Toddler Talk

If I had to narrow it down I would say the thing I love most about my son's age is the things he says in his precious little voice. I really just want to bottle it up forever. I guess I could get it on video, but like I said on Tuesday, it's tricky because he is so distracted by the camera. The next best thing though would just be to make yet another list. This time it's memorable toddler talk from little Z-

"Oooo" Z says reaching the peanut butter brownie I ordered from the coffee shop. I tell him"No. That's Mommy's" He says "No... that's chocolate."

"Eleventeen"- A number Z made up that is often thrown in between 13 and 19.

"I want Bud Light"- A frequent seemingly controversial request from a two year old that is really asking for Buzz Light, as in Toy Story's Buzz Light Year.

"Thankcome"- A combination of Thank You and Your Welcome. It covers the whole gamut in Z's book of manners.

"I stopped crying" It's just something he announces when he is done throwing a fit. He always very calmly proclaims that he has stopped crying, in case I hadn't noticed that the sound decibel levels in the house had returned to a tolerable level.

"Say escooze me mama" We laughed so hard when Z first started saying things like "I fotted, or I bupped" and it was cute, but I tried to quickly regain my maturity and teach him to say excuse me. Although, it never fails when I have gas (I am pregnant ya know) that he immediately reminds me to say excuse me to him.

Any moms out there have some favorite memories of their toddlers little sayings? I love hearing those stories, typed out phonetically is even better.

Favorites

This week I am trying to write some things down that I want to remember about Z at this stage, so here is a random list of some of his favorite things-

Food- Yogurt
Drink- Hot chocolate
Song- "Going To The House Of God" (God You're My God)- Delirious
Movie- Lion King
TV Show- Sid The Science Kid
Book- Veggie Tales, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything Series
Toy- Thomas and Friends
Instrument- Drums
Saying- "Run Like The Wind"

He has lots of "favorites" and they are changing all the time, but for today these are what I would say are some of his favorite things. He got a toy drum set for Christmas and of course he doesn't perform on queue, in fact it is hard for us to video anything because he stops whatever he was doing if he sees the camera, but here is the best I could get of him playing around on the drums and wearing his daddy's hat.

The Only Child

Z has about 6 weeks left (give or take) to be an only child. That is one reason I have decided to dedicate this weeks blog topic to him. After all, along with blogging being like a form of therapy or accountability it's also a great way to document things. Especially since I no longer have a tot site and he has kind of out grown most of the things you would fill out in the baby book. Yet, there is still so much that I want to remember about this stage in his life.

For example today he had a physical with our pediatrician. He is currently 87th percentile for height, 74th for weight, and 89% for head measurements. So he's a big guy with a big head! He also had his first shot and he took it like a pro. He didn't cry or even flinch at all. That's one thing I can check off the "things to do before the baby gets here" and while we were at it I also had his eyeglasses adjusted because they were in pretty rough shape. Then we splurged on Dutch babies at a really neat restaurant called Ol' South. If you have never tried a dutch baby they are a tasty, custardy, crepe like, German pancake and the ones at Ol' South in Fort Worth are a delicacy in my book, despite the creepy name. After that we spent hours outside enjoying the gorgeous weather that will supposedly be turning into freezing cold temperatures within days. J got onto me for teaching Z how to blow dandelions seeds and so we switched to bubbles so that he would have less weeds to try and exterminate in the spring. Even though there is no shortage of toddler moments in our household Z's a good kid, and today was just a really good day.



*In reference to Z's first shot you may be thinking "what the heck, he's over 2 years old he should have had dozens of vaccines by now!" However after much research, consultations, and prayer, we chose to delay vaccines and I know this is an extremely controversial choice, but one that is not taken lightly. This is also really personal and far too complicated of a decision to just draw conclusions from without knowing all the details. With that said this is not a post about the vaccine debate, but I want to be open about the route we've taken and if you have any questions feel free to email me.

The Glamorous Life of a Freelance Photographer

I've been pursuing a career in photography since 2002 and it has been evolving, growing, and taking on a direction of it's own ever since. I've shared this week about my journey of jobs and most of the time the photography has been a part time thing, including now, but I still keep very busy.


I do all kinds of portraits from babies to seniors and anything else that gets thrown my way. I even collaborated with a tattoo artist for a while. I also do a lot of weddings, and I blogged about that back in March.

I still do all of those things, but now I invest most of my time working for some local magazines.

