Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Our Newest Addition - Tugg

We are the proud family of a new puppy!!!
I got a "wild hair" (if you wanna call it) concerning my husband's Christmas gift this year.  English Bulldogs are my husband's most absolute favorite breed, always have been and probably always will be.  I also knew that my husband wanted an all white, male puppy (if he could be picky).  While I was online last week I got a pop-up for petfinder or some other pet website and a white bulldog puppy was on the picture, so curious me clicked on it (just to look).  I sent the pic to my husband of the puppy and all I said was "isn't she cute".  He got back to me "yeah, whose is it?"  I just had said "urs, for a whole lot of money"  (I knew she was way out of reach.)  Well later that evening he said to me "when you sent me that text of the puppy my heart dropped, and I thought you got me a puppy for Christmas!"  I didn't mean to lead him on.....but out of the rest of that conversation I realized how much my husband was excited at the thought of that puppy...I knew that I had to try and look into this somemore.  I didn't think so close to Christmas I'd find exactly what he was looking for, but I did.  The next day I looked online for breeders in my state and found some who had puppies available.  I called a few and came across this little guy.  I arragned to "go look" at him on Saturday morning and as soon as I seen him and that he was what my husband wanted - I had to get him.  That afternoon, with a lot of help from my wonderful family, we suprised my hubby with his Christmas gift and he literally had no clue!
We've never owned a puppy before and even when I lived with my parents - we always adopted dogs, so this is new for us. 

Well - that's kind of a lie.  Four years ago my husband and I bought an English Bulldog from a breeder, took him home on Friday, went to church on Sunday and the puppy died in his crate.  The "breeder" came and got the puppy and had an autopsy done on him..to find out he had a heart condition called cardiomyopathy.  This wasn't something the vet could detect at his puppy check ups, so no one had any idea.  My husband and I put off getting another one, that kind of just left a bad taste for us.

My daughter wanted to name him cupcake (and if he was a she - we would so go with that name), but we decided on Tugg.
-Mamma G- 


Monday, December 20, 2010

Mommy & Me Monday: Christmas Cookies

Mommy and Me Monday at Really, Are You Serious?
Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

Last weekend my little one and I baked cookies for Christmas, and I realized I never took any pictures and we don't have anymore cookies left.  So......I was determined to make some more cookies for Christmas, Santa, my hubby (who ate most of them), and to get some pictures of this tradition!

So we only made chocolate chip cookies this time around (my hubby's fav).  I couldn't believe when I went to the local major grocery store they had ran out of Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chips...at Christmas time!  So I went to my normal grocery store, and of course they didn't fail me...never do.

So here is us making our cookies:
Of course we have to eat the batter (I used to be a stickler about this, but that is part of the fun of making cookies):
Some of our yummy cookies:
So now we are all set with cookies for daddy and Santa!

-Mamma G-

Friday, December 17, 2010

Trains, Cookies and Asparagus

I just realized that I haven't posted anything all this week.  Time has just slipped by this week.  But I wanted to share this awesome thing my daughter made at her school for Christmas and the story behind it.

This week one of the themes is trains.  So the stories, arts, snacks, etc. are all having to do with trains.  So they made this fun "advent" train out of candy and she can eat one piece a day.
I just think this is such a cute idea.  It would be neat to make these as gifts for her friends some year.

But her and the other kids were in a discussion and they were being asked: 1.-If you took a train ride, where would you go? and 2.-What would you take with you?

My daughters lovely answers....."I would go to the park and take cookies and asparagus."

I just love the way she thinks.  I don't know where that came from.  We do eat asparagus in our home, but we haven't had it since the summer time.  We don't go to the park as much as we'd like to, and we probably haven't been there since early fall.  We go when it's warm, but it's kind of a treat to go to the park for a few hours.  And I looked over all the rest of the kids replies and they were things like:  grandmas, blanket, food, dog.  They were general and "normal" things. 

So today what I will tell my child is...don't loose your creativity.  Don't let it "grow up" while you grow up.  Don't be influenced to not think out of the box. 

-Mamma G-

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Christmas Cards!

Ok, I'm finally posting my Christmas cards for this year.  I didn't want to put them on here until I knew people actually received them.  The pictures don't do them justice at all--you can't get the full effect of the colors and embellishments.  They aren't real fancy, but I was so tickled with myself for doing a pop-up Christmas card.  So here it goes.  The front:
The "Merry Christmas" was stamped and then embossed with white powder, those three little dots are little pearly gems that look fabulous with the colors of my cards.  I did use different patterned papers so all of my Christmas cards are different.
The inside:
I also stamped and embossed the words on the inside.  The Christmas trees are stamped, embossed with golden stars on the tops and then just colored here and there with colored pencils.

