Happy Birthday Eli!!

Sorry this is a week late, but here's how we celebrated Eli's big day:

First, we got up early and "Eli" opened his present:

Thank you Grandmas for the birthday money!! It went to good use, as you can see:That afternoon, Alden and Eli and I hit the pool to celebrate the day with something fun.

Eli loves swimming!

Then we made possibly the simplest but still fun birthday cake ever, aka The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It is a bundt cake cut in half and put together to look like a squirming caterpillar. (Got the idea from a blog somewhere.)

This is Eli being mad at us for making him wait half a second before eagerly diving into his slice.When he did jump in, he only downed a couple of bites before he was done with it. So much for that classic first birthday messy face picture!

Happy First Birtthday, Eli!!

Here's to you, Eli!

1 day young1 month old4 months6 months 10 months


And 1 year to come tomorrow!!

The Many Talents of Eli Drew Brunson

Tomorrow my little Eli will turn 1! Craziness, I know. So what's one-year-old Eli up to? Walking you might guess? Not even interested. Growing teeth you say? Nope (he's got one half-grown in one on the bottom front and it's been like that for about 6 weeks!). Sleeping through the night? Well, almost. So what are Eli's talents at age one? Let me share them with you.
Due much to his brother's influence I'm sure, Eli has evolved into a very talented car "driver." He's got a little "voom, voom" sound down, made by putting his lips very close together and humming through them. It's hilarious to watch as he pushes cars across the floor.

Eli is just so eager to help clean up the kitchen, especially after something yummy has been whipped up. Not only does Eli "pre-wash" mixers, he also makes a great vacuum under the table (much-appreciated since I guesstimate that about 1/3 of what gets "eaten" from the table actually makes it into his mouth and down to his tummy).This is Eli's most entertaining talent that we've discovered yet. See that huge bouncy ball? Eli loves to shove the whole thing in his mouth and sit there like that. It's hilarious! (Is anyone shocked that we not only allow this but laugh heartily when he does it? I am pretty sure it's way too big to be a choking hazard. It's too big according to the toilet paper roll rule anyway. Frankly, I'm shocked he can open his tiny jaw wide enough to get it in there!) If there were a contest for the speed in which a Christmas tree could be undressed, Eli would win it hands down. Ours is constantly stripped naked on the bottom third and I find those darn bells EVERYWHERE!

Lastly, Eli is very talented at soaking it up in the tub. This one is a talent passed on through generations of my family. We all love a good, hot bath and Eli is no exception.

We sure love you, Eli! Here's to discovering many more great talents in the years to come!!

My Most Favorite Christmas Tradition

When I think of Christmases from my childhood, an actual Christmas morning rarely comes to mind. Instead, I remember most things like "camping" under the lights of the Christmas tree the night we set it up; playing with my mom's Christmas decorations - the nativity, her old musical church, the Christmas Village; ice-skating at the free rink for Family Home Evenings and on Corner Lake for Young Women's; being mortified as my mom dragged us caroling for FHE's to people we actually knew; and that blessed smell of a REAL Christmas tree. These are some of my most favorite childhood memories. My biggest Christmas memory, though, is of the advent calendar. My mom's looked similar to this: (only hers in my mind is much, much better - it's been given the polish of many years' fading memory :-D)

It's just 24 pockets sewn into 3 different colors of fabric. Each morning, my mom would fill the pocket with a small Christmas treat: a chocolate, a Christmas pencil, a candy cane, etc. I remember standing periodically at the calendar and using the different colors of fabric to calculate in fractions how much closer we were to Christmas.

This is an easy, easy advent to make. If I could do mine again, I would a) make it smaller - I wanted the pockets to be large enough in case I one day work up the courage to have a large family but the calendar turned out HUGE! and b) I would somehow make the numbers on the pockets stand out more - right now they're just traced onto the fabric with a fabric marker.

Jaron the Hairdresser

In the spirit of helping me get off to work by 7:30 in the morning, Jaron has taken on hairdresser duty for the boys. Here's how Eli looked today at work and yesterday at church:

Anyone want to get in line? This customer certainly looks satisfied!

My New Job

Given that we're starting a business (a financially rocky time), I set out one day to see what I could do to bring home a little bacon myself. I looked at several options that wouldn't take me from my babes: watching kids in my home, working from home online, etc. and the PERFECT opportunity has literally fallen into my lap. (WHO SAYS PAYING TITHING DOESN'T BLESS YOU?!?!?!?) Jaron has been doing some marketing with the fitness club across the street from his office and he just happened to run into the Kids' Club manager and they just happened to have an opening coming up at the end of November.


