BLOG BOOKS

A friend, Chanda, told me about this website: Blog Books. It takes your blog posts and organizes them into a coffee table type book. Very cool!!

HATS OFF!

Nate loves to wear hats and he decided that this one would go nicely with his dragon p.j.s (I found them at Costco!)

GOOD TIMES

Want to see more photos? Click on this link! DISNEYLAND GIRL TRIP PHOTOS

BACK IN REALITY

Just got back from our 12 annual Disneyland Girl Trip! Whooo hooo!!! It was awesome and I'm catching up on stuff so I'll post photos when I have a chance.

URGENT PRAYERS FOR A SPECIAL COUPLE

Please keep our blogger friends Adrienne & Jim in your prayers today. They traveled out of state to adopt a baby girl and although things seemed to be going very well at first, the birth mother appears to be changing her mind. This wonderful couple suffered 5 miscarriages and has adopted a beautiful little boy from Russia. They wanted so badly to have a little girl and this seemed to be an answer to many prayers. I cannot imagine the heartache they are enduring right now and pray that the best decision be made for this little baby and for them.

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*Update* Thank you for your prayers and concern for this family. At this time, the birth mother has decided to keep the baby instead of pursuing adoption. She does have the option of changing her mind at a later date but for now, the adoption is off for this couple. It will be extremely difficult for them emotionally as they return home to an empty nursery but they are trying to remain positive and optimistic that God has a future plan for them. I am amazed at their strength and faith during this time. Please continue to pray for strength for them.

NEW PRODUCTS COMING!!!!

I am sooooo excited!! This has been a great year as far as securing contracts with manufacturers. They will be printing my art onto their various products: boxed cards, garden flags, ceramics, stationary products, bath products and more! The photo above is my Butterfly collection that Saturday Knight Ltd. has made into various bath products. So far, Anna's Linens has picked up the line and will be distributing it in their stores nationwide in 2009!!!

I am excited because this has not been an easy road and if not for my art agents, Karen and Lisa, I would not be this far today. The licensing market is very difficult to break into and there's no way I would have time to create art and market it myself. After three years, I'm still not making a profit but with the many contracts signed this year, hopefully 2009 will be a better outlook. Even with the economy in bad shape, I'm surprised that we've been able to secure several contacts and I know God has a plan that I just have to have faith. I am very thankful for HIs blessings this year.

So...keep an eye out! I don't always know who picks up my art but I do know that some of the butterfly art will be in Anna's Linens (bath), Christian bookstores (a set of bookmark, necklace, stationary, and boxed cards). Not sure what buyers will pick up the rest at this point but I'll keep you posted!

NATE IN ACTION

THEY'RE BACK

We thought they were eating cactus but it was actually a solid block of bird seed!

EVENING VISITOR

Tonight I let Harvard out to use the bathroom and heard him making a huge ruckus. I looked outside to see him up against our fence, nose to nose with THIS.......................

A javelina!







It was absorbed in it's dinner (cactus) so I got a few good pics. Then we heard some gravel crunching in our driveway and saw another one! This one looked bigger so we're assuming it was the mother. I couldn't get any good photos of that one because 1: every time we got closer it moved away and 2: there was no fence between it and us so I wasn't about to get TOO close! Those things can run pretty fast! Every so often we see javelina around our area. Usually they travel in packs but we only saw these two.

Here's some photos of Nate playing. We moved our carpet to the corner of the house nearest our back door and that proved to be a better play area for him. He has more room, can play by himself and not be near the t.v. and I can open the sliding glass door to let air in. Surprisingly, he doesn't bother our big green shell lamp!

ROCKIN' OUT

Tonight I had an awesome time playing in a girl band for another church's women's retreat. It was at the Embassy Suites and we were rockin' out. We're going to try and hook up do to concerts every so often and this was our first performance. I'll try to get band photos tomorrow but for now, here's a photo of two band buddies (in black). Robin (in the middle) is our leader and doesn't she look sassy in her hat and boots?!

WHY I LIVE IN ARIZONA...

Need I say more?

Perfect for a brisk fall or winter day...homemade Irish Soda bread and vegetable soup!

