The Naked Cowboy-

Ever heard of "The Naked Cowboy"... the one who roams around New York in his tightie whities, boots and cowboy hat? Well, I've never been there... but who needs New York? I've got my own Naked Cowboy right here in Vancouver... and mines better lookin'! :)

Halloween 2009

This year, Cooper was "Patch" from 101 Dalmatians... atleast that's what I was going for. Chase was a mischievious lil' monkey; cuz that's what he is. And yes, there is makeup on Chases face, everyone thinks I gave him a big ol' smooch and it was just transfered shmeg... but no, he's got his own muddied mug!

I dressed up as a logger- for all you Belfair folk, this was a true tribute eh?

Anyway, wanted to post the festivities... hope this finds you doing well.

-ENJOY-

-AMBER

Carving out a lil' Kitty-

While I can't hold a candle to Erika and Andrew (although I suspect the use of stencils...CHEATING :)~ Here is the pumpkin I carved tonight with the boys. I tried taking a picture without the flash so that you could see it lit up, as it looks the best that way, but I couldn't figure out how to turn the flash off on my camera. Probably better that way, cuz then I'd never figure out how to turn it back on ;)

Chase liked watching me gut it, but then the carving was far too mundane and he was off playing with much more exciting things like sharp carving knives...true story. Cooper gutted his own lil' version, but alas was only allowed to use markers. It's a bit soon to give him free reign with a sharp utensil.

I asked Cooper if he wanted me to make him a cat and he said yes, so that's what we've got here. Our very own Halloween cat! Happy haunting everyone!

A visit to the 'soggy' pumpkin patch-2009 edition

Not that anyone could be surprised... but we were rained out! We still got in the good stuff, but it started to pour buckets after about 10 minutes of our visit to Joe's Farms to pick out pumpkins. We were able to make our selections and get them into the wheel barrow... but once we weighed them and went in to pay... the downpour ensued! Regardless, the hay ride was still on tap for the day, and there was no way we were getting outta there without a hay ride. Luckily they were covered wagons which made the ride perfectly enjoyable. We got fresh juicy apples from the orachard to crunch on while we took our ride around the corn fields. Cooper loved his apple and Chase really 'soaked' up the scenery ;) I do love the holidays, and this is just the beginning!

Hope this finds you doing well. Enjoy the pics-

-AMBER

Today was open house night... or 'open door' as Cooper kept calling it. We got to see a bit into what his day is like when he is at Preschool. Mrs. Laura went through a fast forward version of a day in the life... and Cooper was... animated to say the least. I'm pretty sure most of it was showing off for his Nana and Bapa who came to support us tonight.

We did get to see Cooper hold the american flag upright while they recited what they had learned so far of the pledge of allegiance. Although, Mrs. Laura had to keep tilting it up and away from the ground as Cooper threatened to use it as a weapon on the nearest innocent by stander. It's funny now, but at the time, pretty embarrassing.

Cooper's pictures came back... and I do have to say he just looks so mature... and HANDSOME! I mean really.... can one kid be any more good looking? Oh wait, I have a son Chase who is equally has Handsome ;) LUCKY ME! Anyhoo... I tried to take a snap of it so I could post it on here for all of you to see.

I recently had a nice surprise... for my 30th, my parents drove down from Belfair. If that wasn't enough, moments after I caught my breath from their arrival, my lil' sis Erika and my nephew Keegan come walking around the corner! NO SMALL FEAT! They live in Kentucky... so the fact that they were here for me was so emotional for me I can't even put it into words. I was sad to see them all go and miss them terribly. If that weren't enough, Ryan threw me a surprise b-day party on Saturday night. My friends showed up, and Rex drove down with his boys and Brandie came to join the party with Lauren and Marshall; so for me, my WHOLE family was here and that was truly the best gift anyone could ever ever get me. I LOVED IT and felt so loved. Thank you so much family, really... thank you!

Til' next time- Hope this finds you doing well.

-AMBER

Bathroom: Before & After

The unveiling has arrived! Finally I can share the completed project with my fans ;)... no seriously though... this took longer than I anticipated... for a few reasons. 1. The countertop had to be ordered and took twice as long as predicted; 2. I decided to wait for Tim to be in town to help with the tiling since I was a tile virgin. Good call on my part... I learned so much watching him and helping where I could... those rooms are so small, it's almost a one man job... I'm pretty lucky to have a friend who is willing to come over and tile my bathroom and laundry in exchange for dinner. For those of you who are unfamiliar or unsure, the before is the red coca-cola theme and the after is the monochromatic tiled finish.

Anyway, it's done now and I can say VOILA! I did this, with a bit of help here and there, but I did this! The toughest part was that damned drain! Seriously with the plumbing... I think they purposefully make directions greek! All in all, what a great experience. It was not only satisfying to do it and do it without professional help, but really empowering to see what I'm capable if I put my mind to it... ... ... ... ... ... ... now on to the kitchen! Heh-heh!

Let me know watcha think!

AMBER

Back in July we had some pictures taken at the Water Resource Center here in Vancouver... I really love the setting of outdoors and woods. I think they turned out great. Cooper was so fussy and completely disinterested in getting his picture taken. We'll try again another dayI'm sure.

Just wanted to post some of the snaps we had taken to share them with everyone.

As an update on the fam... well Chase is walking around like a drunkard... he either holds his hands up by his shoulders or palms to his bellly, just so satisfied with himself that he is walking now... and man does he walk everywhere! Just yesterday I caught him with a small trail of TP on his ankle... only to discover he had unrolled the entire roll and stuffed it into the toilet and proceeded to flush... I suppose it could be worse, it could've been a dirty toilet right? SO luckily it was all clean TP and fresh water... but funny nonetheless to see him scamper around the house with the evidence attached to his leg ;)

Cooper is doing MUCH better at preschool. He does still have a small amount of ambivalence to get revved up to go, but once he's there, he really likes his teacher Mrs. Laura. She is so great and calm and just perfect for him. He's had the opportunity to meet new friends and try new craft projects out. I just know it is the perfect place for him and he's going to do splendidly. A perfect example was yesterdays experience of tears and whooping up the crying of how he can't go and he HAD to stay with Chase and Mommy. But then when I picked him up... he literally skipped to the car and blew kisses to Mrs. Laura, telling her he'd see her on Monday. What a drama queen!

Anyway, that's all for us these days, same stuff, different day. Hope this finds you doing well.

CHEERS-
AMBER