There are many reasons that I love this job. First off I really do feel like I am participating in something that has a purpose because a lot of the stories feature people in the community that are giving back, or articles that help raise awareness for various causes and charitable organizations. I also like having a somewhat steady paycheck, and I definitely get to meet some interesting people. On top of all that many of the subjects want to give me something; a copy of their book, a craft that they made, or some food they had prepared. I am always declining and they are always insisting (you know how that goes). This week I met a sweet older lady that makes Scandinavian pastries. She claims to be of the "Swish" origin because her mother was Swedish and her father was Swiss. She sent me home with this plate of rosettes and krumkakes.
That was yesterday, today the plate is empty.

I must say that looking back and talking about the jobs I have had, and have now, has been therapeutic (as blogging often is). I just realized that in my day to day life I complain about work and money a lot. Taking the time to review things in hindsight or just sum it all up like I have this week makes me so much more appreciative of where I have been and how much opportunity I have been given. It's really not all that glamorous, but especially with the state of the economy and rate of unemployment right now I should be thankful for every opportunity and trust that God is in control of what is to come.

Kindergarten and Obesity

After I left the Macaroni Grill to pursue my career as a photographer I had to make up for the lack of income with a job that would be flexible enough for me to still do photo shoots when I wanted. That is why I tried my hand at substitute teaching. All in all it was a good experience. There were those days were you ended up in a Freshman Agricultural class watching the same video 6 times about turning cows into food, but they were few and far between. I actually enjoyed teaching the High School and Middle School classes the best, but the one class that I will never forget out of my two years of subbing was Kindergarten. I gave it a chance and then vowed never to do it again!

Some people are just cut out for that sort of thing and to my friends that teach that age God bless you. The thing about Kindergarten and most Elementary age classes is that you have the same kids the WHOLE DAY. There is no switching classes at the bell, there is no escape other than a brief lunch and maybe music class. They have a very fast paced schedule of activities involving songs, charts, and materials that as a sub you have no clue how to use. The worst part though is the tattling- OH THE TATTLING! The whole day various kids were telling on one another for saying "the D word" or "the S word" or you name it. One kid came up to me and said so and so said the "E word", which got me curious, so I asked him what the E word was and he "Idiot".

I survived that day, but I remember talking to my husband afterwards and telling him how fat I would be if I were a Kindergarten teacher because I was certain that I would go home everyday after work and eat an entire box of Oreos. To all my teacher friends Kindergarten or not you are amazing. Hang in there, you are about half way done.

Minimum Wage Restaurant Days

I haven't worked that many places in my lifetime, but most of the jobs I have held involved service in the food industry. When I was 16 I had very short lived position at Mc Donald's, the same one my mom was working at only she was day shift. After that I moved up to being a hostess at the Olive Garden. This is the job I still had when I got married at the tender age of 18! I was always terrified of waiting tables, but the money was better and eventually the management covinced me to face my fears and become a server so I moved up from hostess to waitstaff. That position lasted 3 years. Unfortunately when I quit the Olive Garden I left on kind of a sour note, but I won't get into that story right now. I went straight from that job to working weekday lunches at The Macaroni Grill. As an insider I must say that The Macaroni Grill has so much more going for it and I worked there for over 3 years. All in all that makes nearly 7 years of wearing black pants a white collared buttoned down shirt and a tie. It's also 7 years of the serving up pasta and wine while listening to the same big band era songs over and over for $3.15 an hour plus tips.

I learned a lot through the years of working in the food industry. I refined what I look for in a cuisine. I had some tough lessons involving customer service, and I definitely learned the value of a dollar. I don't miss the days of waiting tables, not one bit. It was good for the time being though and now I can carry a lot of things at once.

Look Back and Laugh: No Makeup VS. No Hair

When you have a job that includes dealing with coworkers you meet a lot of interesting people. I think that is why the show The Office is such a hit, we have all been there. The fictional characters may be a little exaggerated, but yet we can associate them with someone we've met. I used to work with a girl at the Macaroni Grill who shaved her head. She seemed like the artsy type. She was short and her voice was kind of monotone. I will never forget the time she told me that if I wore make up I might get better tips. She even offered me to dab a napkin on her lip gloss if I wanted to try it for immediate results. At first I thought she was maybe selling something, but nope, she was just offering a word of advice. It's not that I never wore make up, but let's be honest the most time you will ever spend on your appearance at your place of work is for the interview. Then if you do get the job you get cleaned up for training classes because the manager and all of your new coworkers are going to be forming their first impressions, but by the time you get settled into the daily grind it's all you can do to wear clean clothes and get to work on time. So in response to my petite semi bald coworker I just thanked her and held back the urge to ask her if she ever thought that having hair might increase her tips.