DELIRIOUS

No that's not the 80's band...that's ME. Me running on 4 hours sleep. I am an 8 hour sleep kinda girl and 4 hours turns me into a crazing blogging chick.

Here's some funny Nate stuff.....

1. Nate's been getting onto himself lately. When he does something that he doesn't approve of he'll say, "Ohhhh Naaate!" I guess I say that too much. Doh!

2. On Sunday when Nate was in the nursery, he got tired of another older girl trying to play with his toys. The nursery volunteer said he solved that by simply collecting all his toys, moving them into the farthest room, into the farthest corner of the nursery that was opposite that little girl, sat down and quietly played by himself!

In serious need of a caffeine injection

Nate on blanket time

WHAT'S MY PURPOSE?

This is too weird. I totally expected major retaliation from Nate today but so far....none. I'm still suspicious (haha). One thing I've been doing different is telling him what comes next...ex: He wanted to finish his coloring before time was up. I told him if he was finished he had to sit with his hands folded for one minute. He started to protest but then I said he could watch his show after he sat with his hands folded. He LOVES his shows so he immediately folded his hands. This is VERY difficult for him.....but it teaches him how to wait and have self-control. After a few seconds he started to get a little whiny so I reminded him that if he continued to fold his hands he would get to watch his show. When time was up, I praised him big time and he was so proud of himself he got a HUGE smile and started clapping his hands! It was soooo cute and of course he got to watch his show. haha. It was my plan to have him watch his show regardless because I had to start fixing lunch but I didn't think to tell him that or give him a heads up until he had to fold his hands.

I just started doing this today...telling him what will happen next after he does what he's instructed and it seems to almost relieve him. Like there's a purpose for what he's doing and that makes it bearable. Kids are funny.

Ok on a non-kid note......we started looking at other rental homes in a nearby neighborhood. We love the views from our place and the space but we really want to get into a neighborhood with younger children and our rutty dirt road is killing our vehicles. Buying a home is out of the question because we have no money for a down payment. We found a great rental home a couple days ago that was perfect....in the location we wanted, 3 bd, 2 ba, gas fireplace, pergo floors (great for kids!) a huge fenced in backyard where Nate and our dog can play safely and it was only $895 a month! Compared to similar homes going for $950 - $1100, that was awesome! We thought we could get out of our current rental lease early by paying a fee BUT...no dice. Since we have 6 months left on our lease our landlord said we would have to pay the remaining 6 months rent up front to leave early. Unfortunately we didn't pay well enough attention to our Lease Termination Clause. In the past, we've always been able to get out of rentals early by giving a month notice and losing a deposit or paying an extra month's rent. This is the first time we've ever experienced this and it was a rude awakening. With the economy so bad, our landlord (who is also a realtor and her biz has suffered) is not going to negotiate or risk an early termination. I suppose I don't blame her but it stinks.

The good thing is that we prayed before we looked into this and decided that if God wanted us to have that house, everything would work out. If not, we would be content where we are and know he has a better plan in 6 months. I admit I was a little stressed about moving so quickly and now we have more time to save. Trying to look on the positive side here and not dwell on what we may have had. That's the selfish part of me. Anyway......onward and upward.

HMMMM....BETTER THAN I EXPECTED

It's now 8:45am....and so far so good. After breakfast I spent 15 minutes reading with Nate. Then I put him in independent play....I told him to play in a designated area in the living room with some toys that I gave him. He wasn't allowed to play outside those boundaries or interact with me (hence the purpose for "independent play") and I had to redirect him a few times when he got up and went to another part of the room but each time he immediately followed my instructions and gave me a "Yes" when I asked him to do it. I was totally expecting some retaliation (and I'm sure that may still be coming) but overall, it's been a peaceful morning. The purpose for ind. play is for him to problem solve by himself instead of me rushing in every time to rescue him and for him to be able to be self sustaining instead of relying on me for entertainment 24/7. Of course this is all within what a 2 yr old can handle vs. an older child.

I think it also helped that we had a little "mom time" before I put him in independent play. Once he's had time with me he seems to play by himself better. I just put him in his room to play by himself for awhile. He went happily and grabbed a bunch of trucks to take with him. Go figure.

