My Labor of Love

Holy! COW!! I really thought that creating a book from my blog was going to be SOOO much easier than scrapbooking... boy, was I wrong! Although, the nice thing about this is that I don't have to make multiple scrapbooks for the grandparents. The place I uploaded and ordered them from handles all the duplication (Merry Christmas, Grandparents!). I used blurb.com and from that site you download a book making software. It has a "blog import" tool, but I scrapped that after my book was turning into a novel with the gazillion blog posts I did over Clay's first year. I ended up just doing a page (or 2) per month with a few special occasions sprinkled in (like his birth, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.). I finally finished my book last night and got it uploaded and ordered before my coupon ended at midnight! It did warn me when I tried to purchase multiple copies that they "HIGHLY suggest" you buy one copy and check it out before you buy multiple... but no time for that!

Here are a few screenshots of Baby Clay's first book...

This is the cover of the book... it's a hardback book and this is the dust cover.


Can I give a big "shout-out" to Picasa 3 (download it from Google)?!? They have all kinds of great features... like making a pretty collage like the one above. I wore the collage making tool out! I would also like to note that Picasa has a blemish fixing tool... that works just as great as Photoshop's... but Picasa 3 is FREE!!! (and the version of Photoshop I want is like a trillion bucks). I LOVE me some free stuff!!

Here's the "Birth Announcement" page...
And here's the Christmas page...(I know it's a little difficult to see, but I can't figure out how to make them show up bigger.) UPDATE: I figured it out... if you click on them, it will open up bigger. I'm sure everyone but me knew that already!

I'm supposed to be getting them by December 4th... I'm so nervous as to how they are going to turn out!!! I think I'm going to go ahead and get started on his 2nd book since this takes FOREVER! It's a really great idea and it definitely helps us folks that are "creatively challenged". If I even attempted to do a scrapbook, it would start out all pretty... but half-way through, it would turn into just a bunch of pages with pictures thrown on.

Yesterday, Baby Clay and I ventured down to Birmingham for my company's Annual Thanksgiving lunch. My friends at work hadn't seen him in over a year and I thought showing up for the Thanksgiving lunch would be a great time to bring him! Wow! There was so much food! I ate and ate... and ate and ate... I got Clay some food, but he decided he was more interested in my friend, Heather's, tortilla strips she had on her salad. Basically, that's all he ate for his Thanksgiving lunch! We had a great time and Clay was pooped by the time we left. He did manage to stay awake for most of the ride home, but couldn't hold his eyes open for the last half of the trip.

Yeah... he was OUT!

Tomorrow we are off to my grandmother's to get REALLY fat! My aunt sent me the menu... I think I gained 5 pounds just reading the email! There were at least 20 things on the menu and I liked every one of them. I wonder if it would be tacky of me to show up in my comfortable, stretchy PJ pants?? I mean, it is family!

Hope everyone has a Happy Turkey Day!!

Arizona

Last week I had a work trip to Scottsdale, AZ. I was kind of dreading the trip... being away from Baby Clay and Mark as well as wondering what-in-the-world is in Scottsdale, AZ?!? Let's just say... Scottsdale is beautiful!!! The weather was perfect and the hotel we stayed at was GORGEOUS! We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa and here is the view as we drove up... Look at the palm trees!! There were hundreds of huge palm trees everywhere!


This is the view of the front with the fountain. The whole front and back has these big, huge doors that they would slide open so that the whole entire entry would be open. The weather during the day was absolutely perfect for this!
I loved the landscape around Scottsdale... very low maintenance! No grass... lots of cactuses, grape fruit trees, palm trees and dirt! I learned that the big tall cactuses that you normally think of (the ones with the 2 arms coming out) are native to Arizona and only grow in Arizona. These little clusters of cactuses were also all over the place.

The resort had a gorgeous outside area that had these big, comfy bed-like couches along with fire pits and big out door fire places.

The pool was amazing! It was huge and just kept going... and going! Here is a picture of the part of the pool that they made to look like the beach with sand.

And that big Clock Tower is actually a water slide. You climb up the stairs inside and then slide down into the pool!

Here is another view of the pool. See! It goes on forever!One of the cute bars/restaurants that you can "swim" over to.

I would definitely like to go back again next year... preferably more prepared with my bathing suit and suntan lotion (I didn't think we'd have any time).

