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December 26

Traditionally, I go to the after Christmas sales on 12/26. This year was no different....well it sort of was very different. My husband and I went out with our son, but let me tell you, we were not out long. Having a baby changes everything! The crowds were more than we could handle. Pushing a stroller through all the crazyness was less than picturesque. We went to about 3 stores, spent very little and headed home. It was probably best for our finances anyway.

So we came home and I made us a meatless dinner. I made Butternut Squash and Chipotle soup and grilled Cheese sandwiches. I found the recipe for the soup here


It was very tasty! I actually added heavy cream to cut down on the spicy taste, but it still had a bit of a kick.

Christmas 2009

We had a great time this year. The day started with opening wonderful gifts. What could be better than that? Watching our son experience his first Christmas. He is only 8 months old so of course, he does not know whats going on. And of course we could have simply thrown some wrapping paper on the floor and would have been just fine. But of course, we did not do that. Because this was also our first Christmas as parents so we bought and wrapped gifts for him. Then we tried to coax him into unwrapping them. Of course, I ended up opening them. It was still a ton of fun.





Opening his last gift:




We spent time with dear friends and had scrumptious food for dinner. This was there first time meeting our son:



Sorry for the wierd orientation!

We had a wonderful day together!



We ended the day with another new tradition: Reading the story of the birth of Christ to our boy, lest we all forget the true reason we celebrate Christmas.



All and All, the holiday season has been very special for us.

Looking forward to posting more in 2010.

Handmade Holiday

This year, I did not have much time to prepare for the holidays. I am still pursuing my masters and had prepare for an oral presentation due on 12/21. Since my son came along, studying has not been a priority so I was barely hanging on academically. I had no motivation. I just wanted to be with my family and craft. So, since I did all that, I ended up putting off the studying until the last minute. I am happy to say that I passed. So that is over with. Unfortunately it also meant that my shopping, just about all of it, was done on Christmas Eve!

At any rate, I did manage a few handmade items. We really want to create memories and traditions. I did not grow up with many family traditions so I really want that for our son. So here are some of the things we did this year that we plan to continue.

Family Pajama Pants! One thing my parents always did was get new pajamas for us every Christmas. I decided to take it a step further and make family Christmas Pajama pants. Check us out:



I got the fabric at JoAnn's on Black Friday. I found an easy tutorial online and made the pattern and then sewed them up. Very easy project.

I also participated in an ornament swap. I received some beautiful handmade ornaments for my tree. Here is a picture of the ornaments I made:




Its sort of a beaded icicle. I swapped these and only kept one for myself. They were a hit.

Then decided to try my hand at candy making. I made these decadent sea salt carmels. I found the recipe here

These are these most decadent treats ever!



Here they are wrapped:



The Holiday has been fantastic so far. Our son is the best gift we received this year.

More Christmas day photos to follow.

Oh, here is our 2009 Christmas Tree:

Christmas Lights

 


We went took our boy to see Candy Cane Lane in El Segundo to see the Christmas lights. These folks put on the dog in this neighborhood. Some homes had electric trains in the front yard and one family was actually showing the Polar Express in the front yard. It was a nice evening and our son was looking around in wonder. I think he enjoyed the lights. We for sure enjoyed watching him as he looked at the lights.

Happy Birthday to Me!

 


Today I celebrated my first birthday with my husband AND my son today. It was a great day! I could have received no gifts because I got the best gift ever on 4/21/09! I feel blessed to have my family and am grateful for this day.

Blogging again

I know I have neglected this blog, but I have been super busy with my little boy. i have been doing a little bit of crafting here and there but not so much knitting or crochet.I have been sewing a bit but mostly, I have been scrapbooking. Having a baby changes everything and I just love scrapbooking about the little guy. I think I have about 20 pages in his book. And I still have to scrapbook halloween and thanksgiving. My son is getting so big so fast. I will post a picture soon and very soon from thankgiving.

Motherhood is everything I hoped it would be and more. Now that he is older, we are getting sleep, but sleep deprivation is a crazy thing. Noone can explain it to you or prepare you for it. You just have to experience it. I went back to work when he was 3 months old. Its been crazy trying to be a working mother. I don't know how women do it! I guess we just do.

WE are enjoying all the firsts. 1st Halloween, 1st Thanksgiving, etc. My husband buys him a bib to commemorate all of these firsts. I will have to think of a way to save them all. Hmmmmm, maybe I can scrapbook with them?