Women At Work

I think one of the biggest decision that a mother has to face is whether or not to work, and on what level. Before I go on, let me state the obvious, stay at home moms work their tales off and we all know that so I won't bother with belaboring the point.

When I chose my career as a photographer one of the perks was that I knew some day I would probably have kids and I would be able to have a more flexible schedule if I was self employed. Now this dream is my real life and I am able to stay at home with my son most of of the time, but also bring in some extra money on the side. Sure there are days that I feel overwhelmed with trying to juggle it all, but who doesn't? When I was growing up my mom had little part time jobs off and on. She worked for a dry cleaner, a nanny service, and even spent several years at McDonald's, not in management, but just as a regular minimum wage employee. I have always been grateful to have a mother that was present in our lives. We never went to daycare, she was involved in our schools, and we always had home cooked nutritious meals. On the other hand when she did work I respected her for doing what she had to do to help with the families needs. The important thing is that you do what is best for your family and sometimes what is "best" changes depending on the season.

For all the stay at home moms out there I applaud you. It can be one of the hardest jobs in the world, and I know because I am at home about 90% of the time. There is no greater gift that you can give to your child than your love, devotion, and time. No material possession that you could purchase would have as lasting of an affect as the sacrifice that you make daily as a stay at home mom. And to all the moms that are out in the workforce I commend you as well. It can be difficult to be away from home. You work all day then just when you want to plop down and take off your shoes you have to jump into your primary full time job as homemaker, it takes a special woman to be able to do this. For me there have been times I question my decision to work at all and you might feel similar guilt, but then I remember that this "working women" thing is nothing new. Even the Proverbs 31 woman was a business lady.

In other words it is a personal decision that isn't going to be one size fits all. It's tough, in and out of the home being a mom is hard work, but the end reward is worth it.

Big Mama

Photo of last month and this month.

Sometime in the last month I must have really “blossomed” and everyone and their dog is starting to notice (I have seen the way all the dogs have been looking at me). For the past 6 months all I’ve heard was “you don’t look pregnant” or “oh my goodness you’re so tiny” or a lot of sheepish glances debating whether or not they should assume I am pregnant at the risk of offending a big oddly shaped woman.

Now that I am 7 months pregnant no one is afraid to comment on the pregnancy and I get asked my due date about 5 times a day. That doesn’t bother me, but the classic “oh my god your huge!” stuff is already getting old. Apparently I am about to burst and there is NO way I can still have 2 months left, according to the majority of the population. It’s funny to me that there was no stage in the middle where people thought I was just right. You are either carrying too small or too big.

I do feel huge though and I am curious to find out if this means my baby will be bigger or if it is just because it’s a second pregnancy and your body just expands more quickly after the first time. All I know is that my waist is about 2 inches bigger than it was around this time with Z. Also, I am sad to report that I am already getting stretch marks at 32 weeks, instead of 39 weeks like I did last time. The one thing that hasn’t changed though is my weight. The comparison between pregnancies seems to be pretty consistent.

Photo of my belly at 36 weeks with Z.

Current belly pic at about 33 weeks.

Don’t be too shy to comment and tell me about your stretch marks, strangers comments, or how big your babies were with each pregnancy. Does big belly always mean big baby or am I just carrying differently? I am sure a little community camaraderie will help to help this whale of pregnant woman to feel a little more human.

The Day Is Quickly Approaching

The fact that I have a baby coming in the next couple months is really starting to have an affect on my everyday life and the whole thing just makes me as giddy as a bride getting ready to be married! In fact I just now decided to mark my calendar with the countdown and if I counted right there are 53 days left until my due date.

Here are some of the developments that have happened most recently that have made it all more of a reality to me.

First the community editor at the magazine I work for started asking about when I will be going on maternity leave, so I finally put it all in writing and submitted the dates. February 15th will be my last day of work for 3 months. Can I get a WOO HOO!?

A similar situation came up a couple days ago where the event coordinator at a country club invited me to do a private bridal show, but the date is February 28th. I had to decline at the risk of either having a baby or going into labor the night of the bridal show. This isn't good news because I am missing a great opportunity, but not AS good of an opportunity as having a baby girl. WOO HOOO!

Z had an eye appointment on Tuesday and the Doctor said he wanted to schedule the next appointment in 2 months, and once again I had to politely explain that I should be having a baby in about 2 months (woo hoo). All of the sudden this girlie is really starting to make her presence known.

Then the biggest Woo Hoo of all is that today invitations went out for my baby shower. I am really looking forward to this special time with some of the most amazing women I know.

Basically this means it's time to start getting down to business in preparing for our newest family member and I am a little nervous, but more than anything I am just as excited as I can be!

Why I Am Having A Natural Childbirth

As I have already announced this will be my second natural childbirth, but my first home birth. Although there are plenty of women that take this route it is certainly not the most popular option.When someone finds out that I am choosing a drug free labor it usually spurs on all kinds of reactions. Most people don't understand why on earth someone would opt out of an epidural. I had one lady tell me in a very sarcastic tone "you know they don't give out trophies at the end right?" I was really glad that she told me this ahead of time because that would have been a huge let down otherwise. I was really looking forward to having a natural labor trophy sitting on my mantel. Can you picture it? On top it would have a little golden figurine of woman laying down and giving birth with a look of terror on her face.

Seriously though, contrary to what some people may think my choice to have a natural labor has nothing to do with a competition or bragging rights. I can't speak for all the women that have drug free labor, because everyone's reasons are different, but in some ways I would compare it to is running a marathon (or any kind strenuous race). I have friends that are really into running. They run for various causes, they run for their health, and they are going to keep on running just like Forrest Gump unless their Doctor tells them otherwise. I am happy for those friends. Personally running isn't really my thing, but I don't call them crazy and tell them that marathons are overrated and they would be much happier doing something else.

That is kind of how I feel about home birth. I know it's not for everyone, some people can't fathom having to have the endurance, others may have medical reasons why it's not the best choice for them. I do it because I was raised in a home that had a very positive outlook on labor and so I don't have the fear that most women do when they think of childbirth. I also believe it is the healthiest choice for me and my baby, although any delivery (whether being induced, having an epidural, or a C section) with a healthy mother and baby is a successful one! Lastly, I do it because I like the whole experience of being outside of a hospital in a cozier environment with more control over the birth process as a whole.

That's pretty much it, in case anyone was wondering. I am looking forward to this birth.


No one pressured me into this one way or the other, but I am grateful for the support of my friends and family. I love my midwife and the staff at family birth services. I love the fact that my husband is more than 100% supportive (it was his idea to have this one at home.) Even though I don't get a trophy at the end, being present in that moment, having my husband catch the baby and put the little one in my arms for the first time is an amazing feeling and that's got to count for something.

Look Back and Laugh: Trying To Keep the Romance Alive

A couple quick stories about my marital bliss. Last week my husband hit a wardrobe road block. In his defense he is manly in his own right. He can weld, parallel park like a pro, and he likes sports and beef, but he had 4 sisters so his interest in clothes and hair products often exceeds my own. Back to the story, J was worried that he was dressing too young and wanted my opinion. I told him "No. Look at me." as I held out my hands to display my own youthful ensemble. "Do you think that I dress too young?" His response was. "No, you can't look too young because you are pregnant. You just look like a mom." Not only does that statement not make sense, but it certainly didn't make me feel great about how I looked either. "So I look a mom huh?" and his answer was, "yeah, but your my mom" This wasn't going anywhere good, but despite his way with words I think I know what he meant. I think.

Last night we took our first date of the year. We try and go out once a month. That is a resolution that we started last year and I am carrying it over into this new decade. Unfortunately, we drove about 30 minutes to get to a little Italian restaurant that turned out to be closed on Mondays. So we drove back to our town and went to the Olive Garden. J had checked his phone a few times and that doesn't bother me, but eventually I caught him looking at Facebook, at the dinner table, ON OUR DATE! I told him I would let it slide, but I made him take a picture with me when we got home.


Typically our dates don't revolve around crime and punishment, but believe it or not we still had a good time.

Prenatal Appointments

I have had 3 prenatal appointments since my last maternity update. About a month ago I had a visit that didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked. I had a blood test that showed that I was anemic. I wasn't too shocked about that, but it is still not great news. Then when listening to the heart beat the baby's heart was fluctuating and when it slowed down it would go below the normal healthy range. This meant I had to have another ultrasound to make sure that the heart was developing properly and that everything looked okay. Long story short she is doing great and there are a number of reasons for the change in heart beat that are of no concern. The good news in all of this was that I did get to see the baby again and this time it was obvious that SHE is a GIRL, which to be completely honest was something I had some doubts about since she was SO modest during our other ultrasounds.

