Fall Photos and another Wedding Invitation "Put to Bed"

I spent a few hours this week taking photos of the boys and we had so much fun. The Fall is so beautiful here and lake Erie is such a beautiful backdrop for photos that I can't stand to waste it. Here are some of the best shots of the boys. They seem like such sweet brothers in photos! The camera doesn't always capture the moments of punching and pushing in between loving cherubic smiles! I'm so happy that we took the time to do this.

We are also cheering because the election is over and Mike survived! It is a great feeling and now we can actually enjoy the last few weeks before baby arrives. We just scheduled our delivery for the 30th so assuming Griffin cooperates, we'll be having some excitement early that morning-yahoo! Can't wait!

Just put one more wedding invitation job "to bed" so to speak. The bride and groom to be are very happy and we've all been getting compliments. This is starting to get really fun for me but I can see that I am only going to be able to take clients that are really willing to pay the price for my time. It consumed my life for a lot more time than I anticipated. I had to babysit the printers because I was so concerned about the quality of everything. The photos don't really do the actual pieces much justice but in the end they really did turn out beautiful. The paper is a pearly silver with a blush tone to it. We used vellum envelopes for the outer envelopes so the initials of the B & G showed through underneath the area to be addressed. The bride is adorable and was happy to pay whatever I asked and even brought me a thank you gift because she was so thrilled! Now if only I can count on all of my jobs being so delightful! I'm working on a family Christmas card now so things are moving along! My goal is to start making enough money to justify hiring a housekeeper-isn't that pathetic? A girl has to have goals!

Good Mail, a haven amidst a very busy week!

This week was unbelievably busy for me. I'm sure you are all nodding your heads in agreement as I know you must all spend your days running around in much the same way. A few days ago I was thrilled to see a "Good Mail from Jill" label on a package in my mail box! I love these little surprises and was so excited to open it. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to savor it like I really wanted to at that moment so it had to wait until the day of classroom volunteering, basketball practice, babysitting a neighbors child for a few hours and a doctor's appointment began to wind down before I could sit and soak it in. The goodies included some fun sticky notes (which I use endless supplies of), some Pink Ribbon Tic-Tacs which have already appeased my children on a few occasions while being drug around running errands with mom this week, some really cute stripey ribbon that will be used on a project right away, and a book by Anita Shreve, an author I enjoy reading very much and a title I haven't read yet. How does she do it? It was perfect of course! My mom started her chemo this wee and is not doing well at all with it so on top of the busy days I have been weepy and worried about her in between attempts at concentration on the tasks at hand. Thank you for the kind distraction, Jill. You have intuition beyond comprehension!


After all of the Halloween classroom parties, room volunteering, special hot dog fun lunches at school, errand running, finishing projects for my grandpa's 80th birthday celebration (in Utah and sadly I couldn't attend because of the impending birth of my child), neighbor helping, spelling test studying, lunch making and emergency dry cleaning pick up for my husband who has been in court and local and national TV interviews all week (this might sound like a glamorous brag of sorts but trust me it is NOT), I got two phone calls on Thursday reminding me of 1) a fun rubber stamping class I had signed up for at our brand new Archivers store (yahoo!), and another Dr. appointment scheduled long ago that I had forgotten about that both happen on Friday which I thought was going to be my "take a breath" day. No luck with that. I almost cancelled on the class but I squeezed it in knowing that it might be awhile before I have any down time sans children and I'm so glad I went. It was tons of fun and recharged my battery considerably. The doctor's appointment was not so thrilling but they were on schedule and kind so I can't complain.



The boys in their scary gear with pals at a fun annual party thrown be our neighbors. I'm sad that I didn't take a photo of their yard to show you-it is awesome. They go nuts!

My kids had a great time on Halloween in spite of the fact that mom was hoping an electric wheelchair might appear by the time we got to TOT. I had already spent the day at classroom parties and was tempted to let the kids just go out with a few of the other dads from the street that kindly offered to take the boys but I just couldn't miss out. So I left our treat bucket on the porch with the light on and we set out. The family that owns the original "Ghostbusters" mobile from the movie lives in our neighborhood and brings it out on Halloween to tour the streets and make stops so the kids (and dads!) can take turns witting inside. It is a really fun tradition and something that we just love seeing. They have a full crew dress in jumpsuits and everything-it really is fun to see. I remember seeing that movie in the theater with one of my best girlfriends and her grandma, who recently passed away, so it made me very reminiscent. Strange, but a nice memory.


Since I am on a woe is me roll I have also been crushed about the recent news that our Ward (the group of people that we attend our weekly church meetings with) has been split and dispersed into one new ward (mine as it happens) and two existing wards. It was announced at Stake Conference two weeks ago and everyone is still reeling and adjusting mentally. A lot of my friends and many of the young families are going to the two other wards. I'm sure it will all be fine and we will all enjoy meeting our new Ward this week but it is hard change right before the baby arrives. I loved our Ward and felt so surrounding by friends after being here for such a short time. They say change is good and this does represent a lot of growth in our area so I am working on my positive attitude about it.


So...I feel better now that I have vented and I am going to do absolutely nothing this weekend to recover from the week and get ready for the next one! I am thrilled to announce that we are on the serious baby countdown. Next week we should be scheduling the C-Section delivery of little Griffin Michael Vu so I will keep you all posted.


One more THANK YOU for Jill and this blogland community of friends!