Anyway, now we are getting ready for our first holiday season. I am having cookie exchange this weekend and we are putting up the tree. I also have some other family projects going. Whew! I am doing way too much. I will post some pics very very soon of my latest project. I am sew proud of myself. That a hint!

Happy Halloween!

 

What a great day we had today. Our son's first Halloween! He trick or treated but guess who will be eating the candy? : )

Another Blog!

I just started a new blog! I will be blogging about Literacy in America. I will still update this one with my personal stuff. Come on by!

http://lifetimeliteracy.wordpress.com/

Little bit of my boy!

Okay, excuse my voice, I was talking to a friend on the phone while I was taping this.

My baby boy continues to do well. He is growing and changing everyday. We are enjoying being parents. I have about a month left to my leave so I am trying to get our childcare plan together. Of course, I want to stay home with him. Living in SoCal does not lend itself to being a one income family. So, I am going to be a big girl about it and be grateful I still have a job.

I am trying to come up with a plan so that I can eventually stay home. I have launched my new business and if I play my cards right, I might be able to build it into something great. Check out my sight:

Kim's Bookstore

I have become an independent consultant for Usborne Books and More, an incredible line of educational childrens books. I am so excited about this opportunity. I have tried two other party plan businesses in the past and due to life circumstances I gave up on them. Mostly, these businesses were just not a great fit for me. However, Usborne, I believe will be perfect for me!

Its a great opportunity and if you want to know more about it, the info is on my site. I had a show that was not so successful but I ended up have 4 personal shopping appts and all four purchased books. Thats what gets me excited. The books really do sell themselves. Plus, I get to build a great home library for my son!

I am handling motherhood a bit better these days so I plan to update more often with more picks of my 10 WEEK OLD little guy. Its so hard to believe that he is already so close to being 3 months old!

By the way, anyone on facebook? Friend me! Kim Pettis Thompson

My Son

I only have one hand available right now as the other one is holding my little one! Thanks for all your prayers! We are very very happy! And Sleepy!

Leaving Tonight

Pray for us. I am leaving tonight heading to the midwest for the birth of our baby! Please Please remember my family in your prayers today and the rest of the week. Some of you remember that we got this far before and the birthmother ended up changing her mind. WE truly are praying that this is it for us and the next time I post will be a victory story! Official papers cannot legally be signed until 72 hours after the birth of the child. So, if the baby is born tomorrow, the papers will be signed on Friday. So please pray pray pray.

Thanks!

Kim

Victory Gardens

During World War II, food was rationed and the government encouraged United States citizens to plant gardens to provide their own fruits and vegetables. According to statistics, 20 million Americans planted gardens anywhere they could in support of this government plan. At one point, Americans were growing 40% of their own veggies!

In this economy, we might need to revisit this idea. In fact some people are already doing it. I was listening to a podcast on frugal living. The host was describing how she and some of her friends and Neighbors have formed a cooperative where they each grow different things and supply one another with fresh veggies. Talk about saving! They simply trade out. And, these veggies are pesticide free. Since I am planning to be off with no pay, for 3 months once we get the baby home, I am looking for ways to cut costs. I think a victory Garden is a great way to save money. My problem is that I live in an apartment. While many apartments in LA have either a patio or a balcony, I have neither. So, I am going to try to plant a container garden. There are all kinds of resources on the web with info about what varieties to use. So I am thinking tomatoes, cucumbers and pole beans. I have learned that they have some varieties that have small footprints. I am so excited to do this.

When I was a girl, I used to go to the nursery with my grandmother all the time. Though we lived in Chicago, we had a great garden in the yard in the spring and summer. She grew all kinds of things, including tomatoes, collard greens, banana peppers and even pumpkin and watermelon. She also had all kinds of flowers. She was from the south, A Georgia Peach. She had a very green thumb. One summer, I planted a garden with the boy next door,(my playmate, turned prom date.. By the time we were done, we basically had a muddy messy plot, however, we did grow a handful of beans and a few carrots. I made some sort of soup out of them. Hopefully, things will go a lot better this time! We will see if I inherited that green thumb!

So Here is my little Victory Garden! I have one tomato plant, one yellow bell pepper plant and 3 sunburst squash plants. I hope I can do this! Wish me luck. I am already worried that they won't get enough sun. I will have to figure that part out.





For more info on victory gardens click here

For more info on container gardening click here

Adoption progress: Well, we will be meeting our new little one in less than 3 weeks if all continues to go well. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, as I know you have been doing. Its very surreal. We are doing everything we need to do to get prepared, but somehow, its really hard to believe that its going to happen. If all goes well, a month from now, I will be holding my own little one! Pray!

