Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!


I am at a New Years party, ringing in the new year with great friends. I hope you all had a great 2009, and I wish you all much happiness in 2010.

Word of the Day: last. It's the last day of 2009.

Blanket Fun

We've had a couple of rather lazy days here. Yesterday we did a whole lot of nothing. When Kevin got home, we all went to Valley Fair-with everybody else and their extended families. When we finished, we tried to drive across the main street to visit Santana Row, but we couldn't even get near a parking space, so we came home. Today the boys and I were home all day, but we did manage half of a crafty project, and I got about half of my craft space clean. Maya ate another two of her toys. Good times in the Crossman household.

We started out to make two no-sew blankets. I took the boys to Jo-Ann's yesterday, to pick out their fleece. This one is Quinn's. I placed the printed piece onto a solid piece, and trimmed it all up into a square. I cut 5x5 inch squares from the corners.

I then started cutting strips, along all four sides. I tied a few every now and then, to keep the blanket together. I got it together, and left it for Quinn to tie the remaining strips. He didn't tie any of them. I sat and tied them as I checked my email. It didn't take that long.

See all of the ties? The print is tiki heads.

Quinn with his finished blanket. He loves it. It followed him all over the house today.

Word of the Day: Half. The reason you don't see Riley's blanket (his half of the crafty project), is because as soon as I put the bottom, solid piece on the floor, to align it with the top piece, a certain little dog came right over and peed on it. I then spent a few hours trying to wash the damn fleece. After it washed the first time, it was soaking wet-like wringing wet kind of wet. I ran it through just the rinse cycle again. Same thing. The third time I added a bunch of stuff to the load, and then it was fine. I guess there wasn't enough in the load to get it to rinse properly. It's now washed and dried, and put up high, so we can make his tomorrow. He's going to tie his though. I think I'll make one for Maya.

Home On a Monday

The beginning to our last week of vacation has come and gone. We stayed home, all day. Well, not all of us. Kevin had to work. Riley is gone now, to scouts, but Quinn and I never left. Quinn never got dressed. I got the rest of the Christmas stuff put away, and ran the vacuum.

The living room, back to normal. It looks so clean and uncluttered-well at least compared to my Christmas stuff.

This is our new heater. They were late-a half hour after their "window," but at least they made it. It's in, and it works. Yay!

Word of the Day: Heat. The new thermostat has lots of features, but I haven't figured out how to set it yet. I didn't care much about that earlier. Being warm is all that mattered.

It's Beginning to Not Look Like Christmas Anymore

My house is just about back to normal. I love Christmas, don't get me wrong, but when it's over, I like to get rid of all of the extra clutter. There's nothing better than a good dusting as I return my regular things to their regular spots. I have just a little left to do-like the tree-and then I will be completely finished. Here are some random things.

I forgot to post Arden's Christmas pictures. She's wearing her Christmas dress.

She really needs some black shoes. I will have to get on that.

Maya and Quinn today. This little dog sure loves a lap (or a stomach) to sleep on. She's so freakin' cute. She is wiped out from puppy school. We started our 8 week puppy class this morning. Maya had a lot of fun, and she's smart. This week we have to focus on her looking us in the eyes, and knowing her name. Can't be as hard as potty training.

These are the ornaments I received from the ornament swap I participated in this season. Cute huh?

Word of the Day: Movie. My mom took the boys, and my niece, to see the Chipmunks movie-thanks mom, Kevin and I just couldn't sit through that movie. Kevin and I went to see my boyfriend in his latest movie, Up in the Air. It was a good movie, and George sure is easy on the eyes. His sister's name in the movie was Julie, so I now know what it sounds like for him to say my name. Sigh. He is so cute. Mmm mmm mmm. sigh.

The Day After

We had a fairly sleepy house this morning. I was up first, with the dog, about 8:30 am. Everyone else followed, with Riley up last at quarter to 11! He's beginning to keep teen hours. It was COLD in the house. We waited in anticipation to hear if our new heater would be put in today. They called, and...no. Monday. So we fired up the space heaters and put on the extra layers. Monday seems forever away.

