Just the Facts Ma'am....

Starting to slip on this blog thing a bit so I'll just update with a few "facts" from the last few days.

* Parker got a speaking part in his music program at school next Thursday. His line is about snowpants...riveting! Also found out Krista Madsen's daughter is in his class. Small world!

* I was doing a layout about Parker and was using a facts card so I had him get on the scale to see how much he weighed. I about died. He's at 54 lbs. He has no hips, no butt and skinny arms..where is all this weight? He is really solid though, guess it's all muscle...lol. He is 48 inches tall and Miss Emma is almost 46 inches and is 48 lbs.

* Parker went hunting for the first time on Sunday back home. It was pretty nice out so half of his camoflauge stayed home. The whole thing makes me a little nervous, but it sounds like he and daddy had a great time. They didn't see a thing, not even a squirrel.

* Miss Emma is really starting to read a lot. Awesome parent I am hadn't really noticed, but in my defense she refused to read for me at home and would only do it for the teachers at school. The other day she finally read to me and she was pretty proud of herself. She can't read every word, but is doing pretty well for a preschooler. They are giving her some one on one reading time each day at school. Neither of them wanted to be read to when they were little so how I got two early readers I'm not sure. Plus they were formula fed!

* Had a great time at the crop Saturday. I was very impressed on how it was organized and will definitely go again if they have it. I even won a door prize..of course Steph won two, but what's new? I got 6 layouts done and started on a mini album about myself. I did the layouts for some mag calls so we'll see if I get any love.

* I did find out today that a beaded bracelet I made with be in the March/April issue of Bead Trends Magazine. I was just messing around with some beads and made a few things the other month and two have already gotten picked up. Guess maybe I should make some more...like I need one more hobby, since I never get much time to scrap it seems the way it is! I also found out I made it to the 2nd round of the Daisy D's design team contest. It sounds like a lot of people did though, so hoping for the best. If not, I'm a big girl and won't cry! I'll just comfort myself by buying more supplies!

* I'm sure I'm missing something since I haven't posted in awhile and still need to post some pics. There's always tomorrow.....

Tag - You're It!

I've been tagged by Jill (someone from my hometown who is getting to be a very well known scrapper!) www.jillcornell.blogspot.com . I can't seem to get hyperlink to work so you guys will just have to look at more words!

1. I have to sleep with a blanket at night pulled up to my chin. This goes back to when I was little and was afraid the headless horsemen would chop my head off. I figured if he couldn't find my neck maybe he'd chop someone else's head off instead.

2. I eat sugar on my tomatoes. I think this is a Danish thing?

3. I love old "murder solving" shows - Murder She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, Matlock, Columbo, Perry Mason etc. I currently have 6 Columbo's on the DVR.

4. Most things about my body aren't normal - I have two false teeth (the ones on each side of my top front ones), I have scoliosis so I tip to the right, my neck curves backwards because I fell out of my bunkbed when I was young on my head and my right arm is extremely crooked because I broke it in 4th grade and it never healed properly. Ok so I was a little clutzy!

5. My kids have 3 sets of Hansen grandparents (two sets of greats (one on each side) and one set of grand). My mom was a Hansen and I married a Hansen. We are from the same town, so probably way back when we could be related...creepy....

6. I've been read my rights. I was never charged and it happened in high school. I hadn't done anything wrong, so it's not nearly as rebellious as it sounds.

7. I slept at someone's house in 4th grade who's brother later turned out to be a school shooter in the 90's on the West Coast. Also another creepy....

I've tagged (do I know 7 people with blogs??) - www.allisonavenue.blogspot.com (Marnie), www.barelycontrolledchaos.blogspot.com (Heather), www.rachelanderic.blogspot.com (Rachel), www.bakerstories.blogspot.com (Roni), Mom doesn't blog anymore and Jill and Steph are already taken so there are only 4. Am I missing anyone? If I did consider yourself tagged.

THE RULES:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Halloween Recap

What was I think having a child born around Halloween...not only are there a million trick or treat things to do, but then we had to throw a party in there too! He didn't ask about having his friends over for a party and I didn't push it. The Hansens have been busy getting candy.
Friday: That night we went to Living History Farms (I get free tickets). This is their 3rd year of going to their T or T thing and it's pretty much the same stuff, but they still have a great time. Also last Friday I took the day off from work to go on Emma's class trip to a local pumpkin patch. There were a million things for them to do there - including a sandbox full of corn, haybales to climb on and tractor rides. It was pretty cool. There were a bunch of different schools there, including the 40 kids in Emma's preschool. It was an early out day at school which was good since she was pretty worn out by the time we got home.
Saturday: I went to a crop. It's always a good one and once again Steph was a big winner and I wasn't! I may or may not have bought a bunch of "goodies." There was a Halloween party in town on the square for the kids, so he took them trick-or-treating that morning. Parker was a little bummed though that his Power Ranger costume didn't win the costume contest. Since his mom doesn't sew...poor kid will probably never win one. That night the kiddos went to Aunt Steph's for the night and we went to a Halloween party. We went as Dwight and Angela. I pretty much just dressed like myself and but added barrettes. She's also in accounting. It was a little creepy all of the similarities. We ended up going out to a bar later and I was a "bit" draggy on Sunday.
Sunday: Didn't do much of anything (see Saturday). I did get brave and let the kids paint some figurines
Monday: The usual Monday stuff - TKD and baton.
Tuesday: Since the weather was nice I took them to town to T or T. I picked a road where I knew quite a few of the people, so I felt less guilty about being in a neighborhood I don't live in. Plus it was a cul-de-sac. I didn't realize though the road was still super long. We walked forever and hauled in a lot of candy. Of course half way thru Emma says she needs a potty break...sigh.... Parker was trying his homemade jokes out on people. I don't think he'll be headlining at the Funny Bone anytime soon.
Wednesday: More T or T. The local college (SC) has it in the dorms and houses on campus. There are also snacks and games for the kids. It's all free and it's awesome. After a few games we went on the candy tour. Each one of them filled their entire bucket. Parker walks super fast and Emma walks slow (plus we got stuck behind a weird kid who would dig thru every candy basket for 5 minutes), so of course I temporarily misplaced him. He wasn't concerned at all though, actually I don't think he knew he was lost. He just kept trick or treating. Went back to the student center and did a few more games. Then the kids wanted to go on the other tour. I had to get them plastic sacks since there were no more room in their buckets. They stayed up way past their bedtime. I think Parker got over tired because at one of the last houses, they had an elaborate display of live characters etc and he got scared and ran screaming and crying. Luckily no bad dreams that night. I had to leave E to chase him down across campus and figured she'd be scared since she kept saying she was scared earlier. Nope, this time she loved it and one of the parents took her along.
Thursday: Pampered Chef party at Marn's house. That meant Steve had to take P to TKD - ha!
Friday: Had to work late because of month end at work. Should pack for the crop tomorrow, but will just drag along most of the same stuff from last week.
Saturday: I'm going to a 15 hour crop (longest I've ever been too) and P has a bday party to go to. Hopefully Steve gets groceries since we're pretty much just down to candy to eat.