Craft Day!

Well, I have been so busy lately, studying, writng a paper and preparing for our adoption. I have not had much time to craft at all. So, I decided that this weekend, I would craft all day long ( while washing 4 loads of clothes, of course!). My husband had to work ( on a Saturday, no less!) so I had the place all to myself. Our place is not that big so it was nice to be able to spread out and not get in his way. So I was able to make a dress. Its not quite finished because of course, I made plenty of booboos.

This is the pattern:
Butterick B5040



I am making view B. I still need to put the bands on the sleeves and put the hem in. But overall, I like it. Looks better on Me that on my twin.




And speaking of my twin, I got her from HSN last year. I just took her out of the box yesterdy. I really like having a dress form. HSN is so great because they have the easy pay option so that you can sort of pay a little per month until its paid for. I also got a serger this way ( which I have to learn how to use soon!)

I was given a lot of Jo Ann's Fabrics gift cards for my birthday in December. I have great friends! I was able to put them all together and purchase this at the After Christmas sale:

The best sewing table ever. It opens up on both sides and offers a pretty big work space. So much better than cutting on the floor!.

So, I had a great day, at home, doing my sewing thing. Hopefully, I will finish the dress today and take a picture of me wearing it!

Update on Me

I have had so much going on that there has been no knitting, crocheting or sewing or beading for the past several weeks. I am pursuing my masters degree and I had a big exam which I was not prepared for. Too much crocheting and socializing in the previous months! So, I had to knuckle down. And I am happy to say that I passed the exam! I was so relieved. Right after that, I had an 8-15 page paper due today. I am happy to say that it has been turned in! Hopefully, I wrote it well enough to be acceptable. So, I have officially finished the first year of my program a tad bit early. Which is great because we have some other good news! We have been matched with a birthmom! We are cautiously optimistic that we will finally welcome our child into our family. So, if I was not studying, I was dealing with all the things you have to deal with in this situations. So, I could not even think about crafting. I am hoping to do some crocheting and reading over the next several weeks before the baby comes. Hopefully, I will update the blog with some new projects and catchup on my blog reading.

Once the baby comes, I am planning to be off work for 3 months. Since I am not having a baby, I don't get to apply for state disability, so, I will be taking family medical leave, which will be unpaid. DH and I are preparing for this by researching ideas on frugal living. We will be pulling the belt way way tight from now until I return to work. My struggle will be to create healthy cheap meals. DH is diabetic so we cannot eat a lot of pasta and potatoes. Lucky for us there are some great whole wheat pastas and good ol' brown rice to help us. At first, the thought of living on one income was a little scary, especially since we are not debt free. But, we threw down the gauntlet and decided that it would be best for the baby if I can be home for as long as possible, no matter what adjustments we have to make. As we research it, its becoming a challenge. Hopefully we can do it!

More updates later

Venting

I am up. I have a lot on my mind. Mostly, family. Namely, I want one! This adoption process is killing me! Its so hard to sit and wait. I so wish that there was something I could do to make it all work out tomorrow. But I cannot. Please pray for us. This is a hard journey. And I ain't no spring chicken.......

Thanks

Crochet Goodness

I have not been posting But I have been making things. From the look of things, I have been doing way more crocheting than studying, which is not good. I have been so off focus. We recently were considering an adoptive placement. However, after lots of praying, tears and advice, we decided not to move forward. But for about a week we did consider taking a sibling group of 3! So, for about a week, I was overwhelmed with the possibilities. We learned a lot. We realize now that as first time parents, we just are not prepared to take on three older kids. Keep praying for us. We hope to welcome a little one into our hearts and homes in 2009.

So, since crochet is my therapy, I have been busy. Take a look:

Crochet and Jewelry Making Combined

These projects not only allowed me to combine two of my favorite crafts, but also gave me instant gratification. I started and completed both today. I made a decision to honor and nurture my creativity this year and since I designed both of these, I guess I did that too!

Happy New Year!

Long time no blog!

Well, I am back. And making resolutions for 2009. I won't list them all now, but here are a few:

I will knit/crochet from Stash only in 2009 in an effort to declutter my small apartment.

In fact, I will do all of my crafting, including sewing and and beading from the supplies I already own.

I will open an Etsy Shop this year!

Thats all for now!

I have been crocheting up a storm, just not posting. I will post pics of FOs soon.