Friday, August 31, 2007

Parker Picasso


How cool is this "Parker" picture? Parker's art teacher drew it for him today for being the quietest kid in class. I will definitely be framing this!


The other cool thing today was Emma's first day bringing cold lunch. She had a big grin when she carried in her metal Thomas the Tank Engine lunchbox.


I had typed a huge post, but I lost it...so this is all you're getting today!

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Toot!

No, not the smelly kind. In scrapbook talk this means that you had a scrap item picked up for publication. I am a competitive person by nature, so I decided to see if anyone would ever want to publish any of my stuff earlier this year. Submitting is a time consuming process and it's also easy to get your feelings hurt if your stuff isn't picked. You have to keep track of deadlines for calls/submissions requests and also take the time to scan and size your items. Plus put in the fact that I work full time, my kids are in a bunch of activities and the fact that in general I'm pretty lazy - sometimes I get things made, sometimes I don't. I haven't been able to seem to do any pages I've liked lately, plus the fact I'm too lazy to go print any new pics out, I've mostly been making cards and altered items for submissions this last month or two. What's nice about cards is that if you are on a roll, you can crank out 5-6 cards in the time it might take to do a layout. Plus with submitting the more items you have to submit, the better your chances are just because of the numbers. Some magazines pay $, some pay with product and some pay with some copies of the magazine or book you will be in. I'm happy with any of these!

I found out today that a baby card I made will be in the March issue of Paper Crafts. http://www.papercraftsmag.com/ (Sorry I'm too lazy to remember how to do the hyperlink....do you see a pattern with the laziness?) Magazines tend to work about 6 months in advance so this weekend I'm planning to make some Valentine's Day cards. Earlier this month after the State Fair hated all of my submissions (ok hate is probably a strong word - they didn't love them - no ribbons/prizes), but the altered picture frame I entered got picked up by Giftmaker magazine (http://www.giftmakermagazine.com/) a couple days after I found out I didn't win at the fair...so there :-) Giftmaker has also picked up a few of my cards earlier this year. The first month I'll be in is December. Last weekend the idea book "Memory Mania Masterpieces" http://www.memorymaniac.com/ that a Halloween layout I did of the kids is in, arrived at my doorstep. That was my first layout pub. I also have a Thanksgiving layout of Emma that will be in the Nov/Dec issues of Memory Makers magazine http://www.memorymakersmagazine.com/. My first pub (card) with Paper Trends magazine (http://www.papertrendsmag.com/) will be in the Dec/Jan issue and I also have a card in the 4th quarter issue of the Hobby Lobby www.hobbylobby.com scrap magazine. I'm sorry I really dont' mean to sound like I'm bragging. I'm just excited that some of my stuff is being given some love and if anyone happens to see these mags in the store they can take a peek. And the fact that I haven't blogged for a year and a half I have to catch up on my pub posts! I can't post these layouts/card here yet because the magazines aren't out yet. I had a card in the summer issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today and their magazine is available in hard copy or online so you can view it here. I can't remember which page I'm on but I think I'm in the second part of the download. www.scrapandcards.com There are still some other magazines I love that I'm still trying to break into. Scrapbookers are nuts if you haven't noticed...

As for the kids - P had a soccer game and then I had to race off for a meeting at church about Sunday School. We have a fairly quiet 3 day weekend planned. We usually do the picnic thing on Monday, but nothing else on the calendar - yes!!! Emma is finding preschool less "boring" :-) The little girl still cries every morning (it was day six today) but now E just ignores her.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Variety of Pics






Here's a variety including the first day of preschool! I think I figured out my posting problem. I wasn't letting it load all the way and got too impatient :-)

When the Cat's Away the Mice Will Play!

Since Daddy was gone tonight, it was a free-for-all for supper tonight. The kids ate in the front of the TV with the usual grub - chicken nuggets, cheese, carrots and fruit snacks. Popcorn for dessert and a Tom and Jerry movie on the tube.

Emma was happy for school this morning, but did get upset that we couldn't stay at Lauri's to play after school. She had on a short little mini skirt and looked way older than 4. I can't believe Steve let her wear that!

I emailed Parker's teacher today just to see how he was doing. They are testing his reading and some other stuff next week to see what level he's at. In kindergarten it was at 2nd grade so we'll see where he's at this year. She also said he has a great personality.... can't believe how social he has become!

Not much else to report. Crop season (not corn and beans but scrapbooking) is getting back into full swing and I'm trying to figure out which ones I just can't miss. I'd love to go to every one of them, but I'd better see the family sometimes instead!

