Testing out the post to blog with a pic of Mt. Hood from last weekend when we went out to get our Christmas tree. It was nice to see a beautiful Oregon day and views like this instead of the raining sideways weather we had 2 years ago when hunting for one.

Sometimes I think time flies faster when you have kids.  It’s like one minute you are pregnant and the next they are running around getting into everything.   Some days you feel young and lively with lots of energy, other days you don’t know how you get out of bed!

During the holiday season, everything moves at a whirlwind pace though.  There is just this air of hustle and bustle around you, even if you yourself are moving at a snail pace.  I looked at the calendar today and went into a state of panic for a moment.   I immediately started making my “list” of things to do in the next few weeks before Christmas is actually here.  I swear my calendar/planner looks like sticking notes threw up all over it.  I’ve got them all over it with various lists from Christmas presents, my “to-do” lists, appointments that I have, appointments to make and grocery items I need.  Add on top random little websites I must remember, recipe cards various people have given me and it’s a wonder how I keep things straight sometimes.  My “organization” is clearly disorganized!

In the midst of the holiday season we are trying to squeeze in a family picture session as part of our presents to family.  We haven’t done the whole family professional thing yet with all 4 of us.  I justify it sometimes to others with the fact that we take a million pictures.  I’m just not one of those mom’s that feels the need to take the kids into the studios for pictures of them every month or every 2 months even..heck not even every 6 months.  I think most would be surprised how many pictures I take.  I use my camera probably daily with the kids, recording movies and taking pictures.  But for the holidays and at the request of some family members we are going to get them done.  December 14th is picture day.  We’ll have an hour with the photographer, she’ll take anywhere from 100-250 pics and I also get the cd with reprint rights.  I wish we would have done them sooner, say in the fall and done outside shots but I’m excited about these.  I should have enough time to get them done by the printer and mailed off for the holidays, if I don’t procrastinate! hehe

With doing the whole family portrait thing there’s always the issue of, what to wear.  On my last outlet shopping trip I found a top that could be suitable for me to wear .  While checking out the newly renovated LARGE Children’s Place Outlet I found some cute polo type shirts that happened to have the same color in them as my top.  I even asked the sales lady to check for a size for me in the back because they were perfect!  So, next is getting Patrick a new shirt to go with but luckily for him, that should be easier then the boys and I!  I do have a change of outfits for the boys that I’d like to get pics of them with the “big brother” and “little brother” shirts.  We’ll see how they cooperate for an outfit change though!

Another issue of the whole portrait experience are the haircuts.  I got Braysen finally in a week 2 weeks ago and even Merrick got a little trim job.  Yes, I already had to cut my little man’s hair! *cries*  Braysen’s hair was recovering from a horrible cut.  We were letting it grow out a bit to see if it could get to a length where we could “fix” it  a bit.  I had our neighbor down the street, who owns a salon nearby, schedule us in.  She did a wonderful job with him and boy did she have patience with a terrible toddler that didn’t want anything to do with the haircut!!  She trimmed up Merrick’s front a bit so it didn’t hang into his eyes anymore but that’s all she touched.  We like his little rocker/skater/emo or whatever baby look he has!    Lastly, I got myself into her yesterday afternoon for mine.  She’s done my hair a few times and does my highlights.  Normally at Christmas I redo my highlights but with the $ crunch, we are saving that money (for pictures as Patrick tells me).  I went in there with the dilemma of “do I cut it off or do I keep letting it go longer.”  I came home with it chopped off just about my shoulders from ½ way down my back.  I love how easy it is to do and it’s cute, Patrick approves…but there’s of course a part of me wondering if I should have left it longer for the pictures.  Oh well, what’s done is done and no I don’t cry over haircuts!  My hair grows so fast that I regularly do this whole “let it grow out, chop it off” routine.

So now the photographer is scheduled, the outfits are picked out and the haircuts are done.  Hopefully we are all healthy, happy and cooperative come that Sunday morning.

Oh what fun the holiday season brings…..a family portrait session.

(I’m probably going to spam my blog a few posts here over the next few days to play catch up!  Plus, I feel the need to write since I’ve been so lacking.)

After ordering my first bag from them and through their amazon storefront, I was amazed at how fast it was shipped.  Then I joined the Pink Room (Ju Ju Be Board forum) and saw how much the other addicts praised them for their customer service also.  Well, since then I’ve ordered baby shower gifts (BeQuicks) from them and then a few small things for myself.  They didn’t have exactly what I needed on the amazon storefront so I emailed them and then later called up to get my order taken care of.  They were SO great on making a change in my order and holding it for shipping until my preorder was in.  I can’t say enough good things about them!

