mb

preparation.

placecards?  check.  super easy thanks to miss erica and her gratitude placecard kit.  i simply typed in our names and printed.  speaking of printed, these were printed on my new epson artisan 800 that i mentioned previously.  the more i use it, the more i love it.  andy's even fallen for it.  luckily i haven't given him the disk to install it on his laptop yet or i'd likely never get to use it.  last night i used it to print these placecards and also to scan a receipt i needed to send to a company for a warranty issue.  i did this all the time with the scanner i've always had but with this printer, its SO much easier.  like seriously scanned on on my screen in 5 seconds.  it has a great feeder tray like a copy machine so i didn't have to mess with raising the scanning bed, scanning, etc., etc.  my old scanner will soon be finding a new home thanks to craigslist.

so the placecards are done.  the upside down pumpkin pie and cranberry pear pie are cooling.  the cranberry sauce is made.  the cornbread for the stuffing is getting stale - intentionally - after baking it last night.  i think i just need to make my chocolate chip pumpkin muffins for part of breakfast tomorrow and make the potatoes so they can hit the fridge.  the muffins are one of andy's sisters favorites.  i'm trying to keep my status as favorite sister in law.  granted, she doesn't have any others, but it doesn't hurt to try, right?  and i also got a haircut and ran by the scrapbook store this afternoon and got to say hello to my friend missy who happened to be in town.  

and speaking of scrapbooking...  if you're looking for some deals for christmas gifts, two peas has a great thanksgiving sale which begins at the stroke of midnight tonight.  free shipping over $50.  cosmo cricket chipboard for $1.99.  the quickutz revolution for $39.99.  lots of good deals to be had without leaving the comfort of your own home.  that's my kind of shopping!  

eating puffs.

so we got 2" of snow last night, thus the very white background behind the high chair.  i bought some sweet potato puffs for the girl last week and we gave them a whirl on saturday night.  after she tried some black beans.  she thought they were great fun to play with, but wasn't so sure about having them in her mouth.  in fact, she would play and then i would put them in her mouth.  this morning, after a lovely pear and oatmeal concoction made by the baby girl's own personal chef - ahem, mama - i figured i'd give her a few more just to see what happened.  she played with the first one.  then i made the motion of taking one and putting it in my mouth and whatdoyouknow, she did it herself.  such a smart cookie that baby girl is.  or maybe she's a smart puff?

her menu is growing, growing.  this week i hope to introduce chicken and peaches.  not together.  not yet anyway.

it was another girl's weekend with daddy on call friday and last night.  looking forward to spending time with the daddy over the holiday.  the daddy is looking forward to some quality baby girl time and of course, the food.  i did finally figure out my menu - notice the chef is always at work?  here's what we'll be having :

• maple glazed turkey with apple cider gravy
• aunt ruthie mashed potatoes 
• sweet potato casserole 
• citrus cranberry sauce 
• crockpot cornbread stuffing 
• green bean casserole 
• brussels sprouts with bacon and apple 
• apple pie 
• upside down pumpkin pie 
• pear cranberry pie with oatmeal streusel 

think that's enough food for five people?  did i mention it's a 14 pound turkey?  i'm amazed i'm only making three desserts.  yep, lots of quality time in the kitchen in my near future... 

kp would rock this job.

my friend kelly is applying for a job as a community manager for an online site - basically similar to what i do day to day but in the marketing world and not paper and glue related.  she'd be such an asset to them and they'd be crazy to let someone of her caliber slip through their hands.

with that being said...

crowdSPRING, hire Kelly Purkey for your new Community Marketing Manager!

sunday, sunday.

 

a scene from yesterday afternoon.  when all someone wants to do is rip the newspaper to shreds.  we get two newspapers each sunday so it has the potential of being one very big mess.  luckily the target ad and the parade magazine were the only casualties.

a nice relaxing weekend.  a new knitting project started for c.  meeting c's bff josie and her mama and dad at starbucks saturday morning.  andy and i went out to dinner saturday night at a creole restaurant we had been wanting to try.  glad that we tried it, but it wasn't my absolute favorite ever.  i can say that if i wasn't married i'd never order the bbq'd prawns for an appetizer though.  not really a great date activity as it's more than a bit messy.  especially when you're having to take them out of their shells yourself.

and then there's this new gizmo which i'm getting to know.  i currently have the epson r1800 in our office which i adore and use to print photos and such whenever i'm working on a project.  but the artisan...  the fact that it's wireless and i can print to it from anywhere in the house.  that just makes me giddy.  heck, it makes andy giddy because he thinks i'm going to allow him to use it too.  just want i always wanted, a printer that can print high quality photos of brain scans from each and every level of our home.  if that doesn't make me swoon i don't know what will, right?  actually, the fact that i can turn said photos into coloring book pages for c when she's older is kind of cool.  not that i'd ever let on to that.  nope.  instead i'm loving that i can print my own ruled and graph paper.  why didn't someone think of that before?

she crawls.

as of 11a this morning, our world will never be the same...  so glad i was here to witness it.  and of course, what was she going for?  my laptop power cord.  i know that would make anyone want to crawl 8 feet or so to the other end of the room, right?

for my fellow scrapbookers.

my boss has gone off the deep end.  [lucky for me she has a good sense of humor as i know she peeks over here from time to time.]  seriously though, when she said super mega sale at two peas, she really meant it.  165+ pages of sale items.  you can check it out here.  happy shopping!

mission accomplished.

