helloooo, handsome!

what a wonderful way to end our year!

the newest addition to the adams family has finally arrived.

wyatt james miravite adams

born 12.29.10 at 4:39pm

6lbs 12oz, 19 inches long

the delivery...in a nutshell. :)

super excited big brothers, isaiah and michael.

liam was excited, too. 

but the cord to the curtain was far more interesting.

first photo of the adams six-pack.

and look at that, papa is just sleeping through it all! :) 

little wyatt, ready to head home

so itty bitty!

i hope everyone enjoys a wonderful nye celebration tonight.
i know we will be enjoying our weekend, snuggled up with our growing family.
life is so very good.

'twas the night before christmas

'twas the night before christmas, when all through the house

not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse

the stockings were hung by the chimney with care

in hopes that st. nicholas soon would be there

the children were nestled all snug in their beds

while visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads...

before santa's visit

after santa's visit

happy christmas to all, and to all a good-night.

embrace the camera - dec. 23

i'm excited to spend the holiday with our families this weekend and just enjoy everything and everyone that we have been blessed with...

including the three out of my four favorite boys that are featured in today's embrace!

isaiah, the mister and liam at mikey's preschool christmas program.

now grab your camera or shuffle through pics you already have and link up at the blog of the anderson family crew!

~~~~~

where has this week gone?

i have no idea.

well, i guess i do...but i'm not going to bore you with the details of my preparations for xmas.

it's been a wonderful week and we are still awaiting the arrival of little wyatt.

but, now we are hoping he will wait 'til after the long-anticipated holiday!

i would really hate to miss the looks on my boys faces on christmas morning.

we have been very fortunate this year and have been able to give the kids more than we have ever been able to before.

they aren't expecting any of it, have no idea what they are in for, but are all more than deserving of it.

this family has gone through a lot of changes this year and they have been such troopers through it ALL.

throughout the course of this difficult and exhausting fourth pregnancy.

throughout the autism diagnosis for liam and the countless "things" that needed to be taken care of.

throughout the various changes in schedules and routines.

thank goodness my children are not resistant to change or else i may have just fallen apart by now.

the latter part of this year, especially, has brought us closer as a family.

we more tight-knit than ever before, although i didn't even think that was possible. 

the boys are closer than ever before.

the mister and i are deeper in love than ever before.

it's amazing how much room for love and patience a person's heart can have and/or make when it's needed.

and all of our hearts will make a little more room for love when our little wyatt arrives.

two years old today!

happy 2nd birthday to our sweet little 

liam alexander

your endearing smile and the sound of your sweet little giggle

makes every single day a perfect day.

i wake up every morning wondering what surprises you have in store for me.

thank you for teaching me to be humble, to be patient, to be grateful. 

thank you for loving me and letting me love you.

rainy day happenings

today was another rainy day. boo hoo. we did some grocery shopping, i grabbed my usual route 44 vanilla diet coke from sonic, and then we tried to take a stroll through target, but that didn't happen once we saw how full the parking lot was. 

so we went home...

and cooked spicy coconut soup...and made fudge...

and cooked burmese samosas...and made peanut butter balls. 

ohmygoodness. 

someone needs to get us out of the kitchen. 

my hubby and i were actually pondering starting up a cooking/recipe blog together. 

we're brainstorming blog names.

'chubby love' gets my vote. 

any suggestions?

liam was our taste tester for the samosas.

1) hmm...a lil unsure at first.

2) yumm...his eyes are closed...they must be good.

3) time to share the deliciousness...want some?

 and here's what was left after liam got to them.

anyway, i was also spent a little time crafting and made some chalkboard platters/chargers i saw on one of my go-to blogs for craft ideas. i absolutely love them. these are, by far, my favorite of all the things that i've made this holiday season. 

the easy peasy ingredients. 

i got the charger from michaels for a buck 

and the chalkboard paint from home depot for about $10.

yippee skippee.

i'm also going to hot glue a piece of black, satin ribbon on the back so the recipient has an option to hang it somewhere if they'd like.

i'd love to receive one of these cuties!

xmas card lessons learned

wow. what an ordeal with christmas cards this year! i didn't realize how much our family and extended family has grown over the last year, not to mention, our circle of family friends that are near and dear to our hearts. this year, i learned a few important lessons, that i'm going to write a post about, just because i'm sure i'll need to look back to this next year and remind myself! 

1) fifty is no longer enough - in previous years, a set of fifty xmas cards was more than enough for me to send out. i'd even have at least a dozen extra that ended up in the recycling bin. this year, i ordered a set of fifty and was short 22 cards. wth? 22? where did these people come from? and when i look at the list of people/families that i haven't sent one to yet, i feel sad! i have to order another set from costco or something, just so they can be printed quickly. i don't think another order from shutterfly would make it to me and be addressed and mailed (key point in the process) on time.

