What I Love About Maternity Leave

Lots of free time! Well, today anyway. I spent the morning working on a scarf, got my hair done, came home and did some scrapbooking and now I'm going to do some cleaning and start cooking dinner. I love not having to be somewhere I don't want to be, or do all my errands on a Saturday morning because that's the only time I have available. It's nice to just relax and do things when I feel like it.

It has been so long since I've done any scrapbooking. Our extra room has been a junk room since we moved in and I finally cleaned it out and had Mike paint it. I bought a new desk and hung my pictures on the wall. I love this room. I've got a few months now to get Madison's scrapbook up to date and start on Sidney's. Here are the pages I did today.

Merry Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year. Madison got so much fun stuff, she didn't even know what to play with first. We stayed at home this year instead of heading out to the Bay Area. My mom and Lisa and the kids all stayed at our house. It was a crazy few days.

Madison riding her new tricycle and collecting leaves.



Madison holding Heidi, getting in some practice before Sidney arrives.



Madison and Jackson. Don't they look like boyfriend and girlfriend?



Heidi wearing her new "Auntie Sandi" hat.



My favorite picture. Getting ready to take a walk and look at all the Christmas lights. Did I mention it was crazy at my house?



Saturday morning at the train museum.



Next week will be just as crazy. Three more birthdays, New Years Eve and lots of appointments.

I am also officially on maternity leave and I can't believe I already miss work. It is really weird knowing some stranger is sitting at my desk doing my work. I don't know if I'll last for four months.

Weekend Before Christmas

We have had a great weekend. Most of my Christmas shopping was done weeks ago, so I haven't had to go to any of the crazy stores. Last night we went to a Christmas party and Madison was running around like crazy, eating every cookie she could get her hands on and then passed out on the way home.



This morning we hung out at home and Madison wanted to take pictures with Santa.



Then I did some grocery shopping at Safeway, got into an argument with the cashier, and got all this stuff for...



22 cents! That cashier kept insisting she missed some of the items because she couldn't believe the total. Most of it was from ecoupons. Ever used them? They are great. You just load them onto your club card and they automatically come off. You can get them here, here and here.

Happy Birthday Madison

I can't believe that it's been three years since Madison was born! Time flies. We took her to Chevy's for her birthday dinner and she was so excited when they sang happy birthday to her. She kept telling everyone she was a cowboy with the hat on.

Halloween

Madison had so much fun trick-or-treating, she didn't want to stop. Even though she was a ballerina this year, she kept calling herself a princess.





Sunday we went to see Disney Princess on Ice with Oma. She was waving and clapping the entire time.

Pumpkin Patch

I've totally been slacking on my blogging lately. I've been completely consumed with my coupon deals and knitting for my annual holiday boutique in a few weeks. I'm also really slowing down these days. I can't believe I'm almost 7 months pregnant. Baby can come any time now. Here are a few pictures from the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago. Madison had so much fun she wanted to go back every day for a week.

Big Deals

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately about weekly bargains and coupons, etc. It's a little overwhelming at first. There is so much information. I finally decided I'd pick a few things and try it myself. I went out and bought these items:



Regular price (depending on what store you normally shop at) is around $30.00. I got all of this for $8.75! I was so proud of myself. It was kind of fun to see how much I could buy and how many coupons I could use. I can't wait to do it again next week.

I used the following websites for reference:

http://www.fistfulofcoupons.com/

http://www.abundantfoodsavings.com/

http://www.thebargainjargon.com/

Almost Fall

Fall is almost here and I can't wait. My annual craft boutique is coming up and I've been knitting and crafting a lot over the past few weeks.



Last weekend we had Mike's birthday party and we had fun playing Cornhole Toss. Nicole and Rob were the big winners.



Madison had so much fun showing everyone her room and the yard and posing for pictures.




Madison also had her first haircut a few weeks ago. She was a little scared at first but as soon as she got a toy phone to play with, she was fine.

Baby Heidi

Lisa sent me some pictures of Heidi taken just two weeks after she was born. I couldn't resist posting a couple of the pictures. Quite possibly the cutest pictures I've ever seen.

