Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! Hope your day is filled with family, happiness and love!

GIVEAWAY

CONTEST CLOSED!
The winner is Christopher and Tia! Congrats, lol.
[Uprinting will email you information on your prize within the next week.]
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Giveaway Prize: 100 Postcards for one (1) lucky winner!!

Size: 4x6; Paper: 14pt Cardstock Gloss; Printing: Full color both sides

Shipping: Winners have to pay for shipping [shipping is excluded]

Giveaway [for winner and blog owner] is sponsored by UPrinting.

To enter, just leave a comment here, teling what you would use the postcards for. Be creative!

One winner will be chosen on Janury 4th.

[Prizes & Blogger Appreciation gifts will be awarded via coupon code on January 8, 2010.]

Please leave an email address so I can contact you.

Ho Ho Ho!

We are counting down the days now!! The kids are finishing up their last week of school before our break. We are reading lots of books about Winter, Christmas and the Winter Solstice. It's been a fun week filled with lots of arts & crafts too. Our weekend plans include 2 full days of baking. Mmmmm Christmas cookies! I can't wait.

The only thing better than making tons of homemade cookies with the kids, is going to my mother in laws and eating some of her awesome cookies! Yum! She makes these really tasty cherry filled ones-they were a pregnancy craving while I was pregnant with {L}. I'm looking forward to sampling some[ok-a lot!] on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Gifts

Finishing up the last of my Christmas gift sewing. HOORAY! I still have some things to get done for the kiddies, but everyone else is pretty much done.

No matter how hard I try it seem that I am sewing up to the last minute for everything lately. I'm actually glad I didn't sign up to do all the holiday shows I had wanted to. I would be a sleep deprived crazy woman, if I had!

I'm really happy with the fabric coasters that I made. They are a simple square cut of fabric, backed with fleece, then quilted. I love the randomness of the quilting lines. They make nice gifts to give as a "family present". We are not able to buy every individual member of the family gifts this year. I'm happy to gift these though-they are fun and useful at the same time!

I also made a batch of hand printed tea towels. They are one of my favorite gifts to share. I use hand carved stamps and do each image one by one. I keep meaning to make another set for our house, but they seem to get passed on to family & friends faster than I expect.

How fun are these Eric Carle, the Very Hungry Caterpillar: Coaster Set? [my favorite of the bunch!]

So...

So....I just needed to post a picture proving I am not about to have this baby any day now-lol. This picture was taken a week and a 1/2, AFTER the last "giant belly" pic!

Things are going well with the pregnancy and I am enjoying feeling this little one move around. Hopefully he or she won't grow to be quite as strong as {L} was in utero. I thought he might break a rib with all his kicking and shoving in there!

This shot also proves that I need to clean the mirrors in our house more often. Every mirror that {L} can reach has his mouth prints all over it.

Behind the Camera

I often look through photo's from different events and special times in our lives. I smile at the remembered joke, or how sweet, little or innocent the kids look. Reminisce about silly times, and miss some of the days that have passed.

Recently I've noticed that I am missing from many of the scrapbook pages and entire events all together, due to being "behind" the camera. I started wondering what the kids would say when they grew up. Would they ask "Where were you?", "What did you look like then?"

In an effort to avoid these questions and record that, yes, I truly was present at every one of the important moments in the photo books, I took some pictures the other day. There will be a new scrapbook page featuring the top photo. It will read, this is what I looked like when you were growing up! I've been so involved in catching every change as they grow, smile, and pout that they see me behind the camera quite often.
I also decided to try and make sure I am in at least a few of the photo's-especially some while I am pregnant this time around. This may vary well, be the past time, so I am trying to enjoy every moment! It seems to be passing so quickly and if I blink I will be holding a new baby. I remember thinking I was pregnant FOREVER with my first. It's so different when you have a brood of kids to chase around and no time to ponder the future.

