I lied..

I lied, please see my other blog LOL
http://alabamatooregon.blogspot.com

Recycling

Well, I have decided to quit blogging! I am having more fun spending my time reading other people's blogs than posting my own! lol.. plus I have decided to cut down on the internet a little, I have my facebook, which I'm always, always adding pictures to, which is the best place I think since I can keep in touch with all of my long distance friends & family, which at this point is absolutely everyone I know! EVERYONE is long distance! oh my! So the internet really is my whole social life at this point! So with facebook, my shutterfly accounts- I add a lot of pics to these b/c I like to store my photos online for backup & I also order my prints from here & my OTHER shutterfly account... pinterest, blogs, hulu, pbs.org (Downton Abbey), emails, email newsletters.. I am starting to be overloaded! We decided not to get cable in order to save money so we have really cut back on TV... Abraham usually watches a dvd once a day & of course we keep up with our favorite shows (what would I do w/out the bachelor or revenge?) via hulu.com.. so it's time to say goodbye! I had fun blogging on my other blog while I was pregnant & this blog was really started in an attempt to MAKE myself do more art, but it just doesn't seem to be working, and IF I make any art it will be on my etsy account --- oh, yet another thing to keep up with!! I really wanted to do a blog about our move to oregon and exploring the area but I just can't keep up!!  But I can't leave w/out posting some "recycling" projects I've been doing!!

message in a (syrup) bottle

happy father's day book I made for dustin last year.. got this children's book for .25 cents at the thrift store and re-purposed it as a scrapbook/ photo album. 

One of the pages, the illustrations really go perfectly.. this book was so weird, about crows dying, so I had to change it up! lol

put a pic of abraham swining from the tree!

very easy to do, either just double tape the photos in or you can also buy these sticky corners!

you can add little conversation bubbles if the pictures don't quite make sense, lol

In this one, I added to the original illustration, putting a few tad poles in, which is what dustin and abraham were doing that day- looking at tadpoles..

another bottle recycling project, after looking all over the internet for things to do w/ bottles, I gave up and stuck a branch of leaves inside w/ a little water at the bottom, it's lasted for weeks, is really pretty & I don't have to worry about my cats trying to eat the thing!

January

Well, a lot has gone on since the new year started! We had like 13 or 14 sunny days in a row, some were cold but they were very nice.. then the rain came in and left us with a light dusting of snow for a morning. It was just enough for Abraham and I to play in. We also drove up towards the falls the next day, where there was tons of snow, just 10 minutes away! Nothing compared to the foot and a half my parents and friends in WA got!! Wish I was there! We also went to the beach in Newport, Oregon. Here are some pics of things that have been going on: 

we have been painting a lot. putting the paint in baby food jars, each w/ it's own color is the best way for toddlers to paint! i have tried many ways lol, plus these are heavy and don't tip

this one is called "tenderheart and piglet"

called "yellow spiders" by the artist

"blue ghost"

i have begun to decorate for Valentine's Day, yes, onto the next! got these felt "ornaments" for 75% off

got some white ones for our doorways too

our house with a light dusting of snow

abraham got a new cuckoo clock that was also 75% off and plays a new christmas song every hour, he is in love with it just like he is w/ grama's and pooh's!

watching snow fall and not stick!

In Newport, Abraham's first look at a wild sealion!

Sunny day in Newport.. we also hit the huge sandy beach :)

Christmas List

I made a "Christmas Season To-Do" list this year... here's how it turned out!!

1. Get a tree!

Decorate!

Get an Oregon ornament to commemorate our 1st Oregon xmas!

put lights up outside!

5. Make wreaths!

6. Make Christmas treats!

7. Go to the town tree lighting!

8. play in the snow, again.. we went already but we didn't get to go again, this is the frost! lol

go to the community holiday festival 

10. celebrate St. Nicholas Day Dec 6, put out your shoes!

11. walk in town and look at christmas decor

12. make christmas cookies

13. go to peacock lane in portland and look at lights, we did this but it sucked, this is my neighbors house it was better! lol.... 

14. write a letter to santa!

15. watch christmas movies, this was done many times!

16. go see santa, this was the santa abraham liked  the most and talked to, the other's scared him, we tried two times! lol

17. Drive and look at lights. Silverton, Oregon

18. See family. Got to see mom & scott, Cody and Dad and the dogs

19. Take a Christmas day family photo, lol

20. tell Abraham the story of baby Jesus

21. Send out Christmas cards, did this in  real form and e-card form! yay for me!! 

22. do an advent calendar, this is it, behind the ice rink

23. make a gingerbread house

24. make christmas gifts, at least one! lol

25. read christmas books and get some from the library.. we have too many christmas books to count and we DID check one out from the library too!

Some other things that were on the list that I don't have photos of, but we did!

26. eat candy-canes! (lol, we did this a lot)
27. Go to the Christmas Mouse Holiday Bazaar at the high school... we did this and got a free mouse with candy cane and bought a cookie lol.. found out the h.s. in town is very nice
28. buy Abraham presents and wrap.. yes, we did this
29. make Christmas crafts, I did a post about the snowman garland and the 7 days of Christmas papercut I made!!
30. Listen to Christmas music.. this was over-done. I listened to Christmas stations on pandora and two local radio stations in the car, I am Christmas-musiced out!

Things that were on the list that we did NOT do:

31. Read "The Night Before Christmas" oops I forgot to do this! i have an awesome book too w/ great illustrations, I will post a pic of it later ;)
32. Christmas Ships Parade in Portland, didn't do this but maybe next year. I would also like to walk around downtown Portland more and shop.. we drove through and it was so crowded and cute, I didn't know it got that crowded downtown! we only made it to the mall
33. Ice-skate at lloyd center mall..we went but did not ice skate, but did see an ice show!

Overall we had a wonderful Christmas season! Now it's time for our awesome family New Years party complete with a NYC countdown at 9pm our time :) perfect for Abraham!!! Cheers!