Dull's Tree Farm

We got our Christmas tree from Dull's Tree Farm the day after Thanksgiving this year.  The earliest we have ever gotten one!  I love having it up in the house.  It smells so good... even if it still isn't decorated yet.  Chris and I have gone to Dull's Tree Farm to cut down our Christmas tree 5 years in a row now.  We love it there, and I hope it's a tradition we can continue.  Wren was pretty excited about it all....


It was kinda windy, but it was still a warm and sunny day!  
Not a super Christmasy feel, but ideal weather when taking a 7 month old out to cut down a tree.

Our tree is in there somewhere.  We always get a Canaan fir.  It was a little more difficult choosing the "perfect tree" this year because it was opening day at the tree farm... we had the first pick of this year's trees!  Usually we go a little bit later in the Christmas season, so the trees are more picked over.  This year it was hard to decide which perfect tree was the tree for us!  

Searching for our tree.

Found it!  Chris cutting it down.

This place is soooooo cute!

I'm sad we didn't get a picture of of the 3 of us... I will have to take one after we finally get the tree decorated.  Hopefully soon!  We decided to rearrange the living room a bit after we brought the tree in the house, so the living room and the dining room are in complete disarray right now...  I'm not joking.  It totally looks like our house has been ransacked.  I really don't want to add all the Christmas stuff to the mess just yet.  I'm hoping to get the house back together tomorrow, and then Christmas decorations are going up!

Thanksgiving

Wren's first Thanksgiving was a lot of fun!
We had lunch over at Chris's parent's house.
Lots of good food, lots of great company....
Wren even had her very own plate of food!


Squash, turkey, stuffing....

She loved it all!

This girl loves to eat!

Check out the turkey bib!

The girls' first Thanksgiving!

My family!
I seriously look so short in this picture.... must be a weird camera angle because in the next pic I look much taller when next to Chris.

A whole mess of Tilsons.

The holidays are here!!!!!!!!! 

Mod Podge!

Sometimes I get an overwhelming urge to create and/or redo something.  Wren's dresser drawers have been driving me crazy.   It's not like I see the bottom of her drawers often, but when I do I always think to myself, "You seriously gotta do something about that weird bicentennial paper lining in here..."

Check it.  

Kinda weird, right?

I wish you could have seen this dresser like 2 years ago.  It was a dark, dark brown color and just sitting in our (at the time) guest bedroom (now nursery) looking all dark and slightly ominous.  I think I woke up one morning with that overwhelming urge that I get and decided I was going to paint it.  Like right that second.  Pretty sure Chris came home from work and I had the whole thing pulled out into the garage with one layer of white paint already on.  Obviously, it needed to be painted right now!  I couldn't wait.  I knew we had leftover white paint in the basement, so I just went at it.  See what I'm talking about?  It's a completely irrational need to fix/paint/decorate/modpodgitize something immediately.  Oh well, I did it and I think the dresser looks waaaaaaay better white.  And it looks great in Wren's bedroom, by the way.  

So anyway, back to present time.... one trip to Michael's, a few sheets of scrapbook paper, half of a bottle of Mod Podge, and a couple of hours later, those weird looking drawers have been transformed from this....

to this!

I think it's super cute.  

I think that baby is pretty stinkin' cute, too.

Wren was my assistant for the day.

 I used 4 different designs of scrapbook paper... one for each size of drawer.  I emptied out the drawers, gave them a quick wipe down with a damp rag, then applied a thin layer of Mod Podge.  I already had laid out the way I wanted the paper to go, so all I needed to do was put the paper in and smooth it out (which can be kinda tricky sometimes... I always get bubbles).  But after applying a couple of layers of Mod Podge on top of the paper, things usually get weighted down enough that you don't notice the bumps so much.  So yeah, that's about it.  Easy peasy.  

The scrapbook paper was 12x12, so I had to use a few pages for each drawer just because the dimensions were something crazy like 21.5" x 14.75"or something weird like that.  

Totally cute.  And super easy.  And best of all, super cheap!  Seriously.  Scrapbook paper was on sale at Michael's for 6 for $1.00.  Awesome. I used a 40% off coupon for the Mod Podge, so that only cost me like $6.80 or something.  Super awesome.  Plus I still have like half of the bottle left!  Super DUPER awesome. Overall, it actually cost me like 20 buckaroos because it is absolutely impossible for me to go to Michael's and only buy what I really need.  I also got a few pairs of socks from their dollar section... I know, socks from Michael's?!  But they are cute, seasonal socks!  For a dollar!  And some cutesy stripey gloves (also from the dollar section).  A star paper punch (guess from where... oh yes, the DOLLAR SECTION!).  I also got a ton of scrapbook paper just to add to my stash because it was so cheap.  I probably could have done this project for under $10 if I would have bought only what I needed.  But c'mon, really... what fun is that?