I love them.  I already have my idea for next years Christmas cards and I will be starting on them once Christmas is over so I can get a jump on them.  I'm thinking I'm going to do less stamping because it is very time consuming and more of using my Cricut machine instead.

-Mamma G-

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

My Husband Needs A Murse

It's official - I have decided that my husband needs a murse!  (Murse = Man Purse, for those of you who don't know.)  My husband crams sooo much stuff in his pockets.  He used to wear regular jeans with the 4 pockets, but he has out did them and now only buys carpenter jeans because of all of the pockets to stuff all of his crap.  I have taken a picture of all of the things he stuffs his pockets with on a normal day before leaving the house.  He will come home with loose change, drill bits, tools, screws, tape measure, and the list could go on.
Us women can carry a lot of stuff and I don't know about you - but for me:  the bigger the purse then the more I collect.  I think it's justifyable for us to easily do that because we have the room.  But my hubby doesn't have the room in his pockets and he absolutely refuses to carry a murse, man bag, duffel, cargo bag, guide bag, wallet bag, etc.  I know he has no intentions of cutting back on the things that he carrys with him, so we'll see - I may end up sewing a slew of pockets on his jeans.
Maybe he'll consider a jean purse (I mean bag), it could blend in with his jeans:
Or we could just bring back the MC Hammer pants:
Um no.

-Mamma G-

Monday, December 6, 2010

Mommy & Me Monday

Mommy and Me Monday at Really, Are You Serious?
Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?
 
Todays meme by Krystyn for Mommy & Me Monday  on Really, Are You Serious? is Christmas Tree Style.  We are to pop infront of the Christmas tree with our little ones and get a picture of us with them.


So we put up our tree 7 days ago and I realize after looking through my wonderful pictures - that of course there is none of mommy.  I have pics with just daddy, pics with just the little one, pics of just the tree, and pics with daddy, the little one and the tree all together.  But none with me in them.  So I had to snap one today!
- Mamma G -

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Next Major Accomplishment in Craftiness: Handmade Gift Card Holders

Ok, a few weeks ago I posted my first handmade card on here because I was so excited that I actually did it - after talking about making my own cards for like EVER!  I know I mentioned about making my own Christmas cards (I have them almost done to post), but in the meantime I made my own handmade gift card holder and I'm so excited about it that I had to share my next adventure in the card making excursion on here too.

I do have to admit that the concept is not mine, but it is entirely designed and layed out by me.  I know the colors are kind of hard to see, but all I used was Christmas patterned paper, funky scissors and a stamp for the inside.  The tree and holly berries have this awesome glitter shimmer that is a little hard to see.  But notice the gift card pocket - that's what I'm tickled the most about.  (;  The front:

And here is the inside:
I can't wait to give this away for Christmas (not so much the gift card but the actual card - tehe).

-Mamma G-

Monday, November 29, 2010

Holiday Traditions

Well the idea of "holiday traditions" has been on my mind as we roll out of Thanksgiving and onto Christmas.  I thought that we didn't really have any traditions as a family and I started to try and think of some traditions to start that can be passed down...but I realized that maybe I don't really appreciate the ones we currently have.  I didn't realize that we do have some traditions (some new and some from childhood) that we are repeating every year without ever noticing it.  Most of our traditions are at Christmas, so I would like to come up with some things for other times throughout the year.  I just feel like traditions should just kind of happen and be fun.  I don't feel like they should be forced or stressful - that takes the enjoyment out of them.  Some of our winter/Christmas traditions are:
  • We drive around and look at Christmas lights and then head inside for some hot chocolate.  I love this tradition and this is definately a childhood tradition.  My mom used to drive my brother and I around to look at lights and I can remember her making us hot chocolate (sometimes I'd just eat the chocolate like Fun Dip).
  • Decorating the tree is a family event.  I can remember doing this as a child as well.  We were all around to decorate the tree.  I remember playing Christmas music too.  Granted my daughter is 4 and has been at home for every tree decorating event - I plan to keep it that way with her and any future children.
  • Going sledding.  When I was younger my mom would take my brother, me and Max (our lab dog) to a local school that has a huuuggee hill behind it.  It was open to anyone so whenever it snowed there was always someone there.  I can remember having sooo much fun doing this.  I want to start this tradition with my family, but I know we can't go to that school anymore because it is gated off.  I am not sure of any place in our area where we can just pick up and go like we used to.  I need to find out if I know of someone who has a huge hill that will let us do this.  I know we can go to a ski resort - but it just doesn't feel the same.  Kind of like ice skating on a pond versus the rink - not the same.
  • This year I have actually started to make my own Christmas cards.  I hope to keep this tradition going in the future.  It has been work, but not stressful and I've enjoyed the time with my daughter while working on these.
  • And lastly my parents have started a tradition with us kids and our families and that is to make gingerbread houses all together (one house per family).  I don't know why we ever waited this long to make these - they are so much fun to make!
So, thinking of these "traditions" that we are already doing has made me appreciate them even more.  There are a few I am bating around on adding to Christmas, but more so throughout the year.  I don't want to feel like the only things we are passing down to our children are:  tv, laptops, video games and smartphones .  It's important to have things in your family that make your family unique and special to one another.  I love to hear about family traditions (unique, funky, traditional, whatever).  I really think it adds character to a family.  So feel free to share your traditions!