Here's why it is the PERFECT job for us:

#1. I get to take my kids to work.
#2. It is a laid-back and fun atmosphere - I get along great with the other moms who work there.
#3. It is only about 10 hours a week so I still have the benefits of spending the bulk of the day at home with my little ones - (gives me plenty of time to bring home a little bacon and cook it too :-).
#4. It is perfect socialization for Alden - he LOVES it.
#5. It will give us somewhere to get out of the house throughout the winter.


I couldn't have asked for more!!

I've been bitten...

...by the Crafty bug! Heaven knows, craftiness certainly does not normally run through my veins. But lately I've had the itch to create things. Perhaps it is because I check this cool new website, http://www.oneprettything.com/, frequently for fun little ideas. Perhaps it is because it is getting cold and we're homebound more often now. Perhaps it is because I need an outlet from the otherwise craziness of our lives! Who knows! But here's what I've been doing:

Sorry this is sideways - I'm just too lazy to re-download it! I got this idea from someone in our ward here. It is, if you can't tell, a Mayflower made out of an egg nog carton, a paper bag, some construction paper, a kabob skewer, and a little spare rafia. This beauty will take the honorable place of centerpiece at this year's Thanksgiving dinner.

Perspective. What's it's all about, I've decided. I got the basis of this idea from somewhere on this blog, and wrote "Perspective" on it to help me remember that things are only as bad or as good as I see them to be. I thought the flower for this was cool, even though mine didn't work out remarkably well. I got the idea from none other than Martha Stewart. The flower petals are made from a pinecone! Cool or what??

I have struggled with a mish-mash of jewelry on my dresser for years, even though I don't have that much. This is my newest solution and I think this will stick. It's a wooden shelf with hooks bought at a garage sale this summer for $0.50. I hung my necklaces on it then put all the little stuff (rings, bracelets, etc.) in a little wooden box from Michaels bought for $1.80, after a 40% off coupon. Neither have been painted or stained yet because I've never really decorated my bedroom yet. One day I will and one day these will look much better. :-) For now, it is an extremely functional set up!

So that is a little of what I've been up to!!

And Here's Another Great Blog...

This one's for all those Crafties out there. This blog so far as I can tell compiles a whole bunch of ideas from tons of crafty blogs and websites so that you can skim a bunch of ideas and take your pick in no time at all. Nice!

http://www.oneprettything.com/?paged=2

Here's a blog for you...

Or, should I say, for me?!? It is a crockpot recipe a day for A YEAR!! And you all know how much I love dinner in the crockpot! Today's recipe is granola. Check it out.

http://www.crockpot365.blogspot.com/

A Few Paradoxes for You

I've been influenced by a few fabulous ladies' examples lately to view my life in a new, better, uplifting perspective. And isn't perspective what it's all about? Here are some of my new, "glass-is-half-full" thoughts: (Just so there's no confusion here - a "paradox" is defined as "a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.")

1. I have a fabulous body. My body is generally healthy and heals well. I can run with my kids and walk anywhere I really want to be. I have a fabulous body.
2. Being poor rocks. Being poor students has made us have to prioritize what is important enough to us to spend money on. This process automatically cuts a lot of distracting "fluff" from our lives.
3. I am happy to live in perilous times. I am glad to know what I know in a time when not many do. It is gratifying to be able to take a stand for what I believe in.
4. I love my messy house. It took us a long time to get pregnant with Alden. During that time, I'd have given ANYTHING to have a trail of toys left around my house by little hands.
5. I still get to be up one or two times a night with my baby. Eli is so mobile and independent now. Those little quiet times when we're the only ones up at night lets me rock my babe quietly in my arms. It is sweet, sweet one-on-one time (when I'm lucid enough to enjoy it!).

So there's a little of what's been on my mind lately!

A Very Happy Halloween!

