The Merry Happenings...

Christmas with a three year old and an almost 2 year old was completely magical. Jack couldn't wait for Santa Clause to come a put presents under the tree.  (don't you love that table and chairs...It pays to have a Shop full of furniture!)

We kept Santa's loot very minimal...how much does a three year old REALLY need?!? 

Do these look like the faces of kiddos that were dissappointed?

I don't think so.

Bianca got a purse from Nana Cindy, it hasn't left her arm since Christmas morning.  Seriously.

Daddy got a Seahawks Snuggie for Chistmas...It was a mostly a joke.  But mostly serious.

Jack mesmorized by his shark sticker book, I couldn't even get him to look up!

We had a great day, filled with yummy food, family, and just enjoyed some time off.

****

And here is the Christmas Eve wound...We just took the bandages off today and it's looking really good.  We opted for the glue method as opposed to stitches...the doctor was afraid of traumatizing an already freaking out toddler further with needles and thread!

if your wondering what happend...we were loading the car to head out to a party, when an excited Jack ran down the hall to go get in the car and tripped.  He hit the oldschool heater attached to our wall and his forehead just popped right open.  There was a lot of blood, and a lot of tears.  On the way to the ER Jack was frantically sobbing, "a dinosaur bit me, a dinosaur bit me".   It may as well have been a dinosaur!

Merry Christmas from Urgent Care...

Nothing like a forehead split wide open to start the holiday festivities off the right way, huh?!?

Christmas Letter 2009

Let's pretend you all just went out to your mail box and recieved a wonderfully crafty card, and beautiful picture of our little family. 

Now, let's get real.  Pictures were never taken, cards were never made, and addresses were never gathered.

If I were on top of things like I'd hoped, the letter would have gone something like this...

Merry Christmas from the Springer Family!

  We started the year with a bang, or should I say a buzz, or maybe a shave.  You know it's going to be a crazy year when you shave your 2 year old's hair into a Benjamin Button look alike only two weeks into it!

If you want a good laugh, you can read more about my clipper mis-hap here.

The kids continue to grow like little weeds, and I enjoy every minute of being home with them.  Jack and Bianca have grown to be great little friends, I no longer have to separate them with laundry baskets.

Big improvement I would say!

 Not only have the two become buddies, but also perfect partners in crime.  If they are quiet and together, I KNOW there is trouble happening.

In March, Scott Started a job with the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries as an Auditor.  He enjoys his work, but is looking forward to better opportunities in the very near future.  He is also working his way through graduate school to get his Masters in Accounting.  We are counting the days to next December when we can say he is officially done with school!!  It will be SO nice to have things back to normal...as if we even know what normal is?!?

I am lucky enough to stay home with the kiddos, and have a killer job at the same time.  Since May, I have been the administrative assistant for a small company called CodeSmart.  They have been fabulous to work for, and It's nice to still have a foot in the professional world.  Earlier this year, I invested in a Vinyl cutter, which has been a lot of fun.  Several times a year, before a Show, I can be found crafting til' the wee hours of the morning. 

We have had a great year, and feel richly blessed with supportive family, loving friends, and the bounteous circumstance we live in.

May you all have a Merry Christmas, and a happy, healthy New Year!

The price we pay for beauty...

I know I have mentioned Bianca's obsession for accessories.  It has only gotten worse.  If there is a purse, scarf, or pair of shoes within reach, she will sport it.  She brings me her shoes first thing in the morning to put on, and I usually have to pry them off her screaming, rigid body at night.  No exageration there.  Take away this girls' shoes or purse and be ready for a tantrum like you have NEVER seen before.

So, I buy her these darling black patent leather shoes for her christmas dress.  When I pull them out of the box, she literally starts shaking.  Her little fists balled up, and her face turned red as she ran towards me with pure excitement.

And they didn't fit. 

Gulp.

I knew I was in trouble.

She refused to let me take them off, and I wasn't in the mood for a fight (so of course I grabbed my camera to document the fiasco).  Look at her chubster feet bulging out of those shoes...poor girl.

She proceeded to wear the shoes for about 30 minutes, in complete pain.  She was walking around sobbing, and limping, but refused to let the discomfort get in the way of those black, shiny beauties. 

If she could talk, I think she would have been saying something like "Maybe mom, if I don't bend my legs while I walk, it won't hurt so much."

"Wait, that's NOT helping...come on mom, why does it have to hurt so bad to be beautiful"

"I can't. take. another. step.  Please, help me!"

"Ahhh, there's the ticket.  If I don't walk, it does't hurt...then I can wear them ALL day long.  Phew, glad I figured that out."

It's okay Bianca, we all sacrifice for that perfect pair of shoes...

And the Winner is....

Thanks to Random.org for making this an easy process.  After taking out any multiple entries, and mine, there were 22 entries, the lucky gal is #20

ERICA

Since I can't have everyone win, I am offering FREE SHIPPING to anyone following my blog for the next week.  (your shipping will be refunded to your paypal account after payment).  You don't have to be a follower already, just follow before you make your purchase!