I haven't been home all week and I'm pretty much tuckered out. I keep eating their candy to give me energy!

I have a millions pictures from all of our shenanigans this week and will post sometime.

Drawing Diva

I just had to share a picture Emma drew on her Doodle thing, before she erases it. I'm amazed with some of the details she comes up with on her pictures. I can't draw to save my life and neither can Steve. At her age, Parker wouldn't even pick up a crayon. I'm also sharing a little paper mache purse I found at HL for around $3 (even came with the beaded handle) that I altered today.

Tae Kwen Do with a Cub Scout Chaser

I swear ever activity my kids have ever been in always happens on Monday. Monday's are always manic, but that means the rest of the week is not as crazy, so when we get thru Monday's the rest of the week is a breeze!

Steve took E to her baton/tumbling and he said she did a good job paying attention tonight - whew! She also was going crazy with her twirling and Ms. Jan noticed how good she was doing again. With her personality (and the fact that she likes to be in the spotlight) I think baton is a good fit for her.

P had his 2nd TKD class again tonight and is still enjoying it. It's pretty intense (discipline, paying attention etc). A lot of the stretches and moves they do I think I'd fall right on my a$$ if I tried. He would probably have loved it if I had done it...probably should have since I am extremely out of shape. He also had his Cub Scout pack meeting tonight. It started at the exact time that the TKD ended. We did a quick costume change and got there just a little late. (The first part of the meeting is pretty much just spent getting the kids quiet anyway). We get there and the school is locked - argh! Luckily I had a cell # for someone in there and they came down to get us. Tonight he got his Bobcat badge and he was super excited about that. He wanted it attached immediately. I told him it'd probably be his dad that would have to do that :-) I also included a pic of him rolling a potato with his nose tonight (one of the games they played) and some from the bday party and Night Eyes. Enjoy!

The Party's Over....

His bday party today went off without a hitch. The weather was even nice enough that the kids got to play outside for awhile (sorry Steph about the grass stains on P and R's church pants). He got the loot he wanted - Pokemon, Ben 10, a couple Game Boy games and some dinosaurs. He carried everything around with him till bedtime and about half of the stuff is sleeping with him tonight. I might update with some photos tomorrow - I'm too tired to mess with that tonight - but in all honesty I didn't get a whole lot of pics taken. But I know Grandma White House did...whew!

The kids had a busy Saturday too. They had a bday party at BK on Saturday morning for a kid from daycare and came home with a couple cool toys that haven't left their sides much. We then went to Night Eyes at the zoo that afternoon. The weather was awesome. Emma's costume was kind of skimpy so I had her wear a turtleneck under it and she got hot. For those of you that don't know, Night Eyes is trick-or-treating at the zoo along with ice cream, free bounce house stuff and other things for them to do. For $3 it's a great deal! We still have at least 3 more T or T things going on in the next week, so I figured we'd better spread this stuff out a bit. At least the kids get a lot of costume usage!

Well I'm off to bed...cooking and cleaning for this party wore me out. I'm not used to it! (I will post my potato soup recipe this week for those that are interested too)

You Say It's Your Birthday!

The hunting clothes were a bit hit (once he figured our what they were...lol)!! Here are some pics from this morning. Tomorrow we are going to a bday party at BK in the morning and planning to go to Night Eyes at the zoo in the afternoon since the weather is supposed to be nice....sometime I need to clean for Sunday, but I'll procrastinate on that as much as possible. Picked up a couple fun things tonight at HL to alter. Of course it took 20 minutes at the check out aisle. If everything wasn't on sale, I'd be upset.

Next Saturday night Steve and I are going to a Halloween Party. The kids are going to Auntie Steph's house (sweet). We're going as Dwight and Angela from The Office. Steve is already working on his props (Schrute bucks, sideburns, etc).

That's about all to report. Emma said she was on red today, but there was no note...so trying to figure out if she's teasing us about getting in trouble. She is quite the actress sometimes.

Karate Chop!

