Ok...tagged by Ness...here are 7 Random things:

1. I never watched ET until after I was married and they released it again in the theaters.
2. I used to eat ice cream for breakfast sometimes
3. I have started to become annoyed with chewing gum and would rather use mints.
4. I still like listening to old school DC Talk
5. My favorite storybook is called Tales of the Kingdom and I still love it!
6. I love peachy roses with the red tips and sometimes would buy them for myself when I was single.
7. I lived in the state of New York my whole life and didn't visit New York City until my senior year of high school.

I tag...Jen, Amanda,Cassandra, and Joy

This is my best friend. The one who stands beside me, walks with me, holds me, loves me, and the one who I will spend my life loving. In the last seven years we have watched our lives and love change and grow. We have watched our love expand to welcome our son. It has been an incredible 7 years and I look toward many more.

I love fall...the colors, the weather, and the coziness it brings. My mom was always great at decorating for the seasons and I guess it rubbed off on me. But, I still believe God's decorations during this season are spectacular. I captured the scenic pics on my walk to the church the other day.

We enjoyed a good harvest of acorn squash. This is the rest of them. I took four of them and "processed" them by roasting them and then chopping them up.

I took some and made some puree with it. I was using some for my friend Tiffany (My baby gift to her was making baby food for her) and then I put some aside to try out a recipe with.

Well, feeling like a desperate mom I whipped up some boxed mac and cheese for lunch for the lack of anything better. Feeling guilty as to the lack of complete nutritional value, I decided to mix in some of the puree. I had taken a cook book out of the libray that talked about doing this type of thing and I have been trying to little by little. Kevin didn't like the texture but I liked it and it really added to the taste.

The other recipe I picked up was for using up baby cereal, baby cookies. I have a few boxes and he is all about feeding himself so we don't use it any more. All it calls for is 1 cup of cereal, 1 cup of flour, and 1 cup of juice. I tripled it to use up a whole box. I "rolled" the dough into a jelly roll pan and then baked it at 350 for 45 minutes. The dough was super sticky and I am not a baker so dealing with dough is not my thing. I did the best I could and ended up with sort of lumpy bars but, Jack likes them. Plus, it is a good use for the cereal.

Headed out late Friday afternoon for camp (a 3 1/2 hour drive). Kandi was my co-pilot and our boys were settled in the back. Hit traffic in Albany and fussiness at the same time...fun. We ended up having to take our time on the way down and stop more than usual because the boys took turns fussing (Thegien has an ear infection and Jack is teething again). We were up late chatting with everyone and getting set up but it was good to be down there.

Saturday was a whirlwind of crafting but we did get to savor bayouca bbq chicken (sorry people, but it's really the best!) I had fun showing Kandi my home (I really did spend more time at camp than at my own house growing up) and we both enjoyed the fact that there was babysitting for the boys while we enjoyed the day. Everyone there ended up with a "Christmas" gift, a cute tote, and some yummy cookies, along with their crafts. I was even able to sell a little bit of my cm stuff.

On the way back the boys did so much better but by the time we got to albany we were all ready for a little break so we "had" to stop at babies r us. I live in the North country and so our baby stuff is from Walmart or Target. To have all of it in one big store was heaven!! We spent more time than we planned but it was worth it. I even found a cute raccoon shirt for the little man that says "night patrol" on it (those who have been at camp know my dad and his night patrol so I thought it was fitting). So, needless to stay we arrived home late.

So, today I get to teach sunday school and I make it through church but I get home and can't even think. My wonderful husband takes Jack so I can have nap time and I am so grateful!! Now I have to go put pants back on my son (his newest trick taking the pants off by stepping on the bottoms).

Being an education major i am very interested in finding educational tools for jack even now. I want to use whatever i can to help teach him. Someone told me about Preschool Prep DVDs and how they worked really well for their daughter who is a little older than Jack. I used some of his birthday money to buy an alphabet one off of amazon and though i don't enjoy listening to it's repetition...it is awesome educationally. I want to see how it helps him so I'll keep you updated. But, I definitely want to invest in some other ones soon.

You know those commercials with Mac and PC? They are always talking about Vista and it's problems. They crack me up but I also discovered the amount of truth they hold. Vista is now a curse word at our house. We have a laptop that we bought this spring and it has vista on it. I got used to using it and didn't mind the changes but then it started farting up just like the commercials and it has become a pain in the...it freezes randomly and usually when I need it most, it sends all sorts of fun error messages...yep, they are not exaggerating. And the new gates and Seinfeld commercials don't make up for it...they actually don't have much of a point. Ok, so enough of my rant...

I'm in the scrapbooking zone. I laid out my stuff and taken over the dining room table. My goal was to complete jack's pics up to Christmas so that I would have some good samples for the ladies craft day at BaYouCa where I will be holding scrapbooking sessions. It has been fun to finally get some more accomplished and I love having a Kodak printer that I can print a ton of pictures out with and still not use up all the ink...it was worth the investment!