Going to try to post some pics again. I probably won't be successful....

Monday, August 27, 2007

School is Boring Because Everyone is Crying....

E gave me some resistance when trying to go to school today. I asked why and she said it's boring because the crying is very loud. We got to school (after a variety of negative comments in the van) and who do we run into...one of the criers! She didn't want to go in the room and was being a "bit" dramatic. She wasn't throwing a fit or anything, just the usual 'tude. I knew she'd be fine when I left. The teachers said that on Friday there were 4 different kids that cried off and on all day. With 23 kids in her class, that noise has to be annoying! She had her first baton and tumbling classes tonight for the new dance year. Of course she said it was boring too! Then later tonight she was suddenly out of her funk (shocking!) and then proceded to tell me all about school. It could also be due to the fact that she knew it was bedtime and that I'd let her stay up later just so I could hear about school. She is the fish feeder for the week and they had gym today. They have to bring 3 items about themselves to share and she was excited about that. She likes to play with Claire, Chloe and the girl in the pink shirt. She has been on green every day, but a boy in a blue shirt shoved her so he went to red.

I had planned to post some pics, but of course my computer is not letting me upload pics thru blogger for some reason...once again shocking! I'll have to go about it another way, but don't want to deal with it tonight.

I was trying to scan some cards I made tonight to submit to a call that expires tonight (call is a scrapbooking term for magazines looking for items to publish) and suddenly Adobe kept giving me an error. That is how I crop and resize my cards now since the other program won't work with my new scanner. But whew... I restarted and we were good to go!

Not much to say about P today. He's a good boy as usual and his general topic of conversation is Pokemon and I won't bore you with those details. Plus I can't remember all the types and battles!

Steve is in KC tomorrow night so we'll be eating in front of the TV! And I will be able to watch Big Brother in peace!

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Barasoap

There are a number of words that P and E have modified. The one that comes to mind lately is "barasoap." It's not soap, not a bar and not a bar of soap. And don't bother trying to correct them! They still do baths together - although with P being 4 ft tall and Emma only a couple inches behind, I'm afraid their tub together days are about over. They get all kinds of interesting stories and games going in there and there are often in there forever so it gives me some free time!

Went to Archiver's Friday night. I felt fairly productive although wasn't very happy with what I got done. I even won the big door prize again. I won it the weekend before too :-) Now if I could only be this lucky at the Winterset PTO crops! I then spent a good part of Saturday trying to get my new scanner and stitching program to cooperate with each other. I was not happy!

Took the kids to WF day at the zoo Saturday morning. We let daddy stay home and "tinker" with the yard. It of course got crazy there, but it least it hasn't been as hot as the previous weeks. I even splurged and let them go on the train ride and buy some animal food. We don't have a membership anymore, so we probably won't be there again for awhile. Today was church and then doing nothing much this afternoon, besides P's soccer practice. We are in serious need of a toy cleanup in the family room though. Last weekend when the kids were with the grandparents I spent all day Saturday - sorting and tossing toys and toy parts. It doesn't look like I did anything now! Looking back it would have been far more effective to just take a nap or scrapbook.

Off to see if I can load some pics.....

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Attempting to Blog Again...Take 5!

Ok. At the start of the year I was going to blog/journal more and also go on a diet. I failed on both of those horribly. Baby steps, so I am attempting to blog again.

The day that Emma has been waiting for almost two years, finally arrived! The first day of preschool. (It's all day/every day so it's more like Pre-K). She technically could have gone last year since she'll be 5 on Sept 15 and could have done Kindergarten this year and I debated back and forth on that. It turns out that since she is old enough to be counted as being in K this year, we don't have to pay the $110 weekly tuition. Well that solved my dilemma! Plus next year they'll have the new school built so she will do all day K instead of the half day they have now. I really expected her to be up bright and early this morning, but as usual she was zonked. She did perk up and went right in and said Bye Mom and that was it. I'm a horrible mom and I didn't cry when either kid went to school. I was a little nervous when P went to preschool, but not with E. I found out she had pizza for lunch, they couldn't go on the swingsets at recess because it was muddy and Mrs. Sellers gave a couple kids the big eyes and her voice got louder when two boys wouldn't stay in line.

P's first day was back on July 11th and he is having a great time in 1st grade. He is so talkative and outgoing anymore. As far as I know he's doing great at school. No notes and after the first week or two of school no names written on the board and his car hasn't moved from the green stop light (that's good - red bad). Now that traditional has started he'll be able to do more of the AR reading classes. He's in a soccer league right now and seems to enjoy it. We were supposed to have a game tonight, but the rain stopped those plans.


