He Blogs

Go check out my sweet husbands blog, The Pit and the Paintbrush. It will make your mouth water! :-)

A drawer full of.......

And in the other corner of the garage, what you may think looks like a box full of trash is this:



Yep, that's 12 kittens.

I *heart* Sundays

Yep, Sunday is easily my favorite day of the week! :-)
First, it's the only day of the week Jeremy gets to sleep in so we usually lay around in bed and talk as long as Levi will let us.
Then, it's Jeremy's day to make breakfast. He whips up something delicious like pancakes, french toast, or even stuffed french toast. YUM!
Because of a time zone difference between us and where our church is, we don't have to leave for church until 11 am. Plenty of time to shower, get ready, and just lay around and relax.
After church we get to eat out. And Sunday evenings Jeremy grills something delicious like steaks or pork chops.....mmmm mmm! We often get a movie for Sunday nights too.
Definitely a most perfect day. :-)

Cuteness!

I had a great time getting some pictures of Levi this morning. :-) He's so happy and good it's pretty easy to get some good shots. Can you believe he's now 8 months and 1 week old??

He's not crawling yet, but he's getting close. Technically, he can scootch backwards, and rotate in a circle, but no forward crawling yet. He'll get there!

He has started to be very vocal about certain things. Jeremy and I say he's cussing in baby talk. If he's mad at me, like I take a toy away or whatever, he does this loud, sassy, emphatic "Na na na na na na!!!" When he tips over on the floor, or is upset/sad because I walk in the other room, he has a pathetic, teary, "Da da da da da!" Hilarious!!

I think the cutest thing he's started is waving. At "Hi" or "Bye bye" he has a very enthusiastic wave for us. :-) I love it!

Rare Cat?

I *think* we may have an albino kitty!!! It's kind of soon to tell, she's only just over 2 weeks old, but this kitten is solid white, with pink skin, pink nose, pink feet pads. This picture makes her eyes look a lot pinker than they are because of the flash, but they definitely have a pink look to them. That would make her an albino. How cool!!! I just read that they are something like 1 in 2000. It would be fun to have such a unique cat. If she is truly albino, we'll keep her and she'll have to stay in the house because supposedly she'll have really sensitive skin and a sensitive immune system.
I say "she" but I can't tell the gender right now. Whatever it is, his/her name is "Ghost". :-)
BTW, Ghost came from a gray tabby mom and orange tabby dad, both just barn cats.

Just a Vent

Why is it, that I can buy a 12x12 scrapbook/album, 12x12 refill page protectors, and a package of 12x12 colored paper.....and the colored paper does.not.fit in the page protectors??? grrrr. Of course, I discovered this after I completed 3 or 4 pages. I'm going to have to take the paper cutter and trim about 1/4 inch off of every piece of paper I use. :-p

Schedule

A while back, I made up a weekly schedule which has *really* helped. As long as I follow it (haha....I did good the first few weeks but then started slacking) it keeps the house in good order without me having to do everything in one day. Just in case anyone cares (ha!) and to re-remind myself ;-), here it is:

Monday:

-Clean bathrooms
-Wash towels
-general cleaning/decluttering since the house is always messy after the weekend

Tuesday:

Wash bedding
Clean bedrooms
Run errands in town (sometimes the day of the week for this changes, but I try to only go in twice a week to save on gas)

Wednesday:

Dust and vacuum everything
Wash jeans
Wash Levi laundry

Thursday:

Bake something :-)
Mop floors
Polish table and wood furniture

Friday:

Wash dark clothes
Wash light clothes
Clean kitchen thoroughly
Go to garage sales :-)

Saturday:

Do any "extra" laundry that may have accumulated
Levi laundry (again!)
Clean anything I missed during the week

Also, every day I do a general tidying, making beds, empty dishwasher etc.

Time to Scrap!!