We ventured out of the house about mid-day, blasting the heater in the car. We went to Barnes and Noble to spend gift certificates, Petco to get Maya a sweater and to pet the dogs and cats from the rescue group there, and finally to Target to see what they had, and use more gift cards. We also made a quick stop at Borders. The only thing I got was the four boxes above, at Target (of course). Aren't they cute? I don't need anymore Christmas items. The boys used their Target gift cards on Pokemon cards. I seriously think lots of money is being wasted on those things, but they seem to bring the boys joy.

There are Legos on my kitchen table, toys in the living room, bows all over the place. It's too cold to deal with any of this now. I spent 4 hours sleeping on the couch this evening. I think Christmas and being a puppy mommy has caught up with me.

Maya was shivering this morning, so I wrapped her in a blanket and she went to sleep.

Here's the sweater we got Maya today. Cute huh? I'm not a fan of dogs wearing clothes, but I have to admit this is pretty darn cute, and she hasn't shivered since.

Word of the Day: Over. I'm glad Christmas is over. I can't wait to put my Christmas stuff away. The boys had a great time and got lots of great things, which they are thrilled with. I am having fun with my new DS game-Jewelry Design. I get to create jewelry for the customers in my store. It occupied my time for quite awhile earlier today. Thanks Chip and Donna (my inlaws) for it! I have to try out my Imagine Teacher game next. Anyway, Christmas was very nice, but I am anxious to get my house back in regular order. Ready for a new year.

Merry Christmas

What a day! I swear what I am about to tell you, is a true story. I am living a Christmas comedy. It started when Quinn came in to inform us that it was Christmas at 7:40 this morning. He also said that Riley said he wasn't getting up, he was going back to sleep. Remember last night? The power went out about 11 pm, and Santa had to build stuff in the dark. Riley was still awake, because a certain little dog was keeping him from sleeping. When the power went out, then of course, he really couldn't go to sleep, so he was still awake at midnight, when we went to bed. Anyway, back to this morning. We finally drag Riley out of bed, take the dog out to potty, and head to the living room so that Christmas can start.

Santa left full stockings!

Santa also left the pyramid he-um, SHE, built in the dark, as well as Riley's digital camera.

The boys enjoyed looking in their stockings.

We took pictures in front of the tree, before ripping into the presents. The boys had opened about two presents when our smoke detector went off. At first she (it's a female voice) was saying, "Fire. Fire. Fire," but then she started making reference to carbon monoxide. I had heard the heater make a really strange noise earlier, and then I smelled something funny, but I thought it was only me, as nobody else could smell it. Then the smoke detector went off.

So we called 911, and the paramedics came-thankfully, without sirens blaring. Meanwhile, there we all stood, two cats, two kids, a dog, and Kevin and I, in our pajamas, in our front yard. The firemen went through the house, checking for any signs of carbon monoxide. Nothing. Then they smelled the smell I smelled-electrical. They took a fuse out of our furnace, and told us to have that checked out. We got someone to come out. He was going to just have to replace the main board, but then the motor wouldn't work at all, so....new furnace for us. Hey, it's better than the alternative of a house fire.

Word for the Day: Cold. Now that the turkey is out of the oven, and our families have gone home, the house is getting cold. We have no heat, and no idea when the heater repairman can come back with the new one. We are hoping for tomorrow.

Christmas Eve 2009

Let the Christmas day festivities begin!

We decorated our sugar cookies today.

We prepared a plate for Santa. Riley made the candy cane-it was his "best one." Quinn made the baby gingerbread man, complete with a diaper. I made the house. Kevin decorated some too, but they didn't seem to make the final cut.

We went to my parents' house tonight for pizza. We took Maya with us. She loved visiting and smelling a new house. Quinn asked to leave close to 7 pm. He wanted to go home and go to bed.