Tomorrow night I am going with Roni and a couple other scrappers to Archiver's. Saturday I think we are going to the zoo because I have free tickets from work. We let our membership expire so we haven't been in awhile.

I'll try not to make the next post be two years from now!

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Here's Jenny!!!!!!!

No he** has not frozen over. Sorry but not catching anyone up on the last 5 months of happenings, so I'll just give a brief update of the last week or two. Parker is doing awesome at preschool socially and educationally (tested him and he was reading at about the 2nd grade level..sorry but gotta brag). He is also still obsessed with Nintendo. Emma is doing great too. She talks non stop and is still into Thomas, Care Bears and My Little Ponies. She is teaching Parker to rhyme since that was the one thing he couldn't figure out on his reading tests. It was so funny the other day. We were doing some rhyming at supper and Emma kept answering the questions correctly. I wasn't for sure if it was a fluke so I said potty and she said karate (sorry but gotta brag).

We're heading to Exira for some hanging out with the Johnsons (aka drinking wine and playing cribbage) and the kids are staying at G and G B's on Saturday. That is all that Parker can talk about he's so excited. He also still talks about how much fun he had at G and G H's a couple weekends ago - although he does mention Mingo's "attack" quite a bit.

Storms in our area tonight. I stayed a little later than usual at work to finish some stuff up and when I left it was raining so hard I couldn't see to drive. I heard a couple hail tings, hopefully no dents, scared to look! SW 9th was pretty flooded, but the Freestar prevailed!

I'll close when some Emma"isms" from this week.
Horseshoe = Cowboy Shoe
Pause a show on TV = Mom, glitter the TV for me
Throw Up = Spit
Elevator at Mommy's Work = Alligator (we used it yesterday when Steve forgot to pick her up early and I had to meet Lauri downtown to get her). She "helped" Mommy work for an hour. It was food day so she ate cookies and candy and thought it was the coolest place. She said the parking garage was amazing.

I'll post some pics tomorrow of the kids. She wore her purple princess outfit today (all day) at Lauri's and of course she didn't wear princess slippers with it, she wore her Thomas shoes. I'll dig up a cute one of Parker too!

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Birthday Wishes and Ninja Turtle Dreams

Hard to believe that my P man is the big 0-5 today! That's all he's been obsessed with the last few weeks is his bday. We had it marked on the calendar (he's also obsessed with the calendar in general). He was of course up bright and early and we went downstairs to open his presents... a big red bike and a helmet. Red is his favorite color so he was thrilled. He drove around a bit in the family room and said, "Where are my other presents?" I had made him a generic cake for tonight to blow the candles on and is said, "Where is my turtle cake?" Both times he wasn't snotty or anything, he was still thrilled, but we had to explain that his big party is on Sunday. He got to wear a big bday crown today and he even wore it to bed. When I came home tonight he said, "I'll wear my crown everyday that way it is always my birthday." We had choir tonight so we had a rushed cake eating tonight. Tomorrow Ronald McDonald is coming to school to do a presentation on something kid like (which I guess includes no reference to the grease they serve). Yesterday was the pumpkin patch field trip. Most of those kids don't shut up, I'm assuming Miss J drinks when she gets home! Steve even found a nice big one for our house. I stayed for a bit after we got back to school , saw all of their opening stuff, saw P count the cold lunch etc. They carved them that afternoon and when we got home Parker saw our pumpkin and said we need to carve it too. I said we'd do it Saturday, but he said Tuesday was when you carve pumpkins. He took a butter knife and I really didn't think it would go in so I was going to let him "try". Well it did. P's eyes got really big and he said, "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to. I'm putting the knife back." It's just a tiny cut and I wasn't mad, but I think he was worried he'd be in trouble. Tuesday and Weds were both smiley days, but Monday no smiley, just words as Parker calls them, so of course he was upset. I guess he wasn't following directions, but then it said in the afternoon he was much better. He gets so upset when he doesn't get a smiley, so he's learning consequence to his actions. Sunday we had the usual Sunday School and church and then the neighbors were having a hobo dinner at 5 for a church thing. The kids really like their kids (preteens) and their pets. Parker couldn't wait for the clock to be 5 zero zero so he could go. We went on a hayride and the kids had fun playing with the others. Saturday was soccer and then the Pheasants Forever Banquet Saturday night. P and E went to Lauri's so Katy could watch them. (I think Lauri really just wanted some P time!) We have a busy couple of weeks coming up. Tomorrow night E has class so I think I may run and get the food stuff for Sunday. She is still very upset she can't go to school, so she'll be giddy she has class. We're getting pics taken at WM on Saturday morning (crossing fingers that goes well) and our neighbors are having a Halloween party for families that night. Then Sunday is of course the BIG PARTY! Next Friday is P's school party, then next Saturday is Costume Party on the square late morning, then P has a bday party to go to in the afternoon and then in the evening we all are going to another Halloween Party in DM. Somewhere in there too we are doing Night Eyes at the Zoo and Halloween at Living History Farms and maybe trick or treating on the 30th in town. Glad we are getting some use out of their costumes! Of course all of this is noted on P's calendar. Sorry not much about E on here (but my fingers are getting tired), she's the usual smart and sassy! Still no more pooping in the yard! She loves Sunday School, but half the time acts shy and says she doesn't want to go, stinker.

Over and out!

Friday, October 14, 2005

Long Time No Blog

I know, I know, no P and E info for a long time. But as with everything I do, I go gangbusters and then burn out for awhile. (Have you seen the dusty treadmill, but in my defense that was Steve's idea)

Preschool has made Parker a different boy. He talks all the time, he's coloring, trying to write, ok now I wish he was quiet like he used to be! His bday is on Wednesday and he is obsessed with the calendar and marking down the days. We also have written all of the other doings this month on there. We have a number of Halloween parties and of course a bday party this month. Tuesday Parker is going to a pumpkin patch for a field trip and I volunteered to chaperone. I am the only parent of the 14 kids to volunteer (how sad is that), so I am making Steve be the second parent if no one else volunteers, otherwise they can't go. His Halloween party (excuse me it's actually a fall party since they can't wear costumes because Halloween is evil) is on the 28th and I'm the lead parent in charge of that. This week I have started going to work at 8:15, so I can drop him off at class and not have to pay for morning day care. Plus I can get more updates on Parker from Miss J. This was his first week of 5 smilies, he was very proud of himself. He's also still obsessed with the Monsters Inc game and wakes up bright and early to play for a few minutes before he leaves in the morning. He always comes in to ask if he can get up and play computers and most days it's around 5:30-6 so it's ok. Some days he's a bit off though. Last weekend when Steve was gone he came in around 4 and I said it's not time go back to bed. Then 5 minutes later, he'd check again and again... Finally he fell asleep. Little does he know he could go right downstairs and play and we wouldn't know. We put out an alarm clock for him and told him he can't get up till the first # is a 6. The first morning, it was 5:36, he said it didn't have to be the first number. We explained that it had to be the first one and this morning he walked in at precisely 6:00 and explained it's six zero zero, I can get up!

Emma is still the same, loud! She is potty trained, although every once in awhile when she's outside I swear she just wets her pants on purpose. No poop in the undies anymore either. Although last weekend I kept catching her outside pooping... I guess just like Bosco does. She was very upset the other day when I took P to preschool when I had the day off and she couldn't stay. She said, "But Mom, I am a big girl now." I have promised her that she can go next year, so looks like she'll be going to Kindergarten early when she's almost 5. I just can't imagine 3 years until Kindergarten otherwise. A lady at the store thought she was almost 5 the other day. She is having fun at Sunday School. She knows most of the songs already and if the mood strikes her she really belts them out. P is having fun too, even coloring and doing the crafts. I volunteered to play for the kids Christmas program (once again no other parents volunteered), so I'll add that to my to do list.

Tomorrow is our last soccer already. Steve was in KC last weekend, so after soccer P, E and I raced to the zoo for Saturday Safari and they learned about bats. They really thought it was cool. P did the craft (wow again) and E had a blast using the glitter glue. Of course after class E wanted to stay at the zoo forever and P wants to go home.

Great news this week, Steph and family are moving to Des Moines. The cousins will be able to play together more and all 3 sis's can swap babysitting services. Not sure when and where their moving to exactly yet, but that's in the works.

They did tons of cute stuff, but of course since I didn't write it down, can't remember it, sorry!

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Does the Dog Have Thumbs??

Bosco is either really smart or probably more than likely just really determined. After chewing thru his nylon collar and getting him a leather type-one, we have been putting him on the tie out again in the yard when we're home or not gone for very long. Now instead of chewing thru his collar, he just keeps unhooking the leash thing from the collar and poor Roger (our neighbor) has returned him twice. Bosco seems to have some obsession with Creighton. I don't know if it's a lab bond or maybe love, but since Creighton doesn't get mad at him, that's where he goes. The other neighbor's St. Bernard (a girl) snapped at him and now he keeps his distance. His hearing also seems to go when he's over there. Although tonight when we looked and he was gone, I went out and saw Roger and Creighton out in the yard and guess who was following along behind with his chewy and when he saw me he came running he was so excited. I haven't been able to spend much time with him lately, since we've hardly been home and then when wer are it's dark and I'm not about to let him out! Steve has now two attachment things put on the collar, so we'll see how this works out.

