Am I the only one that starts super early? I'm pretty much done with Scotty's unless I find something super awesome for really cheap. We're on a VERY tight budget this year. The hubby and I aren't even exchanging gifts (we didn't last year either!). Hopefully by next year we'll have things turned around so we won't feel like we can't spend money on each other!
In the meantime? I'm watching the free section on Craigslist and Freecycle. I hit a new low yesterday...I started bugging my family for one specific thing I want to get the hubby for Christmas. A cell phone. He's currently using his Motorola Razr and our plan is essentially texting only unless we want to pay to talk. SO he has to sit there and take forever to text back when anyone texts him. He was awesome and let me get a brand new phone with the qwerty keyboard since I was going to be using it to communicate with my sisters a lot. Unfortunately, we're too cheap to spend another $70+ on a phone for him. If I was more comfortable around my bil's wife, I could ask her. She used to work for Tmobile (the carrier we are using) and probably has a bunch of old phones. Unfortunately, I'm not comfortable asking...yet. We'll see if I find one before Christmas. If not, I may cave. I would love to be able to sneak one into hubby's stocking as a surprise for Christmas!
Despite the fact that we're going cheap with gifts this year, we're super excited about Christmas. Scotty doesn't really need anything, so whatever he gets is just gravy. He's super excited about Santa this year...I'll trim my grocery budget in order to get Santa pictures if I have to! In my opinion they charge just a little too much for those, but in the end it's worth it! We're hosting this year (we usually do, I call dibs in September!). I love Christmas. I'm getting ready to take down Halloween stuff today and start pulling the Christmas lights out for inside. Fun!
What are YOUR plans for Christmas? And are you as crazy as me with the planning early? I pull out Christmas music in August every year for about a week! What's your favorite thing about the holiday season? I love seeing all the family and the festive feel!
We went and picked pumpkins last week...Scotty didn't find a single good one in the patch, so we had to pick a small "Scotty pumpkin" up front! I got some good pictures too! There are more bad than good, this kid doesn't like to sit still!
It's official, I've got it. Scotty is 3 1/2 (in another two months, close enough). He is absolutely wonderful with his new baby cousin. We walked the mall with Baby Ila last week while my sister had a doctors appointment. We had her to ourselves for a good hour or two. He was such a great helper, loved pushing her stroller and helped me change her. It helps that she's such a good baby 
The day before? We watched her while my sister ran some errands. I fed her and got her to take a nap, Scotty fed and laid down for a rest with the pups on the couch and vacuumed all upstairs and scrubbed counters. I'd like to think that IF we were to have another one anytime soon, I'd handle it a bit better than I did Scotty. I was the first in the family to have a new baby, so Scotty was a learning experience for me. I love babies, but this one was all mine...and he seemed to hate me. Looking back now, I should have kept trying when he had his tummy issues instead of stopping at the third formula that didn't help much. AND I should have stopped stressing out, they pick up on that.
Maybe in another year or so we'll add one more to our little family. In the meantime, I'm really enjoying Baby Ila. And soon? I get to go meet the newest addition to my childhood neighbors family! He arrived two weeks early on Thursday or Friday (I haven't talked to her yet and am unclear on when they took him!) because she developed Toxemia. I can't wait to meet the little guy and Scotty is going to have a blast doing his weekly playdates with Big Brother Tyler while I hold baby Evan and let mom rest!
It's official, I love texting. I'm still a bit embarrassed that my technology challenged mom had texting before I did. I'm glad she did, it kicked my bum into gear to explore what plans were out there and I finally convinced the hubby to make the change. We WERE on a family plan and spending $76 /mo for 700 shared minutes. We are now on a prepaid plan with unlimited text messaging and we have to pay $0.10 a min for talk...for $15/mo each. I love it. My sisters and friends do texting all the time and it's so much easier...and quicker! Hopefully I don't drive them all nuts with all my texts...
Pumpkin Patch Pictures! Scotty had a blast looking at pumpkins. He didn't find one in the patch, but he found a perfect "Scotty pumpkin" up by the little shop. I grabbed some pumpkin butter that was absolutely delicious! I left it out at dad's, so I need to go grab it soon before they eat it all!
Please note the AWESOME Halloween Costume picture I threw in there...My mom made it for my older sisters when they were in 6th grade or so...Scotty is 3.5 years old. Ha ha ha. AND my awesome little sister is crocheting him a pumpkin hat to match since we couldn't find the hat that is supposed to go with it! He's so ready for Halloween.
