My favorite Christmas gift

We had a portrait painted of William for Christmas. I just love it. It's framed and hanging in the dining room. Sorry this isn't the best picture. Chad has a bunch of drum stuff stacked under it...obviously not a formal dining room :-) The web address was http://www.personalartist.com/ Her name is Laurie. She was so nice and I thought very affordable. This is my favorite Christmas gift...besides the new light for my sewing room :-)

Here's William being "nice" to the "baby" before we hung it up :-)

Ok, and I'm thinking about doing a blog with sewing stuff on it so people can order things. it would still be all custom ordered, but I thought it'd be an easy way to show people a few ideas and have prices up because I'm such a bad salesman..and photographer...It's up on the "Blog List"...it's a VERY rough start.....

Christmas 2009

Well, we've travelled to SC for a day...to GA for 2 days, but in different cities, and now we are home!!! William was such a trooper in the car compared to last year...scroll to Dec 2008- he cried almost the entire trip... Of course endless baby Einstein and Elmo videos helped that a lot! We did stumble upon a great little rests top on 24 by Lake Nickajack- it has a great "pet walk" or "let your kid run free by this fence and look at ducks on the lake so they/you can relax" section- Perfect!!! William had fun seeing everyone and playing with his cousins. He really didn't nap or eat well, but we survived and I am happy to say we will start the Perry Trio Christmas tradition next year at our own house- can't wait!!!! This year he got a cool Radio Flyer trike with a handle for us to push him with...but he's been riding it since November (found it more than 1/2 off at Toys R Us and it was already put togther- someone bought it and returned it- score) And the other gift was a set of 4 cabinets in his room- kid sized and just his height. Thanks Chad- he loves them. Open, close, open, close.

I tell you- having a handy husband is so nice..... next year Santa will really stop by and see us, this year it was all about the boxes! I just want to see his face when Santa comes and make our own family traditions. Listen to him say Santa.....

Too precious, right? We had to tape it. I know it'll sound different next year. He did start saying "More Tanta" and "More tickle" this weekend....he just wants you to find as many pictures of Santa as possible to point them out so he can say "hey Tanta" He is becoming such a little boy playing with trucks and leggos...it's adorable. One more week of vacation and then it's back to school for me and WDP. I'm so excited for him to have some little friends his age and learn to share :-) ...and a few more days to get some stuff made...lots of new babies mean lots of sewing for me!

Lastly, we stopped in Atl to see our friends Emily and William and their daughter wanted to have a dance party and WDP joined in.

I think he takes after me...that is how I met Chad after all :-)

hummus

WDP is kind of a picky eater. Picky? Really...didn't you say he was 28lbs? Yep, but he's 28lbs of avocados, kosher all beef hot dogs, spaghetti, yogurt, puffs, and now hummus. He loves it. I think it's the dipping part he likes the most. The other night I gave him a small bowl of it, some pretzels and then went to work on his spaghetti and turned back around to find him like this. Oh, the sweet boy!
Chad and William are taking a "boys weekend" trip to go see his mom today- Sunday. It'll be my first time alone in 17 months. I almost feel badly that I'm excited :-) Excited to just sit around, read, watch some old tivo stuff, sleep, sleep, and sleep some more. I'll miss them and I'm ready for Sunday, but just not until I have "my" weekend just doing nothing. :-) Bye-bye baby and daddy!

Here's a quick shot of WDP relaxing in the morning...more than likely watching Elmo

So much to blog about...so little time!

Ok, so not really "so much" to blog about I just haven't put a ton of pictures up so here goes.....

First- Check E. Cheese... I wasn't to sure if WDP would like the characters or hate them....he couldn't get enough. He wanted to hug Chuck E. then when ChuckE left we put him onstage with the mechanical mouse and that was just as much fun...until the curtain closed on him. No problem William just stayed behind the curtain hugging ChuckE. It was so sweet. He was also a huge fan of the carousel....