Back Home

It's been a very long week and a half. I went to Seattle to stay with Lisa for a few days and then helped her fly home with all three kids. We got home Wednesday night and then it was the saddest three days of my life. We went to Travis Airforce Base where John's body was flown in and it was amazing. The amount of respect and the ceremony for John was more than I could have imagined.

We did manage to slip in a few happy moments. Friday was Brycie's birthday and even though he doesn't look happy in this picture, he had a great time and made everyone laugh.



It was also a good week because I got to see my brand new niece, Heidi Vi Hallett. She is four weeks old and I took advantage of every free moment I had to hold her.



Madison had her first limo ride and got to play with Jackson and Brycie all weekend.

1979 - 2009

My brother-in-law, Cpt. John Louis Hallett, III, died this week while fighting overseas. He left behind a wife, two boys and a daughter he never got to meet. He was the funniest man I've ever met and we will miss him.





A donation page has been started if you are interested.

We're Having...

Another girl! Yay! Sidney Ragusa. I'm so excited. I was going through all of Madison's old clothes and I would have been so sad to give it all away. I thought Mike was going to cry when he found out, he wanted a boy so bad, but he'll get over it.

August 2009

Another month is almost over and I don't know where the time has gone. During the first weekend of August my mom and I were in Florida. We went to Disney World and Epcot Center. I had a lot of fun at Epcot. Who knew there was so much to see there? I thought Disney World was smaller than Disneyland in California and they didn't have a bunch of rides I was hoping to go on.



The day after I got home, we started moving. It is so nice to finally have a yard and a garage after being stuck in an apartment for so long. Everything was really easy and we were unpacked in a few days. We had a lot of help.

Comcast came to set up our cable/internet/phone the first weekend we were in the house. I had the worst experience! I don't know about anyone else, but I thought this was a totally unacceptable way to set up someone's internet. It felt like a bachelor house.



I had to set up my computer on the kitchen table because they said there were no other internet outlets in the house. I was on the phone with Comcast (practically yelling at them) and they finally agreed to come back the next day. Of course they sent the same guy that initially set everything up and he fixed it so that no wires are showing anymore. Why couldn't he have done that the first time around?

This past weekend we took Madison to a birthday party for her friend DJ.



Fed the ducks.



And went to a family reunion.

Our Summer Fun

We have been very busy lately. July has been packed full every weekend so far. For the 4th we went to the singing flag in Concord and Madison was jumping around and waving her flag the entire time.



We also went to a wedding and Madison made friends with all the kids and danced all night.



Last weekend we were in Tahoe and we had a lot of fun at the beach.



Eating out.



And playing video games.



And we are still not slowing down. Next weekend I'll be in Florida, the weekend after that we are moving (again) and lots more.

Hope you're having a great summer.

Hello

It has been quite some time since I've updated this blog. The morning sickness has kicked in and I have had no desire to do anything. No scrapbooking, no knitting and no blogging. The actual sickness part seems to be gone, but I am still constantly tired. I didn't have that with Madison. I can barely get up in the morning, barely make it through work and then I'm usually out by 8:00. Hopefully it will be better in the next couple weeks. Next week I'll be three months pregnant. Boy, times flies.

We haven't been doing much around our house, but we did manage to get Madison potty trained. The first two days were a nightmare, but the third day was like she'd been potty trained forever. She's been doing great and hasn't had any accidents, but we are still working on the night time thing. She's getting better.

Hopefully I'll be back to my usual self soon so I can start knitting and scrapping and posting something on here. Until then, it will be pretty quiet.

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

Today is the Papertrey Ink blog hop and it's my first time. I loved this month's challenge, which is to use yellow in a project. I love yellow, so this was pretty easy for me.



Supplies:
Paper: PTI Kraft Cardstock, PTI Lemon Tart Cardstock, PTI Vellum, My Mind's Eye "Blossom"
Stamps: PTI Butterfly Kisses and PTI Little Lady
Other: PTI Hibuscus Burst Buttons, Bazzil Self-Adhesive Jewels and Stamp-n-Stuff Yellow Embossing Powder

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #7

I've been doing a lot of crafting already this weekend. I have another challenge entry and a couple of scrapbook pages. I'm only ONE page away from finishing Madison's first year scrapbook! I am so happy, it's been a huge project and I can finally put it behind me. Almost.

Here is my challenge entry for this week:



And my scrapbook pages: