Gifts and Gab - Join Us!

Gifts and Gab

A bloggers' holiday get together featuring friends, shopping,

and space for working on holiday projects!


November 13th, 2010

9am - 4pm

The Mill House
Norwood Young America, MN

Take a scenic drive 45 miles west of Minneapolis, and gather in a old feed Mill turned spacious 12,000 square foot antique, home furnishings, and gift store.



Nestled in rural Norwood Young America, The Mill House is a fabulous find filled with gently used furniture, accessories, clothing, jewelry, pottery, baby gifts, books, a flower shop and coffee house.




We will have a private room for lunch and mingling, and table space for any project you wish to work on offline. Bring knitting, needlework, scrapbooking, or just your smiling face! Cozy up next to a fireplace and the warmth of new and old, online and real life friends. Browse and chat and munch.

We will have coffee, tea, & muffins for the early birds. A light lunch will be served, or you can purchase something at the Mill House Cafe. You are welcome to bring treats to share.

We will be sending out invitations via Evite on October 13th, so let us know if you would like to be sent one! We have some fun surprises planned and would love to spend the day with you! Space is limited, so let us know as soon as you can!









Contact either of us. You'll find us here:

Kristina of A Joy Walk
@ktinajoy
ktinajoy@gmail.com

Carrie of 4 The Love of Family
@4MamaBear
4theloveoffamily @ gmail (dot) com


Follow this event's news on twitter under hashtag #GiftsandGab



Thank you to our sponsors:

{So}Sartina - Limited Edition Bags and Accessories. All kinds of beautiful.

Counselor Realty of Norwood Young America 952-467-4663


We are looking forward to seeing you!

Carrie & Kristina

The next generation

We were blessed with an extended visit with my friend Owen and his family a couple of weeks ago. Owen and I go way way back. We met in sixth grade, went to youth group together, walked together for high school graduation, he was an usher in my wedding, I photographed his. He and his wife, Staci, are Sam's Godparents. We are their son Joseph's Godparents.

Now Sam and Joseph are making their own memories as friends.


Sam and Joseph (who Sam kept calling Moses) are 4 months part, but his little sister, Moriah, is only one month younger than our Julia - not to be confused with their Julia who will be two in October.


Ginny, their oldest, was so helpful with the water feature. It was fun to sit back and watch them 'work' while we caught each other up on what we've been up to since they moved back to Wisconsin.


It was nice to not be rushed. They camped in our campground for four nights so we had lots of opportunities to visit, to play disc golf,

and to eat treats....


Since our 15 year class reunion is next month the goodbyes we said when they pulled out after their (buggy) stay wasn't as sad as it otherwise would have been!

A summer checklist (for three year olds)

I'm behind in writing what we've been doing this summer for my 'how I spent my summer vacation series' and I thought this would be a fun way to catch up from last week. This is Julia's version:


Saturday - visit friends and swim in their big pool. check

Sunday - Eat first tomatoes from the garden.

check

Monday - Bring Mommy breakfast in bed.

check

Tuesday - Play "library program" and perform new acts

check

Wednesday - Play Tennis

check
Thursday - Jump off the dock and

go to a concert in the park (alternate option - nap)
check, check

Friday - Pack suitcase for a sleepover at Grandma's

check

Errands with a twist

We left the house to run a few errands last a couple of weeks ago. Speech therapy. Target. Garden Center. Grocery Store.

In the middle of all of that I got a call from MckMama and since we were both out in the same general area we made plans to meet up later.
We went to a cute little place that makes YUMMY shakes and the kids savored ice cream cones with sprinkles and an animal cracker on top.

The ice cream treat was nice, but the best part was spending an afternoon with friends.

The kids played so nicely together for so long that some more friends joined us later.

Alphabitty Moments - The letter W

Yes, you are at the right place for Alphabitty Moments. I just opted to skip the scrapbook page for today since this isn't the actual photo I'd use in Julia's book anyway. It would pretty much shoot our privacy out of the water if I were to post a picture of with our town name displayed on our water tower now wouldn't it?