So what was Baby Clay doing while I was working away in Arizona?? He was at home with his daddy. This was the longest I had left Mark with Clay and he did an excellent job of taking care of him! I got back after he had gone to sleep Friday night, so I didn't get to see him until he woke up Saturday morning. It was so cute!!! When I walked into his room, it took him a little while to realize that I was home! He gave me the biggest smile! I had missed him so much! He had become quite the "daddy's boy" while I was gone, but is quickly returning to being a "momma's boy"!

Tomorrow, Clay and I are making a trip down to Birmingham to attend my work's Annual Thanksgiving lunch. He hasn't seen my good friends at work since I was on maternity leave! I can't wait! I'll be sure to wear my stretchy jeans because I know I'll eat WAY too much!

We Lost AGAIN!!!

This weekend was the big Auburn vs. Georgia game! We decided to stay at home and watch it with Baby Clay. We decked him out in his Auburn shirt, picked up pizza and made some rotel dip! What was looking like a hopeful win, turned bad... real bad! We lost... AGAIN!

Here's Baby Clay already looking like he's had a little "too much"... drool all over his shirt... walking a little sideways...

Come on bulldogs, show us what you got!

Ok, bulldogs... You showed us!

(Actually, he's crying because he's in time-out for messing with the satellite box. A big no-no trying to change the channels during game time!)

Worn out from all the excitement!

And it has been a delight the past 3 years to see what shirt our friend, Christy, makes for Mark. They've got a bet that whoever wins, they get to make a shirt for the other person to wear during the game the next year. However, since they've made this bet, Christy has only had to wear a home-made shirt once (it was gorgeous, though... all decked out with puffy paint and orange feathers! Christy, I wish I could find my pictures from that game!!!)

Here is Mark showing off the front of his shirt - you can't read it that well, but it says "If you can't beat 'em"

And here's the back...
I really liked the glittery silver paint. That added a nice touch, Christy. And he did wear it for almost the entire game. He thought maybe that would bring Auburn luck... AND it didn't!

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Oh, wait... look what I found! Gotta love those online photo hosting sites!!!

You can't read the back, but it says "Tigers Rule, Dogs Drool".

Here's my favorite part... the feathers!

Wow! Can you believe that was in 2006?!? That seems forever ago!

Anyways, we'll get them next year (I hope)!

(P.S. Christy, I hope you don't get mad at me for posting those pictures! I personally think you look really great in orange!) :o)

Flashback Friday - 1 Year Ago

I was looking through Clay's "old" pictures and came across this one...

This was taken almost exactly a year ago today! It is one of my favorite pictures! I love his expression.


How did we go from that to this...

There is a reason why he's looking all redneck... Someone (and I'm not saying who) tracked mud into the house and thought that they cleaned it all up. Well, Clay decided that the red mud looked yummy and was EATING IT!!! He had red mud all down his face and all down the cute sweater he wore. Yuck! I guess that's probably not going to be the worst thing he'll eat! I'm sure there will be bugs... worms... let's just stop there!

Look at that belly! Daddy got him some new add-ons for his Little People farm he is obsessed with. He's holding one of the cows that came with it. He LOVES that Little People stuff!

And speaking of redneck... There's just a hint of baby buttcrack poking out!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

It's Thursday...

And I have random pictures...

Last night we went out to our weekly ritual of Mexican food with Nan. Remember in the last post how I mentioned how he always has one shoe off and one on... this is how we spent most of the time in the restaurant...

I'm hoping that when it gets REALLY cold outside he's going to realize what shoes and socks are for and leave them on!!

This morning he got to wear a cute sweater his Nana (my mom) got him for his birthday. I had been holding out on letting him wear it because I was going to use it for his one year pictures... but we all know how that has gone down so far!
And it looks like this weekend we are going to really need to look into getting something to prevent him from doing this:

He LOVES the stairs and he's quick! I was in the kitchen the other day and thought he was playing in the den... I literally walked out of the room for 5 seconds and he was already half-way up the stairs by the time I figured out where he had run off to!

And is it possible that he's going through the terrible two's a little early?? Wow! He's got a little temper on him! Last night at dinner he was throwing handfuls of food on the floor barely missing the people at the table right behind us. Then he would take a drink of his milk and spit it all over me. I think the dinners out with our normally VERY good toddler are about to be coming to an end!