Our Christmas Puppy

We adopted Lucy three Christmas' ago. Time sure has gone by fast. A few weeks before Christmas we spent the day going around to local shelters trying to convince my husband we needed a new pet. We found Lucy at the second shelter we visited. She was a big puppy with LOADS of energy! I fell in love with her immediately, as did {D} & {M}. Even my husband said he like her...until the kids said let's take her home. All the sudden he wanted to think it over, and didn't really think we should get another dog.

We left the shelter, everyone but Daddy, pouting and sad. Over the next week, the dog was brought up everyday with the same response-we didn't need another animal. Christmas morning we were 2 hours away visiting family. Mr. {D} asked his Daddy who Lucy was spending her Christmas with? If she had no family was she all alone and sad? I watched his heart break during that conversation. The VERY next day he was calling the shelter, telling them to hold the dog until we got back in town. We stopped and picked her up before even getting home from that trip. Daddy figured it was on the way, and he didn't want anyone else to adopt her. [they wouldn't hold her for us]

He went into the shelter alone, and about 10 minutes later came strolling out with our new Christmas puppy on a leash. The kids smiles grew past their cheeks that day! The next few weeks were up & down training her. She has been severely abused in her short life before us[ she was only 6 months old]. She was always afraid we were going to hit her whenever we reached out to pet her. It broke my heart.

Three years later. she is THE sweetest dog. She's a part of the family and fits in perfectly. She loves and protects the kids as if they were her own. I could not be happier with her. This will be our first Christmas since the passing of our other dog, Bowie. It's been sad for me! This next baby will never even get to meet her. I do miss her, she was a wonderful member of our family over the years with us.

Ready for the Holiday's?

Man, Christmas is really sneaking up on me this year! At this point, I am usually done with shopping, have everything wrapped and most, if not all of the handmade gifts complete. This year I can;t check off any of those things! I have a 1/2 knitted scarf on my knitting needles for my son, and just a LONG list of projects for my children, and a few gifts to make for my parents, and in-laws.
Things around here have been going at a much slower pace since I found out we were expecting baby #4 later this Spring! Yikes, my energy has been zapped. It will be a whirlwind two weeks of sewing, knitting and creating! I'll share some of my handmade gifts here as soon as I get them complete!

The one thing that was done on Thanksgiving was our decorations. The tree is up, the wreath is on the door, and the lights are strung in the yard. Just seeing those things make me smile!

We're growing again!

Our family is growing again!

We will be welcoming our fourth child to the family this upcoming Spring. Everyone is beyond thrilled and excited. The older kids are really hoping for a baby sister [and so is mama!]. This baby will most likely be our last addition, so it would be awesome to have another little girl in the house. The boys are starting to take over!

It was a rough start this time. I could literally fall asleep anywhere at anytime the first 3 months, but things are coming around. I'm not feeling nauseous anymore and while I am a bit more tired, nothing extreme like it was! My belly is growing [I swear it gets bigger earlier, each time!], and the kids are loving watching it grow. {D} & {M} talk to my belly and tell their new baby sister or brother all about our family and the life they will join. They have little {L} kissing my belly and saying. " hi baby!". Boy, he has no idea what he's in for! He doesn't understand, but it sure is sweet anyways.

My lovely friend Colleen send me the card pictured above after I told her. It really meant a lot to me! With this being baby being #4, we've found even family, not as excited this time. I think each and every child & pregnancy is special and unique. It warmed my heart to open this special card that celebrated our newest miracle. You can read more about Colleen on her blog, Craft Lovely.

A Visit with Santa

The kids were off to the mall last night for a visit with Santa! The older kids could barely contain their excitement all day!! After our trip to see the Easter Bunny last Spring, I wasn't so sure how {L} would be. Needless to say, Santa is just as scary as the Easter Bunny was!

Mr. {D} asked for the Edward doll from Twilight, and Little Miss {M} wants a fairy princess doll. The baby just wanted off Santa's lap more than anything else!