Why the water tower for the letter W? Months ago my kids decided which water tower in town would belong to them. They don't point out their own towers as much since we make so many trips to town for school right now, but when I was working on this picture this morning Julia said, "That's my water tower!" so they definitely remember. The nearby town where our friends Karen and Aaron live in has two water towers as well. Sam and Julia shout out "There's Henry's water tower!" whenever we drive by. Julia even remembers that Henry's little sister has a water tower now. Is that "Caroline's water tower Mommy?" she asks.

So you see, we can't drive anywhere without them asking who each water tower 'belongs' to. It's actually kinda fun to be able to think of friends and family as we're passing by their neighborhoods even if we don't get to see them very often.

What W moment do you want to remember this week?

Back in the saddle again

After taking the winter off from regular photo shoots I'm back in the saddle again. It feels good.


Really, really good.

Pneumonia - a play by play

Before I forget the details of Sam's sudden illness I want to record them here. I'm already mad at myself enough for not keeping up the kids' health notebooks that I started when they were babies (small notebooks to record illnesses, medications, well child measurements - nothing fancy but it's hard to remember who had x-rays when, who was the one with croup etc... so I had planned to keep a written record for when the doctor asked health history questions)

For some reason Sam has managed to be sick every time it's his turn to bring home the snack bucket from school. He should have brought it home yesterday. Instead he spent the day coughing and coughing and coughing. He started with a temp on Tuesday the 2nd after nap and was very lethargic and miserable. He threw up twice from coughing so hard. I called the nurse when his temp got to 102 under his arm, thinking that it meant 103. I couldn't remember if she said to call if it got to 103 or if that was when we should bring him in. Anyone else second guess themselves constantly when your kids are sick?

So I called. Just in case. Oh it's not add a degree under the arm, it's subtract a degree. Really? That's not what I remember, but you're the professional so I guess I'm wrong. Thank goodness it's not as bad as I thought.

I slept at the foot of his twin bed that night. If you can call it sleep that is. He coughed all night long. No school for him. I took Julia to school on 45 minutes of sleep. Sam's teacher called to check up on him. I let Sam sleep in the chair for nap time. He slept 15 minutes.
We watch movie upon movie upon movie until bedtime. All day he's eaten 5 pretzels, a few bites of cornbread, & a little applesauce.

Seven pm and he's in bed. I have a video monitor set up 3 feet from his face. I have hardly left his side except to take Julia to school. I go up and check on him at 9pm. He's breathing hard, I can see his neck pulsating fast. I think of my friend Jennifer and get a small glimpse into her past. I take his pulse. 162. Is that too high for a five year old? Is that a sign of something that needs attention right away? (Mine can be as low as 50 and rarely gets above 60) I couldn't find the answer online so I called our insurance company's nurse line. By the time I got through the list of symptoms her recommendation was to call 911. (Oh and she said that it's add a degree under the arm.)

We decide that it's faster to just drive him ourselves. I cross paths with an ambulance three miles from our house. Extra glad we decided to drive ourselves. We arrive at the ER and a triage nurse gives me the 3rd degree on why we are there. In not a nice way. Whatever.

We get past the paperwork stage and into the room where that same nurse takes Sam's vitals. Temp of 104. Pulse Ox - a titch over what it needs to be in order to be admitted.
He's coughing and is moaning. He doesn't like for me to jostle him in anyway. I have to be careful as I stand with him. There's no way he can walk. The nurse shows he's human after all and hands my baby a kleenex and offers to carry Sam's blanket and my purse.

He leads us to are put in room number 9. Within a few minutes a nurse comes in and gives him Tylenol and Motrin. Didn't know you could have both at the same time...Then things move really really r e a l l y s l o w. Poor Sam is shivering despite being covered with his ThomasTheTrain blanket. I can see that he's having a hard time breathing and that his heart is racing.

They know what they are doing - they wouldn't leave us alone for 20 minutes if it were that bad. Right? They must be super busy despite only 4 cars in the parking lot. I ask a nurse who comes in eventually if it's good for him to be waiting this long in his condition. She agrees that someone should come in asap. We see a doc who orders a chest x-ray. I carry my baby down the hall to radiology. I hold his hand while the tech takes two pics of his lungs. He asks for a drink of water. Thank goodness he's able to keep fluids down and wants them. I give him the a sip from the hospital mug I used when I was pregnant with Julia.