Today's appointment was pretty normal. There was a midwife in training that showed me a yoga pose to help with my SPD and that was cool. Also they are now able to feel the baby by touching my stomach and she has been head down for the past couple weeks, so this girl is pretty much ready for take off. With less than 2 months to go I am starting to get really excited. I have lots more to share, but for now I need to get some rest, these final weeks of pregnancy are really taking a lot out of me. Goodnight or good morning, or afternoon, depending on when this is being read.

2009 Year In Review Part 2

I can't believe my little baby boy turned two in September. There have been several firsts for him this year including, first Easter basket,

first trip to the zoo,

first haircut,

first time trick or treating,

just to name a few. It was a really fun year of watching him grow and discover all sorts of new things.

It's also been a big year for my two brothers. The oldest one got married and is now expecting their first child.


The other brother traveled around the world playing bass guitar for a band and in December had a song that he recorded in his own studio (Iron Wing Studios) that was featured on an episode of Grey's Anatomy.

As for my husband, he was busy all year long working on remodeling/building a coffee shop for the church.

It is a dream that has been "brewing" for several years now and in November we got see it become a reality when The Lighthouse Coffee Bar officially opened.

One of my best friends moved back to Texas from Michigan to run the place and is doing a phenomenal job, just ask anyone who has tried any of her cooking.

Those (along with what I posted yesterday) are what I would say were the biggest milestones of 2009 and just goes to show how proud I am of all these special people in my life.

2009 Year In Review Part 1

What would January be without some reflection on the previous year? I look back at 2009 and to be honest I feel a little bit exhausted. It was a killer of a year, but not without plenty to be grateful for.

Our year began with taking Z to the Doctor who referred him to a pediatric eye specialist who diagnosed him with amblyopia and farsightedness. In a years time he has gone through 3 pairs of glasses, although technically they are the same frames just adjusted from the wear and tear of a toddler. He wore an eye patch everyday for 3 hours a day for 10 months, and then had surgery on both eyes.

It's amazing to think that a year ago he hadn't gotten his glasses quite yet and now I can not even imagine what he would be like without them.


In February I woke up one morning only to go outside and find the passenger side window smashed out of my car and my digital camera and GPS stolen. It was frightening and devastating. The Waxahachie police department were really helpful and reassuring, I am grateful for these law enforcement officers. Since then we have installed a security light and a fence with a gated driveway. Unfortunately that window was never properly replaced even after bringing it in TWICE it's constant rattle is an irritating reminder of that horrible day.

As you can see 2009 was off to a bumpy start, but fortunately even though the spring was busy, there were no major events like the previous months, thank goodness.

In June I celebrated my golden birthday by eating 27 chocolates in 27 days, which was a lot of fun. Then on the 5th of July I found out that I was pregnant and since then have been getting ready for our world to be rocked all over again.


We endured round 1 of potty training for the little guy. There were a few successes, but the accidents far outweighed them proving that he is not quite ready to get out of diapers, but that's something to add to the goals of 2010.


On July 16th one of my best friends got married on a rooftop in Dallas and my husband put his ordination to good use by officiating their wedding, which was the first time he had every done anything like that. I was proud.

By the end of August three of my other best buds from church had all had babies. Between the 4 of us there will be 2 boys and 2 girls all less than a year apart.

That pretty much sums up the first half of 2009. I will share about the fall and winter tomorrow.

2010 Goals

I am not promising anything exciting here, but last week I did jot down a few goals/priorities/resolutions or whatever you want to call them and I will probably loose that sheet of paper. That is where the blog comes in because this online list is far less likely to disappear and I can refer back to it for accountability and progress reports. I am believing for big things and many breakthroughs in 2010, and here are just some of the things I plan on accomplishing.

5. One of my main goals this year is to get back into couponing and a more frugal lifestyle. I know it will help our family for me start stockpiling the toiletries and getting a break on the grocery bills like I used to back in my saving days. I would love to get over $1,000 worth of products from CVS again this year.

4. Home renovations of any kind would be nice, but especially the master bedroom and bathroom. I don't have too much control of this area because it involves construction, but I am sure there are some things I can help with to get us closer to our dream of have completed this remodel project.

3. I would also like to do a remodel of sorts to my business. This would include updating my website, working on promotional materials, and organizing my storage files. Oh and my equipment could use a major upgrade too.

2. This year marks the 10 year anniversary since dating AND marrying my husband and I want to honor and mark this special milestone. My plan is to renew our vows and have a very small and simple ceremony to celebrate.

