Christmas Day 2012

Christmas morning started off a little rough...Owen woke up at 4am crying and inconsolable, and once I got him back to sleep it was 5:30. I tried to lay back down too, but no luck. So a little after 6 I got up to make Christmas breakfast. I made Cinnamon rolls and Hot Chocolate. As we opened gifts, the smell of the cooking sweet rolls went through the house and the snow started to fall. It felt like we were in a movie or commercial, so cozy and warm on a white winter morning!

I am always so excited to watch my kids open their gifts and see their faces on Christmas morning, and this year was no exception! In fact with Owen a little older it can only be more fun. Last year he liked the ribbon and paper better than the gifts, but this year he sat on my lap and anticipated what was inside. He LOVES Mickey Mouse and Hot Wheels cars so it was a super easy Christmas on Santa! Emma is even more fun since she is at a perfect age. I couldn't wait to see her face! She is into the Disney movie Brave and anything that has to do with it. So of course Santa planned a Brave themed Christmas for her. The kids had a blast and so did we. Everyone was thoughtful and creative this year! Also getting to spend it at Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's, and the addition of Rachel and Jared, it was a very memorable Christmas. We all enjoyed every minute!

And what can we say, we brought in the evening with a delicious Christmas Dinner. We had turkey, ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, home made rolls, stuffing, and orange salad. Can we say full?? We all looked a little more like Santa. Ha!

The best part of holidays like these? ...the people we spend it with and the memories we make. Every minute is so very special!

The kids finding their Santa gifts. Emma got Brave dress-ups and Owen got blocks and a scooter!

Owen LOVES Mickey Mouse! He got a shirt and shoes! He loved them!

Emma is into Brave! She got the movie, the costume, the doll, and the figures and castle!

Me and my Emma!

Everyone enjoying opening gifts!

Owen's Mickey shoes!

Owen playin Hot Wheels!

Emma playing with her figurines!

The family!

Our little family!

We are headed back to Spokane and the next wave of family! Ringing in the New Year with the Flemings! Woot! We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Have a safe and happy New Year! 2013!

Christmas Eve 2012

So as usual, Christmas blew by rather quickly! I am not even going to talk about where the year went. lol! This year we were going to spend the holiday with Phil's parents and brother, but due to his Dad's schedule they couldn't come that soon. So we opted to go to my Mom's house in Quincy since my sister Rachel and her husband were spending Christmas there. Its only a few hours away and we hadn't seen them since February. So on Sunday after church we headed over with a car packed full into every nook and cranny! Must have looked hilarious!

On Christmas Eve, me and my mom drove down to Pasco to pick up Rachel and Jared from the airport, so most of my day was in the car.  The kids stayed back at the house and played not so patiently! Ha! But when we got back I made Polar Express Hot Chocolate and we read A Christmas Dress for Ellen by President Thomas S. Monson. Then we all opened one gift each and the kids also got new jammies! Owen's are superman with a little cape and are awesome! Lastly, we put out milk and cookies and off to bed the kiddos went! Then we became Christmas elves and put all the gifts under the tree and stuffed all the stockings. By the time we went to bed it was 1am! And of course Owen was up at 4am and then I had to get up at 6am to make the breakfast. Ha! In two days I was workin on maybe 8 hours of sleep!

This is Emma showing off her fun jammies and Owen pointing to the superman symbol like "Ya, I am!" Ha!

Emma and Owen hamming it up together in their jammies. 

Stockings all in a row and our pretty tree and gifts in every nook and cranny!

Santa delivered a great Christmas and he ate our cookies and milk!

Then onto Christmas morning!

The "Cruiser" Express!

Its that time of year again! The annual "Cruiser" Express for the Fleming Family! It is simply our version of the Polar Express. I make tickets to hide on the kids beds for them to find and they are VERY excited when they do. We punch the tickets and off we go in pajamas to see Christmas lights with a mug of Hot Chocolate and a treat. All aboard!!!

This year, Phil put the ticket on Emma's pillow, and as she was getting ready for bed, she found it!(above vidoe) Phil made sure to get some video since we haven't really had any before. Owen is still a bit little to get it, but he went right along seeing Emma's excitement. He had his ticket punched and happily got in the car. He LOVES to go in the car. I grabbed our treats and Hot Chocolate and we went out into the newly falling snow. This year it really felt like a winter wonderland! The snow kept coming down and coating everything as we drove around. It was so pretty! We drove around and ended our fun drive at the Temple where they have a nativity scene set up. Then we carefully came back home in an inch of slick snow.

