Shutterfly Holiday Cards

I've used Shutterfly for a number of things in the past and I'm excited about this particular promotion! They are offering bloggers 50 free photo cards in exchange for spreading the word about their 2010 holiday cards. I'm game!

Shutterfly offers flat and folded holiday cards that you can upload your favorite family photos onto. All of their designs are wonderful, but here are a few of my favorites:

Religious Cards:
It is actually difficult to find CHRISTMAS cards in the stores now days! I love the nostalgic snowy scenes and the cute animals with santa hats, but we generally look for cards that specifically celebrate Christ's birth. They've got a great selection. This one is especially sharp and unique.

Cards for a Cause:
I was thrilled to see that they have cards that support Heifer International (as well as the American Lung Association and LIVESTRONG). Shutterfly will donate 10% of the net sales from these Support-a-Cause cards. The Heifer card to the left is too cute to resist!

Holiday Story Cards:
We have written a family letter to include with our cards for the past 3 years. I LOVE reminiscing over the last 12 months when I sit down to write our Christmas letter! These cards simplify the process by letting you type the text of your letter right onto the card! They actually have quite a few intriguing formats that include everything from little blurbs below the picture of each kid to a 2010 top 10 list.

I won't tell you which one we're ordering yet - you'll have to wait and see if you get one in the mail! :)

Click here for details if you'd like to get 50 free cards of your own! And use promo code SHIP30 to get free shipping on orders $30+

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Our Baby Girl is Growing!!

Cora turned 7 months old a week and a half ago!

Last week, I had the honor of being with my friend Katie as she labored and prepared to meet her little Margaret.She labored in the same hospital, in the SAME ROOM as I did 7 1/2 months ago. The experience was surreal for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that I'd never seen anyone labor but myself, but the most intense part for me was all of the memories and emotions that came flooding back. I even got a chance to reminisce a little bit with my (our) OB and he could hardly believe it had been 7 months either.

She's already grown from this:

To this:

She's reaching out onto her hands and knees, standing and walking with help, making "ma-ma" "da-da" "ba-ba" and other sounds, expressing preferences and dislikes in very recognizable ways, laughing robustly, and recently she started EATING SOLIDS! We started a bit earlier this time (though not early in general) and let me tell you, this girl loves her food!

She has SIX teeth already and loves chewing, so anything that has a little give is a big hit. She hasn't developed her pincer grip yet, so she's not making things to her mouth on her own. Aidan was by this age and I'm learning that this hand-eye coordination stuff might be a bit influenced by gender (or by the fact that I'm the clutz in this marriage). She also LOVES water. You'd think I was giving the girl hot chocolate (or a bold coffee - mmmm...)! Here's video evidence:

She's in 12-18 month clothing (she's beating Aidan at this age because she's fatter than he was!) and doesn't show any signs of stopping. She and Aidan have so much fun together and I am SO SO SO blessed to be mommy to these two! Every day is filled with fantastic moments.

Impossible to Catch Up

I'm terrible at keeping a personal journal. I like the idea, and I own two or three that are partially filled. I just always feel obligated to recount ALL of the events that have transpired since my last writing and since that's daunting, if not impossible, I rarely muster the energy to write at all.

 That's how I'm feeling about this blog right now.

So I'm going to make a list. I won't promise that I'll complete it, but here are some of the things I want to update you about:

• Our new house!
• Our new dog!
• Our Labor Day and Wichita vacations
• Cora starting solids
• the Hillcrest Gala
• Our preschool curriculum

 Right now I'm pretty tired and recovering from a sleepless night due to being with my lovely friend Katie while she labored before delivering precious Margaret Rose yesterday evening. I had to come home before Margaret arrived, but the 11 hours I was with Katie were amazing. Praise God for creating our wonderful bodies! Here's a pic of the pretty laboring lady after more than 10 hours!:

Margaret Rose Van Duyn was born at 6:04pm on 10/21 she weighed 8lbs 4oz

Can't wait to meet her tomorrow!!

If you want to see pictures of our family, I've uploaded a bunch of photos from the Summer on Facebook. Oh, and I updated the blog logo with a new picture of the kids, so you kind of get an update on them, too! 

FYI

We won't have access to the internet for the next week as we wait for service to start up at our new house.

I'll miss you, too! *sniff*

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Guess what my husband got me for my birthday? A HOUSE!!!!

Seriously! We are spending our first night there tonight, on my birthday!

I am so blessed! I'm turning 27 and I have a husband who provides for me, 2 wonderful children, a car, a dog (soon!), and now a house! There really isn't anything more! I am not entitled to or deserving of any of this and yet it's mine. I truly am blessed far beyond what I could dream to hope for.

If any of you were thinking about giving me a gift this year, this is what I would love for you to do: click on one of the images below to learn about two campaigns that I am a part of right now. The first is a 2 mile walk for the Liberty Women's Clinic, a pregnancy support center in the area. My goal is to raise $200 in pledges. The second is the Libby's and Feeding America virtual canned food drive. My goal is to raise $500 by the end of the year - Libby's will match it dollar for dollar!!

If either of these causes appeal to you, please consider blessing others (and me!) in honor of my birthday!! Thanks!

House Update

We've had many requests for news on the house, and I apologize for being so silent lately. Our situation seems to change daily and I don't have time to blog daily, so you've been in the dark.
 
We are still living with the Young family. It has been wonderful. Denise has taught me how to make Gnocchi (watch the food blog for the recipe!) among other things, Aidan has had 4 older siblings for 3 weeks, and we've really kind of put our feet up! It will be sad to leave, honestly. We'll enjoy having our own space, but sharing with friends has been lovely.

So when will we leave? We're still not positive, but we may be close to an answer! We are technically scheduled to close tomorrow and have asked for a one day extension, so we might very well be signing closing papers on Friday morning!!! We were waiting for an appraisal to be done and sent in to the underwriters. We got word today that it was done and looks good!

After 2 1/2 months of shenanigans I'm having a hard time believing that the home may actually be ours! I'm still waiting for the floor to fall from under us, I think. It does look, though, like we'll be living in our own house this time next week! I'll email family and close friends our new address when we've got keys in hand. :)