1. Of course their is nothing more grand or important happening with our family this year than the birth of my daughter that will happen sometime at the end of winter. I have a whole separate list of goals to complete before she gets here. In order for this year to be a success I am going to have to put a lot of focus (inside and out) on transitioning into the role of being a mother of two and so that would be my top priority for 2010.

Last Years Resolution Evaluation

I am interested in doing New Year's resolutions this year, but before I do I want to take a look at the resolutions I had documented on this blog last year and see how I did in 2009.
Here is the list of goals as posted on January 2, 2009:

1. Watch our wedding DVD with my husband and organize the other photos that we have from our marriage.

2. Grow herbs at home, cook with them, and come up with new recipes for my family to enjoy.

3. Check out books from the Library and I am going to go out a limb here and try to read them as well.

4. Read a book about blogging

5. Sell unwanted items on eBay or get rid of the stuff.

Here is how I did

1. We did watch our wedding DVD on our anniversary, it was wonderful. I never organized the other photos though. I have kept up with family albums and a baby book since Z was born so if I can keep doing that, I will happy for now.

2. I tried doing an herb garden and I even cooked with a few measly sprigs of chives, but at some point I put the potted plants outside to get some fresh rain and sunshine and I forget about them so they died. I wish I had a green thumb, I really do, but I have always had a tendency to kill plants.

3. I did check out a few books from the library and I even read most of them. I also brought Z to a community toddler time that is held at the library to encourage reading early on. I borrowed, purchased, and read several books, which I planned on blogging about them, but so far never have. I am no more of a natural book worm than I am a gardener, but I read a lot more books this year than I normally do and I even enjoyed some of them.

4. Speaking of reading, I read 2 books about blogging which I currently own. First was "Blog" by Hugh Hewitt and then "The Huffington Post Guide to Blogging". I was really disappointed that they both were very political and didn't really help much with my dreams of being a pro blogger. That's okay though, I have since lowered my standards and started blogging strictly for me with no expectations of growth in mind (how's that for a resolution?).

5. We did sell several of J's guitar pedals on eBay and we also bought some stuff. Nothing worked out as smoothly as I would have hoped, so the rest of the stuff we hauled off to a donation center for crisis pregnancies.

Looking back, most of my goals involved trying new things and stepping out of my box. In the end most of the new things I tried didn't evolve into any major new found interests, but I don't feel bad at all about trying and I certainly accomplished a few goals. Next up 2010 here we come.

A close to the holidays

The first day of 2010 is all a blur to me. I spent most of it sleeping and trying to recover from the night before. Not in the way that most people are after excessive drinking and wild parties. My new years eve was spent eating a variety of soups that were prepared by each family group, and had some good and bad luck at various games, mostly hand and foot, and breaking only briefly to watch the official count down at midnight. It was a fun night, but it didn't end until about 6:30 am!

As I mentioned before the Holidays this year have just been some of the best and most memorable ever and I attribute it all to being able to spend it with our family.



Even though we don't see either side of the family too often it is nice to have this break from the day to day stuff and take time out to be together. I feel genuinely blessed.



photo 1: My family
photo 2: My husband's family

Christmas Gifts

A couple weeks ago I posted about crafting and wrapping up all these little gifts,

but I didn't reveal the contents of the presents, because I hadn't given them out yet and honestly, and didn't want to spoil the surprise. Now that Christmas is over I can say that the gift we gave to most of our family members and a few friends and neighbors this year was fig jam. It was one of the most frugal, fun, but also time consuming Christmas gifts yet.

It began last fall when our fig tree was ripe and ready to be picked. My mom was in town and we used up as many figs as we could between canning and baking.

It was a lot of fun and everything tasted so good. So I had reserved the jam for Christmas presents and when trying to decide how to wrap it I remembered a box of scrap pieces of fabric I got for a dollar at a thrift store. I found some Christmas material and cut it up into squares tying each one around the jars with some twine. Then I remembered that I had gotten a bunch of scrapbook foam letters and things as a white elephant gift from a party I was at just weeks before and that is what I ended up using for the name tags. Come to find out it was my sister in law who had brought the foam pieces to that Christmas party and was glad to see that it had been put to good use.

The figs were free, the fabric was practically free, and the random craft materials were all free too. I hadn't really done anything homemade or creative in a long time (since before Z was born) and given that I have another one on the way it probably will be just as long before I do anything like that again. Although, I am already looking forward to this years batch of fresh figs.
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