!Almost Halloween!

YAY! It's almost Halloween!!! We carved pumpkins, and it was really a great time. Aspen was more into it this year, probably because she was older than 2 months? She also got to "drink" hot cocoa with THE GETTMAN and we got some pretty amazing photos of the Pre Halloween fun. We also just found out that Uncle Chad will be (back) out for the trick-or-treating!!! YAY!!! I'm sure it has less to do with seeing Aspen in her dinosaur costume than it does with.... other things.... haha, I'm so happy right now for everyone :) HEHEHEEEEEE

~Enjoy these shots~

Vegas

I really love this picture of us... timeless.

Vegas was a good vacation. I think in the future we will have to plan trips where Aspen can come too. I really really missed her. It was great to see the sights, and we really enjoyed the fountains! Jess and I drove most of the way there, but Chris drove most of the way back so it was all good :)

Textured Quilts

I have stumbled into one of the coolest things I've ever done

Textured Quilts

It's not a secret for anyone who knows me, but I really enjoy sewing. It's almost like a meditation. I love the challenge of a new project and it's such a part of who I am that I see fabrics and instantly start molding them into thousands of projects I don't yet know how to do! It's disgusting how much I love to spend ALL of my money making things to be given away... gross. Haha. If we were to become independantly wealthy I would make quilts and clothes and drapes and anything else you could imagine.... and then just give em away, because I love to see the look on peoples faces when they recieve something so heartfelt that they just don't know what to say. It's the BEST. All of that said, let me share some pictures of the latest projects! I used to work at CSDB (Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind) here in Colorado Springs. It was such a touching job and I really did enjoy the time I spent there. One of the ladies from CSDB recently sparked an interest in making textured bean-bags and other things for some of the very young students. I made this quilt yesterday! Can you imagine all of the amazing textures, and then the zipper and velcro pockets?! It's very cool. There isn't much out there for parents to choose from in the textured and stimulating department. I think I am going to update my site to include color swatches of different styles of quilts for the parents who would like to have one that matches their lives a little better. Brown and Pink would be a cute combo, also a few animals on one etc. Aspen LOVES playing on this one and it really isn't just limited to visually impared children... YAY, I'm so excited about this new chapter!!! Stay tuned for the updates on different themes and keep us in mind if you meet any little ones who could really use the sensory stimulation- OH, and they are actually machine quilted (only my Christmas gifts this year are hand-quilted ;) hehe) with a fantasticly fluffy batting for extra padding on those little knees and extra warmth for those little naps!

THANKS!

Loving our family of 3.

First, let me specifically say I'm thrilled to find out about friends who are adding to their families. THRILLED to see more babies born into love.

That said, I am also pretty exhausted by people asking when we are going to have our next. We don't even really know if we want to have more (probably will) let alone when. We just know that now is not the time. I understand how people want to "get it out of the way" and respect that; however, I have some amazing points about why we are thinking that our next spawning will be in 3 or 4 years... provided we aren't as "lucky" as we were with little Miss Aspen ;)

• We would like to have one out of diapers before starting another... I've read that if you have a second before the first is toilet-trained it can slow down the progress.
• Less sibling rivalry, there will always be SOME I know- my brothers are 13 years apart and it's still present!
  
• I have mad respect for women who tackle the terrible twos while being pregnant... but the exhaustion of pregnancy coupled with the tantrums of a two year old would kill me. AND then trying to juggle a 2 or 3 year old on top of an infant while grocery shopping??!!!
  
• Aspen, when old enough to understand that Momma's having a baby will be more helpful
• This is the ONLY time I will ever have one on one with my child. The bonding we do is way too important to short her on any and the second baby will never have it either... so we are soaking it up!
• $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ I know kids all cost money, but if we have time to save between buying cars and colleges for the both of them, then we might not go as insane.
• My work schedule is overnights, so if I have one child in school then it's not much different than my schedule now.
• Um, it's my uterus... so back off! Pregnancy was AWFUL and I'm not so sure I'm looking forward to getting all huge again. I'm also not keen on being the center of attention... which is all being pregnant really gets you in public. I smile at all pregnant women I see too haha.
  