My assistant taking a break.

Such a cutie patootie.

I'm totally doing some more Mod Podging.... soon.  I love it.  

They Both Had It Coming

I swear these cats never learn.  

The baby loooooooves her some Boodles and Jones.  

They know that.  

But I guess if you're a cat, a freshly folded basket of laundry just cannot be passed up... 

Boodles trying to ignore Wren, hoping that she will just leave her alone.

Sorry, Boods.  She can't resist.

Boodles, the smart kitty that she is, says, "Adios, Baby," to that whole situation.

 Jones, on the other hand, witnessing all that just went down, still decides to try his luck in the laundry basket.  (Although he is soooooo handsome, I never said he was the sharpest tool in the shed....)

He's not in for more than 2.2 seconds before little Baberella attacks.

Disclaimer:  Okay, so before you view this next picture, I want you to know that no babies were hurt during the photographing of this.  I am not a bad mom.  I just find humor in these kinds of situations.... with that being said, be prepared to see the most ferocious bunny-rabbit-kitty-cat you will ever see...

Wait for it.

Waaaaaaaait for it.

 OH MY GOD, JONES!!!!!!

Relax, people.  He doesn't have any claws.  

But he did thump her pretty good in the head.

"What just happened here?"

Ain't no thang to Wren, apparently.  No tears were shed, not even a bit of a wounded ego.

Pretty sure she crawled after him almost immediately.   

And so the day goes.... cat lays by baby, baby pulls cat's tail, cat lays the smack down, momma takes pictures of baby taking a paw pummeling.....  

How easily entertained I am these days.  

We Are Still Here!

I have been really bad about taking pictures lately... I don't know why.  

Ah... well.... here's a couple of pictures of Wren eating breakfast with us.

Cream of wheat and strawberries...

Hehe, I love it when she makes those faces...

Messy baby!

Ay yi yi... Thanksgiving is almost here... and Christmas is just around the corner!  

I will definitely have more pics then.  I promise!  :)

Peek A Boo!

I think somebody's hiding in my bed....

Hmmmm, I wonder who it could be?....

Oh, it's just the cutest little chickaloo!

She thought this was pretty darn funny! 

Big Girl Bath

We have been bathing Wren in the bathtub like a big girl these past few weeks.  The duck bath we were using before unfortunately met its demise when we accidentally left it out one night.  The cats decided it would be a good idea to play in it.  Cat with back claws=the end of the blow-up ducky.  Poor ducky.  Oh well, Wren was getting a bit too big for it anyway.  

It's hard to believe we have gone from this....

to this....

...to this!

My big girl!

Oh hi there!

Just playin with my toys here.

Much too busy to pay us any attention.

Just loungin.

She loves chewing on the washcloth.  

Still trying to get the camera.  

Always.

Well, We Did It Again...

...Chris and I signed up to run the Mini Marathon this Spring!  13.1 seems like such a long distance right now!  We just ran a 5k last weekend, and it got me wanting another running goal to train for.  I had set a 5k goal for myself after Wren was born.  I started running again back in August, and let me tell you, at that point I could barely even run a half mile!  I slowly worked my way to running longer and longer distances, and you know what?  The race last weekend was actually kind of fun!  I finished it in 30 minutes 26 seconds.  I'm not a fast runner by any means, but I did run the whole thing!  Sooooooo, even though I have 6 months until the mini, I honestly need to start training NOW!

Anyway.... here's a pic of the chick from our photo shoot  with Dina a couple of weeks ago.  Been meaning to get the rest up.  I will soon.  I promise!

Just eatin' some leaves.

7 Months!

Seven month photo shoot! 

Laughing at Daddy.

She's holding a block in her hand.  

It was the only way I could get her to lay still....

Well, only for awhile anyway... 

We had to take a little break so she could play.

Apparently 7 month-olds do NOT wear bows... 

...they eat them.

BABY BOW MONSTER!

Comin to get ya.

This may be how we have to do the next months' photos.  

Sitting seemed to be a bit better.  

For a while anyway....

Now this is a more accurate portrayal of what a 7 month-old is like...

....and so is this!

My silly girl!

So at 7 months, Wren is all over the place.  She crawls EVERYWHERE.... she pulls herself up to standing... she slowly lowers herself down to sitting.  I still can't believe how mobile she is.  Sometimes I just sit and look at her.  I can't believe this is the same itty bitty (well, ittier and bittier than she is now) baby we brought home from the hospital last Spring.  She's so big!  And she does so much!  She laughs, she gets angry, she plays, she tries to trick me into thinking she's going one way, then totally scoots past me the other.  She's sweet and silly.  She's persistent and precocious.  She loves her pets and her momma and daddy... and her musical pig.  I love you, my sweet baby girl!