Also, look for more items to be posted in the next day or two!! 

Erica, email me a jill_harris@hotmail.com to tell me which item you want, or if you want to wait for more inventory to come out!

Don't forget ...

It's the last day for the Waddell Creek Rustics Giveaway!

Check the post below for instructions to enter...

The grand opening, and a GIVEAWAY!

Ok ladies, it's here! Waddell Creek Rustics has finally gotten a shop up and running on etsy.  The items you'll find in our little store are a combination of things from my cute sister-in-law Wendy, and myself.  I do the vinyl signs and magnet boards, she keeps things a bit more prim with those darling pillows and hand painted signs.  We will be listing more items in the days and weeks to come, but we thought we'd test the waters out with some of our best sellers...those scented rosehipes? A.MAZ.ING.  Seriously, I want to eat them.

Now for the giveaway!

There's a catch here though, to enter the giveaway I want you to go visit our etsy shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/waddellcreekrustics then come back and comment with feedback.  Are our prices to high? what about the shipping? what would you like to see more of, or less of for that matter.

We need honesty people. brutal honesty.

one commenter will be selected at random and will get to choose ONE item up to a $15.00 value out our store...you can pick from what we have now, or hold your credit until we introduce more items....we have some great spring items already in the works!!

Ok gals, go take a look...the giveaway ends Tuesday, December 15th at 5 PM.

The problem with heaping laundry baskets...

Is that they're just so

darn

comfy.

I just tried to sneak in the bedroom to grab a few things while my sweet B was sleeping...I panicked when couldn't see her in the bed.  Duh mom, you should ALWAYS check laundry baskets full of dirty clothes for sleeping children.

Now I know.

taking a breath...

I'm back! The last month has been an absolute whirlwind!  I am not one to admit things like this, but I think I may have slightly over-extended myself.  I have compiled a few numbers, mostly to remind myself to NEVER do this again!

In the last month, I have...

-made 120 of these bad boys, and sold every one of them.

 

-Dipped 60 caramel apples

 

- Made 8 batches of cinnamon-bun popcorn

 

- Dipped 300 oreos in chocolate then sprinkled them with candy canes

 

- Made over 100 magnet boards

 

-Made over 75 vinyl signs

 

- cut 162 blocks...don't have pictures of those yet, they sold out before I could even snap a pic! 

- Used 2 cans of gold glitter spray, man I love that stuff.

- Gone through 7 bottles of "barn-red" paint, 4 bottles of black, and 3 bottles of "antique-white"

- had 4 shows and was in charge of a project for my church's "Super Saturday" that had a record breaking 80 signups. gulp. I nearly cried when I saw the numbers.  A big thanks to my sweet dad who cut and shipped me the 30 boards I was short!!

-Pulled one official all-nighter, and about 20 "up-til'-3am-crafting-nights"

- had one VERY patient husband who has put up with my eternal mess paints, wood, and vinyl scraps EVERYWHERE.  Thanks Darling...I owe you big time.

I think that about does it.

Now, I don't want to give you false notions of being the woman that does it all, because I don't.  For the last month, my kids have looked like this...

and this...at least we got the boots on for the day. (I actually had to crop a COMPLETELY naked Jack out of the picture, I think you can still see a little snippet of his boney bum on the left of the picture!)

I had a great time at our shows, but I am most definately looking forward to some down time with the hubby and kiddos, doing some chistmas shopping, and tackling the 12 loads of laundry that's stacked up in my bed room.

OH! I forgot to tell you all, I will be officially kicking off my etsy shop this week, and there will be a great giveaway involved...so stay tuned!

TEAM HUSBAND ANYONE?

Note: before you read this nonsense, just know I did NOT condone this post, Scott knew I would take it down, so he even changed my password, that little turkey.  I must apologize to my poor sweet parents who will probably disown me for this childish behavior. 

And you know sweetie, maybe if you had this body back, I wouldn't need to be gawking at a "ten year old".  Wow, that was harsh, just kidding darling, you know I think you rock.

I was recently looking at blogs in an effort to make my wife happy. This is done by making specific comments about her friends and even gossip. I was appalled to find that our wives were drooling at this “stud” from the “New Moon” movie (cougars) on a friend’s blog. I won’t mention names (Jesse who lives in New Mexico).

This is an excerpt of the comment my wife made after viewing this ten year old.

“Yeah, pretty sure I can't get over Jacob...I told Scott straight up that I would leave him for Jacob if I had the chance. He said "I would leave me for him too!"

Those abs...” End of quote.

I never said that. I am a man with feelings gosh darn it. By the way we husbands also had nice bodies before you made us have kids.

Eat your heart out JILL! (PS, if anyone out there doesn’t know me, let me just say that I am kidding).

I'm alive.

Barely.

Details and pictures to come.

For now, I must sleep.

Halloween Perks

It's so fun to be a parent with tiny kids around Halloween. 
 .
You get to dress them up and wish you were a kid again.