Tonight was P's first night of Tae Kwon Do. He had wanted to do it a couple months ago, but it interfered with soccer. This might replace wrestling for the winter activity this year...whew! The Parks and Rec dept puts it on for a small fee, plus it's on our side of town which is nice. He was very excited to get to do "karate." I'm sure he thought all they'd do is run around and karate chop each other. I only saw about the last 15 minutes, but fortunately there was no crazy karate chopping. He seems to like it and they were helping him a lot. It's a beginners class, but there is a huge variety in ages. Of course as soon as class was over, Aiden and Parker started karate chopping each other.... I have a feeling Daddy might get chopped below the belt sometime...hee hee...

Tomorrow Parker turns the big 0-7! Hard to believe! He wants to go hunting with daddy so Steve picked out some clothes for him for his present- coat, boots, gloves and of course the orange vest and hat. We already informed him he would not be carrying a gun. He did offer to be the dog and help find the pheasants! Right now I have cupcakes in the oven so he can celebrate at Lauri's after school and blow out a candle on a cupcake in the morning. Hopefully the kids want to get up tomorrow. They have both been having a hard time getting up. It's like they know daylight savings time is coming. At school treats have to be pre-packaged so Little Debbies it is! Also need treats for Sunday School. Parker will get a lot of sugar in the next few days!!!

On the scrap front, got a couple more things (including a beaded bracelet) picked up for Giftmaker and a picture frame for Paper Crafts. I was very happy with the frame and so it's nice when someone loves it back! I used some Basic Grey rubons I forgot I had and they were perfect for it. I celebrated by going to HL today...oops spent too much again.

P.S. We had a crisis on our hands. Gameboy had been lost for a couple days, but Daddy saved the day and found him in the couch cushions...crisis averted!

I Made Up Some Sign Language

Emma in the tub tonight - "Mom. When you shrug your shoulders that means I don't know. That's sign language, I made that up."

Had Parker's last soccer game tonight - it was muddy! They killed the other team again. At this point, it's actually kind of embarassing. The coach is now trying to emphasize sportmanship with them, since they are getting a little "over confident" now. Tomorrow is Emma's sharing day at school and since they are learning about the letter T, she wants to bring her big red Trex that roars. She said the boys will think it's pretty awesome!

Trying to think of what else has been happening besides rain. We pretty much just stayed inside yesterday after church (the kids sang at church and Emma just put a big grumpy face on - she was belting it out in practice..err..) . I made a few scrap things - most I was even happy with! Now we'll see if they get any love or not.... Peyton and Rylan came to visit most of the day on Saturday. In the afternoon all the kids went outside which means Steve watched the kids most of the time (they may have gotten just a tiny bit muddy).

Red Light, Green Light

Tuesday was Parker's first day back at school. Apparently he was a little rusty, since he came home bummed that he was on yellow. He said he had laughed at something someone did in class. Wednesday he was apparently a little rusty again....this time then he moved to red. He shouted out an answer to a question really loud I guess. One thing about Parker is he's pretty honest and not deceitful (yet). He fesses up when he gets in trouble. He did get banished from gameboy Wednesday night. I consider these "friendly fire" infractions. Meaning he wasn't being mean, a bully, lying, shoving etc. and that they were for talking, being goofy etc. If he was being mean, the punishment would have been worse at home. Emma is on yellow every once in awhile and fesses up too - hers are usually talking related. Her number got lost that goes on the stop light, so she told Mrs. Sellers that she could never be on yellow or red anymore...she's a thinker! Pretty quiet nights here kid-wise this week. We have our last soccer game on Monday.

Last night at work was the annual "Raffle Dazzle" party for United Way. People create gift baskets and then you buy tickets for to try to win them (of course I won nothing). There is also free food and drinks involved so of course I had to go! I didn't mean to stay the whole time, but couldn't let my tickets go to waste! Plus Daddy could get some kid time in since he'd been gone for a few days.

Today I went to the Scrapbook convention that was downtown. A project I thought I'd have to work on today got delayed till Monday so I decided to take the afternoon off to go. I didn't want to try to find parking so I walked from work. I had a sweatshirt on so was good and sweaty by the time I got there. I took the skywalk, but I work on the south side and it was on the north side so it was a pretty good jaunt. It's a really long jaunt back too - when you're hands are full of purchases. I bought a new trimmer (50 percent off) so hoping I like it. I've never been happy with my other one and I've had it for a few years, so I treated myself. Also got some things to alter. Also got some cute Doodlebug glitter. (Most of my stuff I bought was at the MB booth - I could just go to their store since it's 10 miles from there..duh) There were quite a few cute scrapping supplies I haven't found in the stores around here, but I was good and said no to most of it. There was a booth that mostly Scenic Route paper (one of my faves) and I even passed on it - mostly because I couldn't decide and wanted it all! Feeling guilty about how much $$ I spent then I got home and found out how much I'm getting paid for a couple cards and all was well again :-)

Tomorrow Peyton and Rylan are coming for the day. P and E are of course excited. Hopefully it's nice out and they can all burn some energy outside. I'll try to keep an eye on them on occasion!! Steve will be home and I'll try not to leave all the watching to him. I am hoping though to get some scrap stuff done. There are some deadlines coming I'd like to make some things for.

Over and out!

Better Late Than Never

I worried that the kids wouldn't get enough sleep last night because of not getting home till 9 last night. Turns out there was no need to worry. I woke up at 7 today and they were still sleeping. The bus comes at 7:05...so that obviously wasn't going to happen. Right after I got up P and E woke up too. P was all bummed because I had told him he could sleep till 6:30 and he slept till 7 instead. He is just like Steve... a morning person. It can get annoying sometimes, although at least on the weekends Steve is already up when they get up..so no point in me getting up so early too!! More than once Parker has told me I'm wasting the day and that I sleep too much. Emma is a little more like me...we hate the morning. I really thought I had turned the alarm clock on. Oh well...we all eventually got to school and work. Steve is usually the one that makes sure we're up. We ate on TV trays the whole time he was gone...we're such rebels!