You can't really tell, but he was doing the baby dance most of the time he was with Chuck E. You know the "bend your knees and just bounce" dance that all babies do :-)

Christmas at our house.... I made stockings from old curtains and I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. We have no ornaments due to the fact William pulls them off and we have a small tree so he can just walk behind it and around it. I thought it's be easier than fighting the battle of telling him "No" all the time. Check out the Fisher Price Nativity...so cute, right? He loves it. He doesn't like the angel on top- he prefers to pout "be-be"...aka Jesus up top after he kisses him. Then he smacks him because if you "gently" push down on the angel's perch it plays "Away in a Manger" and lights up. It's been a fun addition to our Christmas stuff- and it was a steal at only $17 marked down from $40 :-) yeah me!

William found one of his "Christmas gifts"- he loves opening cabinets and us being the mean parents we are we have child proofed all the cabinets sooooo, Chad is building him a thin cabinet to go under his window so he can put a few things in it. WE brought it inside Saturday and thought he wouldn't notice it- WRONG! He keeps opening the doors and trying to get in. It'll be perfect...after its painted and ready to go. Thanks Chad!

William is kind of dicovering coloring. I am discovering that crayons do not always come out of clothes, furniture, etc...ugh...anyway he still really likes to eat the crayons but everynow and again we get a few things down on the paper :-) I think he just likes being on the floor. Check him out "reading" the paper :-)

We found an inflatables place near our house and stopped in on Sunday late in the afternoon. The weather has been so crappy and we're trying to find fun things for William to do. He kind of liked the inflatables but was kind of scared too- I think there were too many kids...it makes me nervous thinking about his first day of school in January... But here he is....

My classroom- some quick pics of the "festive-ness" that is B-4 at Brentwood HS. I have a huge paper christmas tree over my safety light so the room has a nice green glow. There are paper "presents" taped to my door that say funny things like "To" James Waytson love, Francis Cric"...well it's funny if you're a science teacher :-) And I made stockings for my office workers and teaching assistants.... Of course there are lights everywhere, and I have a festive tree with...look closely...DNA double helix ornaments. Oh yeah, I'm "that" teacher! And of course I have my snowflakes- see below for directions.....

Chad and I went to a Tacky Sweater Holiday party....don't we look "nice" We tried to pose like some cheesey couples have those "couple" shots, but it didn't work too well....At $15/hour for a babysitter I was reminded why we do not go out too often. I need a part time job as a high school babysitter- how can they charge that? I guess because people like me will pay it...oh well! And to clarify he is in bed and asleep by the time the sitter comes over...what an easy job! sign me up!

Lastly just some random photos.... William is soo cute in the tub these days! here he is "helping"- He wanted to get the paper, but had his arms full so he was so smart to put the straw cup in his teeth and then get the paper :-) And a few little jonjons I made for someone to give as Christmas gifts.... making them made me think I need to get on it so WDP will have some long legged jonjons for school in January....

Finally- I feel all caught up.... no spell check, no punctuation check, just hit post :-)

Are you ready for this crafti-ness????

OK...my new favorite project- perfect for all you stay at home mom types looking for fun, cool, and cheap projects...or perfect for the high school teacher during exam review week :-)

1) Gather materials- you need stapler, tape, scissors, and white paper- I used shiny typing paper, but anything will be fine

2) Fold a triangle into the paper like this....

3)Cut off the edge so you have a folded square piece of paper

4) From the folded side cut three sections on both the right and left (from the folded side to the triangle point) Don't let the cut lines touch!..look carefully!

5) Open the paper

6) Grab the smallest interior diamond and fold the edges together like a cannoli- tape them

7) Flip the paper and grab the second smallest pieces and fold them in the opposite direction. Tape

8) Flip again, fold the third section tape.

9) Flip again, fold the last section, tape.

10) Looks cool right???? Make six of these...

11) Take two of the sheets of folded and taped paper and attach at the bottom with a staple and the sides...like this.....

12) Do this three times

13) Attach 2 of the double sets of paper.... at the bottom (which will be the center of the snowflake and the sides.

14) Attach the last set of papers to the center and the side- Viola! 3D snowflakes. Seriously, it takes 15 min for the first one and then you can whip out 4 or 5 in a class period...I mean in 45 minutes :-) I love exam periods...so much crafting time for teachers!!!!!

Let me know if you make any! You can find better directions here....Tomorrow- pictures from Chuck E Cheese, our decorations at home...even though there are very few because WDP likes exploring/ throwing them...and pictures of the festive-ness that is my school classroom- it's awesome!!!!