Wordy Wednesday - A Whole Lot of Nothin'

So last night I pulled the camera out and started taking random pictures of Baby Clay - I know it's not any different from any other night that I pull the camera out and take random pictures, but I got a few cute ones.

He's really into his blocks and those big legos. He likes to build things... well, actually I build things and he likes to knock them down. Then he gives me his evil laugh... like in this picture... he's already knocked half of it down and now he's going in for this kill! See that evil little smirk on his face! Pure Evil, I tell ya!
We're also going to have to work on his smile. Before we'd get the camera out and say "Cheese" and he'd make his cheesy smile. It was cute the first 100 pictures (and it's still cute)... but now he does it almost every time we point a camera in his direction. We're going to have to break him of that before his one year pictures (which, by the way, have been rescheduled for December 8th. I'm sure it will snow that day!)

And Clay seems to be the little trend-setter these days. He's always missing one shoe and sock... ALWAYS! I like to say that it's part of his style... you know like the Michael Jackson one-glove style... Clay is starting the one-shoe style. So it's only fitting that he rides his dump truck in his own style... backwards, that is. Hey... whatever works!

Since he's been crawling up on the rocking chairs at daycare and standing up, I decided that maybe now is a good time to teach him that chairs are for "sitting" and not "standing". This may be a long process, but I did manage to get him to sit in his chair for a few minutes.Mark is all about some holiday traditions and one of those is watching the Charlie Brown cartoon that coincides with the holiday coming up. He watched the Halloween one last month and last night we pulled out the Thanksgiving one. They even have a cartoon that explains the whole Mayflower/pilgrim/Indian story. I won't even mention the stupid questions I asked in regards to Columbus and the pilgrims... History is not my strong point. So, that was our ordinary Tuesday night with some random pictures. Now go find some other blog that is WAY more interesting than what you just read!! :o)

Tasty Tuesday - Crockpot Southwestern Chicken

I haven't done a Tasty Tuesday in a LONG time, but I've come across some really yummy recipes that I have to share! I made Crockpot Southwestern Chicken last night... and it was DELICIOUS and very easy! I found it on the Sister's Cafe food blog. They've got a ton of wonderful sounding recipes and I've emailed myself many of them to try! Here's the recipe:

Crockpot Southwestern Chicken

1 small bag frozen corn
1 can black beans
2 large frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 16-oz jar medium salsa, such as Pace medium picante sauce
Tortilla Chips

Toppings: (Be creative! I used all of the below and threw in some diced onion and jalapenos)
shredded cheddar cheese
sour cream
chopped cilantro
diced avocado

Pour bag of frozen corn in bottom of crockpot. Place frozen chicken breasts on top of corn and cover with rinsed and drained black beans and jar of medium salsa. Cook on high for 1 hour, and then on low for 4 hours. Shred chicken with forks. Serve with tortilla chips and add toppings to individual servings.

Make sure you use a good, flavorful MEDIUM salsa because it's what seasons the whole dish. I did add some cumin and cayenne pepper and stirred in my chopped cilantro towards the end of the cooking. We ate it on chips like nachos, but I bet it would be good in tortillas. I thought it would be a great thing to make if you have people over to watch a football game!

And I'm sure some homemade guacamole would be perfect with it as well! I now have the perfect person to make it for me!!


He's into the "food squishing" phase... everything gets squished up before it goes into his mouth! His favorite food to squish is avocado! Just what I need to make some good, homemade guacamole!

This is his surprise look...
He's such a stinker!

We were supposed to have his 1 - year pictures today, but it's not looking like it's going to happen with this 100% chance of rain! The pictures are supposed to be outside... and I don't think it's going to work out! We've already had to reschedule this session once since he was sick back in September! At this rate he's going to be 2 years old before he gets his 1 year pictures taken!!!

Photo Friday - Love of my Life

(Shhhhh... don't tell Mark!)

Oh, and yes, I did get a haircut... just bangs and the dead ends chopped off. Poor Clay! He may never need a haircut! I don't think his hair has grown at all in the last few months... maybe since birth!

On our agenda this weekend is Date Night (woo hoo!), shopping (double woo hoo!), and possibly Brunswick Stew and a hay ride. Hope everyone has a great weekend!!