It's funny how crazy I used to stress about getting nice pictures when the older two kids were little. I didn't want them to cry, they needed to smile and everything perfect. With the addition of our third child, things sure have changed! Now, I enjoy the experience more without the stress. Yes, I still want a nice photo. but I also see the fun in silly pictures, crying pictures [see our Easter post!] and just candid sincere moments. It feels great to not be worrying about the silly things and just be!

Magic

Remember the magic of Christmas? I realized the other day that I have been letting too many things get in the way of the Christmas I want to have. For my entire life the season has been filled with magic. A sense of happiness that only the holiday can bring out in me. The idea that anything is possible and magic does exist. I decided to ignore all the silliness that has crept into my mind over the past few years and go back to basics. Ornaments, lights, snow and family...happiness!

For the month of December I will ignore the things that have not gone the way we hoped the past year. Forget the things that don't even matter and embrace the happy times and memories with my family! I'm bringing the magic back!

Happy December everyone!

Zoo Lights

We visited the Columbus Zoo for our annual zoo lights trip over the weekend. The trip had a rough start this year! Our van has been running poorly for weeks, but we decided to take a chance and drive to the zoo [about 25 minutes away]. Everything seemed to be going fine until we got about 10 minutes from the zoo. The traffic was so bad that it took up over an hour to make it to the parking lot from this point. It was inch by inch driving, {L} was screaming and the bigger kids whining away! Then the van started running SUPER bad and I was sure it was going to break down right in the middle of traffic causing a riot among the cars trapped behind us. In my head I pictured people yelling at us with anything, but Christmas spirit.

Luckily, that scene only played out in my head and we arrived, a little frazzled, but there! The kids had the greatest time. The zoo had several brand new displays this year and it was like being a kid again for me. {L} was so excited to be able to walk around like a big boy with us[not buckled into the stroller] that he didn't even try to run away once-a first for him!

All three children decorated cookies with Mrs. Claus, the highlight of the trip. The cookies were actually pretty gross tasking, but the kids said they were DELICIOUS! Lots of sprinkles and globs of frosting always equals tasty to kids!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Hope your day was filled with good food, family and happiness!

Prepared

Lately I have been really prepared for things. It's funny because it's come after a several months long spell, of unprepared chaos in the house! It feels nice to seem to have things under control again. I spent the morning preparing for our Thanksgiving.

This will be the first year that my husband is joining us in an ALL Vegetarian feast. While me and the children are vegetarians, my husband is not. Usually we have family coming in to visit, so we make the typical American Thanksgiving food-turkey. With no one else to eat it, he has decided to skip it this year. I was really excited and wanted to prepare a few new dishes to help make it "easier" for him.

While we have some of the normal Thanksgiving staples, we also have several foods that we always make [carrot pudding], this year we are added a stew served with couscous, mashed turnips [which the kids actually love!], berry soup and a bananas cinnamon cake to the menu. Mmmmmm, yummy!

Our fridge packed full of healthy goodness!

I decided to make 3x the stew and turnips we would eat. I froze the rest for quick, healthy and easy meals throughout the next few months. I love making big batches of food and just reheating it later! It really adds almost no time to the cooking, just a few extra minutes to cut up the veggies and spices.

I was so lucky to have 3 little helpers today. The kids are really excited about helping prepare the food this year. I have been making them carrot pudding for Thanksgiving since they were born, this year they started asking if we were going to have it-weeks ago! It felt really great that it has become a "family tradition" food for the holiday.

Counting Down the Days...

We spent Friday night at the annual Christmas tree lighting at a local outdoor mall. They have a great stage show, elves, Santa arrives, even fireworks! The kids have so much fun each year!

We race around after the tree is lit and try to get pictures with the costumed characters-Rudolph, The Snowman, Polar Bear and Nutcracker.

While the bigger kids love getting their pictures with every character possible, Little {L} was anything but pleased! He was so afraid of ALL of them, that he covered his eyes in hopes they would disappear. If he couldn't see them, then they couldn't see him! Poor little boy! He is never scared of anything, it was surprising to see, and truthfully pretty cute! I had to snap at least one picture of his hiding spot behind tiny fists!