Emma and Owen had a blast! Owen loves to see the lights and says, " Mommyyyy, Mo!" Which of course means Mommy, More! And if you don't respond he repeats. So its alot of, "Look Owen, do you see that?" and so forth. He just gets so excited. Emma is at that perfect age with such an imagination and to be soaking these memories in. Such wonder in her expression and excited anticipation. I wish I could bottle her up just as she is. Its so much fun! Just wanna keep squeezing their cheeks! Ha!

So another year of "cruiser" memories has been made. Its a tradition I am sure we will keep doing well into their teens! Enjoy the little video of Emma finding her ticket!

New Blog - Pinterest and the Pauper

Last spring, I started a new blog with the suggestion of my friend Lisa. It was experimental at best. I was trying to separate my projects from my family posts. I realized that some of my posts on our family blog, like my table project and Paris Invitations for example, were being viewed by.... well.... strangers. It doesn't bother me and I don't feel it needs to be private, but really my personal blog is for friends and family. So I decided to make a new blog where anyone is welcome to look. I also decided I would try a new blog host, Tumblr. If you want to see this first blog it is www.midnightmommy.tumblr.com. But from the start, this host did not like me. You can ask Lisa! Ha! So after a while I decided to return to blogger. I know it well and it works for me. This time around I am not sure what the difference was, but the new blog kinda took off quickly! I have only 5 posts and have had thousands of visitors from all over. So I am glad I started this little side blog of mine. If you are interested, the new blog is called Pinterest And The Pauper(Thanks Lisa!) at www.pinterestandthepauper.blogspot.com. This particular blog is basically the projects I am finding and creating through Pinterest on a budget. Hence the name. It is purely for fun and for my own enjoyment. I have become a Pinterest addict and I need therapy, so this is it. Ha! Its so fun to look through all the Pins, but even more fun to successfully complete a Pinned project. So I now have a small outlet. Hope you enjoy if you visit! Happy Pinning!

Thanksgiving Weekend 2012

Emma enjoying her Turkey!

 Daddy carving the turkey!

 Owen waiting patiently at the table. He's ready!

 Owen tasting an olive. Hilarious!

 Sitting around the table playing the Thankful game before we ate.

 Trying to get a pic of me and the kiddos. :) I was there too ya know. Ha!

How are weekend ended...a concussion.

Gobble Gobble!! Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday! Counting our many many blessings!

This year was so very low key. No traveling, no family visiting. Just us. The first time ever in 13 years! Phil played tag football in the morning with some guys in the ward and we had a traditional homemade feast in the afternoon. In the evening we went to the traditional holiday movie,The Life of Pi. Was pretty good! Owen sat thru the whole thing! Emma cried at the end, my sensitive girl. The rest of us talked about it for 2 days. :)

Friday we put up our tree and decorations. My mom(in town with Phil's kids) came over for a bit to help me with my sewing machine and with a sewing project. Yay! Thank you Mom! We continued to munch on left overs. We also watched Polar Express and had Polar Express Hot Chocolate. Thank you Pinterest! Was delicious! And it was pretty fun to have while we sat thru the Hot Chocolate song. :)

Sunday seemed to arrive earlier than expected, but that's always the case. We were having fun enjoying our extra time together! Our time of fun ended Sunday when Emma slammed her head into the wall that separates two rooms. Gave herself a concussion! Not sure how she managed that! Its was a nasty bruise and bump. Her biggest concern? She didn't want to go to school where the other kids would see her head! Only 6 and already self aware like that?  Wait til you're 15 missy! Ha!

We had a great 4 days together and I wish it could have been longer! We are so blessed to live where we live, to have Emma's school, our ward, and the friends we have! We are so blessed with our family, no matter how far apart! We are very lucky people! Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday and counted their many blessings!

Trick Or Treat 2012!

Happy Halloween 2012!

I LOVE Fall, and Halloween is my favorite holiday, so its always my favorite time of year. I spent the month making spooky treats and meals, I put up our "creepy cute" decorations on the porch and a few around the house,  planned out the kids costumes, and of course carved us up some pumpkins. I have a lot of fun memories from when I was a kid and I hope to pass it on. Afterall, that's what its all about!

This year our costume inspiration came from one of our favorite movies, How To Train Your Dragon.  We were all vikings and Owen was our Dragon. Emma was specifically Astrid from the movie. I think I did a fairly good job hunting down pieces from thrift stores and what was already in our closets. Emma was as close as ever! I found a small satisfaction in the homemade costumes. Not a lot of money spent and it sure was fun to do!