We go back to our room. I offer to snuggle with Sam, but he aches and prefers the stillness of the bed. He snuggles with his plastic shark, Lucy. I tuck his sister's puppy up close for warmth. He's still shaking. But he's able to fall asleep - getting a break from the hours and hours he'd been coughing. I hold his hand. We wait. And then we wait some more.

Two nurses come in and explain the nose swabs they are going to do. Sam trembles from fear. He whimpers "Mommy" as I hold him down for the task of squirting water up his nose and retrieving the sample. It wasn't enough. It takes three of us to hold him down. They hose slips off and they have to do it again. He was so brave. Braver than I would have been if someone wanted to stick a swab that far back.

They bring him a superman balloon. "Is that an S Mama?" Yes. Do you you know who Superman is? "No" Oh my sweet sweet sheltered boy. I hate that we're there. I want him to be better. I want him to be able to stop coughing and for his heart to slow down. They offer him a Popsicle. They can't believe he's never had one. He defers to me when they ask him what flavor. I say I think he'll like the orange one. They bring him a red one. He loves it.

The fever reducers start to work and he perks up a bit. He wants to go home. I tell him we have to wait some more to find out what's wrong with him. RSV? Influenza? My memory gets fuzzy here (I've only slept 3-4 hours in the past 48 hours) but I think the doc came in to say that that we had to wait on the test before we could know how to treat him. Whatever the actual order of events - it was a long wait. Every time someone would leave the room it would be 20 minutes before we saw someone again. That's a long time for a little guy who's exhausted and sick.

PapaBear had said I could call anytime. I still didn't know anything and it was already after 11pm at this point. Almost two hours into our ER visit and all he's had is some meds I could have given him at home. Wave of second guessing rolls in. Tears roll down Sam's face as we wait for the doctor to come back. He and I talk options. Tamiflu is metioned as an option if it turns out to be influenza. I've never been more grateful for internet on my phone so I can look up Tamiflu side effects. He sees something in his lungs on the X-ray. Need to wait for the test results. The doc leaves. Sam cries some more. We look at maps on my phone. He likes to see New York City.

At 11:45 the doc returns to say that the tests were negative. I ask for his pulse ox to be retested to be sure that it has improved enough for us to go home. 95. We're good to go. We wait another 10 minutes for someone to come with discharge papers. Sam cries some more. "Why is there something in my lungs that is making me sick Mama?" I don't know baby but we're hear to find out how to make you better.

The nurse comes in with our blue folder of paperwork. I sign a couple of things. She tells us we can fill our prescriptions using the InstiMeds machine in the lobby. I have to ask her if there was an official diagnosis.

Pneumonia.

OK. Good to know!

We're out of there! But not very fast of course. Walking too fast make Sammy's tummy hurt. I fill our prescription in the futuristic and frankly, a little creepy, machine in the lobby. Sam coughs. The receptionist asks us to put a mask on him. We leave. I eat M&M's on the way home and drink ice cold coffee left over from the morning. It's 12:45 in the morning when we get home.

I felt terrible that PapaBear was in the dark the whole time we were gone. I kept thinking about calling him, but never really knew anything until we were walking out the door. I get Sam tucked into his bed and have a light bulb moment about my sleeping arrangements. Sam's room is TINY but we have a crib mattress that will fit on the floor. I slept like a baby on it. Ha! I wish. I do think I slept through a lot of his coughing, but I know that it was a comfort to Sam to know that he could ask me for anything in the middle of the night. He would call out "Mama?" and then say "Just checking to see if you were in here" I tell him that I will stay in his room with him until he feels better. He tells me he loves me more than Daddy.

Last week he told me he loved Daddy more. Now we're even. But not really. I don't keep score. I can't these days or I'll go mad. PapaBear spends WAY more time with the kids than I do. I focus on quality since I'm not getting the quantity. This week I'm getting quantity and quality with my son. I wish it were under different circumstances. It does my heart good to know that he knows I will be there for him when he needs me. Sometimes I worry that he's not sure about that since I leave for work so much.