I also made sure that when I was giving him these instructions that I looked him in the eye so I know he heard me. This was something else I slacked on...usually saying it while I was passing him or without a heads up. So now that he's in room time, I'm going to try and sneak in another catnap. haha.

NO SLEEP FOR THE WEARY

It's 5am and I've already been up for over 2 hours. At 2:45am, my brain kicked into gear and I just couldn't go back to sleep. I know I will regret this when Nate gets up...naturally, I'll probably want to sleep about that time! Nate's behavior has digressed this past week and I couldn't stop thinking..trying to figure out what the problem is. After re-evaluating OUR behavior and actions and pouring over "Toddlerwise", I've determined it's due to what we're doing or not doing.

Nate's been exhibiting typical 2-yr old behavior....challenging instructions, throwing crying fits when he is required to do something he doesn't want to do, becoming very clingy in public, resisting independent play time and demanding constant attention. Part of it is his age-stage, part of it is because he's not feeling that great due to allergies and part of it is because we got out of routine again and allowed way too many freedoms for his age. One example is he used to be very compliant about staying on a blanket and playing with toys but now he has become defiant about it. I noticed it's because we became lax about consistency in expecting him to STAY on the blanket, so he thinks it's ok to get off it whenever he's tired of being on it.

So today we have the fun job of gritting our teeth from our mistakes and re-implementing boundaries, consistent discipline and structure. Fun, fun. On top of that, I have worship practice tonight and I think I will probably be spending more time chasing a wayward toddler as we attempt to reinforce blanket time. Ah well...sometimes mom and dad have to be re-trained!

Now I'm going to try and catch a little bit of sleep before Nate has to get up.

CELEBRATING DIVERSITY

My hubby had to write a message for a 1-minute radio broadcast. He has a gift for words and I thought he wrote this beautifully (below)....

"Aren't you thankful that we live in a nation that celebrates diversity? This year, our nation didn't even wince at the idea of nominating a female for Vice President and for the first time, we elected a black President. Even in my own family, I have a Filipino wife and we recently adopted our son from China. These differences would not have been celebrated in the recent past. But, our nation has continued to make a dream a reality and we can now say that all people are created equal by God.

God loves all people and He wants you and everyone that is like you or unlike you to come into a relationship with him. God has made this possible by sending His son Jesus Christ to show you how.

When we live for God, he leads us to be people full of love, patience, kindness, and self-control. It is these Godly attributes that will help us to be a stronger people and a stronger Nation as we continue to work through adversity."

-Don Sullivan

FINISHED!

I finally finished Nate's Christmas sweater. Hope it fits. ha!

It looked a little more colorful outside. haha.

The yarn I used is relatively inexpensive (Vanna White brand). It's not a high quality yarn but affordable and knits a nice thick sweater. I love good cotton yarns or cotton blends but they can be pricey in the yarn shops. I did purchase some on sale, several months ago, for a sweater for Nate....that one is an "in" project that I hope to finish soon too!

WHAT TO POST???

Yes, I know it's been a whole WEEK since I've posted (Sharon, I'm glad you missed me!) Not much to blog about this week. I mean we've had stuff going on but I can't think of anything interesting to write. Now that it's November, I am in holiday mode. Or semi-holiday mode at any rate. Every time I take Nate to the store, he sees all the lit up Christmas trees...his eyes get big and he says "Woooowww!" Christmas is going to be a lot of fun this year. Even more fun because my parents will be here to celebrate with us!

I am knitting Nate a Christmas sweater in the evening when Don and I relax after putting him to bed. It's nearly finished and I'll show you a photo when I have it put together. This coming weekend I am playing my bass in a girl band for a women's retreat and I'm totally stoked about that!

.............I had to step away because my hubby called from the church. They just baptized 3 people..2 teens and a guy who Don met a coffee shop! YAY!!! Now THAT'S something to blog about. Many people came out to celebrate these 3 accepting Christ as their Savior and believing that He has a purpose for their lives. How awesome is THAT??!!! I wish I could've been there (Nate is deep in nap-sleep) but I'm so excited for them and pray for God's guidance in their "new" lives!

HALFTIME SHOW

Instead of posting this twice...check out our pastor blog www.ddsullivanpastorblog.blogspot.com