-Mamma G-

Monday, November 22, 2010

Mom's Life Monday

Mrs. Mootz at A{muse}-ing Mommy On a Pink Park Bench has me thinking on her meme today and I'm kind of stumped.  Today's prompt is:  Moms: 99% of the time you're sure your kids are yours and the hospital didn't make a mistake. However, is there ever a time when you're just not sure where Junior got THAT trait from?

I honestly am having a difficult time coming up with some things that Evie does or traits that make us say "hm, I wonder where that came from?"  I literally had to ask Pappa G (that doesn't make me a bad parent!), but he couldn't come up with anything either.

So I will say the number one thing that would make us wonder IF my daughter (or any of my children) "inherits" would be my husbands ears.  I am not going to explain them.  You people who know him - know what I'm talking about.  And I'm sure for those of you who may ever meet him - you will surely be looking in the future.  And I understand that IF she inherited them - we know the source.  But not reeeaally....we have no clue where my husband got them from.  He's the lucky one where they just showed up.

His ears are unique, one-of-a-kind, and strangely peculiar.  But they are fantastically on the man who is all mine.  I did ask my sis-in-law if anyone knows where they came from, just to be completely sure on this.  And her response was "They are some strange ears that look absolutely beautiful on my niece."  Soooo, apparently Little G has already inherited part of her daddy's ears and I just didn't admit it to anyone.

-Mamma G-

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Major Accomplishment - Handmade Cards

I am sooo excited because after much talk of making my own cards for special occassions, I have finally done it.  Woohoo, go me!  I made a fabulous card for my sis-in-law thanking her for inviting me to her 3d ultrasound of my beautiful niece.
The front:
The inside:
I just love it.  I want to keep it for myself and my portfolio, but think I should probably give it to her.  I know this may be a simple post, but it's something I'm very excited about..partly because I love how it turned out but more so because I actually did it and accomplished it.  Again, go me!  I am also attempting a huge feat this year:  homemade Christmas cards.  But they are going to be just as fabulous and I can't wait to post them.

-Mamma G-

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

My Little Girl Is Growing Up, HELP!

Over the weekend my daughter got her ears peirced!  I can't believe it.  She has been talking about it for months and has finally gotten the courage to do it.  She loves to check out your earrings and likes beautiful jewelry.  We went a few months ago to have it done and the girls in the jewelry shop were explaining to her what they were going to do and she sort of chickened out.  Then she stopped talking about it for a little while.  I didn't want to get her ears peirced when she was a baby because I always wanted my kids to decide when they wanted to do it and I thought that maybe they would have a different appreciation for it.  So, on Friday when I picked her up from school she told me she wanted to go get her ears peirced that night.  We made plans to take her over the weekend (I secretly thought maybe she would chicken out againg).  She talked about it all weekend and told everybody.  We took her to the jewelry shop and at this point I was still waiting for her to back out.
Waiting to get them peirced

The girls are explaining to her what they are going to do and she takes Daddy's hand (still waiting for her to change her mind):

The actual peircing:

Her reaction right after:
She didn't cry at all!  I think she wanted to instantly reach up and rub the "pinch" away.  But she did sooooo good.  I was so proud of her.

The beautiful earring:
A little while after she had it done she said to me "I'm proud of myself for getting my ears peirced."  I said "you should be proud of yourself, and I am very proud of you too."  She replied "yep, and no more fake earrings."  (;

- Mamma G -



Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Working Mom Wednesday



Todays discussion over on Work, Wife, Mom...Life! for Working Mom Wednesday is: Eat out or brown bag with co-workers? Lunch room or desk? What your typical work lunch like?

