Welcome Mia Grace!

Big Brother Jake is thinking ..... hmm this may not be be so bad as long as she doesn't play with my toys and I'm sure I can get her to love the Cubbies as much as I do.
Here's Mia getting ready to go home for the first time.

My friend Rochelle and her husband Ross welcomed a little girl, Mia Grace, to the world on October 25th. She is healthy and mom is doing great as well. As you can see big brother Jake is very excited about the new addition to his family and I'm sure he will be a big help for mommy and daddy - once he adjusts to all the changes that are soon to come for him. Rochelle and Ross are such great parents that I have no doubt that they will help him through this exciting change at home. We miss you Rochelle!

P.S. Everyone knows how much I love the name Grace and someday I hope to have a little girl as cute as Mia who we will name Grace or Gracie!!!

Our last trip to the Lake

Here's Tanner and David taking a stroll down to the beach - one last time this year. It's only taken us 4 years to finally learn how to walk the dog instead of him walking us....

Oh my goodness - looks like this one didn't make it back from his last boat trip. Just kidding, it looks like everyone in the neighborhood is getting into the Halloween spirit!

Here I am with my baby Tanner, isn't he the most adorable dog ever?

OK, Dave must have mistaken the dog for a child, wait we thought he was our baby but he didn't like the ride on the lion to much. Yes, I know we are little crazy when it comes to our dog but hey you only live once so you might as well make it fun. He brings so much enjoyment to our lives.
We love you Tanner!!!

My Talented Mother Does it Again...

It's a Tanner - sized Quilt!

I saw this gorgeous quilt on flickr and I asked my mom to make it for me

little did I know that she would have it done and in our mailbox 3 days later!

I love the orange fabrics and the owl with the button eyes. It reminds me of a scrapbook page which I plan on doing shortly once I have some pictures from Halloween in hand. Yes, Tanner and I will be dressing up, and I'll post pictures next weekend. We'll be dressed up for the kids that come to our house but I'm sure we'll go for a stroll around the neighborhood as well and who knows - maybe Tanner will get a dog bone or two. Our mail lady leaves treats for Tanner all the time which he absolutely loves. With a face like that how can you resist not giving him some treats. Thanks mom for the beautiful wall hanging - we love it!!!

Two Pumpkins at our Pumpkin Patch

Here's my little helper Michael!

What a great big brother he was today.

Here's Alex working really hard to sit up.
Look at those brothers and those smiles.

Oh my... the smiles are getting bigger

and here's Alex saying "BOO!"

Today our friends Josh and Michelle and their kids came over for some camera fun. I offered to help Michelle get some pictures of her kids for a Halloween card that they are sending out soon. Michelle knows how much I love being behind the camera but it sure takes a lot to get two kids smiling at the same time while both looking at the camera! We took about 75 pictures and there were so many to choose from and the process was really a lot of fun. I love tinkering with my camera because secretly I would love to be a photographer but boy do I still have a lot to learn. Hopefully Santa will bring me a new camera lens that I have wanted for quite some time because that would really allow me to go to the next level because a photographer needs good equipment and as you can see I already have adorable subjects to take pictures of.

Sock Monkeys and 1 year olds are so Cute!

Happy 1st Birthday Dylan!

Our friends Brooke and Dave have 2 adorable little boys and their youngest turned 1 on Wednesday. Brooke and I go scrapbooking together often and so I had to really rack my brain to come up with an original gift with an adorable card to go with it for his birthday party. The other day I was walking through Target by the toy aisle and when I saw the sock monkey I knew exactly the perfect gift for Dylan but also a card that his mother would definitely appreciate. I decided instead of putting the card in an envelope that I would just hang it from the monkey because as we all know - monkeys love hanging out...! Dylan, I hope you enjoy your new toy as much as I enjoyed putting it all together for you.

To see some pictures from Dylan's birthday and to read my friend Brooke's blog please click here: http://secondtimemommy.blogspot.com/
Brooke is a great writer and if your a mom you'll definitely appreciate her stories!

Girls and their Dolls are so Precious

I got to spend the afternoon with my family in Freeport today and I got to see how much my niece Katie has changed since last time I saw her in August. She truly is growing up fast and is a very smart and adorable little girl (as you can see above). Lately she hasn't been sleeping through the night very well so it's been a tough go for Nick and Kelly because they aren't sleeping either. The last few nights have been much better but the week before she would cry for hours and hours before she would fall asleep. She got a 2 hour nap in today before we all got together and then she had lots of fun playing afterwards with my cousin Bailee who is so good with her. After playing with Bailee for a while it appears that she got tired and walked over by this rug next to the sliding glass door and just laid down. Hmmm.....I wonder if she wanted to nap again or just give her Auntie M a photo opportunity? I think you'll agree she is a great subject to photograph and I think these photos capture all the qualities that make her one of the most adorable little girls ever. I love you Katie!

Fall Decorations Everywhere

Another project that I altered was the candy jar in the first picture. I took a glass cookie jar and added some embellishments and stamped a tag for the top and filled it with candy. For some reason the candy keeps disappearing and we are 2 weeks away from Halloween. I guess we'll have to buy some more for the trick or treaters.