Riley, ready for bed, and he isn't even going to stay up to read.

Will Santa visit me too?

Word of the Day: Late. Again, late with the post. Oh well, after a brief power outage at 11:00pm, Christmas is ready. Merry Christmas everyone!

Hi, It's Me Again

House clean(ish), baking done, groceries bought (after only two trips), dog played with, kids filled with the anticipation and excitement of Christmas. We were home again all day-well, I did go out this evening. I didn't need anything, just wanted to get out of the house and let this little dog bond with someone else. She's glued to me if I am home. I like it, don't get me wrong, but I also want her to love the boys. Anyway, we had friends over this afternoon, to exchange kid presents. The boys opened the first of what will seem like a bajillion presents this Christmas season. Both were thrilled with their gifts.

These are the presents for our visitors. The blue present is an American Girl craft set, and a smaller AG craft set. The red dotted present is a small Lego airplane and a make-your-own-bouncy-ball set. All items were well received.

Quinn got a Stomp Rocket, and a Blendy Paints set, which he promptly got to work on.

Nice dinosaur Quinn!

Riley got a Lego set, which he promptly got to working on. No Legos stay in their boxes long around here.

Happy to build with new Legos! The finished product is currently sitting on our coffee table.

Word of the Day: Empty. I went to Ikea this evening-about 7:00, and I tell you it was EMPTY. I loved it! Usually you have to weed through all of the people, but tonight, it was great. I guess nobody wants to buy anyone anything from Ikea for Christmas? Note to self: Go to Ikea two days before Christmas. Also surprisingly empty, Michael's. I guess everyone has their projects finished already. I went for supplies to make a pom pom wreath, for next year. Not so empty tonight, Target. It was fairly crowded, and the parking lot was a mess. I watched as brand new parents loaded their newborn into a shopping cart, in the middle of the parking lot, in the dark, right behind an SUV that was halfway backed out of its stall. I pointed this out to the new parents. They were surprised. Dumbasses. Sorry that's not very Christmas-sy. Merry Dumbasses. Better?

Oooops!

I totally blanked on my blog last night. I don't know what happened. I was super busy all day, took the boys to get shoes, and then last night I was working on a sock monkey for a gift, and then I went to bed.

We made sugar cookies yesterday, and we'll decorate them today. We like to leave Santa these cookies, and some carrots for his reindeer. Santa gets a Diet Pepsi when he's here too. We figure he gets enough milk.

Maya, passed out.

Word of the Day: Bake. We baked sugar cookies. I made coconut ice-which I saw HERE, on this site, and I found an adapted recipe for it HERE. I also prepared the dough for candy cane cookies, which I will finish up today. My kitchen is a mess. I will work on cleaning that all up today.

First Day of Winter Break

It was nice to not have to go to work today. I was up early, making sure Maya went potty and had her breakfast. I decided since I was up early, I would go to the lab to have my blood drawn for the cholesterol test my doctor ordered in October. I don't like having by blood taken. I used to pass out, but I can sit up now. I don't look though. I am very proud of myself, because not only did I sit up, but I let a new guy take blood from me! Actually he did a great job, hardly felt the stick at all! Glad that's over though.

I made these today, chocolate dipped candy canes. I also managed to walk Maya around the lake (a 2 mile walk), with my mom. Maya was intrigued by the ducks, geese, squirrels, other dogs, people, and duck/goose poop. It was quite a long walk for her, but she did really well. The boys never got dressed today.

I'm not sure if I showed you this. This is one of the ornaments I made for the swap I participated in. I made two that looked like this one, and two that were the wing color (reversed.) I used the same idea for my crafty night, but without the hanging beads.

Word of the Day: Crate. Maya is not a fan. She slept with us again last night. I know. We should have stuck to our guns, but if you could have heard her! I'm sure the neighbors did, and we didn't want her to wake up Riley (on the other side of the wall from where she was). She did travel in the crate to the lake today, and she snoozed in it while we ate dinner (and was inside, with the door closed, for 20 minutes, without complaining). I am hoping she'll do better in it tonight. I'm so tired that I think I could sleep through all of her fussing-barking, howling, whining, thrashing around, scratching at the sides.