I was recently pondering this whole subject with a coworker.  Often times I choose to eat at my desk.  I don't necessarily have to but there aren't many other options.  I kind of like to eat at my desk because it gives me a chance to catch up on *personal* things like email, blogging, Facebook, blah, blah, blah.  We do have a lunch room and I'm in a small office where only one of us can take a lunch at any given time so sometimes it can be lonely and other times you're thankful for the alone time.  Another reason I may stear clear of the lunch room is the avoidance of talking about....work.  Ugh, not what I like to do on MY break.

I don't get a lot of time for lunch.  And it is really not enough time to go anywhere for lunch besides the local gas station, so that is kind of a bummer.  I would really appreciate a longer lunch.  At the company I worked at before my current one - we had 45 minutes (I know some people are so lucky and have an hour!).  But 45 minutes is great for me.  I miss that.  It was just right with enough time to go somewhere but not too much time.

I am very fortunate and blessed.  Please understand that I will in no way be complaining of my lunch options because I do appreciate what is available to me.  That said - I work in an organization that has daily meals and sometimes us staff elect to get one.  Now most days the meals are ok and decent and I do appreciate to not have to pack all of the time...other days are complete risks.  I don't mind the sandwiches, soups, rice dishes and some other favorites.  I especially like the days where we have local restaurant food brought in or a homemade meal by some well-praised donor.  A few risks:  meatloaf day (aka - mystery loaf) and spaghetti (aka - heartburn on a plate).

Today I brought my lunch:  Easy Mac, fried cabbage, and an apple with peanut butter.  Yum.  (I will put my vote in for afternoon siestas though.)

- Mamma G -

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Why is it a bad thing to be a tattle tale?

I am starting to hear my daughter say "we don't want to be a tattle tale" and when I put some thought to this it really actually bothers me.  I know she is hearing this at daycare and she is in that "tattle tale stage".  But seriously - why is it bad and looked down on, often labeling the child and making them feel horrible for telling the truth.  Do we not want our kids to tell us the truth?  Do we want our kids to come to us if something is wrong?  Do we want open communications with our kids?

If your child was being bullied - would you want them to tell you? 
If your child knew of something that could affect someone's safety - would you want them to tell you? 
If your child knew of a crime or abuse being committed - would you want them to tell you?

I hope your answer would be "ABSO-FREAKIN-LUTELY!" 

So why do people instill in their young children (often between 2-5 years old) that it's not right to "tattle” (squeal, rat, nark, snitch, hate).  I realize "Jenny took my toy" is a lot different then "Brutus keeps shoving me in my locker", so we need to use discretion as parents on how to appropriately handle the tattling. 

I often see this when a child complains to an adult:  a. the adult doesn't actually know if the other person is guilty of the accusation or b. the adult doesn't know how to handle the situation.  I don't think you should say to the tattling child right away "don't be a tattle tale, it's not nice".  Now, I don't agree that you should just react after a "tattle" has been told either.  You need to watch and be confident that the person is truly guilty and decide if it requires action.

Often times young tattle tales don't even require any action from the adult.  They are insignificant things - but keep in mind that it wasn't insignificant to your child at the time.  Maybe sometimes the kid tattling needs someone to just listen to them.  Pay attention to what they may be trying to tell you, and I don't mean just their words.  Maybe something is going on emotionally with them and they just want your attention, or maybe even just your recognition of their own good behavior. 

How about when a tattle tale happens respond to them by saying something like "thank you for not joining in and making fun of Jenny, I know you know that is not nice and I appreciate your concern" instead of just saying "don't be a tattle tale".  Try putting the focus back on them in a positive way.  It could communicate to the tattler that the truth is ok at the same time you are not just going react towards the offenders right away just because they told on them.  I think sometimes when we just halt it with "don't be a tattle tale" we unconsciously just inhibited them from speaking the truth.  And we all want our kids to tell us the truth about everything don't we?

As I mentioned before, after a tattle happens you need to watch and know if something is going on that does need addressed.  We can’t just jump in and solve all of our kid’s social conflicts.  If we did that they’d never learn how to resolve conflicts with friends.  And if we jump in all of the time (or even just once) the tattler will have repercussions from his/her “friends” for tattling.  Remember – it’s not always easy for the tattler.  A friend reminded me of this by saying “when is it ever easy to do the right thing?”

- Mamma G -

Friday, October 29, 2010

Heart Gems

I know you are thinking "what in the world is that?"  Well it has now been entered into the "My Most Prized Pocessions Box". 

My daughter gave me this and said "Here you go mommy, I picked this one out for you.  It's a heart and so I love you".  These little words are incredibly priceless and yet this object without these words is meaningless. 

