Happily Ever After

Last night our pastor's daughter got married. Needless to say it was a beautiful ceremony. I'm sorry it is not a good picture. I dont' have the best digi cam. He is a combat veteran with 2 purple hearts and a silver star. He is gorgeous!! (can I say that?) She is also a beautiful lady, inside and out. Karen, Paul and I were the gift table guards and had to deliver the gifts to her parents' house after the ceremony. I had moved the seats in the back of the van, but that still wasn't enough room. Some friends helped us out and we used their trunk.


And as good looking as the bride and groom were, Curtis was the best-dressed dude there!!

Beach Hunk

Okay, more of a Backyard chunk, but my baby's my baby! I love how he can be a cranky-pants, but put him in water and he's a very happy boy.

Welcome to Muddy Frogwater

Can't get to NE Oregon to enjoy Muddy Frogwater days? Then I shall have to bring it to you! Our city is busy branding our town as a Frog town. We have several 'works of art' around town to encourage visitors to stop and shop. Makes ya just want to buy, buy, bye!!

Curtis the swinger

Here are pix of Curtis... does he look like Paul? Am I the only one who doesn't see it?

Paul's Home!!

YAY! He's home...and he's happy about it, can you tell? I made a good home-cooked meal...the best he's had in 2 weeks... and he fell asleep shortly thereafter.

I'm glad he's back. oh yeah, he liked how the bedroom turned out. Said I did a very nice job. 8oD

Weally Weary Wednesday

Whenever I get the camera out, Curtis won't keep his off of me. He watches very closely. I already have him trained about looking at me for a picture!

Every month I take a picture of Curtis next to this calendar. I did it with Karen, too. It's neat to see the growth progression.

YAY! my room is done....err, OUR room is done! I put the quilt rack up all by myself. This is the quilt Paul's great grandma made. The little table lamps were black. I sprayed them white. You notice how Curtis is keeping his eyes on the camera?

ME

I figured I should post a pic of me... this is me on a good day. Must not have been a "stressed out by Karen" day! lol

Here is Karen on her tree swing. Daddy's pushing.

Tired Tuesday

It's one of 'those days'. I'm tired, irritable and grouchy. I need a break. I'm tired of being a single parent. Karen is very, well, she's herself. And that can exhaust anyone. She's trying to my soul. She had a friend over to play. They fought over Curtis...holding him, feeding him... They fought over toys, the pool, playing, not playing, not picking up. I feel the need for a very large Dove chocolate bar! Tonight is Bunko, so I'm looking forward to a break. I do have to take Curtis with me, but he's cute enough that others will want to hold him. Plus, I'm hoping he'll take a nap. It's hot. I feel sweaty. No time to shower again. I feel crabby.

My Piglet

Curtis had his 6 month appointment today. He is 20#, 10 oz and 27". His two bottom teeth are in and his top 2 are just breaking through. Doc said he's doing great.

Oh Scrap!

I finally got to scrapbook this weekend. It has been a very looong time! Curtis and I headed to a friend's for the night and Karen went to my parents'. I scrapped my heart out and got 13 pages done. Some are the "Larisa Signature"; aka: very simple. Some I scraplifted from a magazine. I just wanted to put a dent, albeit very little, in my pictures and get some done. My favorite ones are here.
This red one is very simple, but I really like the pictures. He had never done this before, and hasn't since.


This tan one is of my grandparents. Curtis is named after Grandpa Cecil (his middle name is Curtis). The poem came in a swap and it fit perfectly.
Here we have Karen and her buddy Alissa playing on our new tree swing. Alissa is moving to NW Washington and Karen is quite sad about it.
Here is another typical "Larisa" page. Super simple, just a bit of fiber, and let the pictures speak for themselves. There is just something about his eyes.

This is sweet Aireanna, our last foster baby. The embellishments are from a swap and were perfect for these pictures.

This is my favorite page of the weekend. This is one I scraplifted. Since he was just sitting in the bouncy seat, it's not like I can write a story about it. He was cute, so I took pictures!


I love pictures of Paul holding Curtis. Makes me fall in love with him over and over. The star poem is another swap item.
Here are some newborn pictures Paul took of us. You'll see very few pictures of me... I usually am the one snapping pix and don't get others taking ones of me. The poem is "Only God Could Create a Little Boy" and is written by a gal who writes for twopeasinapod.com. It is so sweet! I used washers for the first time. They say "precious" and "little one".