I am so thrilled about Christmas this year! It's brought a magic back into the house. The kids are excited, mama's excited...making for a happy home. I have so many plans of handmade gifts this year. The kids will be getting new dolls, some clothes, personalized quilts and some doll clothes for their most loved "babies". Mama better get to work! :D

Thankful!

I've been thinking about all the thinks I am thankful for lately. With the holiday's fast approaching, it's always a time I spend doing some personal reflection. It's interesting how much the "thing" I appreciate have changed over the years! There are many things that I thank the heavens for that never would have occurred to me pre-kids days. Here's a few things I am currently appreciating:

• Shiny, red, little girl shoes! Little Miss {M} has always had really wide feet and it's always a LONG trial finding shoes that fit each season. This fall she had her heart set on shiny, red fancy shoes. I cringed when I heard what she was looking for, not because I didn't want her to have them, but at the the sheer chance of finding some that fit her-in a normal price range. The first store we walked into, the shoes called to her. They fit, and at a $4 price, I couldn't believe it! She wakes up each morning and puts them on her feet smiling. For a few days she had some blisters, instead of not wearing them, she wore them on the wrong feet, so they would not sub. -sigh- How sweet are little girls?
• Naptime! Ohh naptime, how I cherish you with our spirited third child. You save my sanity several times a week!
• Our furry family members. They always manage to cheer me up with their silliness and never ending love. They are a special part of the family
  

• A warm and happy home to raise my children in! While it may not be the biggest, newest or fanciest, the amount of love found here makes it the best!
• Children who think for themselves and question everything! Great little minds are growing stronger each and everyday!

What are you thankful for lately?

Over the Weekend!

I had THE greatest time over the weekend at the Tiny Canary Show 2009. I sold lots of stuff, met some awesome new people and got to catch up with old friends.

The show was really successful this year! Tons of shoppers and a really happy, friendly crowd. A few items were really a hit this year. I completely sold out of sweater balls and got close to sell out with my hand printed, organic bibs. My regular bibs found their way into many new homes also!

It was fun chatting with lots of new mommies! There were many pregnant women, or friends of at the event, with great stories to share. Thanks to everyone who stopped by my table!

Tiny Canary this weekend!

Just a quick reminder for anyone local, Tiny Canary is this weekend! Get all your holiday gifts, handmade and all in one spot this weekend.

This weekend, November 14-15th @ Junctionview Studio's.

10-6pm each day.

I will be there both days, so stop by and say hello. I'll have all my usual finding, some fun new bib prints and lots of yummy, colorful quilts!

It's a great show that houses lots of talented artists! Plus, the organizers are passing out to the first 100 in attendance each day:

A FREE Tiny Canary tote bag stuffed with coupons and other goodies!

New Offer for the Holiday's

This Bundle features a set of 10 bibs at wholesale pricing!! All the great designer fabrics and quality you receive with every Kunklebaby order, but with a fantastic price break. You get 10 bibs for $65.00 [plus shipping].

Great for those holiday shoppers with a long list to fill. Split them up among friends or family, or keep them together. Makes fun & useful stocking stuffers for the little one's.

This set is also the perfect amount to gift to a new mother. Enough bibs to use and wash in rotation, because let's be honest, how many new Mom's have lots of time to keep up with the laundry? [I still don't-lol!]

The offer is available here in my shop, and will be offered through the holiday's-they are creeping up quick!

The Leaves have Fallen!

Leave season is in it's peak here. The tree in front of our home has officially shed it's leaves for the winter. Every inch of grass is now covered by leaves. We got super lucky here and had one more beautifully warm, glorious day!

Watching the kids play in the leaves reminded me of the wonder of the seasons. I remember how excited I was to see the leaves fall, so I could jump and swim through them! Now I normally think,uggg that's going to take forever to clean up. It's great to have little reminders of what fun things can still be! Greatness is all around us, if we just open our eye's and see it!