Totally unrelated, but if you would like to see pictures of my Christmas decorations, go HERE.

Mail Surprises and Maya

We spent our day house training and playing with Maya. This morning, we took her for a walk to Starbucks (the drinks were for us, the walk for her). Quinn and I went to a birthday party for a few hours. While we were gone, Kevin and Riley gave Maya a bath. She smells better. This dog sure loves to be near someone. She didn't sleep in her crate last night. She was freaking out, whining, barking and thrashing about. She's going to have to sleep there tonight.

I forgot to post this stuff yesterday. These are the things that my friend Valerie made and sent to me. Aren't they cute? Look at the collars she made for Maya! I love everything!

This is the bracelet that I made for Quinn's teacher for Xmas.

This is the necklace I made for Riley's teacher.

Here are the boys and Maya, outside Starbucks this morning.

Word of the Day: Potty. I have spent so much time outside today, trying to get one little dog to pee or poop. She pooped twice for me, and peed once. I think she had a peeing accident in the house while I was gone. This dog can hold her pee for a really really long time. Must stick with it.

Introducing...Maya

We went to Alameda this afternoon, to pick up our dog. I like the way that sounds. "This is our dog." I like the sound of her little paws on the hardwood too. It's like she was made for here. We named her Maya. We don't know any persons named Maya, and it seemed to suit her, and it's a cute name, and it is two syllables-someone said any more than two and the dog doesn't hear it, or something like that, so we went for it. Plus Kevin said when we are walking her, if someone asks, "is that your dog?" We can say, "yes, it's Maya dog." Get it? When I was in PetSmart this afternoon, the woman behind me at the tag machine said, to someone else, that her dog was named Maya. Weird huh? I thought I was being a little original. Anyway, we already love her! Quinn is particularly smitten with her.

First family photo with Maya, along the water in Alameda.

"Look at me, I'm completely adorable."

Maya already loves this boy. She loves to snuggle next to someone. She's curled up, in a ball, against my leg, even as I type.

"I'm so tired."

It's been a big day for her, well for all of us. I think she will get a bath tomorrow. She doesn't smell all that great.

Word of the Day: Santa. I went to PetSmart this afternoon for some food and a pooper scooper, and while I was making Maya's dog tag, the pet Santa was there, taking pictures with dogs and cats. I heard someone say it was 4:00, so I looked and saw the sign that said the pet Santa photos were finished at 4:00 pm. The next time I looked, the Santa was taking off his hat, beard, and jacket! Right in the middle of the store, RIGHT in front of all those young doggies and kitties!

Hey Hey, Hey Hey, It's Your Lucky Day!

Well, it's my lucky day too! I am officially on winter break, and it feels great. I am super tired, and I look forward to resting up, spending time with my boys (school project free too-I think...I hope), and spending time with a new little dog, who will come to live with us tomorrow, and hopefully gain herself a cute name. Quinn's nomination of "Meatball" has been vetoed.

You may be wondering what is up with my sweater, and you may have noticed that I really need some lipstick. Well, it's your lucky day! Finally pictures of my ugly sweater for the ugly Christmas sweater party Kevin and I went to tonight. It's lovely isn't it? It has shoulder pads, and they kept shifting all night, and the sweater kept pulling and choking me. Oh what we women won't do for fashion! My necklace? Oh, that lovely creation was made by my mom, out of real light bulbs. Nice touch huh? I didn't win the contest. The girl who won had a shirt that lit up. It was quite a sight to see-quilted on the top of it, lights all around some funky Xmas picture. Her lights had two settings even-blinking and non-blinking. Truly a work of art. That's ok though, there's always next year!!

Word of the Day: BREAK!

