It's Christmas Card Season.....

Last Friday Chris and I took the kids to get photos taken so we'd have lots to choose from for this years Christmas card. I usually try to send my cards out the day after Thanksgiving. For years people have told me that mine is the first they receive each year. Not going to happen thing year. With a very active four year old and a 1 year old who is very newly into everything..... I am just a bit behind. None the less, I am trying to get them done and ordered asap.

I have shopped around a bit and decided that this year I am going to order some beautiful cards from Shutterfly. I use Shutterfly to upload and email photos, to order prints, to create photo books as well as to make some neat gifts such as photo calendars and photo coffee mugs. Their shipping charges are very reasonable and their turn around time is much shorter than some of their competitors.

Now, the problem I am facing now is which card to chose. 2 photos or 3. Or even 5 or 6 photos? A card that tells a story or a card that is simply and just spreads the message of holiday cheer? A flat card or folded? With so many awesome Shutterfly options I need to get on the ball because Thanksgiving is 2 short days away!

Follow this link to see some of Shutterfly's Holiday photo cards:http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

How about an awesome photo calendar for Grandma: http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

Does Pop need a new coffee mug with photos of his favorite grandchildren? http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/photo-mugs

Whatever you are looking for, Shutterfly has a really neat photo gift solution! Hop on over to Shutterfly http://www.Shutterfly.com and get started today!

Olympic week @ preschool

It was Olympic week at Owen's preschool this week. The staff and teachers organized "Olympic" events for the children such as long jump, bean bag toss, ring toss and potato sack races. Ms. Dawnna told me not only did Owen win the long jump contest, that he won it by leaps and bounds and maybe jumped further than any 3 year old she has ever had in class. Chris and I thought that was pretty cool. And appropriate because we see this kid jump all the time and jump high, far, fast and often. If you know Owen you know that the boy is always on the go! Today for all of their "Olympic efforts" they received a tiny little trophy and a medal to wear. Owen is so proud of himself and it is just fantastic to see. Heart melting almost:)

Olivia is 8 months old!

Holy cow folks, she is 8 months old. So, okay, I am 3 days late with the blog post because her birthday was on Monday the 3rd, but who is really paying attention to that???? Nobody. On Monday we lowered the crib mattress because she was at that point that when she was pushing up on her tummy she was so high that her head went above the crib height. Still only 2 teeth. Loving YoBaby yogurt in all flavors, puffs, rice with apple cereal, sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots are her favorites. She will tolerate and eat some of the sweeter fruits like pears, and apples and such, but she much prefers the blander veggies. Olivia LOVES to watch Owen doing anything because he is ALWAYS on the go. Still a great sleeper but now she is a tummy sleeper about 80% of the time. Happy 8 month birthday to our sweet girl!

Earth Day

I was trying to explain what exactly Earth Day was when getting Owen dressed for preschool yesterday morning. I explained it as a special day to celebrate our planet, Earth, kind of like Earth's birthday. I found a (too small) t-shirt in his closet from last Spring that said "Go Green" so that is what he wore to school. I also brought my camera to school when dropping him off yesterday because I don't have too many photos of him actually at school. Usually I have the baby with me and that leaves me with only one free hand. And with 13 3 year olds in his class, drop off and pick up are usually a hustle and bustle of kids, parents, seat work papers, projects, etc. After preschool, lunch and naps I took the kids to Pottery Barn Kids for a special Earth Day story reading, sing along and craft project. Owen had a great time. It was so neat to see him sit quietly and listen, as well as actively participate when the story lady asked questions.

In the spirit of Earth Day I made a mental list yesterday of all the "green" things we do in our house and the "non green" things we still do.

GREEN:

*recycle bottles, paper, magazines, cardboard, plastic, aluminum, styrofoam

*use refillable water bottles

*conserve water and electricity as much as possible

*we have a high efficiency washer and dryer

*I buy mostly organic dairy and produce, some organic meat

*we use re useable lunch containers instead of baggies mostly

*I always bring my own re useable bags to the grocery store

*I like to use "green" cleaning products

*I only run the dishwasher when it's a full load

NOT SO GREEN:

*we use WAY too many paper plates and paper towels

*disposable diapers are horrible for the environment, but I have never even given green diapers a second thought. Pampers all the way in this house!