This year was also a first, Owen's first year to Trick Or Treat. We had an absolute blast watching him figure it out.  We went to our ward Trunk Or Treat and had dinner and decorated our trunk. When it was time to trick or treat Owen suddenly became shy and wouldn't approach the person holding out the candy.  But about 5 cars into it they tossed a Dumb Dumb into his pumpkin and its a candy he recognized. At this point it clicked and he went right up with his bucket following Emma from car to car. I totally got a kick out of it! Emma ran around with a few friends and managed twice the amount of candy as Owen(She also had an entire day of Halloween with a big class/school party). When Trunk Or Treat was over, we headed back to our neighborhood with our friends the Normans and their kiddos. We did one lap around and the little ones were a hoot! Then we called it a night and let the kids dump out their stash to inspect their loot. Mom and Dad also inspected the rewards after hours. Wink Wink!

Hope everyone had a fun filled and safe Halloween!

Christmas Card Photos

Can you believe its October?? Gosh, that went by too dang fast! Am I the only one surprised by how fast this year has flown by? I know I say that all the time, but doesn't it seem like we just did Fourth of July? I see the colors changing, feel the temperature cooling, smell the chimneys going, and hear the rustle of leaves churning. Yet, I am still having a hard time accepting it. I LOVE FALL! It's my favorite time of year.  I just can't believe its here already.

With that said, I also LOVE me some Fall family photos! But what once was easy, is now getting harder. Emma has always been easy and carefree, but Owen has never liked sitting still for photos, a dilemma most moms are familiar with! I normally hire a photographer, but this year it wasn't in the budget, so we headed out with my camera. They may not be pro, but I say they are decent enough for Christmas cards. After two attempts at photos, the above 3 are all that turned out. I guess managing even one good photo can be a major feat so I shouldn't complain I have 3 to choose from!

A shout out to my Friend Brooke who got behind the camera for me this time! Thanks a million! I appreciate it very much. Now to decide which photo to use....or to drag my children back out AGAIN! Ha!

If you would be so kind as to leave a comment as to which you like best( I am leaning toward the last). I need some help choosing. Thank you! And a Happy Fall to All!

Owen is 18 months!

Our Owen is already 18 months! Make him stop growing! (hear the desperate tone?)  As most know it took forever to get pregnant and then he decided to show up a month early. Like he had finally decided he had waited long enough. Was a sneak peak into his stubborn, must do it himself personality. In just 6 months Owen has changed and grown so much, its just amazing! Here are a few facts about Owen at 18 months:

He is our serious boy and isn't very affectionate, but when we catch a smile or a love, we eat it up! Recently he has been giving out a lot more loves which is SO fantastic.

Owen is too smart for his own good and has already figured out how to get Emma's toys while she is at school and can't stop him. Its a hoot! And when she does, he is already running.

He has a love of cars.  Not the movie, car toys like Hot Wheels etc. He loves to roll them along and watch the wheels move. And if they can roll forward on their own or make noises, then he can sit there and play forever!

Owen also loves Elmo, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Baby Einstein. He won't sit through more than 10 minutes, but for him that's holding still for too long. He is always on the go!

He is a blanky boy and has several soft ones he drags around the house and to bed. He snuggles them and it just melts the heart!

Owen is very independent and wants to feed himself, dress himself(not quite successfully), brush his teeth himself, etc.

Owen is our little man of a thousand faces! He makes all sorts of faces for all sorts of reasons and it is a crack up! He loves to make a "surprised" inhale and he loves to use "uh oh" for about a thousand things(yes that's a slight exaggeration. lol).

He is talking more everyday and it surprises me how much he is picking up. Right now he likes to play peek a boo and when he opens his eyes he says, "There he is!" He also says, " I Love you" and "That's mine." Wonder where he got that last one from?  :)  He says so many single words I am losing track and is mimicking more all the time.

He now has 8 teeth. All four front teeth on top and bottom. His hair is wispy blond silk! But we have been using trimmers to keep it from getting too crazy since some areas need to catch up to others.  His eyes are no longer blue. In just 6 months they have turned to mud just as Emma's did, but his are still very light compared. I'd say we are going to stay somewhere in the green shade.

He is tall! His check up is next week and I can't wait to see what his numbers are.

Owen adores Emma, thinks Daddy is the greatest, and is still a Mommas boy.

