Cor & Christan Schouten's Wedding

My cousin, Christan married the love of her life on October 24, 2009 in Hemet, California. Everything was perfect - the weather, food, location, decor, beautiful bride, and more.

I was one of the bridesmaids, my sister was the maid of honor, my husband was the caterer, my son was the ring bearer, my niece was the flower girl, and my step-dad was the minister. It was a family affair, which made it so much fun!

Most of the photos below were taken by Patrick Anibaldi. A few of them were taken by wedding guests.

Happy New Year!

You know you're getting old when you spend New Year's Eve cleaning, doing laundry, blogging, and going to bed at midnight without having any champagne...LOL. I guess you could say that's life with two kids. :)

In 2009 I was blessed with a healthy, beautiful baby girl & lots more. I'm anxious to see what God has in store for my life in 2010. It's crazy to think that this upcoming year, Ryan and I will have been married for four years in February, Emily will turn one in April, and Ethan will be four in December. Hopefully this year won't come and go as fast as 2009 did.

Happy New Year! May God bless you all with good health, happiness, love & peace. One of my New Year's resolutions is to update my blog, since I've been slacking.

Ethan turned 3 today!

Ethan: “What happened to 2? Did it go up in the sky?”

Reasons why I was MIA...

My blogging friend asked me why I was MIA for the entire month of November. In case you're curious too, here are my reasons...

1. Emily didn't sleep through the night for almost 3 weeks when her bottom teeth were coming in. Plus, she's never been one to take naps...so blogging was the furthest thing from my mind, due to exhaustion.
2. As soon as Emily got back to her normal routine, Ethan's however, has not been consistent. He's been resisting naptime and hopping into mommy and daddy's bed anywhere from 1 to 6 a.m. (it varies). I've been too tired to walk him back to his bed, but now I'm going to start before it becomes a habit. Don't get me wrong...we love snuggling with Ethan, but not until the sun comes up (which is what we keep reiterating to him). We personally, do not want a "family bed".
   
3. I've been very behind on my photo albums (editing, printing, labeling, inserting) and can barely keep up with Facebook, let alone my blog.
   
4. Lastly, as much as I love blogging...I've been trying to prioritize my schedule to improve productivity. I've been spending more time with my family, going to bed earlier, and staying busy maintaining household duties (with my husband's help, since we make a good team and he's kind enough to share them with me).
5. We went out-of-town for several family events (Day Out with Thomas, birthday parties, Thanksgiving, etc.) in November. I'll post pics soon!
   

From now on, my goal is to try to blog at least once a week. However, please forgive me if I get behind. If you're a mother of two little ones like myself, I know you can relate. :)

I'm back to blogging :)

I didn't blog in the month of November at all, due to reasons I won't get into. However, I finally posted two new blogs and will try to post updates on my kids within the next week or so. Life has been very busy for me lately, as I'm sure most of you can relate.

Happy holidays & God bless,
Amber

2009 Christmas ecard

"The amount of cards sold in the US during the holiday season would fill a football field 10 stories high, and requires the harvesting of nearly 300,000 trees."

When I read that statistic I thought..."How ridiculous! More people should consider sending out ecards this Christmas!"

After doing a quick Google search, I found a free website - Pingg, which was exactly what I was looking for. In fact, it exceeded all of my expectations and I highly recommend it.

Check out our 2009 Christmas ecard (if you haven't already done so).

Christmas Trees: Real or Artificial?

I've been debating over whether or not to stick with fresh cut Christmas trees, or invest in buying an artificial tree.

After reading two different articles with opposing viewpoints: How to have a 'green' Christmas & Fake evergreens are truly ever green, I'm still undecided. Fortunately, both types of trees are good for the environment in their own way.

Here are some of the reasons why I like fresh cut trees:

• I love the scent and the way they feel.
• I like supporting my local Christmas tree farm.
• Now that my son is older, he finds it very exciting to pick out his own tree.
• Real trees are almost fully recyclable and don't end up in landfills.
• There's no storage required, which means more space in my garage.
  

Here are some of the reasons why I like artificial trees:

• They're more cost-effective than real trees, since they last for years.
  
• I think an artificial tree might be better for my son and I, since we both have eczema. In addition, my son suffers from food/seasonal allergies.
  
• Some artificial trees look and feel very real.
• Most of them don't pose a fire hazard (my worst fear) like real trees do.
  
• They require minimal maintenance (if any).

What's your preference and why?

Ethan picking out his 2nd fresh cut Christmas tree
Almost 2 years old ~ December 2008

Ethan picking out his 1st fresh cut Christmas tree
Almost 1 year old ~ December 2007