...I'm really just venting here. It really has been Hellacious. Hell also because it's all ending here very soon. I have to go back to work in a week. We need me to go back to work. We needed me to go back 2 months ago....but *OH* I am dreading it! I am seriously freaking out about it. In fact just writing this, is making me want to stop, so I don't have to think about it anymore. It was hard when I went back to work after having Jake...but this time feels 10 times worse. I don't know what it is. Maybe because with Jake I didn't really know what I'd be missing...or maybe it was a relief in a way...you know to have some sort of normalcy after my "life" being rocked by this little being I was now responsible for. What I wouldn't give to be here...at home...being a mommy, listening to all the back talk, whining, crying and poopy diapers, and then the hugs, kisses, smiles and baby coos all day long. But I guess it's back to reality. Back to getting up at 5am. Back to hour long commutes. Back to actually getting dressed! Pajama's are clothes...you can not disagree with that!

Haven't blogged in a while...

Nothing new to report I guess. Can't believe Christmas is in less than a week! Jake is totally excited. He seems to really get it this year. He is such a cute kid...he really is good. He really loves his sister. She's really starting to respond to him and he just digs it. The other day he's laying on the floor, holding her head ever so gently in his hands and just making all sorts of silly sounds. She thought it was so funny and was totally giggling at him. I just sat back and watched it was just so dang cute! I couldn't ask for him to be any better with her. He doesn't even flinch if I ask him to help me, like to go get a diaper or something. He just says "ok" and does it. When I was pregnant I had fears of him feeling threatened by her and hating her...not wanting anything to do with her. He's not like that at all, he totally loves her. He does occasionally tell me to put her back in my tummy though! LOL! This picture was my attempt of taking some cute holiday shots with Christmas lights. I took a ton of pictures but none of them really turned out too well. Megan was wayyy into to the lights though. It was all I could do to get her to look at me. She mostly had her head down, staring at them.

So, I attempted to make fudge again today....Not having much luck with the peanut butter fudge. I found a recipe today for easy peanut butter fudge...it was really easy, but turned out really crumbly and super sweet...I mean you need like a whole gallon of milk for this stuff. I made plain old chocolate fudge too. That turned out way better. I guess I'm not much of a candy maker though. I think I'll stick to making cookies.

Gearing up for some major busy days coming up...Tomorrow I'm meeting my friend Kathleen for some last minute shopping, then I've got to come home and start wrapping presents. I'm not a good wrapper...don't have the patience for it! Then on Friday we have services for our Pastor, Earnest Hawtin. He passed away this last Saturday. He was 95 years old in September. We recently celebrated his birthday and his 60th anniversary with his wife. What an amazing life. Saturday doesn't look like too much is going on so I'll probably be spending most of the day wrapping presents and getting ready for the big day on Sunday. Sunday we'll go to my dad's, then to mom's and spend the night, do our Christmas thing there, then we'll probably end up at Pete's mom and dad's for our Christmas thing with that side of the family. This time of year is always so busy and stressful for us...luckily I'm not working right now, it would be even more stressful because I really wouldn't have time for any of this stuff!

Anyways, this is gone on long enough...kind of a boring post...

So, I just looked at my Blogger profile and it said I was a 250 year old male. Huh. I don't think so. I have no idea how that happened but I fixed it now. Maybe I should have left it that way? It's kind of funny. So, I tried my peanut butter fudge the other day. uhhh didn't turn out so well! I don't have a candy thermometer, so I took the expert advice of my mother and did it the old school way by dropping some of the hot sugar mixture into water. Says she: "if it forms a ball and stays a ball but it soft to the touch, it's ready". (Or something like that) Hummm well, I have nothing that even resembles fudge. It's more like peanut butter carmel sauce...and a whole lot of it! (it was a whole 9 x 13 dish of it! What the heck was I thinking???) Now, I'm not really blaming my mother for my misshap....I'm the one who decided to go at it without the candy thermometer....and I did get a little nervous when the sugar really started boiling. I thought it was going to boil over and make a huge mess. So I took it off the heat. It was totally my fault. But the good mommy I have is sending me a candy thermometer! I guess I'll try it again. Every year I have these great asperations of making great holiday treats (like I'm Martha Stewart or something) and every year something like this happens. Stuff just doesn't turn out the way I planned! I always, always try and make pretty decorated sugar cookies...you know just like on the cover of Martha's magazine...They never turn out. I've completely given up on that one this year. I had to face it...I don't like rolling out dough, I don't have the patience to decorate nicely, and I really don't even like sugar cookies. So why the heck should I make them??? Well, I'm not.
In other news...Megan rolled over on Monday! She just turned 3 months old last week. I couldn't believe it. Jake and I were decorating the tree...I heard her kind of grunting a little, I turned around and there she was on her tummy like a little turtle! I was totally shocked.
One more little random thought.....West Tracy is full of flies. Oh it's disgusting! I'm looking out the window now and there is no less than 100 flies perched on the side of my neighbors house. Gross! Aren't flies a summertime thing??