2) addresses in e-mails and facebook messages do no constitute an "address book" -  omg. i had addresses...every. freakin. where. i had some in e-mails. fb messages. i saved envelopes with return address labels. i'm almost embarassed to admit, i even have an old planner. yeah, like the kind i carried around in college and wrote my assignments in and had an area for addresses in the back...sad, i know. and the even sadder part is that there were addresses in there that were no place else to be found! like...i needed that planner in order to get my xmas cards sent out. i spent a good two hours getting all of the addresses in one happy place, which would be my google contact list. google is my hero. i love android and i love google and i love the way they work so seamlessly together. and i love that if i don't have my phone, i can easily access everything online...and vice versa.

3) stamps cost more than getting the cards printed - since i got my 50 cards for free this year just for writing a blog post about shutterfly, i kind of forgot how expensive it can get to mail them all out. lol i went to the post office and bought 2 packs of twenty stamps, because i thought i wouldn't even need to send out all fifty cards, right? wrong. i had to go back and buy another pack. gaahhh. almost thirty dollars for 60 stamps. well, i was tipped off, too little too late for this year, but i will definitely remember this for next year...costco sells postage stamps for $40 for 100. awesome, in my book. that's only 40c per stamp, versus the face value of 44c. i have not confirmed this allegation yet, but i will definitely do so in the near future. :)

hopefully, the time, effort and money i wasted in the xmas card ordeal this year will make next year's process go much smoother. and i'm sure the list will only get longer each year. 

we are blesssed to have so many wonderful people in our lives and wouldn't want it any other way. 

i hope you are all embracing the crazy this holiday season and, most importantly, taking a moment to remember the reason for the season.

Christmas blessings to all!

from, the adams gang

embrace the camera - dec. 16

today's embrace is our auntie edition.

my wonderful sister-in-law, tracey, rushed out to help us when i started feeling contractions on wednesday.

they continued throughout thursday, and so bummed to say, they stopped.
yes, damnit. they stopped thursday night.

so, back to the waiting game we go. 

the unexpected stay from auntie tracey meant that she was able to join us for mikey's christmas party at his preschool today.

here is the fabulous duo hammin' it up.

a face only a mother could love.

happy day to all!
and pray for us that this baby will pop out before the end of the weekend.
i've still got more christmas shopping to do!

brilliant

video messages from santa?

that's what i freakin call brilliant.

i made a personalized video message from santa for my boys on this website:

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/home

click to watch isaiah's video message.

isaiah was especially amazed by it...he even started to cry! 

he said they were tears of joy because he was so happy that santa knew he was trying really hard to be good all year even though he made some mistakes.

shawn and i couldn't stop exchanging shocked looks between each other as we watched his reaction. 

it was totally unexpected and also sooo freakin hilarious!

click to watch mikey's video message.

mikey, on the other hand, didn't quite get it. 

he saw a picture of himself in santa's file with a beanie on and was like, "oh, look. it's me wearing a beanie. hold on, i'm gonna go get my beanie" and disappeared. 

he didn't seem to give a crap what santa thought about his behavior!

all night long, isaiah was on his best behavior and when mikey would act up, he would remind mikey about how santa is watching. 

i hope it will last until christmas!

crazy boy

no kidding, this boy was doing these back flips off of the sofa arm for at least 3 minutes before i realized i had my video camera in the camera bag sitting right next to me. 

it was the sweetest, most captivating sound when he'd giggle each time he performed a successful backward dive.

i love you, my little liam.

thank you for giving me these unexpected moments of complete and utter happiness.

embrace the camera - dec. 9

37 weeks.

and omg. i'm so done.
i'm soooo over this pregnancy.

the backaches, the belly aches, the heartburn, the complete and utter exhaustion. 

the inability to roll over at night without waking my hubby. he needs to give me a little nudge.

little mister wyatt kingston or kellen
{the hubby and i are still fighting over that middle name}

i know you can hear me.

come out, now. 

please. pretty please.

don't make your mother beg. 

the boys are all napping and i was immersed in my crafting.

because that's the only thing i can enjoy doing without having to get up from my chair.

then, i realized, it's thursday!

so here i am, embracing the camera.

i figured i should take some pics of this big ol' belly since i'm not sure how much longer i'll be toting it around.

three weeks away, people.

fingers crossed he will bless us with his presence sooner than later.

     

the view from the top.

trust me, it's better this way since you do not want to see my toes that are in desperate need of a pedicure.

i promised myself i would never go into labor with ugly toes.

i need to get to the nail salon...stat!

oh, how i love thee, shutterfly

what's not to love? 

they have the most beautiful personalized cards at such an affordable price. 

not to mention, the orders come super fast! 

previous experiences ordering from them (and a couple job offers to my husband lol) tell me that their production facility is based in hayward, ca (or somewhere in the bay area) 

so orders arrive very quickly after they are complete. 

i love ordering our birth announcements from them.