I was in the car this morning driving to drop Evie off at daycare when I heard this little voice speak these words.  Thankfully she said this as we stoped at a red light because I could glance back right away.  I gave Evie my hand and she laid this chocolate gemstone in my palm.  I can't truely explain the feeling that comes over you as a parent when your child does something so precious.  It fills you so competely with joy that it's hard to find the right words to say back to let them know in return how much they just touched your heart.  And often times you have but a split second to communicate this back to them before your interrupted by life going on.  Whether it be the red light changing to green or your child bouncing onto another topic.  As I said, I am thankful for that red light because I was able to look her in the eye and sincerely thank her for the chocolate gem and tell her how much I love her too. 

So I had to promise her that I would not eat this chocolate gem today at work and that I would wait for when I picked her up, but I secretly promised that I would never eat this gem...it's too precious.

- Mamma G -

Friday, October 22, 2010

Thrifty Treasures

  Most people know I like to be thrifty where I can (somethings I just won't budge, sorry).  I am super excitted that I got this entire outfit at a thrift store for next to nothing!  I got the shirt, pants, shoes and the great necklace that matches perfectly.  You can't really see the necklace, so here's a closer pic.
   I love it when I get an awesome deal, as I am sure you do.  And you'd be suprised at the things you can find at thrift shops.  Although I do get some people who will say "Ooo, that's a really cute shirt, where did you get that at?"  and when I reply "At a thrift shop" they will totally give me this eye like "really, and ew".  At that point I sadly feel a little bad for them. 
  My daughter loves when I bring things home for her too.  Now, I realize that one day the teenage years are going to take over my child's life, things will surely flip and she will hate when I bring "used" stuff home for her.  But at this point while it doesn't matter - I'm going to take advantage of it.  Yesterday I found Diego and Cars Leapster games for $2.95 each, and they work perfectly!  Let me tell ya - she was a happy child when I gave them to her and it didn't matter at all where it came from. 
  I will try to post my future thrift store finds and kudos to the treasures that you come across.

- Mamma G -

Friday, October 15, 2010

Playing In The Pumpkin Patch


Dad doing the cuting
We decided to do our official first fall activity this past weekend and we went to a farm that had a crazy amount of farmy things to do.  I was amazed at all of the activities that people could come up with that involved things on farms.  From pumpkin sling shots and panning for gems to a corn maze and hill slides (50+ activities to be more precise).  We had sooo much fun.  Of course I took what seemed to be a thousand pictures of Evie, and made out with some really awesome fall shots.

Besides this being our first fall activity, we also picked pumpkins for the first time.  As soon as we went into the pumpkin patch the first thing Evie said was "I need to pick the perfect pumpkin" (emphasis on perfect).  So we looked all around that pumpkin patch to make sure she found her perfect pumpkin.  The perfect pumpkin had to be round and couldn't have ANY dirt on it.  Which do you know how hard it is to find a pumpking that doesn't have ANY dirt on it?  FYI - we were successful and found not one, but two perfect pumpkins.
One of our perfect pumpkins
We also haaadddd to pan for gems.  Evie really enjoyed doing this - but I think mommy and daddy seem to enjoy it maybe just a little bit more, for some reason.  Never panned before this fall but we really dig it.  Hopefully we're sitting on a goldmine that will make our whole family rich.  I know this is doubtful, but I'm still holding out.
Evie with her gems
- Mamma G -

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Decisions, Decisions

Oh, what to blog about...

Well I have major decisions that need major answers.  On the checklist are:
  1.  should we move or stay where we are?
  2.  what school district should we choose
  3.  (is affeted by number 1) if we stay where we are do we send our children
       to that school district or push for the option of going to a different district
  4.  to increase our family size and when
  5.  my husband needs another job - but should he change his career (that could
       involve going back to school)

So, I am anxiously praying for each of these decisions and some guidance on them.  I am truly excited to see what is going to happen in our lives and what changes will be made.  It is scary because these are some huge changes that will be affecting other aspects of our life.  I guess what has gotten the ball rolling on all of this change is my husbands layoff and unsecurity at work.  For 11 years his job has been stable but the last two years have been questionable.  He was laid off once for a short time, was called back, and is currently laid off again.  So needless to say, all of this is intimidating and petrifying the crap out of us.  I really just focus on the good that can come with change and that when one door closes another one is opened.  I am definitely excitted to see what is going to happen in our lives and what changes will be made.

- Mamma G -

Thursday, October 7, 2010

My Premier as a Blogger

Hello Blogging World!  This is my official debut to the world of blogging.  I am in no way a writer and I have no writing experience, besides my fabulous personal journal entries.  I do not know if I will like the blogging world or even that I have anything "great" to say.  But life happens to me just as it happens to you, and I want to share it.

- Mamma G -