A little holiday goodness...

Yum, yum, yum, yum!! Started my hooliday baking today...trying to get in the spirit of things. Made these delicious butter spritz cookies. I finnally used my cookie press mom got me last year...or was it the year before??? Anyway, turned out sooo good. I just about made myself sick eating the cookie dough! Hmmmm what's next....peanut butter fudge maybe? Yep, I'm going to be a fat cow here pretty quick. *sigh*

just some random things...

* First, Thanksgiving was great. We had a really good time over at Pete's mom and dad's with all his sisters and the kids. We even played Pictionary after dinner...just like Thanksgivings I remember growing up. We always played games. Super fun. Missed mom though, and was really sad to hear Mike was sick and they didn't even have a real Thanksgiving. That just sucks.
* My neighbor, never, ever has dirty dishes in her sink. Never, ever. You know how I know? Her kitchen window faces my stairwell window. She never closes the blinds in her kitchen and we don't have blinds on that window in our house. Therefore, every time I walk up or down the stairs, I peek into her kitchen. How can you not when it's staring you right in the face? I'm serious here folks. I mean I know they eat...I've seen them do that. But there is never one dirty dish in that sink. How does she do it? Does she do it just to spite me?...cause she knows I'm looking? Maybe they only use paper products and throw everything away. Nah. It's a conspiracy. If you are reading this and you never have dirty dishes in your sink...you suck! Just like my neighbor.
*babysitting....I have no idea how in the world I worked in childcare for 5 years. Seriously. I watched 2 of my nieces, Hannah and Caitlin, (both 4 1/2) today...plus of course my 2 kids. Don't get me wrong..I love these girls. But they are c-r-a-z-y. All 5 of these cousins (not counting Megan because she's too little!) but all 5 of these kids are insane. Yes, even my little Jake. When they are together, something magical happens. I'm not talking "Glinda Good Witch of the North"magic.... They go nuts. I guess I must have missed out on this growing up since I'm an only child and I only have one 1st cousin that is 6 years older than me. It actually is a really good thing. I mean it's awesome that they all are so close in age and they are lucky enough to all live near each other and get to grow up together. But seriously, having them all in one spot at one time can be pure insanity. Running up and down the stairs...jumping off beds...fishing in the fish tank (that one about sent me over the edge!)...going outside...coming inside...tattle telling...Me: "No food on the carpet! Stay in the kitchen with that!" "No, you can not have a Popsicle at 9:30 in the morning!" I'm sure they think I'm the meanest Auntie. I need to just relax a little. So that's why I'm wondering...how in the world did I do this with 14 of these little crazies (yes, 14) for 8 hours a day? It is a gift I no longer posses!
*Ok, I'm off to bed....eyes are barley staying open! Hope everyone has a good weekend!