This Halloween was so much fun for our little family! First of all, it was the first Halloween I have ever experienced that I could wear short sleeves and no jacket ALL DAY AND NIGHT!! We were 70 degrees (25 celsius) plus today. It was great not having to put jackets under the kids' costumes, even though I'd made them with that intention. Second of all, it was the first time that we had a little guy old enough to trick-or-treat. And Alden was a maniac at it. We went downtown for a little halloween celebration and trick-or-treating at the stores from 4:00 to about 5:15. Then we headed over to the church for a carnival and trunk-or-treating. At 7:00 we headed home for dinner and what I thought was the end of the night. Alden kept asking to go "twick-oh-tweeting" again so I took him out again. Alden ran the whole time and wouldn't let me carry him. An hour and a half later, people started turning their lights off and I told Alden that I was tired so he had to stop. Man that kid has energy!!

This is Alden at the church Halloween party.Alden's haul. (Or should I say, my and Jaron's haul?!?)I can't believe how few people make their own costumes these days. I got the boys' costume ideas from a "homemade costumes" website on the internet (Total costumes price: $10). Alden's fireman costume is made from black sweatpants and a woman's shirt from the thriftstore that we cut up and put strips of yellow duct tape on. I sewed on a yellow felt collar, added a dollar-store badge and an authentic "Castle Rock Junior Firefighter" hat from the fire station and, ta-da! My little fireman.

Alden's fire truck was made from an apple box that I painted that was just big enough to fit over the stroller. I was so lucky to find a firefighter set at the dollar store that came complete with badge, axe, radio and fire extinguisher.Okay so both costumes were kind of ghetto but Eli's costume was maybe not even as successful as Alden's (somebody told me their son had the exact same costume as Alden [I told her I didn't think so!] and some people asked me where I found it - I took those as good signs. :-). It was about 50/50 for whether people could tell what Eli was (one lady asked me if he was a lego!). I figured with Alden's costume right next to him, it'd be obvious but for all those who can't tell, he's a fire hydrant. His costume is made out of, yes, thrift store clothes, some styrofoam and red fabric remnant from Joann's.

Yay for Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been Tagged...

Hmmm...I'm pretty boring so...7 things, eh?

1. I LOVE Chinese food and Jaron hates it. So I pretty much only get it on my birthday when I force him to take me there.

2. This summer is the first time in my life that I've ever dyed my hair (And I only highlighted it. Does that count?).

3. I've never broken a bone.

4. I took 6 years of French in school (and I won "The French Award" in grade 12) and I can't speak a word of it.

5. My most favorite job ever was as a swim instructor for little kids. (1st runner up is as a cake decorator in a grocery store bakery.)

6. I am a morning person and need to get things done in the morning (but that doesn't mean I do!). By the time I get the kids in bed, I am toast.

7. Someday I want to go back to school to get a doctorate in possibly psychology.

I don't even know if 7 people read my blog but I tag: Genny, Sara Capener, Andrea Swenson, Heather Scheffer, Calli Potter, Christal Forred and Kristin Smith.

Friday Frenzy

So I was blog cruising the other day and I noticed that on everyone's blog who has mine linked with a live feed it was like a billboard advertising our whole little eviction fiasco. So, I decided I'd better post another, more uplifting (and better PR) post!

A couple of weeks ago our ward had Friday Frenzy (aka Super Saturday but on Friday night). It was the first one I've been to since I was maybe a MiaMaid and went with my mom. It was so much fun! This is what I made:

This is a growth chart, made from a simple board and some vinyl lettering. Cute or what? I thought it'd come in handy. Unfortunately, the drill was broken so it's as of yet an unfinished project. I still need to a) locate someone with a garage and a drill, b) drill two holes at the top and c) tie ribbon through the holes to hang it by. How many weeks do you think it will take me to do that?

These harvest blocks were a lot of fun to make. The gal in charge of them had gotten paint that was basic, bright colors so I had fun mixing the paints to make my own, "harvesty" colors. (And yes, that little fuzzy thing at the bottom of the picture is Eli's head - too funny.)

Yay for Super Saturdays, a day when I get to pretend that I'm crafty!!

**I forgot to add the best part: The growth chart reads, "Enjoy the little things in life for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things." (Thanks Carrie!)

Update on the eviction thing...

Man it is great to have fabulous friends who give you the benefit of the doubt and stand behind you! Thank you everyone for your comments and advice.

I went down to the office this morning to tell the office lady we needed a copy of our "notice" (which they took from us yesterday) in case we later need to take some kind of legal action and the lady in the office was sure singing a different tune today. She kept saying, "Oh, you'll never actually be evicted." So, I'm thinking, why are you sending out notices that makes it sound like we will? Sheesh! She said they're going to try to get us moved to a first floor apartment and will see about graciously waving the apartment transfer fee ($250). Do I sound annoyed? Sorry, but I am! Moving would be rough because, well, we'll have to haul all our junk somewhere else AGAIN. But, it would actually be a very good thing because it would completely change the atmosphere of our home. No more constantly getting after Alden for being a toddler! I'll keep you posted...