You get to enjoy the look on their faces as candy gets dropped by the handfuls in their buckets...I swear, a darling 3 year old saying "trick-er-treat" get TWICE the amount of candy as everyone else.

But the REALLY great part about being the parent is that they do all the work, and then when you tuck them in that night, you get to reap the rewards!!  I am pretty sure I have eaten more Kit-Kat's and Snickers than is moral. Seriously, for the last two nights when we put kids to sleep, I pull out the giant pumpkin bucket that's been hiding in the cupboard all day and go to town on all the sugary goodness.  It's sickening.

Don't think I am a terrible person.  No kid needs all that candy.

Right?? 

Like any responsible parent,  I kept out the Smarties, Dum-Dum's, and plain M&M's to use for bribes rewarding good behavior.

****

Here are my little darlings all dressed up...Jack's costume was a last minute "throw-together" but I think $2.00 of clearance fabric ripped into strips made for a great mummy costume.  I just hot-glued the strips onto a thermal undershirt and some of Biana's white tights.

And then there's the Angel, she was pretty ornery, so that's the best we got out of her...

Taking a break for some treats (before their mommy steals and gobbles them all up). I am just noticing that sucker on the ground next to Bianca, she had that when we left.  I didn't realize THAT'S where she got it.   Way to go Jill, Mom of the year.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Shark Attack!!

We recently had a little birthday celebration with Scott's family for Jack's 3rd birthday.  I wanted to do an ocean theme cake, so when I saw that you could turn twinkies, oreos, fruit roll-ups, miniature doughnuts, and frosting into a shark attack cake, you better believe I jumped all over it!

Jack was thrilled with the sharks, and the cousins all thought it was pretty fun too...

I think we have one satisfied three year old here...

pumpkins, purses, and slides...

 This weekend we took advantage of the nice weather and took the kids to the Pumpkin Patch down the road.   They had a great time looking at pumpkins, and trying to pick them up...  

Can't you just give the camera ONE smile you little turkey. No? Ok. Fine.

Notice Bianca's purse.  She carries that thing around EVERYWHERE.  Between that green bag, her strut, and those red pouty lips, I have quite the diva on my hands.

 There were a few slides at the Pumpkin Patch the Jack-Hammer just HAD try. Like 20 times.  No joke. 

And you better believe that I took him down that giant slide for the rest of our turns...I am pretty much a kid.

Until next year Pumpkin Patch....We will miss you!

And the winners are....

First of all, this was fun!  I wish I had enough prizes for EVERYONE to win something.  But don't worry, I see many more of these little giveaways to come...next up will involve something Christmasy, and possibly glittery.  Who doesn't love a little glitter for the holidays!

Without further ado...

The winners, chosen via Random.org (commenters were given the numbers 1-22, then the followers where given 23-30) are...

for the trick-or-treat blocks:

#9  Jessi

and for the FALL blocks:

#23 Kassi

Congrats to the lucky ladies!! email me at jill_harris@hotmail.com to claim your prize... I will get them shipped ASAP so you can have them up as long as possible!

A little Giveaway for you...

I have been the gracious recipient of more than one giveaway in my blogging days, so I thought it was high time for me to return the love.  Up for grabs to TWO lucky ladies is a little something to add to your Fall or Halloween decor...both hand cut, sanded, painted and vinyled by yours truly.

1. To enter just leave me a little comment, anything will do...Don't be shy gals!

2.  If you want a second chance to enter become a follower, if you already are then you get two chances anyway!!

3. You have until this Saturday 5:00 MST to enter.

Happy commenting!

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy...

Three years ago today you joined our family.  I had no idea that this 6 lb-chicken-legged-old-man-face baby would be capable of so much energy in the next few years to come!  You flush expensive things down the toilet, light my clothes on fire, and throw tantrums with the best of them...BUT, you are also one of the most tender-hearted, gentle, snuggly little boys I have ever met. 

You NEVER stop running. ever.  No wonder you have the quads and calves of an 18 year old.

You don't like food.  If your mom would let you (and sometimes she does), you would live on cold cereal and chicken nuggets.

Every morning when you get out of the bath tub, you HAVE to wear mom's pink bathrobe while you sit on the couch and stroke your eyelashes while sucking on your last three fingers until you almost fall asleep. EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING.

You've ALWAYS

sucked on those

 fingers when

you're tired by

 the way.

You HATE being dirty.  You are the only kid I know who can play outside in the dirt and not get it all over yourself.  It's a mystery.

You are OBSESSED with all things animal related.  I bet you would live at the zoo.  Occasionally, your mom would love to send you there.

Every night at bed time we MUST sing wheels-on-the-bus, read the "whale" book, say a prayer, and give a hug and a kiss.  This is a life or death matter...trust me.

You LOVE your little Sister. 

You are extremely sensitive to other people's emotions and reactions.  So much as a quivering lip from someone and you are in tears. 

You are a goofball, just like your daddy...you two are great buddies.  You adore each other.

Happy Birthday Jack-Hammer...We love you!