my new favorite

Isn't she so cute?! I just love this page! Only took me about 20 minutes to do. And only that long because I had to paint the letters and get those rinestones to stick. Just had to share this one. Not much else to report. Getting ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow...can't wait! Hope you all have a great day tomorrow!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So it's Friday night

and here I am blogging...Aren't most people my age out on Friday nights?? Well, maybe not. I'm just happy both my kids are sound asleep in thier beds! *ahhh* a little breathing room. It's been a whirlwind of a week...not really for me, but indirectly through Pete. He's got so much going on right now, it's just crazy. He's trying to get this pig ranch thing going..a high fenced hunting ranch, he's also hired a graphic designer to make a silk screen for his T-Shirt company idea AND we've got decals coming for his decal business thingy. Uggg. Could he just pick one thing and work on that??!! It's a little overwhelming to me. And he wants everything done now, now, now! I guess I really shouldn't complain because even though this is all stuff he's totally in to...he's doing all this for our family. Because even if one of these ideas takes off....I should be able to stay home and not have to go back to work. That would be awesome. Because I am seriously dreading January 2, 2007! That is my return to work date...and I'm affraid that it's coming wayyyyy too soon. I mean, HELLO...Thanksgiving is next week. Can you believe that? I really thought we at least had another week. I'm supposed to make the stuffing...never made it before! SO, taking advice from mom and I'll just be doctoring up good 'ol Stove Top. Shhhh...... don't tell ok? Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I'm looking forward to spending it with Pete's big family...but I'm really gonna miss the deliciously delectible turkey Mike makes every year at moms.....Well, except for this year. They're going away for dinner too. Never had better turkey than at mom and Mikes! He smokes it on the BBQ and OMGosh...soooo good. Ok, I need to wipe the drool off the keyboard!

My dad came to visit today...here's a couple of pictures of him and Megan...So cute. She fell asleep in his arms. Love my dad. It was a good visit! :o) Mom is coming tomorrow! And she's bringing clothes for Megan from Kari...So good!

3 new scrapbook pages added to my slide show...take a look!
Will maybe write more tomorrow...it's late..I need to go night night!

Ok, if you have nothing better to do...

Check this out:

'What" will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

This is a funny website I saw on someone elses blog. It's pretty fun if you're just sitting around doing nothing!

Got some scrapbooking done...will post pictures of my pages tomorrow or I'll add them to my slide show.

Not much to report

Just been doing the same old stuff. Had a bit of rain today. Nice to kind of freshen things up a bit, but before too long I'm going to start hating it. I get so sick of winter weather. I much prefer summer!
So lately I've been pondering this epidemic of blogging. It just seems like all of a sudden every one's got a blog. Have you ever looked at the Blogger tool bar at the top of this page and pushed "next blog"? I'm just absolutely amazed at the amount of people out there doing this very thing at this very moment in time. I think it's fascinating. What also amazes me is how many people in different countries write blogs and how many other people in other countries use English as they're primary language. A lot of Asian cultures seem to be writing their blogs in English. People just seem to be the same wherever you go. I stumbled upon a Malaysian college student living in Melbourne Australia, a native Floridian who went to Costa Rica, fell in love with the country and decided to make it her home, and a guy in Phoenix hating is life in a cubicle (I can relate for sure!). Blogging just seems to feed my nosey nature! It's like peeking in your neighbors window to see what's going on over there! (noooo, i don't really do that!....well, maybe sometimes!) Anyway, if you're ever board, push "next blog" up there and see what somebody else is up to. It's kind of fun.
P.S...did you see my slide show down there on the right? Cool huh?

Check it out!

Blogger finally got a clue! They made their blogging a lot easier to use and customizable. They got lucky cuz I was this close to moving my blog! You might see changes every time you come check out my blog...cuz, it's kinda fun to change it! Check out the right hand collum for links to some of my favorite sites/blogs. :o)

Babies, Country Music and Global Warming

This is a little mini-album I made for my friend Erin. She just had a baby boy last week. Ryan Michael. This is Erin's 3rd baby. She's the type that likes the surprise and chooses not to find out the sex of the baby durring her pregnancy. Well, she had herself convinced that this baby was a girl. So I think she was pretty surprised when they said "it's a boy!"Anyways, I thought this would be a nice gift for the mom who already has everything. There's places for pictures and notes throughout the book. I hope she likes it.