We're about to get evicted!!

No kidding. We got a post on our door today saying that this is our 2nd and "final" warning before notice of eviction, due to complaint of noise from our downstairs neighbors. Yeah....I wish I was kidding! I feel like this vagabond, red-neck person 'cause that's the only type of people who get evicted, right?!? Listed in the letter was the specific causes of the noise of "running" (our 2 1/2 year old) and "the bangingof pots and pans" (???). So...Alden is active but we are honestly constantly harping on him for no running, no jumping, no crawling, no walking so "loudly," no dumping, no rolling....and the list goes on. So...Any advice??

Unbelievable!

So the last couple of days I've dabbled in a little "blog stalking," as it is affectionately referred to - randomly linking to strangers' blogs. I found this website: http://www.letthemeatcake.net/. It is UNBELIEVABLE. Check out their portfolio if you want to be WOWED by something AMAZING!!

Another Sunday, Another Afternoon at the Park

Oh how we cherish our Sundays with Daddy! It has been so nice here so we decided to take advantage of it at least one more week. Alden, the ever-lover of golf. HII-YAHH!
Eli, watching all the fun.
I never get to be in the pictures, so I made Jaron snap one. Too bad no one was looking but me!
Alden is such a mellow kid. We sure appreciate him!
Eli loves the swings! Can you tell?

A Surprise From Genny

We got a little package from my sister, Genny, yesterday. In it, she included a dollar bill with a note that this was for Alden to spend. When she was here visiting us in August, Alden had just received a piggy bank from the bank teller and loved finding money in the house (just pennies, alas) and plopping them into his bank. Well, this dollar didn't go into the bank - I was headed to Wal-mart for more kleenex for all our runny noses so the dollar was promptly spent! Alden looked at all his choices and picked a plane launcher out of the little "88 cents" section of the toys. When it was time to buy it, he proudly handed his dollar to the cashier. So...the moral of the story is this: I can teach my child to save, but I can sure teach my child to spend, too! :-) Thanks for the great surprise, Genny!

I walked out of Wal-mart last night and this is what I saw!!!

How can anyone see something like this and not know we have a Heavenly Father who loves us??

My Top 2 Songs...

...are all about how I'm feeling right now. Under pressure because we're starting a business (AACKK!!!) and it is wearing on us. BUT, we have so much right now, how can our motto be anything but "don't worry, be happy"?!?

Our up-and-coming 90-day Supply

Awhile back when I did my welfare training for a calling I had in the Relief Society, a man at the cannery said something that struck me. He said that he didn't think the day would ever come where we didn't have access to food, he thought that it would rather be that we just simply won't be able to afford it. Since that day about a year and a half ago, the price of food has sky-rocketed and I'm beginning to think there was definitely something to that statement!

SO...I'm working on our 90-day supply. What I did was make a list of 15 meals that we eat at our house. Most of them were taken from my fabulous crock-pot book (101 Things to Do With a Slow Cooker) because these are meals that can be done in one pot and most ingredients come from a can or package. Then, I multiplied this list by 18 times to come up with a 90-day shopping list. I can't believe how much food it is! If you'd asked me before, I would have thought we had at least a couple of months' worth in our cupboards but when I ransacked my cupboards for what I already had, I actually had a disparingly small amount!



BUT...where to put it all? I made a trip to Lowe's and for $1.38 each, got these lovely half-cinderblocks.

We hoisted up our bed and, voila - instant food storage room! I plan on putting the meals together in apple/diaper boxes under the bed. That way, when I rotate it, I can rotate it a meal at a time easily (I plan on putting a list of the meals on my fridge so that I can frequently choose from them for our weekly meals). Now I plan on stealing my friend Andrea's idea to make a bed skirt out of a flat sheet. I will just make it out of a king sheet instead of a queen sheet so that it falls all the way to the floor, (hopefully) hiding my mini-storage room.

It's getting a little spooky around here!

We've had a spider-web infestation in our living room! This is the first year that we've had a kid old enough to appreciate a little holiday decorating around here. I got the "Boo" and "Eek" sign ideas from this blog. Our dollar store didn't have as cute of frames but, can't be picky at the dollar store, right?!?