Go Emma...Go Emma.... (shameless bragging)

Tonight was the usual Manic Monday. It was more manic than usual though because Steve is out of town and E's parent/teacher conference was tonight too. We have nothing going on the rest of the week...yeah!

Left work early to get everyone picked up and to baton/tumbling. I was watching and Emma wasn't paying much attention to what was going on - we are still working on the focusing part sometimes. Then they started doing the helicopters (it's what I call the regular baton twirl) and she starts going to town. The owner even noticed and had her stand in front and show everyone and then she did it with her left hand too. To be noticed by her is a pretty big deal. She runs a huge baton/dance place nearby and has all the twirlers at the big colleges around here were taught by her. This year's Miss XXXXXXX was taught by her too. Although not sure how good I'd want Miss Noodle to be since if she turns out to be pretty good in a few years, that'd mean competition team and more scheduling!!

Anyway back to the bragging... so we had time to kill between baton and conferences so we went to McD's for quite awhile. No playland, but the kids sat pretty quiet and kept themselves entertained. We get to conferences about 7:20 - ours was at 7:30. They were running behind (they always are). This weird man was sitting beside us and was the 7:15. Finally he went in and I swear he stayed in there as long as possible just to make us wait. It was at least 8:15 before we finally got in there. The kids didn't end up in bed till 9, so good luck teachers tomorrow! (P starts back to school tomorrow) The kids did really well considering we sat out in the hall with nothing to do for at least an hour. I received glowing reviews on Emma and she seems to have sucked everyone in with her cuteness. We talked a little about her moods, looks she gives you etc and how she can sometimes be a bit stubborn....not sure who she'd get that from?? She gets along very well with the other kids and the teacher kept going on about how smart E is. She got a perfect score on a reading assessment test and has been reading a bunch of stuff around the room. I knew she understood rhyming since she helped P when he was in presechool. I'm also amazed about how detailed her drawings are. They are going to do some extra reading work with her. I sometimes think that E knows more than she lets on and the teacher agreed. I think sometimes she likes to act all helpless and dumb. Isn't it too early to act that way???

Ok. I'll stop bragging :-) Just proud!

When the Cat's Away the Mice Will Have Problems

The other weekend Steve was gone and we had a monsoon and then I got a flat tire. Steve leaves yesterday morning and when we get back from soccer and running errands the toilet won't flush. Luckily we have a couple of spares! Then this morning I hurt my neck/shoulder yet again. I'm averaging about every week on this anymore. I'll be fine by tomorrow. Then we get home from church and I pull into the garage. I immediately realize we're locked out. I had locked the door between the garage and house last night since Steve was gone and I forgot to unlock it. Luckily I remembered where the extra key was.

The neighbor girl who is 10 is over playing with the kids right now. I even made them cookies! I'm hiding out in my scrap room and working on some projects. I got a card picked up for Giftmaker and they asked that I make a gift box to go with it. Almost done with it and even happy with how it turned out. I got my advanced copy of the November issue of Memory Makers magazine in the mail yesterday that features Miss E dressed up as Sackajawea. Of course Hansen is spelled wrong in one spot in the mag. Not sure why Hansen is so hard to spell..... Oh well, just excited to be in there! I'll post a shot of it when I'm able. The most exciting part though is I cleaned my room and I can get to my desk again!!!!

We Rock!!

Haven't posted in a few days, but not much out of the ordinary going on. Parker doesn't have school this week so he's pretty much just been chillin' at Lauri's. Lauri had to take Wednesday off so I stayed home. We ran a bunch of errands in the morning, he spent his Tooth Fairy $ on a Starlee (don't ask) and Emma got out of school early at 1 so we stopped by on the way home to get her. I love picking the kids up from school. I wish I could do that more often :-(

Parker had one of his last soccer games on Thursday night. I even remembered to bring my camera. Of course I think I had it on the wrong setting for action photos, so most are a little blurry! Once again they smoked the other team. They don't get obnoxious about it although I did chuckle when Aiden (Parker's buddy) turned to us, held up his fist and said "We rock!" Here are some various pics from the game - we're purple. Of course most are off center...I'll blame that on Emma since she kept standing in front of me :-) Aiden is the kid making the face and Emma is with Aiden's brother Elijah. They have become pretty good buddies too. The other pic of Emma was taken by their mom.

Steve leaves for his hunting trip tomorrow so the kids and I will pretty much just run amuck while he's gone. Lots of mac and cheese and chicken nugs.

Tooth Fairy 101 Basics - I received an F

Well tooth fairy didn't do so well. Here I posted that I needed to remember to be the "fairy" and then I totally spaced it off and went to bed. Parker woke up this morning and checked. Tooth was still there. Luckily he wasn't too upset. I told him that sometimes that happens, especially if the tooth fairy had a busy night. It was still dark out so the tooth fairy was still on her way. (I can remember the tooth fairy dumping my tooth down the drain once...mom) I went and wrote a note that said she was pretty busy and that he had 2,543 teeth to pick up and that was a new record. Fairy also felt guilty so I left a 5 bill dollar (that's what P calls it) Of course he wants to get a Ben 10 guy with it. Last time tooth fairy visited P forgot to even check. I wasn't so lucky this time! He also asked me if the Tooth Fairy had helpers and when I said I didn't know he said, "Well I bet God would know."