We 'sleep' until 9 this morning. I prepare his meds and we decide to set up camp in my bedroom. Less germs spread around the house that way. I called for a follow up appointment and get in at a clinic I've never been to before. I felt it was important for us to see a pediatrician today and not a family practitioner. I liked Dr. S right away. I told her that she was the very first doctor Sam saw in the hospital when he was born, but it was by mistake. Her practice was 40 miles from our house. We were suppose to be seen by the doctor 1 mile from our house. She didn't skip a beat. She said, "So Sam, how've you been since I saw you last?" I told you I liked her!

We talked medical history (once again wished I had been better about filling out the medical notebooks!) and we decided to do another chest X-ray to make sure that he wasn't getting worse. His pulse ox was in the mid 90's but his color was terrible. He could barely stand to be weighed. Thankfully the x-ray showed that he wasn't getting any worse so we could go home and not to the hospital. After last night, Sam isn't all that excited about a trip to the hospital. We picked up a second prescription for another antibiotic - we're going to hit this from all directions she said. I vowed to get a full dose of acidophilus in him tomorrow. No more mixing it in his Cream Of Wheat. This time it's going into one spoonful of applesauce and going down all at once. He'll thank me later. Or maybe not.

So that brings us to tonight. His cough isn't as frequent, but he can't keep his temp below 103 without Motrin. We are suppose to call the clinic in the morning to check in.

I want to say thank you again to everyone who's prayed for our special little guy. Any sickness whether it's a cold or something much more serious is hard for a mom to watch her child suffer through. It's nice to know that others were thinking of us - somewhere out there - as the title of Sam's favorite song says.

A heart to change the world

Last night I had the life changing opportunity to volunteer at Feed My Starving Children. My friend Kristina and I made the trek to the East Metro and filled bags of food for starving children. FMSC packages millions of meals a year and makes a difference in SO many lives around the world, but little did we know that when Missy organized the event weeks ago that an earthquake would devastate Haiti....the very place our 64 boxes of food is headed based on their distribution schedule.









Kristina and I donned our hairnets along with a roomful of volunteers....




Jerry gave us our instructions and we got to work packaging meals.












Jen did a great job explaining the production process in her post about the event, but here are some pictures I snapped after I gave up my job of dumping in a container of soy (lower left hand picture)



Our shift was over before we knew it. There were many comments of "but we could do so much more!" The camaraderie and feeling of contributing in a tangible way was almost electric. I didn't even notice that it was after 10pm when we left the building.




Before we left the staff at FMSC shared some statistics about what we had accomplished in the short time we were volunteering. I did what any girl with a terrible memory does - I wrote on my hand so I wouldn't forget the numbers. They weren't just numbers though. They were lives. Lives saved because of a simple cup of food. (Liz talked numbers in her post and she did it very very well.)



It was an honor to be a part of this group of bloggers - most who had never met before, but who came together with a heart to change the world...one meal at a time.



What was the best part of the whole night?

We had the privilage of praying over the 64 boxes of food we had packaged.

As Jerry closed the prayer I couldn't help but think of the children's CD that I grew up listening to called A Heart To Change The World. It's the 6th in a series by Psalty the Singing Songbook and will be the subject of an upcoming (give-a-way) post about how PapaBear and I are teaching our kids to be grateful for the blessings we have here in America, especially in light of the recent tragedy. Stay tuned!

Sweet

The food was sweet

The the company was sweet

The strangers who helped us out of the ditch were sweet

My welcome home was sweet (PapaBear had left the light on for me & the door unlocked so I didn't have to fumbled with armloads of stuff to find my keys & Sam squealed & jumped into my arms)

The the bag of cookies I had forgotten I stashed in my pillowcase (and subsequently slept on Saturday night) taste very sweet as I reflect on what an amazing time I had spending about 24 hours with other bloggers, most of whom had never met in person before.

