This is for Marie

If only everyone could have been at Scott's 40th birthday party on Sunday to witness the joy that this little face brought to the dinner table. I don't think I've seen mom and dad laugh that hard in ages. Enjoy. Over and over and over and over.

Oh, and bytheway, this was Thomas' first exposure to my homemade black beans. They were a hit!

Worth the wait

If I had a nickel for every time Robin or Brenda said they'd checked my blog and I hadn't posted...I'd be a rich woman.

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It's been a busy month and a half:

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We celebrated Andrew's 5th birthday with a Twister Party..

Kraig quit his job at the Medical Center of Aurora. It was a hard, short road. Thankfully we made it to the end without serious mental injury.

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We took a two week vacation to Utah for Christmas with the Webbs. We had a delightful time visiting Kraig's brothers and sisters and mom and dad.This was our Family Home Evening retelling of Noah and the Arc. Tommy was Noah :) We also got to spend lots of time with my sister Cory's family.This is one of my handsome nephews, Connor. He found a new "lil' cuz" to tote around. Cory and I also took a day trip up to Jerome, ID, to visit our grandma and grandpa..

Thomas and I flew home a little early from the Utah vacation so that I could get some dental work done before Kraig's insurance expired at the end of the year. I am now the proud owner of an expensive porcelain crown. .

The kids and I had a wonderful month of full-time Kraig. My honey-do list has never been so short. What do you think? Does he look ready to go back to work yet? .

We bought a new car. It's a 2007 Chevy Uplander. Not super convenient time since Kraig was out of work, but it was a deal we could pass up. Plus that money had been burning a whole in our pockets. I am proud to say that we now own a car built in this century. .

Kraig got a new job as the assistant manager of Edge Pest Control. Call 'em. They're really good. .

I started Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred workout program. I'll let you know how it goes. I'll probably have abs like her soon :)

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Thomas held "4 point." Therapy is going well and he is getting stronger everyday..

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The highlight of my blogging break was that yesterday, January 28, Kraig and I celebrated our 6th anniversary.

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Kraig and I switch off years planning our activities for our anniversary. He spoiled me last year with a weekend of fun, so I had a lot to live up to this year. I got my hair done by Elise Belnap (email me and I'll give you Elise's phone number. She's AMAZING!)..

We donned 1920's gangster and flapper costumes and immersed ourselves in a hotbed of prohibition, dancing, and....murder at the Adams Mystery Playhouse dinner theatre..

It was such a wonderful time. We were spotlighted because it was our anniversary. Kraig was one of the detective's thugs "Rico" and I was called up onstage because "Mae Weist" (the murderer) and I happened to have the same dress on. A fantastic evening!

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Of course the highlight of it all was being with my sweet heart celebrating our marriage, the family we've created, and our life together. Kraig is my best friend and I am one lucky woman to have him forever. Happy Anniversary, Webb! I love you!

For Posterity, part deux

Thomas has been doing spectacular things in his weekly therapy. Really. I am such a proud mommy. Our wonderful therapist Lisa sings his praises, too. He's starting to stand up at stationary furniture (when we place him there), he's rolling like a stone, and just today in physical therapy showed us that he's actually been paying attention to the millions of times we've song this song:

Tommy is 9 1/2 months old. He's breakin' the scale at 17 pounds and he's our little rock star.

Speaking of rock stars....

Joshua had his first preschool program today. The little kids were supposed to go and dazzle the "grandmas and grandpas" at a local retirement center, but the center was put under quarantine for an outbreak of the flu. Yikes. Needless to say, we didn't send the children there. After a standby show to the special needs class at the high school, the group met at the church to watch the production. Joshy and his friends sure have a flare for entertaining:) Thanks Miss Jenn and Miss Angie for all your hard work!

Thanksgiving Roll Sale, take 2

I did my Thanksgiving roll sale again this year. Last year was so great staying up late, working my little fingers to the bone for the 35 dozen rolls I had orders for, I just had to do it again.

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Ok, ok, I truly did a have a great time doing it last year. But with all the new dynamics in my life this year (Hello? I have 3 children! Who has time to do anything?), I was still in the "should I subject myself to it again" phase two weeks ago. Well, then a customer from last year asked if I'd be doing the roll sale again because she wanted to order 8 dozen this year. Huh. Ok. Sure. I guess the decision was made for me.

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I sent around an email announcing the sale and within 24 hours I had received orders for 35 dozen, matching my total from last year. By the end of the ordering window, I had orders for 63 dozen. Whoa. That was a little more than I had anticipated.

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So I made up my spreadsheet of who wanted how many dozen when, worked out a timeline for mixing, rising, cutting, rolling, rising, and baking, and set up my bakery in my mother's kitchen. Behold, my saving grace:

Double Ovens

(can you hear the choirs of angels singing?)

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I also happened upon a Bosch mixer at a yard sale this summer. It only had the dough hook attachment, but it was a great $10 investment in my "business" to have two mixers crankin' out batches of dough. (I'll spare you the paragraph of why I love my kitchenaid mixer only because I've written about the beaut so many times before. Please don't misunderstand. I only used the Bosch under these extreme circumstances. My loyalties lie with KitchenAid.)

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I had another "proofing oven" at my disposal. My rolls rose in half the time! I can't imagine how long it would have taken without it.

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Here are a few of the batches after coming out of the oven. Robin made a batch of cinnamon rolls for Thanksgiving morning--we didn't sell those :) You'll have to contact Robin to order her cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. Rob, do you want me to post your phone number here?

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Here are most of those soft, chewy and delicious rolls, all bagged and ready to be delivered or picked up. I had about 20 dozen orders that I filled before Thanksgiving day. This was "only" 45 dozen.