Here we have Curtis peeking through the heart cutouts in his cradle.
Last one... Another of Curtis and Daddy. The journaling is a quote that says: "There's no pillow quite so soft as a father's strong shoulder."

SIX MONTHS??

My baby boy is now six months old! He can sit up (until he gets too excited and knocks himself over), roll over both ways, do the 'airplane' on his tummy... and the top 2 teeth are getting ready to pop through. Karen didn't get her first tooth until her 7th month, and here Curtis will have 4 by then. It's already making nursing interesting.

He has himself on a pretty set schedule; however, today he woke up early! But when we get to work, he's ready for a nap and typically sleeps the whole time I'm working. We are home for just over an hour, and he's ready for another nap. He'll take another nap in the evening, and is ready for bed about 9:30. He doesn't like to sleep anywhere but in his bed, so errands and other trips can be tricky.

Surprise Space Design on a Quarter

Here are pictures of our bedroom redecorate surprise for Paul. I'm very happy with it.

Here are the rules: no minding the messy bed, the closet, or anything else that would make you think less of me! :o)

I had already begun taking things off the walls, so this is a "just after I begun" stage.

First coat of paint is up.

FINAL RESULTS...well, almost. I am heading to Wal*Mart to buy side tables (I hope), white curtains, and outlet covers.

On the wall above the head of the bed, I have a quilt rack that will hold Paul's Great-Grandma's quilt. The mirror --> is my grandma's. The white gown below is my other grandma's. The teddy bear is my Dad's. The cross [above] is from my Great Grandpa. My Dad made the wall sconces. My Mom made the 2 pillows in 'front' on the bed. And I made the quilt with help from my Mom and Mom-in-law, and Mary from church.

So what do you think? I hope Paul likes it!!

48 hours?

I don't know how the people on Trading Spaces do it... they must have an army behind the scenes in order to get everything done in time. It took Dad & I all day to do the primer and 2 coats of paint. I ran to the orange box to buy chair rail, then we decided the trim we took down wasn't worth saving, so we'll be going again to buy more for the door, window and closet. I shoudl get the whole room done for $100, but I do need new blinds/curtain. That might be another $50, so we'll see. I have a new quilt that I just finished last month, thanks to a dear lady in our church.

Dad's coming back tomorrow to finish the trim... don't want Paul's surprise be to have to finish his surprise. I'm really liking how it is turning out; I hope he does, too.

Texas Vacation

Curtis' first plane trip. He did very well. We did a lot of nursing and pacifier-ing to help with his ears. Thankfully he slept a lot on the way home. On the way down, I did a lot of standing and jiggling.

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The other photo is Karen at Sea World in San Antonio, feeding a dolphin. They had sold out of the fish by the time we got there, and a nice lady next to us had extras, so she gave Karen one. Thank you!

Sleepin' In!

Okay, so it was only until 7:00, but Curtis has been waking up at 6:30 and that extra 30 minutes counts to me! He's still snoozing at 7:15... so I'm showered, dressed, and having some quiet time. Woohoo!!

Last night I sent Karen to bed and she asked if I was going to bed (she's sleeping with me since Paul was gone last night). I told her I needed some quiet Mommy Time. She started whining that she never gets Karen Time! I said, "you can have Karen Time whenever you want... you can go sit on your bed and read however long you want!" We'll see if she remembers that today.

Today we are painting my bedroom. Paul doesn't know...surprise to him. While we were in Texas, he finished the bathroom...counter and mirror. My Dad is coming over to help paint and do trim. Our room is so dark with paneling, that this is just a temporary fix until we can redo the walls and put in insulation and a new window. The color: honky tonk blue! Pictures will come later.

This is one happy boy! This is Curtis somewhere on the highway somewhere near Austin. Yes, he's smiling now, but he's in a lovely air-conditioned vehicle! See them teeth?

One hot July night...

It's hot. It's almost 8:00 at night and it's still 90* out there. This still beats the Texas heat... it was so humid that the heat about overwhelms you. Curtis didn't like it, it made Karen cranky, and I just wanted to go home!

Curtis will be 6 months on Wednesday. Boy do I miss being pregnant! It's a wonderful feeling. We did decide that we will not have any more bio children; recovery is just too hard. We are hoping to foster-adopt, so our family isn't done yet!

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