Wordless Wednesday - Baby in a Basket

i heart faces - x5

I don't think I can put into words how much fun I had with this week's challenge over at i heart faces! So I won't try. Instead I'll just say that I was dreaming of carving their logo into things a couple of nights ago. It's addicting I tell ya! Our challenge this week is to incorporate the i heart faces logo into our pictures. The timing is perfect because I've been waiting for a reason to post this picture of our cousin snowboarding on Christmas Eve.




I learned more about layers this week than I did all last year! If you haven't participated in a weekly challenge I highly recommend you do - it's a great way to think outside the box. Speaking of boxes - here are some of my favorite kiddos boxed in at an orchard a while back.



I doubt our bosses here at the park would appreciate it if we carved into the rocks, but thanks to the wonders of Photoshop I don't have to worry about that now do I?


I tried my hat at another way of incorporating the logo in the last two photos - the first, just screamed i heart faces to me...since my fearless daughter apparently likes faces too - so much so that she'll kiss the face of a fish!



I know this is Julia in the same hat again, but I loved her expression so much that PapaBear's shirt just had to be given an upgrade.

And there you have it - i heart faces times 5! Click on the button to see other entries for this week...



“I am submitting these photos into the I Heart Faces logo photo contest. By entering, I am granting I Heart Faces LLC permission to consider my photos for use in the marketing and promotion of their website.”

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - Day 25

Twenty-five days of memories! Oh how I will love looking back on these pages in my blog book some day! Thanks for joining me on this adventure! It sure has been fun!

There wasn't a whole lot of rhyme or reason to which ornaments I chose to write about and I had no idea which one I would use for the grand finale...until I saw the picture of this one. It is so simple, yet so detailed.

Kinda like that night long ago.... A simple couple came to Bethlehem to be registered and yet all the details were set in place by God.








Today is Christmas and for most of us that means a day spent opening gifts and enjoying the company of family. I pray that we will always remember the words on the sign my friend Karen gave me for Christmas last year:



Christmas Blessings from Bear Country!

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments- Day 23

We bought this ornament in the Spring of 2006. I was 3 months pregnant with Julia and we were on vacation out West. We had cancelled our vacation because I was too sick to travel, but three days we were originally scheduled to leave, I suddenly started feeling better and we rebooked our tickets to Las Vegas. Our ultimate destination was a little town called Independence, California where our friends work for the National Park Service, but we spent a night in Las Vegas on the way back home. We had 12 hours to kill our last day since we took the red eye home so Sam would sleep. (He was 18 months old at the time).

There is plenty to see and do in Las Vegas for 12 hours so we kept ourselves plenty busy. I was so glad to be feeling human again and Sam loved all the sights and sounds of the city. Our only souvenirs came from the M&M store. I'm guessing I'm probably not the only one who can say that. It's impossible to leave there without something. We got Sam a T-shirt and we picked out this ornament for our tree. Now that Sam is 5, we have allowed him to start watching the StarWars movies so he's claimed this ornament for his tree.
Despite what the picture of his tree shows, it now resides at the very top of the tree, right next to the star on his "waiting chain".

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - Day 13

Today's ornament has a story and is a perfect example of why I wanted to record the stories behind our ornaments.
I remember watching Home Alone 2 in high school and hearing Mr. E.F. Duncan, Owner Duncan's Toy Chest tell Kevin to take two turtle doves. "I'll tell you what you do: you keep one, and you give the other one to a very special person. You see, Turtle Doves are a symbol of friendship and love. And as long as each of you has your Turtle Dove, you'll be friends forever.

I bought a pair of turtle doves that year and gave one to my friend Becky. Now every year I put my white turtle dove on the tree, I think of her and the years and years of memories we share.

Fast forward a decade and I bought a second pair of turtle doves. On one of them I replaced the string with an orange ribbon before placing it in the box to give to my friend Jennifer. I have been blessed in my life to be surrounded by great friends and these two ornaments symbolize that.

Speaking of friends, I've had several requests to see pictures from the night I had a group of friends over to decorate gingerbread houses.

I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked because of how busy I was constructing a house for my kids to decorate and getting dinner on the table, but I won't soon forget how much fun it was to have a house full of friends, their kids, and a whole lotta candy!