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And here I am. Can you see the bleariness in my eyes? Someone snapped this photo for me just before we ate our own delicious Thanksgiving dinner, accompanied by my rolls (the only thing I was responsible for this year. Yesssss!).

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So, if you missed out this year, I think I might do an Easter roll sale. Watch your inbox:)

Plums, peaches, and peppers

We've processed a lot of food this fall. After our harvest at Miller Farms, we spent days processing potatoes, onions, and peppers.

I love stocking my freezer and food storage shelves with things I've bottled myself. It's pretty fulfilling.

Amongst other things I've bottled this year (jam out the wazoo and peaches), my wonderful father got some plums from a neighbor. I've never worked with plums before, so it was a surprise to see how beautiful they turned out. Thanks for sharing, Dad! Check out the before and after:

Things keeping me busy...

When the family came for Brenda and Darren's sealing to Stacy and Autumn, I took advantage of my sister Robin being intown and had her do our family photos. They turned out perfectly. Just exactly as I had imagined--the clothes, the kids, the colors, the background, the sunshine. Perfect.

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So I redid the family photos and frame arrangement above the mantel. Here's the before. Remember? I just made the ottoman cover and pillows.And here's the after. It looks better in person. Shoot.

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We also had our friends' annual Halloween party last weekend. I start thinking about costume ideas months in advance. This costume was surprisingly easy to make. Can you tell what we are? What's keeping you busy these days?

Adding a few more redheads does a family good

Brenda and Darren were sealed as a Forever Family to their beautiful daughters on Saturday. It was a wonderful day and our family was so lucky to be a part of it all.

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I volunteered to make the girls' dresses for the temple. I was pleased with how the dresses turned out, but their beauty paled in comparison to the beauty of my nieces.

It was a lovely, peaceful, eternal family day. Congratulations, Brenda and Darren, Stacy and Autumn!

Softening things up a little bit

I have a small home. It's perfect for our family right now. Three bedrooms, two baths, a family room, kitchen, etc. There's enough space for us to get messy and clean up all in one day. But since it's small, I sometimes feel like the space I do have is not used to it's fullest potential, or rather that it is passively decorated with what's leftover instead of me decorating it how I want it.

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Before Thomas was born the third bedroom was occupied by my sewing machines and sewing table. I gladly gave up the space to welcome my beautiful son, but I have sorely missed having a space of my own--to close myself in and create beautiful things. In fact, the creating of beautiful things has been in short supply in my house since Thomas was born. Right now it's all about getting the essentials done--dishes, vacuuming, picking up toys, cleaning bathrooms, making milk, changing diapers. No extra time for creativity.

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Brenda and Darren adopted two beautiful daughters last week. They'll be sealed as a Forever Family this week and I asked Brenny for the privilege of making the girls' temple dresses. So I set up an impromptu sewing room downstairs in my family room. It necessitated moving the furniture around, but the reallocated space has been worth it. Making clothes for girls is so much more fun than making clothes for boys! I've loved exercising my dusty sewing neurons as I've changed patterns and made some special dresses for these special little ladies.

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So I was bit by the sewing bug.

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Last week I went to Brenda's and helped her make a slip cover for her ottoman. (Brenny, you really should have smoothed out those wrinkles before taking a photo...). This project got the creativity juices flowing and I decided to spend a little of my birthday money redecorating my sewing/family room. I made a slip cover for our ottoman and a few throw pillows. I picked up the fuzzy blanket at Ross. Here are the before and after:

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Th couch is not normally in front of the fireplace, but adding my huge sewing table to the room meant that I had to move it.

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Ok, it looks awfully florally in the photo, but it actually goes very nicely with the painting I have on the wall behind the sewing table. I also cleaned off the mantel. That's been bugging me for about 2 months. I bought new lamps (at a yard sale for $6). Now all I need is new family photos that include Thomas.

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So, does anyone else need some sewing done? I'm all out of projects and I don't want to put my machines away.

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PS. I'll post photos of the temple dresses next week!

Tommy's Buddies--Year One

Does it sound like the start of a long-series novel?
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We had a fantastic day today celebrating Thomas, Down syndrome, our family and friends, and the entire Down syndrome community here in Denver. My heart joyed as I watched children and adults of all ages with DS. I felt glimpses of Thomas' future as I looked at these others: The tender, caring, cuddly six year old, clinging to her parent's hand through the throngs of people walking. The handsome, muscular teenager sporting his football jersey and surrounded by his teammates and cheerleaders. And this ambitious young man who brought tears to my eyes as he honored our great country.

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I have an overflow of love in my heart for our dear family and friends who love our Thomas and who show it with such a generous outpouring. My cup runneth over.

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Here are a few photos to help each of you share in the joy of our day.

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If you haven't guessed it yet, our team's name is "Tommy's Buddies." This sign was an "11th hour" addition to our awning--Kraig and I finally got it finished around 10pm last night. We had all this year's walkers on Tommy's Buddies sign so we'll have a record year by year of all the people who love our son.

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Tommy's best friend Gavin (being held by my dear friend Nicole). I have a feeling these two will have all their major milestone photos taken together...

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This year's team. All totaled we had over 30 walkers (thank you, all you wonderful virtual and live walkers!) and raised over $1,300 for the Mile High Down Syndrome Association.

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Is it possible for us all to be looking at the camera at the same time? I love my family!

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Finished! It was hard to keep our group together, but I'm pretty sure everyone crossed the finish line ;)

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Some random team mascot. Any guesses as to which team?

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And one last question. Which port-a-potty is Joshy using? I don't know why I can't get the photo the correct way.

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Thanks again, Friends! See you again next year!