 

 

i knitted the girl a sweater.  granted, it's difficult to take photos of said girl in sweater when she wants to try and crawl towards thomas who wanted to see what we were up to, but this is proof that the project is finished!  it shouldn't have taken me this long to get it done but i had a newborn, i had to finish up a knitting project for a friend and well, sometimes i just don't feel like knitting.  but these photos and seeing her in it make me want to start a new project immediately.  she showed it off at storytime today and got numerous compliments.  they told me she'll always win the best dressed award.  sniff, sniff.  granted they thought i'd given her a haircut since we went without a hair accessory today but that's only because it was 30 degrees and we were sporting the pink bunny hat instead.

 

and really.  if baby gap doesn't think she should model for them, i think they're crazy.  another outfit i bought last year while pregnant.  waiting and waiting for it to be marked down.  she'll likely only get to wear it one more time as it's not really long enough.  note to self, quit buying her outfits like this as they aren't long enough.  ever.  and well, the hat isn't big enough for her head either.  but cute nonetheless i say!

the weekend was pretty tame.  andy had a dinner that i neglected to attend.  granted i'm always the in the minority category of people in attendance - science types vs. non-science types - and let's face it, paying money for a babysitter for me to be there is kind of crazy.  i'd rather save the money for a real date if possible.  instead, i finished c's sweater.  saturday andy was on call so it was an errand day.  and yesterday c and i went to church and the three of us spent the rest of the day at home.  winter has defintiely arrived.  unlike the 70 degree temps we had at the beginning of last week,it was a balmy 33 today.

8 months.

 

so hard to believe that eight months ago this bundle of personality came into our lives.  i think i must've been the most boring person ever prior to her arrival.  when looking at her monthly photos, she just looks like a big girl.  not so much a baby, although she is the baby and will continue to be.  taking photos with the bear is becoming quite the exercise now as today she even tried to bite on his nose.  a bit difficult with lighting too as it was snowy and cloudy all day.

at eight months, camryn :

• probably weighs 20 or so pounds and is quite tall.  her 6-12 months pants are beginning to take on the look of capris.  not good for a wisconsin winter.
• starts bathtime at 7p and is in bed around 8p.  has been waking up around 6:30a although daylight savings time last week has really thrown a wrench in our schedule and she's been getting up around 5:30a instead.
• current nicknames : peeps, peepers, c, baby girl. wackadoodle.
• eats 6 times a day.  i feed her when she wakes up then an hour later she's started eating some cereal.  i feed her two more times then it's 2 oz of veggies or fruit and then i feed her again before bed.  she's added spinach, broccoli, avacado, apple juice and apple carrot juice to the list of foods she's tried.  she'll eat anythign i put in front of her.
• has become a pro at drinking from her sippy cup and needs no assistance with it whatsoever.  she'll drink from it until all her juice is gone.
• weekly activities include : story time and swimming.  in swimming she can float on her back by herself and she's swam underwater from her teacher to me.  she truly seems to enjoy it and it's a great part of her weekly routine.
• is trying really hard to crawl.  currently she's crawling backwards which frustrates her a bit.  she still likes to roll as well.
• loves to pet thomas or to simply scan the room until she finds him.  loves when he sits on my lap so that she can try to get to him.
  

for aunt nan.

unless you're family, you'll likely find this video most annoying.  i had made a video to show my sister the dress that she got for camryn after having to return something she bought her because well... my daughter is larger than her dainty baby.  but that video was dull in comparison this this one.  

so aunt nan, here you go.  you always want a video and you wanted to see the dress so here you go!

skunks with hats take baths.

i had forgotten i'd snapped a few photos from last weekend on my smaller camera and found them tonight.

 

this was as we headed out to go trick or treating on friday.  c looks shocked by something, not quite sure what.

 

this seriously cracks me up.  we had gone out to lunch at a restaurant by the mall and i wanted to run in to grab c some more socks at baby gap as they are the only ones that fit her decently and stay on her feet.  while there, andy found this hat and plopped it on her head.  seriously hysterical.  i need to by it.  if that doesn't prepare her for her first wisconsin winter, i don't know what will.  i can't find it on their site, but i have to go back this weekend to return something so i might just have to snag it.

 

this was monday as we headed out the door to have lunch with my friend allison.  i thought she looked so grown up with her hair clip.  her hair is getting so long that i tried pulling it back.  worked pretty well.

 

and this is tonight at bathtime after swimming lessons.  aparently daddy was trying to give her a stylish updo?  the girl is too much.

we're still battling daylight savings time, although today she did wait until 6a to get up.  hoping that we're closer to 6:45a tomorrow.  back to where we usually are.