The other project was the "spooky spider" on the front door. This is one of the many cool wall rub-ons that are available from Stampin Up in their new decor elements collection. They are made of vinyl and easily can be rubbed onto walls, doors, and also placed in picture frames. I really want to put some stuff inside the house but thought the door was safe to get used to doing it first.

Get Crafty for Halloween

Many of you know that I am an avid scrapbooker, stamper, and now I'm branching into taking my creativity into projects at home for decoration. Knowing that fall is my favorite time of year, and Halloween is my favorite holiday, I thought I should share with you a simple project that you can hang on your wall. I had a picture frame that I loved but the picture didn't go with our decor in the new house so I took out the picture, added some cardstock and punched 1 inch squares of Halloween paper to make this fun project. I added some Jolee stickers as embelishments and I know how this cool picture to hang up. I also decided that I would change it for each of the holidays so soon I'll being working on a Christmas one since it hangs by my front door.

Things Aren't Like They Used to Be...

We DVR the Oprah show everyday because I love watching her shows so that I can remain "in the know" but I don't always agree with her opinions. I have been trying to get tickets for years with no luck but I'm bound to get them someday - hopefully not before the show is off the air! This week one of her shows was about how 80% of Americans think that rudeness is a serious national problem, but only 99% of the same people say that they themselves are not rude. So in watching the show we took the "so how rude are you?" quiz and I have to say that I was a bit surprised by my score. I scored a 6 out of 13, and I always have taken pride in my manners because my mother taught me well.

Let's see how rude you are and take the test for yourself below:

1. Are you chronically late?

Never, I absolutely hate being late and think it's disrespectful for people to leave you waiting all of the time. There are some friends of mine that are always late and I just don't get it.

2. Have you ever typed an email while talking on the phone?

All day long at work, I call it multi-tasking but I do type quietly.

3. Have you ever interrupted a face to face conversation to take a non-urgent cell phone call?

Not that I recall, I guess that would send a message that your not too important to me.

4. Have you gone through the supermarket 10-item express lane with more than 10 items?

No, everyone knows that I am a rule follower to a fault - which is why I'm in HR.

5. While among friends or co-workers, have you yawned without covering your mouth?

Not on purpose...I do yawn alot though because I can never get enough sleep.

6. Have you ever texted or talked on a cell phone in a movie theatre?

Umm....does emailing on the blackberry count? If so I do that all the time but before the movie starts so maybe this should only be 1/2 a point and not a full point. :)

7. Have you let your dog relieve himself on your neighbor's lawn?

Wow, I didn't know that was rude....he's gotta go when nature calls but I ALWAYS pick up after him because not doing so would be very rude.

8. Have you ever cut in front of a someone in line?

Uhh yeah I have but I'm more non-chalant about it and make it seem like I didn't see them but that's only if I know they will take forever to check out.

9. Have you ever stolen someone's parking spot?

NO but I had it happen to me at the mall right before Christmas and I really blew a gasket - not one of my proudest moments. I had waited about 2 minutes for the spot before this woman took it right under me from the other way. This is why I shop online because it's just not worth it. I think I lost a few years off my life for that near heart attack.

10. Have you ever let your child kick the back of the seat in front of you and not apologized to his victim?

Well no because I don't have kids but believe it or not, out of 42,000 people polled, only 2% said yes. Come on parents - your kids do it ALL THE TIME and I don't think I have ever gotten an apology. This will go on my things I'll never tolerate as a parent list.

11. Have you ever not RSVP's for an event by the date requested?

On a rare occasion and only because it slipped my mind. Sorry.

12. Have you ever gossiped?

No response necessary.

13. Have you ever taken someone else's food or drink from the office refrigerator?

No, I'm a germaphobe and I don't know who has had there hands in that food, I think it's completely disgusting.

Well there you have it, I am ruder than I thought, so I guess I have a few things to work on. I'd love to hear how you ranked on this test. I guess we have to be self aware of our flaws otherwise we'll never change them.

Happy Birthday Amanda!

Today is our niece, Amanda's birthday, and she recently moved to Vermont with her Dad so we are unable to celebrate with her. We all miss her very much, she is a very energetic little girl that is growing up way to quickly but she sure has a sparking personality!

Amanda spent a weekend with us in July before she moved and we had lots of fun including during our little "photo shoot" in the backyard. She is very photogenic as you can tell and she has the best fashion style of anyone I know. Of course she wants to grow up to be a fashion designer or something related to fashion. I can tell you that I would love to take her shopping with me because she probably would add a little bit a trendy twist to my more conservative style of dress. She told her grandma that she wanted Ugg boots for her birthday and I must say I was a bit jealous because I want a pair of those boots!

I have known Amanda since she was two years old and I remember how excited she would become when I pulled up to her grandma's house in my red car because she would yell "Pissy's car, Pissy's car" because she couldn't enunciate her M's at that point. Luckily she calls me Aunt Missy now and I have luckily dropped her other nickname she had for me. I also remember her love for pizza and her uncle David would bring home pizza for her on Monday's because he worked late on Monday's. She would pick of the cheese and eat just that. She also loved ketchup so much that she would dip her fries in ketchup but forget to eat the fries. She sure was a funny little girl and continues to be so even though she is growing up to be quite the young lady.

We miss you Amanda and hope you had a great birthday!