Did anyone see the CMA awards the other night? We cought the highlights online yesterday...did you see Faith Hill's big doo doo??!! She totally freaked out when they called Carrie Underwood's name and not hers for Female Vocalist of the Year. To me it looked obvious that she expected to win. It looked like she was thinking "yep, here comes my name". It seemed like she's about ready to jump out of her seat to go get her award and then was totally shocked to hear somone elses name. She let out this big "What??" and through her hands up in the air. If you didn't see it, Google it because it's all over the internet. It's worth seeing! Shame on you Faith! You're a professional, you're supposed to keep that stuff to yourself!

Weird weather...So yesterday we go out for a walk and I come back dripping with sweat...it was 77 degrees at 11 o'clock in the morning. It's November! Then today, I come downstairs at around 6:30 and there's sprinkles on my patio, then it full on rained for a while. Now the sky is perfectly blue, clouds are all gone. I'm convinced it's Global Warming! LOL!!

craving attention

Jake absolutley loves Megan...but he CAN NOT stand if someone is paying attention to her and not him. I can not tell you how frustrating the last couple of days have been. He will be perfectly content playing by himself as long as I am not paying attention to Megan. In other words, if she's sleeping. He'll be playing on the other side of the room and I'll have Megan on the floor just talking to her and all of a sudden he'll just start screaming. Well not screaming, but talking really, really loudly. He doesn't even realize he's doing it. Then he'll come right in between her and I and gets right in her face. He's just trying to play with her, but he doesn't understand that she doesn't want him in her face. I mean, he's like inches, centemeters maybe, from her little face. And of course he's squeeling loudly. I try and be nice and include him in my 'conversations' with her. But again, he doesn't understand that she doesn't know how to play "peek-a-boo". How do you explain that to a 3 year old? If I'm feeding her, he has to be sitting on any free part of my lap too. He climbs all over the chair or couch...wherever we're sitting. Again, right up in her face and mine. Like I said, I don't even think he knows he's doing it. And I feel bad because I'm constantly getting irritated and I end up kinda yelling at him. Then his feelings are hurt. Then I feel horrible. I feel like the meanest mommy sometimes. Am I the meanest mommy? Should I just be happy that he loves her so much and let it be? I guess I probably should. Sometimes I feel so spread thin. I just want Megan to feel loved. But I don't want Jake to forget we love him too. I think as they both get older, especially Megan, this will get easier and work itself out. I sure hope so.

Nothing exciting

Not a whole lot to report today. Just been doing the same old stuff. Pete left this morning to go up to Clear Lake for a pig hunt. Yipee. He'll be back Tuesday afternoon. We (me, Jake and Megan) went on a walk this morning. Jake likes this one house about a block up on the corner because there are always butterflies flying around the lavender bushes in the front. He's always trying to catch them...and he's been quite successfull at it! Anyways today the front door to the house was open and a big fluffy black and white kitty comes tip toeing out. Jake imediately goes up to it wanting to pet it. Well, because the door was open, I knew the people inside could probalby hear us, and I didn't want them to think I was letting my kid tromp all over their front yard. So I say loud enough for them to hear me, "Come on Jake, let's go. Leave the kitty alone". Well anyway the lady inside did hear me. She came flying outside. I thought, oh no she's going to be mad we're touching her cat! Turns out she was just worried about her kitty because he just had surgery. All of a sudden she starts talking to me like we're old friends and telling me all about her cat's "blockage" and issues with his urethra. *sigh* Dont' get me wrong, she was actually really, really nice and I think she just wanted to meet some people in the neighborhood. (I also just found out she just moved here) But anyways, do you really have to tell me about your cats' urethra the first time we meet?! LOL!
Another funny story from the walk today...about a block down from the Kitty Lady, Jake found a rolly polly. This kid is totally into bugs. Anyways, he carried the little pill bug for at least 1/2 a mile, talking to it all the while about how he was the bugs' best friend. I kept telling him he was going to have to let the rolly polly go so he could go back to his house. Well finally, about 2/3 of the way back home, he decided to let it go. Here was the conversation with the rolly polly:
Jake: Bye rolly polly. You go home to you mommy and daddy ok? I see you again next year! You mommy is calling you. She be really really mad. Go home I said!
But the bug didn't move. I actually think it was dead already!
He just cracks me up. A real funny kid.
Both of the kids are napping right now. It's wonderful! A little quite time. I think I'll take this time to read my book...maybe take a little nap myself!

as requested...

