We almost made it to the mall yesterday, but we chickened out last second. We did drive into the mall, but the parking lot was so packed. Dennis retorted hell no, so he just turned around and left. LOL! I have to exchange a jogging outfit my mom got me because of course, it doesn’t fit me. So I will probably wait until later this week, or maybe hold on to it, maybe willing my weight to shed down on its own.

I am starting to feel more organized in my mind and not feel so overwhelmed, like it has been these past few months. Things are settling, although Brennan did drive me really crazy this morning. He was screaming and screaming, crying, and whining! He threw down two huge clothes baskets, broke his electric car that he received from the gift exchange. I just wanted to just leave, and go rollerblading at the beach. But of course, I couldn’t. He did finally settle down and we were able to make it to Chuckie Cheese before noon. So no exercise for me.

But ya, I am feeling more settled and more at ease with being a mommy of two boys. So far, Elden is making things easy for me. He is very easy going and always has a smile, unless Brennan is trying to do something to him, or he wants to be held. So, I can’t believe that 2006 will be upon us in a few short days. I always feels kind of nostolgic whenever the new year comes around. I think it will be an exciting year full of good things!

We may be going to Downtown Disney tomorrow. I really want to go to Disneyland, but for some reason Brennan refuses to go. We have been asking him if he wants to go for the several months, but everytime we ask, he says no. Then we ask why. And he says because it is too loud. He is sort of sensitive to loud noises and crowds. He didn’t have a bad experience that last two times he went, so I am not sure what is up. So Den says, how about Downtown Disney. Brennan seems to be okay with that. Well maybe, when we get down, we can try to convince him to go into Disneyland. I really have been wanting to go for the longest time to see all the holiday decoration. Den went not too long ago because his cop friend Mike, got him in free. So I guess, we will see.

My plan for tomorrow night is to scrap a few Christmas layouts. I need to upload some pictures to get printed at Costco because my printer has been printing really crappy. The colors for some reason come out so dark and yellow. So it sucks to use it right now and I am not in the mood to do any troubleshooting. Also, I need to make some more cards for the “Cards for the Soldiers”. I made ten yesterday. I also want to get started on the rolodex card swap. I think that is about it, as far as crafty stuff.

And on a last note, I admit that I love my tech toys. I want the latest and greatest there is, even if I can’t afford it. Usually, around this materialistic time of the year, I get obsessive about a new gadget. Right now, I am so totally obsessiving over the Archos AV500 PDVR. I want it so bad, that I already downloaded the manual and started reading it. I joined the Archos yahoo group and several other messageboards dedicated to Archos. It is really bad, this obsession that I have. Den tells me that after I buy it, I will play with it for a while and then forget about it. Which in defense to myself, that is so not true. He just doesn’t understand, how deep my love for technology goes. I believe that I will get a lot out of this gadget. I was planning to get it for Christmas because I received some money, but not quite enough to cover it. So in order to get it, I have to use some of our money, which of course should go towards bills and such. But who cares about the bills, right???

From Jana.

Your Hair Should Be Red

Passionate, fiery, and sassy. You’re a total smart aleck who’s got the biggest personality around.

There are few things that I will be working on this week. Things like preparing for Brennan’s b-day party coming up in a couple of weeks, making stuff for some swaps, creatinng a few Christmas layouts, but most importantly making cards for the Iron Knights–the 1-66 Armored regiment of the 4th Infantry Division whom are about to be deployed to Iraq.

There is a member from 123-scrap, whose husband is a chaplain that belongs to this batallion of 1000 soldiers. The members of 123-scrap will be making cards for different occasions and then sending it to the Faculty, whom then will send it out to the troops. I personally, do not know anyone that is out there, but I have been wanting to do some kind of gesture for the men and women that risks their lives everyday.

If you are interested in making some cards to send to this batallion, please email me and then I will email you the address of the faculty that you are to mail the cards to. The first round of cards will be for Valentines, so the cards have to be in the faculty’s hand by January 4th. I know that may not be enough time to make a bunch of cards, but even two or three would be generous. You can read more about the Cards for Soldiers. Here is the post about the first call for cards, which I stated will be due by January 4th. If you can’t make this deadline, there will be doing this throughout the year. Thanks you for participating!