Had another Manic Monday - with the usual work craziness followed by the sports/baton craziness and ending with a church meeting. There were some older kids that kept messing around during their soccer practice (I think it was kids that were practicing after them and kids of some of the parents there) and one kid kicked the ball about 2 feet from Parker and hit him in the eye and it even knocked him off his feet. He was worried about "bleeds", but doesn't look like he'll even have a shiner. I told the older kids to get off the field. I'm sure I ticked some people off but too bad.

Not much to report on Miss E. We've been playing a lot of Ponyville and I'm not sure how many more fake milkshakes and suckers I can take!

A Bit of My Stuff

I also

The buttons on the Delight layout are from Grandma's clothes.

Another One Bites The Dust....

Parker has had another loose tooth for awhile and today while we were eating lunch he kept messing with it because he said it was very wiggly. A couple minutes later out it came! It was a side bottom one. His top ones are coming in pretty big and I'm sure crooked with my dental history. I should already start saving for braces! Emma keeps wondering when she'll lose some. That reminds me the tooth fairy needs to visit tonight.....

I actually got quite a bit done yesterday at the crop (for me) and I was happy with what I created. I of course bought a few things, but even used some of it right away. I had never been to a crop before where they put out door prizes and don't give them out.... I guess it's the new way to do things or something.... I battled with my scanner today to get them scanned/stitched and will post some in a bit. Some didn't scan the best but you can at least get the general idea. We had some heavy rain for a few minutes and of course in the midst of scanning one our power surged and I had to start over. I swear creating the page takes less time than getting ready to submit it!

It sounds like the fundraiser/dinner was a huge success yesterday. I was worried my scrap stuff wouldn't be popular but I guess a bunch of people wanted it and it went pretty high. It's amazing how many people scrap though (or want to get started). I sold a ton of stuff at my garage sale too and when I did a basket for P's school last year it did well too. Yet my scrap room is still packed to the gills...I have a serious problem I will admit it...

Just a Smidge

Today Emma said she was just a smidge on the yellow. We couldn't get her tell us much about her "infraction" besides that it was for talking...shocking!! On the way in today she pointed out the principal's office and told about the kids from class who have been there. She also pointed out the seats you sit in to wait to go in and see him. (Remember he's the person with the "neck tag.") She said he wears that because he is in charge.

Parker had another soccer game tonight. We were missing 3 kids and only had 6. They play 5 on 5 so only one could sit out at a time. The other team had 9 so they had fresh legs. The Wings were still victorious!! We lost count after awhile. It's so nice to be on a team this year where the coach cares and has been teaching them skills. Winning isn't everything, but when you've always been on the teams that have gotten killed it's a nice change of pace! Then as we were leaving he of course asks if he can go home and play soccer.

On the way to the game I swung by WM to get a few pics printed for Saturday. I tried loading thru the website but since we have dial up...it is not very successful or fast. I only wanted 12 4x6's and 4 5 x 7's printed. It seemed so easy. I did the one hour so that I could get them in time for the crop. Steve said he'd swing by and get them. I forgot to remind him to look at the pics and make sure everything was ok. Well it's WM so of course it wasn't. I am not a happy camper! I'll have to stop again tomorrow and then wait until they can print them again. Wow for 1 hour service it sure is a lot of work! 2 of my 5x7's were missing, 3 of my 4x6's were black (even though index print specifically shows them on there) and they overchaged me by 25 on each 4x6. I'm debating if I'll swing by HL on the way there tomorrow since they are having huge sales.....

Work has just been insane crazy this week so the weekend can not get here fast enough!

I'm A Tiger - Hear Me Roar!

Parker had his first den meeting tonight. Today Steve went and got his uniform - complete with precut sticky stuff to stick the patches to the shirt (sweet). Steve also attached the patches. I think that's only fair since I've been going to the meetings! I've been threatening to volunteer him to be assistant den leader :-) Of course about 15 minutes after we get there he loses his metal neckerchief holder somewhere in their yard...sigh.... It was getting dark fast and E and I looked for it with no luck. It was at Aidan's house (P's best bud) so he was more than a little wound up. We will be emphasising that a Cub Scout needs to be a better listener and have fun but not get too goofy. I think he's going to a sleepover at his house soon too. If between two busy families we can come up with a date. I took some pics and this is the best one. The pics where he is upright he of course that goofy weird smirk going on. I'm tired so that all you're getting tonight on the kidlets.

She Speaks the Truth!

Tonight the kids were playing balloon tennis (balloons are raquets and you hit a balloon-hence the name) and Emma needed another balloon blown up. She said, "I can do it Mom. I'm full of hot air." I taught her not to lie :-)

Meow

Probably about a year ago Parker acted like a cat ALOT... I always hoped he wasn't doing that at school. Apparently not since he seemed to have friends. Luckily the cat phase was short lived since it was more than a little awkard when you're at Walmart and he's meowing or trying to rub against your leg. Although actually that probably doesn't stand out much at WM now that I think about it. Anyway....last week and this week is intercession at school and his group is covering Fairy Tales. He was excited because they did a drama play (that's what he called it) and he got to be the cat in "Little Red Hen." He had his first pack meeting for Cub Scouts tonight. We had football practice first so he was probably a little ripe, oh well!

Miss Emma had her baton/tumbling tonight and came home with a cute pink Superstars lunch bag from the teacher. When I asked her about it she informed me it was for toys and was NOT a lunchbox. I'm picturing it holding her Polly Pockets very soon...or more likely rocks and sticks. She goes into school like she's been going there for months. She doesn't even want me to walk her in, but Mom did put her foot down on that. We pull up today and get out and there is a guy getting into his car. She says, "Mom, that man isn't Mr. Woods (the principal). He's not wearing a tag." I assume she means a badge/ID of some kind. Her school reminds me of my grade school growing up so I was suprised they'd have ID tags. No air, a sign that says visitors check in but no one does and bathrooms with little bitty toilets. She prefers the medium toilet. Anyway, we are walking in and she talks again about the tag. She points to her throat and says "He always wears a neck tag." I knew with her it's better to not correct her. Too cute!