Here is a recent layout I did of Megan when she was 3 weeks old. I made my own photo studio by laying a big pink sheet on the floor. I think it worked out great. It's so fun having a girl now to scrapbook! I've been scrapping Jake for the past 3 years and everything has been blue, green, and red. Though pink and purple aren't necessarily my favorite colors, it's nice to have a little variety! Plus, flowers are just so cool. And how many flowers can you really have on a boy page?!
In response to a few comments to my last posting...Mom..I really don't have much talent. I just read a lot of magazines and get ideas. I rarely have my own design! Though, this one actually was my own idea! Anyways, I realize that yeah, I'm home right now so I do have some free time for scrapping. But no matter what, I just find time because it's what I like to do. It can be quite overwhelming though if you get behind. So Jami, I know what you mean about it all piling up. I've got at least 100 pictures in my Snapfish.com account waiting for the next payday so I can order my prints! 100 prints is a little scary because to me that may mean I get a little overwhelmed and then a little UNinspired. In which case I will choose not to scrap the pictures. But that brings up another good point. You don't have to scrap every picture. It's not necessary is it? I don't think so. As long as your getting your story told, what does it matter? And it doesn't matter if you don't think it looks good, because more than likely, everyone else will think it does! So just do it! If it makes you happy! Imbrace imperfection and just go with it!

Ta-da! I finnaly got it to work

After trying all day, I finnally got these pictures to upload! Whew!
I've decided that I really enjoy blogging. I've been reading a lot of blogs, so it's nice to have one of my own. This is becoming somewhat of my own digital scrapbook and hopefully, I'll be able to look back on my own blog entries for inspiration for my real scrapbooks.
I've been scrapbooking for maybe almost 10 years if I think about it. But now being a mom...of 2...I am just SO in to it. I've come to realize that scrapbooking isn't just about birthdays and holidays, but about remembering life as we live it day to day. I want to be able to sort of freeze time and be able to look back and remember what it was like when Jake was 3 and Megan was just born. You know, what I was feeling and thinking at the time. Wouldn't it be great to have something that told just exactly how your mother was feeling the day you were born? Something that will last beyond her life and yours? I have become adicted to taking pictures, I'm in the scrapbook store at least once a week, and I have a list a mile long of the pages I want to finish. I even think about it in my sleep! I've just been so inspired lately by the scrapbooking industry itself. I'm realizing that it isn't just a craft or a hobby. Yes, it is a creative outlet and that's probably why I enjoy it so much. But, it's also about telling your story and your kids stories. Wouldn't it be great if you could look back at all your grandma's pictures and know the stories behind them? My Grandmother has boxes and boxes and more boxes of old photographs. I remember we tried to go through them all and organize them when I was younger. There were so many pictures with no dates, no names, no places. Grandma sometimes had a hard time remembering even who was in the picture. I hope my kids can look back at their scrapbooks and get to know themselves, their families, and maybe most importantly, their mother. Because everytime I create something for them, I'm giving a little piece of myself in that layout.

technical difficulties....

Having issues with Blogger today. I can't upload any pictures for some reason. I'm actually thinking of moving my blog to a site where I may have more options for customizing and such. I'm finding Blogger to be a little non-user friendly....or maybe I just don't really know what I'm doing...probably the latter of the two!! I DO know how to upload pictures on here though, and that's what's not working today! If this problem persists, then I will definitly move my blog because that is my main reason for blogging is to share stories AND pictures. So, I'll give it another day or two and then I'm moving on to bigger and better blogs!
Last night was super fun. Wish I had pics to share. :O( We had a whole band of pirates, a tinkerbell, and a sleeping beauty. Oh yeah, a baby pumpkin too!
I'll get the pictures up as soon as I can!