Last night we all got into a pretty good game of Thomas. We even turned off the lights and they took turn being the moon on Sodor Island. We got out the flashlight to be the moon so the trains could see in the dark. Of course then no one wanted to go to bed, but the meanies here finally made them go. Of course they were still wearing their Thomas shirts and I caved and said they could wear them to bed too. Then of course this morning E did not want to take it off. I said she could wear it again, but it'd have to be washed tonight. I Febreezed her, so she'd at least be a little fresh. Then she proceeded to pee all over at Lauri's and so ended up soaking the Thomas shirt anyway.

Tomorrow is P's costume day and sharing day, so I need to put a big sticky note on the door so we don't forget. He got another smiley today. We are noticing such a difference in him. He came home with paint on his shirt, so I think he even did a craft today. I just figured out what his task is for this week. He's in charge of the weather. I kept thinking he said he was in charge of the letter yesterday and I kept asking him what letter and he looked at me like I was stupid. He informed us it was sunny today.

Tonight I had Mom's group, so daddy was the lucky bath giver. Fortunately I think the shower thing was short lived, as they are really having a blast playing in the tub again. At least good to know in a pinch somewhere, they would still do a shower.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

A Day Out With Thomas

The day was finally here.... Thomas! After a smooth morning (the kids sat quietly at church and Sunday School and both of them were belting out the tunes during music time) we headed to Boone. Stopped at KFC for lunch, the kids ate popcorn chicken and potato wedges. P wouldn't used to eat any kind of potato wedge but he wolfed them down. He's trying more and more things, I think Pre-K is helping him, both of them ate chicken enchiladas the other night. Steve said all he did yesterday was eat. Pancakes, waffles, cereal, lunch, dinner etc. Back to Thomas.... I was a bit worried that E was going to be so excited that she would cry and practically hyperventilate. She was very excited, but no tears. And no tears when we had to get off the train either. That was the other thing we worried about, she just said Bye Thomas! We did the train ride first. There was probably 8-12 cars packed with parents and kids. For the number of kids it was remarkably calm. Both kids were waving at everyone while we drove around. E was even waving at corn. You ride for 25 minutes and then Thomas sits for a half hour for a photo op (but of course you'd have to pay for the picture, so we skipped that). We then did all the activities - there was face painting, music, maze, bounce house and slide, petting zoo, storytelling, a bunch of toy trains set up - the kids would have done that all day but we were mean parents and kept moving them along, and then finally hit the merchandise tent. The merchandise tent was really the only crowded place. I was suprised the other tents weren't chaos too. Most of the stuff there was stuff you could find at Target and cheaper, but I did want to get them something, so they got Thomas shirts. We told Emma she was getting a shirt and she started stripping down right there. After paying for it, she wore it with her pink skirt on the walk to the car and then P wanted his on too. I'm washing them as I type, so they can wear them tomorrow. P really wanted to leave his Thomas on his cheek, but since he's going to school, I thought it best to scrub it off. We spent an hour or so going thru the tents (our ride was at 1) and then headed home. I zonked off and on and of course the kids were wide awake the whole ride home and then played hard the rest of the night. How do they do it?? On the way up they kept threatening to give each other dots (see the post about the ladybugs at Pre-K). It was so cute.

Yesterday I Cropped for the Cure with Marnie and some others from Indianola. I primarily talked, but did get a couple things done. I bought a bunch of stuff (most was garage sale stuff so I got a ton of stuff super cheap), but hey it's for a good cause! I wish I could have bid on some of the silent auction stuff, but no extra funds right now and the stuff went pretty high. It sounds like dad and the kids were busy while I was gone. They went to Menards like I predicted and we now have an electric fireplace. They also did a bunch of stuff outside and in. He is way more hands off with them than me, so he's probably back to being the favorite parent again!

I'll post a few pics from today. I'm running out of steam (no pun intended) so signing off for the night.
People Everywhere Posted by Picasa
Number One Engine Posted by Picasa
On Our Way To Thomas Posted by Picasa
Fancy Moves Posted by Picasa
Big Thomas Posted by Picasa
Waiting In Line Posted by Picasa
Little Drummer Girl Posted by Picasa
Weeeeeeee Posted by Picasa