Tuesday is a quiet night for us, so I'll probably tackle some laundry. I didn't get around to making anything for Scott's benefit this weekend...I can't get to my desk again, my organizing went horribly wrong and the mess is worse than ever, so I'm going to cheat and put together a basket of scrap goodies instead. Hope to do that tomorrow. Scrapping all day Saturday at a Scrap Pink crop (Breast Cancer awareness) and of course I have no pictures printed yet. Man I wish I could upload from home...errr.... I am looking forward to girl company for 12 hours.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

From Emma:
While driving by a corn field - "They are carvining corn. It looks like they got tired." (part of field still had corn left.)
While singing "People on the Bus" in the van the other day - "The driver on the bus says ooh, on , at...ooh on at....ooh, on at." I tried to correct her but that did not go well!
She says this about everything lately - "OMG." We told her Oh My God wasn't nice to say so she is now abbreviating.
While asking Parker about stuff - "Hey Bud. Do you want to play?" "What are you doing Bud?"

From Parker:
Guess What??? Guess What??? Guess What??? (This gets old fast)
After coming home from school the other day - "Guess what Mom? Anna told me your middle finger is like a swear word."
When asked why he had a bag of red poisonous berries on the counter from their fishing trip today - "Guess what Mom? Whenever an animal is being mean to a bird, I'll throw a berry to them."
The majority of his conversations though revolve around Pokemon...sigh...

Well the tire is now fixed and my horrible Friday and Saturday are over. We never made it to soccer practice on Saturday and I got a bruise on my shin while trying to find a part to the air hose. I spent today back home with my family helping to clean Grandpa's house. I am not used to cleaning so I am sore and very tired! I hate Sunday nights, that means Monday morning is coming soon. I used to like working and lately not so much. I guess I'm still just down I can't afford to work part time. Plus I thought DH tonight was new and it was just another recap show....errr....

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

The day started out fine. Kids off to school, went to work. Nothing really ticked me off at work anymore than usual. Then it everything changed on the way home....

Steve was heading back to his parents tonight and helping to clean at Grandpa's tomorrow so I was in charge of picking up the kids. I tried not to dally at work since I need to get Parker picked up by 5:15. Of course I was hoping to leave a few minutes earlier than I did at work, but I still had time. I was debating who to pick up first and decided to get Emma first. On the way it suddenly starts raining - I mean monsooning. It was honestly the worst rain I had ever driven though. Luckily I'm kind of familiar with the roads to her school, but still I was terrified. It's just a two lane road and there was no where to pull off for fear someone would drive right into the back of me. You couldn't see anything at ALL. I just forged ahead.... Finally after a few miles I get to Emma's school and the rain has let up a little. By this time it's 5:15 already. I get Emma (she was super excited because she picked a tube of dinosaurs from the treasure box today) and it's raining pretty hard again. She said she didn't want an umbrella and that she likes the rain. By the time we get to van she's hysterical because she's so wet. So now I'm listening to her crying. I call Lauri to tell her we're en route. We take off and I look down and a weird light is on the dashboard. Hmmm, wasn't sure what it was since we just got the van, but I think it was telling me I have tire either flat or losing air. Considering that it was still a monsoon I didn't want to be driving with a flat, I pulled over (we'd gone two blocks at this point) and I get out to check. A wave of rain hits me and I'm totally soaked..even down to my skivies. I get out and check and nothing is flat. I get back in. By this point the inside of the van is soaked and the floor mats are muddy. We finally get to Lauri's (and Emma has stopped crying by now). Guess what? The electricity is out! The rain let up a little when I picked up Parker and then drenched us on the way home. Since the electricity is out, we can't park in the garage so we park as close as we can to the front door. At least the rain let up a little again and the kids went inside. Someone else also darted inside.... an 85 lb lab named Bosco. He was wet and terrified. For some reason (he's not very smart and he's also scared of water) he hadn't taken shelter by his doghouse (he's also scared of his dog house, but it's still dry outside the house too). I'm guessing it suddenly started raining and he couldn't get to where his doghouse is so he hid under his bush. Although it's also covered near our front door so not sure why he didn't just sit there. Like I mentioned he's pretty dumb (but lovable). It was still raining and I couldn't physically get him back outside so I got a blanket for him to lay on by the door. Of course he didn't want to lay there, but a foot from the blanket. About 3 minutes after we're in, it stopped raining!

Then the kids (and I) immediately start having electricity withdrawl..... They can't understand that when the electricity is out it's everything. They start checking lights, TV's etc. We spend a few mintues trying to to get the dog back out with no success. The house is already getting pretty dark. We had planned on pizza tonight, but with no electricity they had sandwiches instead. We ate and hung out a bit in the room that had a little bit of light. We were all extremly bored and I was trying not to fall asleep because it was so dark. By this point, Bosco had dried off and had migrated over to where we were sitting. It's a little after 7 and I told them if the electricity stays out we'll probably go to bed in a bit. Then it's a miracle - there was light! Parker put his fist in the air in excitement and off we went to sweet TV and internet access. They were able to have popcorn. I had kind of forgotten the dog was in the house and while I was checking email (found out I had nothing selected for the next issue of Paper Crafts :-( ) out of the corner of my eye I see the dog. I was worried because he was now in the family room surrounded by plastic (and for him that's food). He jumped on the couch and immediately stuck his head behind the cushion. I think he was trying to be invisible. I still tried to pull him off and get him outside - no luck. He started watching TV and tried to be as still as possible so I wouldn't see him. In his defense he didn't once try to eat plastic. I was starting to get worried though since I figured he would need to use the "facilities" soon and as far as I know he isn't housebroken. I let the kids stay up a little late (of course P was still up at 6 today). The dog and I then watched a little TV and I kept nodding off. I still couldn't get him out - I even tried tricking him with his favorite chewy. I slept on the couch for a little bit and woke up about midnight. He's still laying there on the couch. (Of course he had picked my fave couch spot). Finally with some more tugging I got him outside. He gave me those really pitiful eyes. Not sure how today will go -if he'll try to come back in tonight. He had never ever tried to come in before. It's hard to get an 85 lb dog to move! The tire is now officially flat we are supposed to have soccer at 9. I was also going to run some errands - pick up Tiger Cub clothing, kids need a few clothes etc. today but that isn't going to happen now. And to top it off my back is killing me today.