Not only do they carry my fave diaper bags but they carry so many cool kid products.  If only I had a money tree in the backyard to splurge on more of their stuff.

On that note, here’s a few links for ya to find yourself to them

Visit Little Dudes and Divas at http://www.littledudesanddivas.com

Check out the Little Dudes and Divas Blog http://www.diaperbagnews.blogspot.com

Join the Little Dudes and Divas Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/diaperbags

that some would say is a “crunchy, hippy, attachment parenting” mom

(will devote an entire post to come on the crunchy mom topic because it makes me laugh and I need to explain!!)

Patrick took Merrick in Monday while I was busy throwing up and he is

18 lbs 6 oz!!!  28 inches tall….

let’s just say that Braysen barely hit 20 lbs at 1 year!  Merrick is such a stalky tank of a boy but tall like Braysen.  Oh how 2 kids can be so different!

Ok, off to bed before I end up rambling when I should be trying to recover and get some sleep finally!

1 lb ground beef

1 medium onion chopped

1 jar green or red salsa

½ cup sour cream

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

6 corn tortillas (6-8 inches) cut into strips 1inch

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 350

Cook beef and onion in 10inch skillet over medium heat 8-10 minutes, until beef is brown & drain.

Spread ½ cup salsa in bottom of ungreased square baking dish, 8×8x2.  Mix remaining salsa, sour cream & soup.  Layer half of the tortilla strips, beef mixture, soup mixture and cheese; repeat.

Bake uncovered 30-40 minutes or until hot & bubbly.  Let stand 10 minutes.  Garnish with olives if desired.

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The Potato Casserole (side dish)

*this was made for me growing up by my step-mom and her family.  I LOVED this recipe and had to have it for hosting my first Thanksgiving years ago.  I make this all the time and I’ve lost count how many times I’ve given it to people to.  So Simple!

2 lbs shredded hashbrowns (we use I think Simply Shreds the non-frozen kind for better results)

2 cups sharp cheddar

1 pt. sour cream

1 can cream of chicken & herbs

1 can cream of chicken & mushroom

2/3 cup onion

Salt & pepper

Bake at 350 degrees 40-60 minutes (until bubbly)

Mix 2 cups cornflakes with ½ cup butter and add that on the top for the last 10-15 minutes

*this is the “original” recipe.  I add onions, green onions and sometimes we use the hashbrowns w/ peppers in them instead of plain.  I also add about a ½ block of Cream Cheese too

I have some friends who think I’m completely geeky and honestly seem to be laughing at me behind my back or even worse looking at me like I have “no life” because I have interest in the whole computer blog / social networking side of things. The real story is, I’ve had my own website for a long time, we are talking about the simple geocities and tripod free account ones from way back and I remember using AOL to get online through dial-up. (Oh the fun of getting ticked offline because someone would call or my brother would pick up the phone to disconnect me!) It all started as a way to share things with friends & family that were far away easily. It was nice to just say, “hey check out my website, it’s updated with new pictures.”

I also used to write lots of poetry, if that’s what we call the ramblings I did while a teenager hating the world or crying over a boyfriend. I like the reconnecting with old friends aspect that is now possible with all these “social” sites. In today’s society having families live close to one another, as we get older, seems rare. So, the web has really bridged that distance gap. It also has given me the opportunity to meet some really amazing people both online & in person.

If by having a blog / website to share with friends/family and enjoying the connections I’ve made through “social” sites makes me a geek then I’ll take your label gladly.

Merrick crawling/pulling to stand/first tooth!
Pumpkin Patch / Halloween / Holidayish thoughts & plans
Sickness in the household woes
Get new videos up on youtube… and new pics posted!
Update on some fave links to check daily!
Recipes tried lately that are quick & easy!
Trying to make the right decision for your family but it backfires with other consequences…
The financial crunch..what we are doing about it personally
Crafty projects!/

ok, time to pick up the kiddos from daycare!

This brings me to this next great news from them~ they are having a Ju Ju Be Giveaway and if you know me and my fascination with these bags then you can understand why I’m sending you all over there to enter!  If you want to see how cool of bags they have, come over and I’ll show you!  Honest, I think they are a lot different then the average Winnie the Pooh diaper bag.  They just make sense…organization, cute prints or solids, great material, so many styles and honestly they don’t look so diaperbagish that you can’t use them when the kids are older!  I’ve gone through my share of bags…I’m kind of an admitted bagholic (lack the funds to really go into crazybaglady status but I’m close!

With that note, wander yourself over to Baby Wears Prada and enter.  But even if you don’t want to enter, keep your eyes peeled on this site.  You might be adding it to a guilty pleasure list like I have!

(ps.  I am going to eventually make a post about things other then bags..I promise!)