My little baby bubbles turned 5 months today on Christmas Day! I can’t believe how fast time flew by. So as of now, he has his two bottom teeth, but I believe he was teething today because he was whiney and was slobbering all over the sleeve of his shirt. I guess any day his two top teeth will pop out. If you hold him by his hips, he can pretty much stand upright. His back is so strong. In fact, he was kind of bent downward and then lifted himself up. He hates tummy time of course, but will do it because he has no choice. Hmm, what else? He makes lots of noises, laughs a tons and smiles so much. He is growing and getting heavy.

So we spent Christmas Eve at my parents, and then went to Den’s sister’s house Karen for Christmas Day. Brennan was so excited because all he could think of was opening presents and eating candy! LOL! He pretty much hit the jackpot!

There is such a contrast between Christmas between my family and Den’s family. With my family, everyone pretty does their own thing and no one really chit chats. Also, Brennan is the only kid running around. After opening the presents there, he quickly got bored. Now at my SIL’s house, there are 7 boys, between the ages of 5 months to 15 years old. It’s loud and crazy and lots of chatter. The boys are pretty on a sugar high. They even had a grapefruit fight. There is grapefruit tree in their backyard. Brennan had so much fun running around. He was so silly too. We had the kids’ dinners set up outside on the backyard table and the adults ate inside. Brennan started shouting out all these nonsensical phrases and laughing his head off. The older boys were just cracking up! Brennan just loved the reaction he was getting. He pretty much continued on like that for awhile.

My mom made a huge slab of prime rib and ham. The prime rib was simply divine. I was so stuffed afterwards. My SIL made ham, but the highlight was the chips and dip and lots of sweets!!!

Maybe next year when we move to the bigger house, I will host Christmas at our place. Okay, I’m not making any promises, so we will see.

On a sidenote, my other SIL Darlene got a wonderful present this year. She got the girls done and also got a tummy tuck. All I can say, is that they looked awesome! She was so cute because she wanted to show them off to us right away. Well of course, not to the guys. She had them done earlier this month, so everything was still kind of puffy and you could see all the stitches everywhere. But the girls looked all perky and happy!

I also got a great surprise yesterday nightwaiting at our doorstep. I received my wonderful Leaving Memories “Seasons” contest prize from Kathy from Leaving Memories. I can’t wait to use all the cool stuff! I will be getting some holiday pictures developed, so I can scrap all of our memories. Also, I want to use up all my holiday scrap papers and supplies, because if I don’t use them up now, they will probably just sit in my supply box and not get used.

Well, the holidays have come and gone! Only 365 more days until next Christmas!

He did his business the first time today. What a momentous day! I told him that we had no more diapers, which was actually true. I brought his potty into the family room and told him to relax and watch Sponge Bob and drink some juice. Aftter trying to go for about 5-10 minutes, he carried his potty into the bathroom and did his business there. It was all so exciting. Dad gave him three rolls of Dr. Seuss stickers as his “big” reward, which we have actually been saving for the last several months just for this occassion.

Earlier this week, I felt pretty exhausted and was ready to pack up all my art supplies and shove them into the garage. Now I think I got a second wind to create again. I know it was a short hiatus, but heck, when you have that urge inside, you gotta let it out. Don’t repress it!!

So I finally scanned the picture of the boys and Santa Clause, although, I finished the layout earlier in the week.

And here is a lovely layout in June, of us hanging out at the beach, a month before our little babe came into our lives!

I also completed Heidi’s CJ Journal, “Afternoon of Tea”.

I didn’t really have a nice recipe to share. But I do enjoy a nice cup of chai tea. I never attended a tea party, but it bring me back about 8 years ago, when I had my first cup of authentic indian chai tea. I used to work with this crazy loud-mouthed older Indian engineer, named Sharad Gandhi. He would share with me his chai tea that his wife made for him everyday, which she stored in this carafe thing (I forgot what those things are called!!!) He was freakin hilarious. But anyways, ya that was the first time I enjoyed chai tea, but after that I got tainted by Starbucks.

I’m also trying to finish my calendars. I am making an 8.5×11 for me and a 6×6 for my mom and Den. I also have to make Brennan’s b-day party invites. He wants to have a Star Wars party. I need to find the cake because he specifically asked for Star Wars. I reserved his party at Chuckie Cheese. I decided to have it on a Friday because the weekends are too crazy. The last time we went to a party there, he didn’t seem to enjoy himself much because he is extremely sensitive to loud crowds, like me.

So much to create, but so little time.

Here is a little Santa hat, if you need stocking stuffers for your little baby boys. Found on wetfeet.