It's The Time of the Year For Fun Projects

One more day until two weeks off! It's super exciting. I'm tired. It will be great to rest, putter around the house, spend time with the boys, craft/sew, and play with a dog. Quinn's been happy to be back to school. Now if only we can get caught up on all of the work he missed!

When I picked Quinn up today, he was very excited about his present for his dad and I. He had me open it, in the car. I asked him if he'd like to wait until his father got home, but he insisted I open it. This cute snowman is what I found. So cute! He is very proud of it, and took it out of my hands even before I could get a good look at him. He said he will name the snowman "Chocolate." I love him-the snowman, and the boy.

Riley walked home from school carrying this. His class is "Big Buddies" with a 1st grade class. They got together this week to make gingerbread houses. Riley is quite pleased with the path he made from M&M's. He pointed out every piece of candy that had fallen off on the journey home. The end product is cute though, really cute-the house and the boy! Oh how I love him too. I don't think he plans on eating it, but I could be wrong.

Word of the Day: Packages. I got three today. One was a Christmas gift I ordered for somebody else. One was an ornament, and the last was a gift package from my friend Valerie. I'll share the contents of the last two, tomorrow. Cute, cute stuff!!

It's Official!

It's official! We are dog owners!

Insert screeching brakes here. Not THIS dog. This is a face only its mother could love. Looks like a punk rock Yoda. What's with the tongue? That fancy collar does nothing to jazz that dog up. Ick.

Now, that's better! THIS cutie is coming home on Saturday. We will go pick her up on Saturday afternoon. We are all very excited.

Awww. So cute. We are still working on a name. Look at that tail go. She's a happy girl.

Word of the Day: Party. I hosted the staff Holiday party today. It was lots of fun. We brought gifts to do a white elephant exchange. To put a different spin on it, we chose numbers, and each of us unwrapped a present, showing it to everyone. Once all of the presents were opened, we set the timer for 10 minutes. In that 10 minutes, we passed 4 containers with dice. We each got one roll. If we rolled a double, we could steal any gift, giving them our current gift. I so wanted this light up penguin, and every time I rolled a double, I stole it, but then someone (usually the SAME someone) would steal it back. My para ended up with it. At the end of the 10 minutes, you ended up with the last gift in your possession. It was hysterical. Grown people, TEACHERS, screaming and running to get their prize, screaming for someone to hurry up and roll so that they could have their turn. So much fun.

A Project and Dog Stuff

Riley finished this month's school project. He had to read a book, write a summary of the book, and complete a visual project. He read Call of the Wild by Jack London. He chose to do a diorama. Remember those? I did one once on Thomas Jefferson, and I used one of my Honey Hill Bunch dolls as Thomas Jefferson.

The book is about sled dogs. Riley made the sled out of Legos. He painted wooden trees to glue along the back-he even added some of my fake snow stuff to the trees. The ground is cotton balls. Can you see that he added a snowman toward the back?

A closer look. The front dog actually has a toy in its mouth. By adding the string, it acts like the bit for a sled. He's going to turn it in tomorrow (it's not due until Friday), so that he can get some extra credit. What is up with extra credit? Riley will do just about anything for extra credit.

We are prepared. The guy who does the home visit, visited us (well me, as the boys were all at the pack meeting) tonight. He asked a few questions: Do we know what we are getting ourselves into? Do we know that the cats will be mad? etc. He was here about 7 minutes. On his way out he said he would tell the rescue lady that he was here. Next step is that she lets me know when we can go pick the dog up. We are hoping for this weekend.

Word of the Day: Improving. Quinn's cough has been improving everyday. He actually slept fairly well, but I was up with him at 5, giving him a breathing treatment with his nebulizer-he was coughing pretty consistently. He went right back to sleep and didn't get up until 10! He so needed the sleep. He was happy that the tooth fairy left him $5 for his tooth. We hung around the house all day, but did go out on a quick errand around noon. He was well enough to go to the scout "snowball" fight tonight. Back to school we both go tomorrow.