Yesterday honestly felt like one of those dreams where you wake up and so much happened that didn't make sense and you're exhausted. It was no dream!

They're Not Spicy!

It's hard to believe but these are not all the water bottles currently in use at our house. There are probably at least 3 or 4 more strewn about (in the van, bedrooms, etc). Water bottles constantly fill the dishwasher...water bottles constantly roll around in the van....water bottles are constantly empty...

There is not a day goes by that these are not used. They aren't used by me at all (I'm terrible about not getting my 8 glasses a day) and Steve has one that he'll use when it's hot out. Other than that it's all about the kids. Parker and Emma have always hated pop...too spicy...and I'm not going to argue about that with them. They also aren't big on Kool-aid - I think my childhoold revolved around Kool-aid.. They used to drink milk and juice quite a bit, but with the exception of milk with Parker's cereal, Emma's "strawberry" milkie and milk at dinner everything else is pretty much water. They are not happy if they open up the fridge and there is not a water bottle in there. Parker is quite proud of himself though that he can now fill them. If they are in the van, they instantly get thirsty. And of course with sports there is always the need for a bottle too.

As I was unloading 6 bottles out of the dishwasher and putting 3 new ones in - I thought of how many of these things I see everyday. Life used to revolve around bottles and sippy cups and has now moved onto the water bottle. If I get enough ambition I'll be doing a scrap page about it!

Just another Manic Monday

This will be short...I'm still exhausted from the weekend and last night wasn't any better. Mondays are usually our craziest day of the week and we had baton/tumbling for Emma and soccer and football for Parker. Usually he isn't doubled up like that, but after both practices when he got in the van he said, "Can we go home and play baseball?" Does he ever get tired???? At least Tuesday and Wednesday are pretty tame!

Off to watch the BB finale... very disappointed....

At least Survivor starts Thursday. I am going for Jean Robert. I've seen him play poker on TV before and he's cocky, so it should make for some good TV!

Biker Birthday Babe

Miss Emma is officially the big 0-5! She didn't get the $70 Little Mermaid bike, but she got a snazzy new purple and more cost efficient bike and didn't seem to care. She kept telling Daddy she loved it. She had birthday cupcakes (mostly frosting) for breakfast...but when it's you bday it's ok! We crammed a lot into the party...presents, cake and pinata. We got rid of a lot of the parade candy! (And more importantly I got rid of my scrap mags) Most of the presents are now out of their boxes (and twist ties) and are now all over the house! It's good she got some toys since this poor little girl hardly has any....

The zonked picture is what happened when she got home from school Friday. She was absolutely exhausted from all the bday celebrationing I guess. Of course we couldn't wake her up and then she woke up around 11 that night. I have a feeling she'll be zonking early tonight too. Earlier this afternoon her eyes were pretty heavy.

Happy Feet

Parker had another soccer game today. Their team has really come along and tonight they smoked the other team. There aren't scores, but apparently each kids still keeps track! The coaches have really been working on the kick and chase concept with them. Parker can really boot the ball and is getting better at following it. I think most kids tonight (with the exception of the two girls who chase butterflies) each scored a goal tonight and I'm glad since that makes each kid feel special. I think soccer will be a sport he wants to stick with. Right now we try pretty much everything during the year thru Parks and Rec. It's pretty low key (and cheap) and it gives them a chance to see what they like. To be honest when he was younger I really didn't know if he'd be very athletic. He's my little sensitive bookworm and I put him more into this stuff to get him to become more outgoing and gain confidence. He's got some fast little feet on him. At this age they still don't do tournaments, travel etc which is nice. When he gets older we'll probably be on the "circuit." They don't have indoor soccer here, but he has other sports he likes too so it's nice he doesn't get burned out from one. Mommy has also started teaching him piano, but I am terrible about remembering to have lessons....I need to work on that.

Emma has been busy with the homecoming stuff at her school this week. Last night was the parade and she rode on the hayrack and threw candy. I didn't get many decent pics while she was on the float (of course she was on the other side), but I got one of her on it before we left. We sat at watched at a friend's house to watch and P was the only kid there. The parade was maybe 15 minutes long and he got more candy then he ever would at the 4th of July parade back home. It was so heavy he couldn't carry it. Today was costume day.... first she was tinkerbell but said it was itchy, so then we switched to Cinderella. I was a single parent this morning so after all of this we barely got to the bus on time! Her outfit also came with a crown (that broke right after we got it) and princess shoes (that would fit a baby) so she wore her bachelorette/bday crown and her Thomas tennis shoes. I got some goofy pics of her this morning, but I couldn't get a full length one of her in her blue dress, wearing her Thomas shoes and carrying her Thomas lunch box. They are celebrating her bday tomorrow at school and also having a cake for her at daycare so she'll be busy!