I cannot imagine life with out Owen! He is our special little man! Cannot fathom how much you will learn and grow in the next 6 months. I know it will just breeze by and I am trying so hard to hold onto the present moment and enjoy all that you are! We love you Owen! And I will snuggle you to infinity and beyond(even when you protest!) ha!  :)

It's been 13 years!

Thirteen years? How on earth did that happen?! Time flies when you're having fun! It seems impossible its been 13 years, but as I reflect I can recall so much that has happened, changed, and grown.  We have traveled all over, finished school, lived in 3 different cities, and had two beautiful children.  I feel so lucky to have had a great 13 years regardless of the hardships we have faced. We have SO much and are SO blessed.    As I sit with Owen in my lap or walk Emma to school, I am reminded of the many things in my life that would not be complete had I not found the man to share it with. We are best friends who are silly, ridiculous, and enjoy each others company even after 13 years. Ha! I have no idea what the future holds, but I know who I will hold it with. Here's to the next 13 years of our adventure! I love you Philip Fleming!

(On a side note, we got to go on a real date for our anniversary! Was awesome! ha! And a thank you to my Mom for taking the above photos with my camera for us!)

Emma's first day of school!

I cannot believe Emma is in First Grade! How unfair that time has gone by so quickly! Emma got up as soon as she heard the alarm go off ( I suspect she was already awake!) and literally bounced around with enthusiasm getting dressed, eating breakfast, and getting her hair done. We went out and took a few pictures and headed basically 2 houses down to the bus stop where the other kids on our street impatiently waited. When the bus arrived Emma got on with out looking back and waived to me from the window as the bus pulled away. My heart slightly sank. My baby girl was going to be gone all day away from me for the next nine months. Boo!  But I knew she'd love it and enjoy her new friends and teacher.  When the bus arrived in the afternoon she again bounced off and happily told me all about her first day experiences. She loves her teacher and school and I couldn't be happier about that! Here's to a great school year! Cheers!

Table Make Over!

Before:

The Best invention ever! Primer for any surface and no roller required!

The base of the table getting is major coating.

         Distressing the edges of the base and top and on the chairs was pretty easy. Fine grit sandpaper.

After all the painting and clear top coating!

A chalk board top!

We got rid of our old glass top table when we moved to Spokane and I have been looking for a year for something that I could make over and love, or just fall in love with at first sight.  Never happened. I was starting to just give up and accept the fact we would be sitting on the floor forever, until one day I was perusing Craigslist and saw this cute solid Maple set. Looked in fairly good sturdy condition and had nice basic shape and style. Even better was the price tag! Less than $100! So I called em up and the table was ours by dinner time!

It was so easy to update. I took the advice of a pinner on Pinterest and got the Rustoleum Universal Primer. It was awesome! Went on easy and I didn't have to sand which saved major time and elbow grease. After I let the primer dry and I repeated a coat and then took a fine grit sandpaper block and distressed the edges on all the pieces. For the top I used Martha Stewart brand Chalkboard paint from Michael's in a brownish grey color. I had this idea that it would be fun to be able to write on the table like at Macaroni Grill. With the original brown showing through the distressed areas, it looked great!  I used Min Wax water based clear coat to top coat and preserve the paint from the hardships of being used on a daily basis(except the chalkboard top). Ta da! Took about 3 days from beginning to end with the coats and time drying. Now its a ton of fun and I remember why we eat at the table! Ha!

Emma is off to 1st grade!

Did you see the date?  Its September 2nd already. Seems a bit impossible to me since I am still somewhere in July!  It feels like the sunny warm days just got started and our trips to the pool and free time together were just lazily passing by.

But alas, here we are in Sept and in two days Emma is back to school. The summer disappeared like a rabbit in a magic hat! We went shopping for clothes, a new backpack, and class supplies. We finally found out her teacher is Mrs. Banks and she will be riding the bus this year with other kids on our street.  She is beyond enthusiastic and is ready to be back among her friends and classmates. Our little social butterfly.

Mom however isn't quite as ready!  Emma will be gone all day and I have been enjoying all our time together this summer. Emma is bright and sweet and I love having her home. Last year she had afternoon Kindergarten and it wasn't much of a sacrifice for 2 hours.  This is the beginning of the next 12 years of her school career. Sigh...

If you think Mom will need some adjusting, Owen's little world is about to be majorly disrupted!  He LOVES LOVES LOVES Emma and follows her around to play. With her gone he will be following boring old Mommy from room to room. Poor guy.  I will do my best!

Emma is all ready to start and will do great as always, and we will swing into Fall with high hopes!  After all, Fall is my favorite time of year! Happy First Day of School Miss Emma!  We love you!