The time has come!!! I've ordered prints, set up a space, and I'm ready to start on a scrapbook for Levi. Yay--it's gonna be fun!
I've set up a table in his room...that way he can play on the floor with his toys, and there's plenty of room in his room so I can leave everything out and not have to put it away each time I'm done working on it. I'm very blessed that he's so good....he'll just play and entertain himself for quite a while which gives me time to "play" myself. :-)
I tend to get all wrapped up in scrapbooking once I start, so I'm going to be careful to limit myself. I want to keep up with the housework and of course spend plenty of time with Levi, so scrapping will take the back burner.
As of now, I have 85 pictures printed out to do something with. EEEK!! I always get overwhelmed at the beginning of a project....for example, I've been staring at blank pages for 3 days now. LOL. But last night, I finally did get some inspiration, and I've got one page mostly laid out, just need to get everything glued on.

My space:

I had a visitor

I looked out my kitchen window last night, and saw I had a visitor outside on the electric pole. I think he was eyeing all the birds that were on the fence. I don't *think* he was a poisonous snake....I'm a little leery of going out in the backyard now though!!

The Loot-Levi's winter wardrobe

Yes, there's a couple of short sleeved things but one will fit now, the other is for next spring or summer.

Warm pj's--he'll need a couple more pairs of these I'm sure, but this is a start.

The perfect outfits for a little boy named Levi. :-)

Gee, I must like stripes or something. lol. Actually, he looks really good in stripes.

More cool tops.

I didn't get very many pants because he already has a few that should fit this winter.

2 adorable sweaters!

That's it! $60 for all that....pretty good, I think! 17 tops, 4 pants, and 3 outfits.
The most expensive thing was the GAP sweater at $5, and the Levi's jacket and pants for $5, everything else was under $3. Keeping my fingers crossed that this stuff will be the right size. Everything is either 12 months or 18 months. He'll turn 12 months in December. So far, he's been wearing tops in the size corresponding to his age, very consistently, and jeans/pants in the next size down. So as long as his growth pattern doesn't change this stuff will work.

A FUN week!!

Levi and I had a super fun, busy week. :-)
First, Monday was my birthday. Jeremy made me a cake (carrot cake!) and my gift was a digital picture frame. (very cool!!!)
Monday afternoon, my mom got here. She came to visit from Arkansas. I miss her a lot so it was GREAT to see her again. And, Levi loved her! They got along really great all week, and she spoiled him.....that's what grandma's are for right?
Tuesday, we ran some errands in town and Tuesday night we went to Montana Mikes (a local restaurant) and the FAIR. Wow--Levi was in heaven! Seriously. He had soooo much fun. Grandma brought him a stroller, so he rode around in that, and his little eyes were so big and his mouth was gaping open as he took in everything and everyone we saw. He loves going places so this was his "cup of tea". :-) I wish we had places like that to go more often....it's good for Levi (and me!) to get out and do stuff and see people.
Wednesday night grandma babysat and Jeremy and I went to the fair again to eat bbq and funnel cakes :-) and we went to the rodeo. (which was good for a laugh....just a small town college rodeo so it was a bunch of amateurs who couldn't even handle calf roping! lol)
Thursday, my mom and I and Levi went to Denver and got in a day of shopping!! Since that's 3 hours away, Jeremy said he hoped I'd find some real deals to make the trip worth it. Well, I took him at his word.....we went to this awesome kid's resale store and I spent $60 on clothes for Levi!!!! Eek. It seemed like a lot, BUT he didn't have any winter clothes yet for this coming winter, and now he should have enough for most of the winter. (unless he grows too fast and I end up with the wrong size--THAT would be frustrating.) Anyway, I got some really, really nice stuff, including baby GAP. I'll put some pictures of that stuff up later.
I also went to Sam's club and found a really good deal on an Eddie Bauer car seat. Levi's about to outgrow his current one so we'll need the bigger one soon. I just hope it fits in our car--it's kinda big!
My mom left this morning to go home again. :-( Back to the boring old routine. August is going to be a loooong month....hot, boring, nothing to look forward to. I sure wish I knew some young moms with babies in my town. I saw tons at the fair, but I don't know any of them....it would be neat if there was some sort of playdate group around here. Levi loves other babies so much I think he'd enjoy doing something like that, rather than being around the boring house and his boring mom so much. ;-)

Levi and Grandma H.

Who put who to sleep here?
Telling stories