Mama's girl

So yesterday was Megan's 2 month checkup. When they told me she's in the 95th percentile for both height and weight, I thought, Oh Lord...I have a giant baby! LOL!!! She's 11lbs 12oz and 24 1/2 inches long. Funny though, I came home and pulled out Jake's baby book and he was EXACTLY the same weight and length at 2mths. How weird is that? Anyways, she also had to get her first shots. Poor baby, I just hate when they have to get shots! She did good though...she stopped crying as soon as I could pick her up. Later on I could tell she was really in pain. She was screaming when I rubbed her leg. Tylenol is a beautiful thing. No one likes to drug up their kid, but you know I gave her a shot of Tylenol and you could just see how uncomfortable she was because she was acting so much better after I gave it to her.
She seems to be doing much better today, back to her normal, cute self!
Getting ready for the Trick-or-Treat party tonight. Made my Jello for the Goblin Goo this morning. I also made 7 layer dip. I cleaned out the fridge too. Do you ever look in your fridge and go, "oh good greif....is that the casserole I made a month ago?" Yeah, that was me....That is me all the time. Bless the person who invented that throw away tupperware. It was made for me.
Gonna get the chili in the crockpot for later. I've also got some apple cider to stick on the stove and spinich dip.....Thus begins the Eat Fest until the end of the year. Two months of none stop eating. Uggg.
Will post pics tomorrow of the kiddies all dressed up!
Happy Halloween!

punkins

Halloween is in two days and Jake could not be more excited about it. He keeps asking every day..."Halloween coming mama?!" This afternoon we carved our pumpkins. We had 4 to carve. One really big one, a medium sized one and two smaller ones. We made Jake clean out the gunk from the inside. It was so funny, he thought it was gross and didn't want to get his hands dirty. We had such nice weather today, we carved the pumpkins outside on our driveway. We of course used those store bought patterns to carve the pumpkins, but you know what? They work so well, and I think they all turned out great. Ok, so I only carved one and Pete did the other three, but he had fun doing it! Megan was good she just sat in her little bouncer and watched.

Tommorrow I'll be getting ready for our little Halloween party. Pete has three sisters and between the 4 of us we have 6 kids. We all live here in Tracy so last year I invited all the kids over to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. I made snacks and stuff for everyone before we went. It was really fun so we're doing it again this year. Since I'm not working right now I think I'll try and make some fun stuff for the kids. I got stuff to make Goblin Goo...A Jello and Kool-Aide drink. I think they'll like it. I'm still trying to think of maybe one other fun thing to make for them. Haven't decided yet though.

Anyways we had a good weekend. Hope everyone else did too!

P.S...

For those of you who have previously tried to post comments and have been unsuccessful, you should be able to post one now. Thanks to Jami, she gave the advice on how to set it up correctly so anyone should be able to comment!

And this is Jake...

Isn't he cute?! Of course every mother thinks their kid is cute, but he really is...don't ya think? He's also very funny. Ever since he was a baby we have thought he's just so funny. I used to think..."well maybe I think he's funny because he's mine." But we've been told over and over by other people that he always makes them laugh. The other day he built a big "shark cage" out of blocks. " Look Mommy! Look at my shark cage!" He was very excited about it. I said, " That is totally awesome dude! You rock!" He got a very serious look on his face and said, " Mommy, I NOT a rock."

See, he doesn't even try to be funny, he just is!

You may have noticed that I changed the background of this blog. I thought this was a little more my style right now. I'm a scrapbooker and I'm really loving black paper with colorful accents. So, this seemed to suit my mood. For now anyways.

Me and Pete

I keep trying to upload a picture into my profile, and it just won't work!
So this is a picture of Pete and I in June this year. We went to the coast for our 6th anniversary. I was about 7mths pregnant! But it was fun anyways :o) I don't see much of me in our new baby girl. To me she looks just like him. I never thought I'd end up with a blue eyed baby, but Megan sure looks like those bright blues are here to stay...Here she is today gazing up at the mirror above her swing... She absolutely loves looking in the mirror! Such a girl.

Ok Mom...

This one's for you!

Here it is...I started a blog for us. Inspired by our cousins in TX! (Hi Ya'll!)
Everyone else is doing it, why shouldn't we? right? It's actually a great idea to keep everyone in touch without sending a mass email or whatever. Most of the people mom will forward this too I haven't seen in years. I'm all grown up with a family of my own! I can't even believe it myself!
I'll try to update as often as possible with little notes and pictures. Hope you'll check in often and leave a comment if you like!