My next big project is starting to work on an etzy shop for daddy's decor. I have a name and all that. My biggest challange is going to be figuring out how I'm going to ship some of the bigger pieces and how much to price for shipping of each piece. I am excited to share his stuff with the world but I am a little overwhelmed with all the shipping questions. What did you wonderful etsy pros do?

How does one go from a pretty normal...somewhat good mood of a morning to
neck severely tense and totally on edge by dinner...oh wait, maybe i'm describing most people.
But in my case it totally took me off guard...that may sound weird, but i get so busy i don't always notice the frayed nerves until they are on the edge of unraveling. I am trying to get a bunch of scrapbook pages done so i have ideas and samples for the ladies craft day at camp this weekend. On top of that i am trying to get the laundry taken care of finally, deal with a cranky kid who is still recovering from his 12 month shots and blood letting, and a husband who decided to study at home. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night and for once it was not Jack's fault. I know that has something to do with it to. He's finally to bed and I'm going to sit down with an Izze and a snack and watch some tv. Hopefully some sleep and a good relaxing will help this funk.

So i did some searching and playing and figured it out!!! I'm so excited to be able to play with it some more but it's getting there.

So I totally feel like a major ignoramous! I want to make my blog look more fun and put on links to all my favorite people but the whole thing boggles me...i feel like such a dork. I am a mother, I have a college degree, I have taught multiple grades, and am for the most part computer savy. So, why oh why does it seem so hard? If you would love me enough to help me I would be forever grateful.

Yep...he stripped down and ready to dig in...unfortunately mommy didn't clarify to daddy that she could use vanilla pudding so we are a big dark mess.

There is somethiing so satisfying about storing up for winter. We are finishing up harvesting from our garden. We really are happy with what we have gotten...and are learning what we can do better. But, there is nothing that is more wonderful than eating what you have grown with your own hands. It is like being in the midst of ministry, joy found in touching people's lives, and seeing God work and the humble amazement of how He is using us to work in their lives.

This was the cake I made for Jack to enjoy...unfortunately he wasn't hungry but it was still fun to see him playing in it. I did a sheep because that is the theme in his nursery. I found the pattern on family fun's website. It was my first attempt at something this big and it didn't turn out too bad.He didn't do too bad opening up presents

These were some of the flowers from my garden we used as centerpieces.

This weekend was full of business and emotion. We had Jack's birthday party on Friday with close family and friends. I had spent a lot of the week getting ready and it turned out to be fun. Many of our family members stayed over night and on Sunday we had Jack's baby dedication.

Kevin asked Dad to speak and it was such a powerful sermon in such simple terms...my dad is such a powerful speaker. My husband says he has the amazing ablilty to teach a powerful and deep truth using simple every day illustrations and it ends up being hugely impacting. He also participated in the baby dedication since it would have been weird for Kevin to dedicate Jack. It made it so much more special. My heart swelled with such joy at being able to have my Dad such a part of it.

We enjoyed the rest of the day with family and even took our first hike with Jack. Most everyone headed out Sunday but Mom and Dad were able to stay until today. We went to our favorite little spot...the Adirondack General Store.. for breakfast and imprinted in my mind is the memory of mom and dad walking with Jack in between them. It is a moment I will not forget.



Today is his actual birthday and I can't believe it has been a year. If I were to describe the year it would be emotional. There is the emotion of intense love that I never knew I could have for another human being...that incredible connect of mother and child. There is also the emotion of feeling overwhelmed...by lack of sleep, by the fear of inadequacy, and the task ahead. But, the emotion that stands out the most is that of blessed...blessed to look into the face of my son and see him smile at me and say mama. I wouldn't trade this year for the world and I am so blessed that God has allowed me the priviledge of being the caretaker for his beloved child...my son...Jack Emerson Radford.

It has taken awhile but the house is finally powerwashed and the newly painted shutters on. We had to take them off during the bat fiasco of '07 and today they are finally restored!!

with all the family coming in for jack's party i have been on a cleaning rampage. it reminds me of white glove in college which i actually didn't mind. i grew up learning from the russ warner school of cleaning (which by the way was a little cracked up...those of you who have been through it know what i mean) so i actually find big cleanings somewhat enjoyable. it's the little picking up stuff every day thing that gets on my nerves.

anyways, i broke down the rooms into days and have been giving them a white glove cleaning. I am almost done and trying not to leave to much for tomorrow so i can pull together the little details. today is the kitchen and pantry. the only problem is we still have to live in the house so i will be picking up and doing touch up cleaning tomorrow.

my other adventure is the fact that hurricane hanna's remnants will be here tomorrow. i was looking forward to having it outside at picnic tables with the sunflowers and barn beside us. however,i am now going to try to creatively decorate inside the house. pictures will come.

so, it is actually a vessel outside his heart not a valve and it has not closed. however, he does not weight enough yet to have a procedure done to fix it. So, we go back in 6 months for another check up and then schedule the procedure.

Tomorrow we head to the pediatric cardiologist for the little man. He has a heart murmur from a valve that has not closed up. He is going to be evaluated tomorrow and then we find out if we face a heart cath. I am not feeling too stressed yet but I know it will hit at some time.