Personalized Christmas Ornaments <$10 (Free Personalization) Plus Free Shipping til 11/2

Yes! It's that time already! Time to start shopping for Christmas!

Here's a good deal for personalized ornaments, if you're looking for that sort of thing. Tons of styles $10 or less with free shipping (no matter how big/small the order) until Monday, November 2.

[Link]
Personalized Christmas Ornaments

Baby Fever

Scrapbook page of Ethan's Birth [Click to see larger version]

Ethan totally loves babies. He pretends all of his stuffed animals are babies -- feeds them, cuddles them when they're hurt, tucks them in bed. Sometimes, it actually takes up most of his full-size bed. He carries them like how you're supposed to carry a baby, and gets mad when I don't talk to them like he does. It's really sweet.

But if you ask him if he wants a little brother or little sister, his answers vary according to whether he's just been denied something -- a toy, tv time or just plain ol' attention. On a good day, he'd say, "I want a baby brother"... and I try to counter it with "Don't you mean a baby sister?"... in which case, Mike jumps in and reaffirms that they collectively want a boy, and not a girl and that I'm outnumbered (all the more reason for me to want a girl).

I have to admit, that I have been struck with the so-called baby fever. Yesterday, I found myself playing peek-a-boo with a stranger's baby at a Target checkout line and didn't have a care in the world how silly I must've looked. A friend brought over her 1 year old at our house warming last weekend, and I was so excited to teach him how to putt with one of Ethan's plastic golf clubs. We're throwing a baby shower for a coworker next week and I had eagerly volunteered to design her baby shower invites and even decorate the lunch room for the shower. And yes, I have already been thinking about baby names: Gavin Chaise or Addison Faith.

*Sigh*

With Ethan's 4th birthday lurking around the corner, and the pressure from all sides it seems to have #2, Mike and I have been toying with the idea. Not fully decided, but toying.

We have always agreed we wanted two.... but timing had been a challenge. Mike wanted to finish school. Done. We wanted to move back to California. Done. We both wanted to have steady jobs. Done. We wanted to buy a house and settle in. Done. As much as you try to plan to make sure you're as prepared as you can be, you're left wondering if that perfect timing will ever come.....

For now, I'll get my baby fix from going through Ethan's baby photos and playing major catch up with 3 years worth of scrapbooking. Better do it now before the next one comes, right? :)

Outside the lines is the new "IN"

Coloring outside the lines is A-OKAY with us... it shows that he can be creative!

Halloween is just around the corner!

We haven't really quite figured out what we're doing for Halloween this year. We got our pumpkins much earlier this year (last year, we bought it the day before Halloween because we wanted to wait for Mike to come home on leave to pick the pumpkins as part of our annual tradition).

Best part of that tradition is carving them since it always turns out to be a competition between me and Mike --- I think I won this year :)

My pumpkin

Mike's pumpkin (started out to be gargoyle until it collapsed so he carved an easier stencil of a cat on the other side)

Ethan's pumpkin (that he picked out and I carved)

Ethan's has two half-costumes -- I bought the "Dash from The Incredibles" costume from a yard sale last year but it's missing the mask and the boots (I think I may have found someone to borrow the rest from), and the other is a fireman suit -- the coat, i bought from Goodwill and the hat from a clearance rack at CVS (have to find some rain boots and a toy hose to finish it). Ethan seems okay with either one....... so....... I have until Friday to figure out which one he'll be wearing.

Mike and I haven't picked any costumes yet, but I found someone who might be able to lend us a Wilma and Fred getup. So if we do end up going to a friend's costume party, we won't have to go as the socket and the plug again.... LOL

I got the candy for the neighborhood kids -- I'm excited to finally live in a neighborhood that promises to have fun trick or treating. For 4 years in WV, we lived in a townhouse where we got zero trick or treaters... but every year, we kept buying candy anyway just in case (which we ended up eating ourselves). No good for my diet, if I were in one.....

Oh and I have to put the treat bags together for Ethan's class..... all 38 of them. Time to round up the guys for an assembly line!

Back from Hiatus

Wow. 4 months is a long time not to blog....... it's a new record for me! I have an excuse! I promise!

Right around the time I started lagging on this blog was about the same time I got hooked on Facebook status updates. It was just so much easier....... one liner.... blasted to everyone..... comments enabled....... quick and dirty.

>> from one social networking addiction to another <<

I now realize how much I miss being able to look back and revisit through my blog entries. Now I have a 4 month gap, which I could tell you, were everything but uneventful. So it's not like I didn't have anything to talk about, I just.... well... needed a break.

And now.... I'm back! No more promises to upkeep a certain number of posts per week...... I get enough stress from work :)

The rest of this post will just be snippets/brief updates of what has been going on in our crazy lives these past few months I disappeared:

Mama Mary came to visit us in California for two weeks.... which was a GODSEND... since she helped us tremendously with getting the house ready for our overdue house warming. Ethan stayed home from school the whole time to spend some quality time with grandma.

Ethan is back in pre-school. Have I mentioned how I ♥ Montessori? He knows how to write his numbers up to 15. He can name the 7 continents, 12 months of the year, 7 days of the week, parts of a plant, parts of a tree, cycle of an insect, 4 seasons and how to county in Spanish up to 10. He's also become quite a tattle tale... he'd tell us about getting into "fights" in school and getting trouble for it, or he'd tell us when one of the kids are being mean to him.

Mike's doing well with his new job at the courts -- been there for about 2 months. I've been in mine for a year last month. Aside from my sporadic late hours, we work about the same hours so we at least have the evenings.. although we have been trying (when there's a default babysitter) to get away once in a while. We went to San Diego a month ago to the Coronado Speed Festival, and 2 weeks ago, we spent a nice overnight date in Palm Springs.

The house is coming along great... we finally had our housewarming last weekend and had friends and family over. I think I'm far from being "done"... but we've come a long way, thanks to everyone's help. I'm actually excited to decorate the house for the holidays!

Alright..... I gotta jet!