Fun at the Shop:
Someday we'll teach him how to sandblast, change tires and work on cars like mom did when she was little...
That's me. I'm lazy. A slacker. AND I have very little going on in my life that is exciting or worth writing about right now. I could write about all the stressful crap going on, but it's so much nicer to dwell on the HAPPY things. Which is why I haven't been writing much lately. I'm very frustrated with where we are right now. I know we'll get out of this house (and icky city) eventually, I was just hoping it would have happened sooner. Yesterday we went to the pumpkin patch in Fall City...I love Fall City. It's very rural. Lots of land and trees. Not at all like Bellevue.
After the pumpkin patch? We headed back to my dad's in Hobart. I love Hobart even more. We spent the day outside, more or less, helping do chores. Dad and Scotty chopped firewood, I helped stack a little bit of it and towed it up and down the hill from the barn to the house. Then dad and I (with Scotty firmly placed in the back seat so I'd know where he was) towed some cars and trailers out of the barn. And in all this time? Not ONE neighbor came over to bug us. I love it.
At our house? Too many neighbors. No privacy. You can't do things like let Scotty run free with his little Jeep. I'm very much looking forward to when we can move out of the city and back to a rural area with acreage and privacy.
That's it. I feel better now. Yesterday was a lot of fun (despite failing the emissions test and the tantrum in the library). Physical labor, hanging with dad and lots of quiet and outside time. I'm leaning more and more towards the Hobart area for our final move...
I've been absent lately, I know. So sorry! I've been trying to sit down and write and I just get distracted. I have one post started. I think it's a good one! Unfortunately the hubby came up and started talking to me in the middle of it and I never finished it. And right now? I'm only able to finish this because it's Wordless Wednesday, so it's short and simple Scotty is sitting here talking to me. I have no idea what I've agreed to, but I better finish this up and pay attention to him.
Happy Wednesday! Below are pictures of us enjoying some of the fall weather (while it's dry). Link up at 5 Minutes for Mom
Wow, it's been a busy few days! My niece was born on Thursday September 30th at 6:30 after my poor sister was in labor for 17 hours:
Ila Elizabeth
7 lbs 11.8 oz, 19.5 inches long
She is absolutely perfect! I only got to hold her for a few minutes at the hospital before someone stole her, but I love her to death already. And she has my feet! All three of my sisters have flinstone feet (their toes go straight across), but Baby Ila has her Auntie's normal feet!
The weekend was a blast as well. My sister came home Friday night and showed up Saturday morning at Salmon Days! I'm getting ahead of myself here though. Scotty and I drove out to my dad's Saturday morning to go to my old neighbors baby shower. He had so much fun! So did I, it was neat seeing everyone and Scotty had fun playing with a bunch of kids. After that, we popped over to my dad's and Scotty drove his powerwheels Jeep for 10 minutes before we headed back to town for Salmon Days.
What is Salmon Days, you ask? It's the celebration of the annual return of salmon in downtown Issaquah. There's a parade (we skip that every year), booths lining the streets and lots of fun activities in the field behind the park! Scotty and I made it downtown one time and gave up. It's a little busier than I'm used to and he wanted to be carried the whole time. Instead we stuck around my sisters house and he played with some friends. My sister, Aunt and Grandma all live right downtown within walking distance and have tons of food at Salmon Days. It's a lot of fun! Unfortunately, I didn't pull out my camera. My brother in law got some great pictures of Scotty playing, but I need to bug him to get copies!
Sunday we stayed home and recovered from Salmon Days. We were TIRED. We spent 11-1 at the baby shower, made it to Salmon days by 2 and stayed until 7 or so. So we did the PJ day on Sunday. It was awesome.
Monday we went out to dad's again for supper. We got there around 1 and Scotty played with Grandpa while I went to thrift stores with my dad's girlfriend Heidi. We did that for a few hours while the boys played outside. Scotty even helped my dad split wood with the splitter! AND they went to the candy store (my all-time favorite thing when I was little!) It's so neat to see him with my dad now, especially when he's "helping" outside. I used to spent quite a bit of time outside with dad when I was little, so I love that Scotty gets to do that too!
And that's most of our week...Scotty's sick with a cold, so Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty low-key.