that means i'm already browsing through styles that i may use when little wyatt arrives. 

crazy, i know.

this one is my favorite right now. 

so stinkin' adorable...i could die!

but, first thing's first. i'm still trying to get through christmas! 

i'm swooning over their gorgeous new designs for holiday cards. 

i don't typically like to have too many pictures on my cards and stick with just one decent shot of the kids or kids and parents. 

{notice how i emphasize decent. i've come to terms with the fact that i will never ever get a good family picture until isaiah graduates from high school.}

but with all the great new styles they have this year, i'm starting to think i'll have to change my mind!

this style, in particular, would look great with the pictures i took of the boys the other day.

another great gift idea to design through shutterfly are their wall calendars.  .

what grandparent doesn't love to stare at the adorable faces of their grandbabies 365 days a year?!

as if shutterfly isn't awesome enough, they are offering all bloggers 50 free holiday cards just for writing a blog post about their designs or other your previous experience with them. 

now, they are officially beyond awesome in my book. 

so if you haven't ordered your cards yet and have a blog, you don't want to miss out on this great offer!

happy holidays!!!

diy: tin star ornaments

i've been having so much fun these past two weeks with crafting my own ornaments. 

i even butchered a tree in my front yard so i have a nice branch to hang them from as i make them. 

i found this tutorial, make your own tin stars...from a cake pan!, on the blog called choose to thrive. it seemed simple enough so i tried my hand at it. and yes...it definitely was simple enough!

these star ornaments from at home america were the inspiration for this project.

super cute, no? 

i would never have thought i could have made anything similar...especially from a disposable cookie sheet from the dollar store. i had all the paints on hand, so this project only cost me $1.08 for 12 ornaments! 

how freakin' awesome is that!

it took a couple tries to get the folding and bending process down, so these first two are not the best of the bunch. the ones i made later on turned out even better with much smoother lines.

 i sponge painted them to create the weathered look. 

i especially love how the dark brown paint on the aluminum gives it a bronze look. 

christmas card? what christmas card?

we received our first christmas card in the mail today and it finally kicked my a** into gear with ordering our own.

before the mailman paid me a visit, i had no pictures, no ideas, nada.

i picked isaiah up from school and we had a mini photo session in the front yard. 

it was easy enough and the fact that we haven't swept up the leaves since fall came around conveniently provided a great background. :)

SO cute...I DIE!!!

with our due date for little wyatt a mere three weeks away, i've been obsessing with anything and everything baby and trying to fill his little dresser with all the cutest things.
it couldn't more convenient that my friend, ashley, is hosting a giveaway of the epitome of cute on her blog, peters party of 5!

after seeing this giveaway....i just HAVE TO have this aviator hat for our little guy.

eeeek. 

if i don't win, and i probably won't, i will just DIE.

pop on over to peters party of 5 and read the fun blog of ms. ashley peters and also visit the etsy site of ellie bellie designs to see all of her other adorable handmade goodies. 

here are a few of my faves...
warning : potential for cute baby overload.

holiday parade & craft redemption

have i mentioned how much i love our little town?

i guess i'm really just a small town girl at heart...
but, always felt like i needed to live in a big city.

it took settling down and having a huge family to finally make me realize where i belong.

LOVE IT!

this is our second christmas here in our town and this is our first experience with the holiday parade and tree lighting. the boys had a lot of fun and really enjoyed bumping into friends from school while we were at the parade. i really loved that, too. i love being somewhere where we know people.

the big boys having fun in the rain while we waited for the parade to start. 

 

liam seriously loves his big bro.
he had nothing but hugs for isaiah while we waited for the tree lighting.
melts this mama's heart!

now, on to my craft redemption....

if you are reading this and watch tosh.0, you'll totally follow me on this. this "craft redemption" is my version of his "web redemption". he has a segment on his show where idiots people created videos for youtube and completely screwed up whatever it was they were trying to do, thus completely humiliating themselves on the world wide web. daniel tosh then gives these screw-ups the opportunity to redeem themselves by re-enacting whatever ridiculous action they were trying to do on his show.

i made this book paper wreath earlier this week and didn't make my paper cones pointy enough. if you don't know by now, i have ocd about many things...one of which is that things have to happen according to my vision. i have an idea in my head of how something should be or look and if an end product doesn't match my vision, well...it has to be done all over again. this is an example of one of those instances. another instance is the way the house is cleaned...but i won't even get into that...

book paper wreath - BEFORE (UN-pointy cones)

book paper wreath - AFTER (pointy cones. thus, much cuter version)

 

i would call this a successful craft redemption. thank you for allowing me to share a bit of my insanity with you. 

did you notice my super cute, glittery pine cones in the vase? YES! another fabulous ornament idea from the blog of jami nato. oh, how i love her and her christmas crafternoon installments. 

'til next time!