• I got pregnant with Aspen at 23, and would like to have both children before I'm 30 so really that gives us up to 7 years to really decide when is officially right for us.

I feel like there are more arguments out there for having babies closer together, so there are a few of our points about spreading them out a little. Everyone does exactly what is right for their own families... which is a beautiful thing. We are very excited to actually "plan" for our next baby, being as Aspen was such a happy surprise! One day we will probably be a family of 4... just not for a while because everything is so perfect right now.

We were also hoping to have a little boy next.... what do you think of the name
Breck Mitchell Caton? I like it. Boom!

Halloween Time!

We are so excited that it's almost Halloween! Aspen is going to be a dragon, and we aren't sure if we will dress up too, but my little brother is going to be a wizard or a knight! Look forward to some fun pictures of the 2 of them!!!

Here is a video of Aspen trying on her winning costume, I still have to add a big pink bow to the head to make her a girl-dragon :)

NORTH POLE!!!!!

One of my favorite places on this earth is the North Pole amusement park in Cascade, Colorado.

We went on the worlds highest Ferris Wheel, ate snow cones, rode the train and Aspen went on several of the smaller rides by herself. The funniest part was how much she wanted to be independent! We would pass really fast rides that I would never consider going on with her right now and she would reach out to them and go "oooo, oooo Mama OOOOO" it was pretty cute! I did let her do a few of the spinning ones that looked secure enough and like they wouldn't rattle her little brain... the boats and a caterpillar ride were her favorites. She also rode a car with Daddy, and I got a pretty cute shot of her "steering". We received several comments about how little and pretty she was- I don't think she's THAT small, but most people place her at 8 months! I just tell people she doesn't have a very big Momma so it stands to reason she wont be very big ;). She had so much fun and we can't wait to go back, enjoy the pictures!!!

Wee Sale CHAOS!

Ah, the time of year has come for the disaster known as a "wee sale". I love to dread and dread loving this extravaganza. I'll admit, I look forward to the amazing deals on children items... also I think it's great to be recycling instead of spending outrageous funds on overpriced plastic. This year was the second I've ever attended, and actually purchased a few cute outfits and a bike trailer for Aspen to ride around in. I was pleased at keeping a very realistic budget and stocking the little lady with essentials for the winter. Kids are expensive, but honestly some of the Mothers there went completely insane! Is a brand name really worth fighting for?! I will surrender as a failure right now if Aspen grows up to be one of those women who "must" have the Jimbories and blabity blahs... Nice things are nice, but a few Mothers I saw today were so obsessed with setting their "princesses" up with the best clothes and spending hundreds of dollars it really made me look forward to explaining to Aspen later that the snobs in her class have more invested on what goes ON their heads than what goes in them... AND then she'll hate me for a while or something else daughters do. Haha. It would be nice to be able to purchase all of her essentials through fair trade organizations... maybe one day.
Anyway, the "disaster" part I refer to is the standing in line with 100's of hormonal pregnant women for an hour to start... fighting your way through the crowd of frenzied Mom's looking for the best of the best... then waiting in another line for nearly 2 hours to finish and pay. In that final waiting line of Moms was a group of women who were obviously trying to outdo each other... I seriously wanted to fabricate gold stars and hand them each one for being more shallow than the last. Bravo ladies, can't wait for your daughters to belittle mine for not looking nearly as expensive. (Maybe those are my 7th grade issues?)
Again, I really enjoy a fantastic bargain- and understand that some groups of women really get into that kind of thing. In general I HATE to shop so my view was skewed from the beginning so the "Wee Sale" is a good place to find one, but all in all I am glad it only comes around once a year... sigh.