*I still use plastic Target shopping bags for doogie poop pickup.

sweet girl is getting so big!

Oh my gosh. So much has changed with Olivia in the past few weeks. She and I recently travelled back to Virginia for my sisters bridal shower. Originally I was going to bring both kids with me but I waited too long to book my tickets and by the time I did I paid an outrageous price for my Southwest ticket. And since all 4 of us are flying back in July for the wedding, well it just wasn't in the budget for Owen to make the trip this time. While we were gone Chris did lots of fun and special daddy things with him. He went and saw his first movie in the theater, "How to Train a Dragon" (and LOVED it). He just sat there mesmerized with his popcorn. They took park trips, went to The Original Pancake House for breakfast, out to dinner twice and spent countless hours playing and swinging on the swing set in the backyard. And it's worth mentioning that Chris let Owen's bedtime slide quite a bit in my absence. I am a huge stickler for the "routine" and getting the kids to bed on time each night is super important to me. Okay, back to Olivia. She was fantastic on the airplane. Didn't sleep much (about 40 mins only on the 5 hour flight) but didn't cry at all either. By the time we landed and got bags and met my sis, mom and niece at Dulles it was almost 6pm EST and she was exhausted and already the time clock/jet lag had gotten to her. I learned a few things in the coming days at Mom and Dads: 1) even super good babies who are super good sleepers get messed up with the time difference 2) our sweet girl who never cries while in her own home and environment can get very very upset in a new environment with tons of new faces all at once & 3) she pretty much feels happy and secure as long as her momma is the one holding her! None-the-less, she did fantastic given all the variables. It was her first time sleeping in a pack and play but she got used to it just in time for us to come back home. The day we returned home to Las Vegas she went to bed almost at her regular PST bedtime and slept thru the night no problems. Getting her back on "schedule" was not an issue thank goodness. So.... the whole point of this blog post was to tell you about all the things that have changed with her since our trip to Virginia. She is sitting up on her own (a much later sitter than her big brother Owen who sat up unsupported much earlier). She used to be happy and content to sleep on her back in her crib all night long and now she wants to do flips, turns, spins, cartwheels and summersaults all night long (crib is going to be lowered this week for sure). She has 2 teeth! They are so adorable. She is babbling. She is making an attempt to scoot around on her tummy trying to get to different toys that are spread out on a blanket. She thinks Owen is the most fabulous, funny person on the planet. Some of her fav foods are cereal, yogurt, carrots, sweet potatoes, apples and we are attempting cheerios this week. (Again, she is starting to eat "real" food soooooo much later than Owen did). And she is loving long stroller walks, runs and will take as much time swinging in her swing at the park or on our swing set as she can get.

super late- Easter photos

So Easter was like ages ago. Well, like 3 weeks ago. It happened to fall the day after Chris and I's 6th wedding anniversary. We went out to dinner to one of our favorites, Roys, which is where we had our 5th wedding anniversary dinner in Jacksonville last year. Last year I was preggers with Olivia so of course no drinking for me. This year, def not preggers, so indulging and boozing I did thank you very much:) I had a couple Hawaiian martinis and then with dinner we had some wine. We had a great time. Came home and helped the Easter bunny make up the kids baskets and hide candy filled eggs, went to bed by 2am and of course we were up with both kiddos by 6 and 6:30. It was a long day. My cousin Jason said he was going to come over for Easter dinner so I made a spiral sliced ham, crescent rolls, mac and cheese and green beans. Owen had the best time hiding the Easter eggs over and over and over. He actually did this for days until Chris and I almost couldn't take it anymore.

summerlin st patty's day 5k

saturday morning i ran in the summerlin st patty's day 5k. it was such a small event, maybe 150 or 175 people. i like to run in races every now and then just for the fun of it. lots of people ran with joggers and such and almost everybody was wearing green just to be in the spirit of the holiday. nobody told me that the first mile and three quarters were straight up hill. that part was not fun if you ask me. to my surprise (complete and total) post race when they were announcing winners the called my name for finishing first in my age division 25-29. yay me- i was pretty excited:)