I decided to take tomorrow off to get ready for the party. All the shopping is done, just the cleaning is left. It's pointless in cleaning to early in the week because of the kids and I won't be around much on Saturday to do anything, so I'm sacrificing a PTO day to do something I hate :-)

P.S. Cripes when did a 2 liter bottle of pop become $1.50!!!

P.S.S. Disappointed in BB....

A "Rockin" Good Time

Today was Emma's first day of sharing - her day is every Tuesday. She knew right away what she wanted to share... her rocks! She is a "bit" of a pack rat/collector and rocks are one of her favorite things to collect. I'm always finding rocks in her pockets or in the van that's she picked up. She wanted to take her shell rock and then also needed mountain rock, star rock and some others. I tried to get out of her how it went, but nothing. I'll have to find out if she talked everyone's ear off about the rocks. Not sure if the sharing happened before or after the "red light." She came home with her first red light. The kids are on green and can move to yellow and red if they are misbehaving. I guess she wasn't listening when the teachers were telling her to stay in line. She then was being a stinker when we tried to talk to her about it...sigh.... I waited to talk to her about thought till her ouchie was better. I guess she had a mishap while sliding down the firepole on the playground right before Steve picked her up and sat with an ice pack for awhile in that "area". I'm assuming it wasn't too serious since later when we were in at the playground tonight she went down the firepole again without incident!

Signed Parker up for Tiger Scouts tonight. It doesn't sound like a huge time commitment (whew) although gonna have to shell out a bunch of dough for the Scout duds! It sounds like they have a lot of fun activities planned for the year and I think Steve (and Parker too) will have a good time at them. Well better get the backpacks etc packed for tomorrow. I haven't been to good this week to do it in advance and it usually means I forget something!

Save A Horse Ride A Cowboy

This is homecoming week at Emma's school so today was Cowboy day. She was pretty excited to get to wear her new horsey shirt and Lauri's daughter Katy had sent home a cowboy hat with a horse on it for Emma awhile ago, so she was horsey from head to toe. After I left school I realized I should have tried to take a pic of her with one of the teachers who was dressed up - shoot! I also had to post this picture of Emma from Sunday School yesterday. She got on this rock and said, "Take my picture." This doesn't happen very often and I actually had my camera with. The crossed arms was one of her "poses." This week is cram packed with kids stuff and the weekend is too, so this entry will be short and sweet. I really want to get my scrap room "clean up" finished since later this week with be getting ready for party cleaning.

God Guys

In honor of the start of the Sunday School season - I'll share this Parker story from yesterday. He asked Dad where Upchuck was. (Long story short he's a Ben10 character who Parker says has puke powers). A few mintues later he said, "Don't worry Dad. I found him by the God Guys." Steve could not figure out what he meant. He went in and there he was in the Willow Tree Nativity. I also noticed there was a brontosaurus, but Parker said that's ok because he's a statue.

On the Emma bday party front - we ran to WM yesterday afternoon. I was organizing my scrap room and realized I needed LOTS of containers so while there we also got a few more party things and I also ran her by the toys to see if her wish list was the same that I had emailed to everyone. She is having an eclectic party. Power Puffs Girls cake, Bratz pinata (on clearance, yes!), Dora plates and a Bachelorette crown to wear. She said she she wanted to go down the girly toy aisle and pretty much pointed at everyone. If it's got glitter, a horse/pony, a girl or a pet she wants it. I also took her by the bikes to feel her out on which one she wants. (She's getting a new bike from us. The poor thing is riding a tiny hand-me-down one right now and her legs are way too long for it). She still says she wants the Little Mermaid bike. Of course it is the most expensive one and I looked and it's 12" and she needs a 16". We'll keep looking....

Not sure when the house will be getting cleaned since I think we have stuff going on every night this week, but it's trashed 3 minutes after everyone gets here so why do I worry about?

A pleasant surprise yesterday was a mini pack of some Daisy D's scrap paper in the mail. It's the perfect size for cards. I had signed up for the chance to get some free product and yipee! It even matches the stuff I won at Archiver's last month.

I Apologize to the Trees

Last night I spent two hours sorting out my old scrap magazines/books. I have a bit of a magazine/idea book addiction so there were alot....... I have a bookshelf in my scrapbook room and there were 3 shelves crammed full. I am now down to a little over a shelf (and that is without magazines piled on top of others). I have a stack that is taller than me that are going bye-bye. Steph and Roni (and whoever else) are going to made to go thru and pick out what they want. I ripped out a few things for ideas, but everything else must go! I kept 2007 and some of the stuff I liked from 2006 but that's pretty much it. I also put over a foot worth of old scrap catalogs into the recycling bin. Steve has the kids outside so I'm going to try to sort some more scrap stuff. It's even more chaotic than usual since I still have the garage sale stuff sitting in boxes up there too. I'm thinking I'm going to take over the closet in that room too.... I really would rather scrap, but I can't get to my table.

Great News!

www.caringbridge.org/visit/scottdillon

Scott is officially out of his coma. He still has a long way to go, and contrary to what they show on soap operas you don't just wake up and start talking and walking. It sounds like he has been making improvements, but I know there is still a long road ahead for him and the Dillons. For those in the area they are planning a benefit to help out with expenses for him on September 29th. I believe there is a fun run/walk and that night a dinner/auction/dance. I'm not able to go but I think Steve is planning to take the kids to the dinner. I'm planning to probably make something scrappy to donate or a basket of supplies. I am going to check first to see what they think would go better. (For those of you that don't know much about Scott, he is our daycare provider's son who was in a serious car accident the beginning of May. Lauri is like a second mom to the kids and Parker and Scott were gameboy buddies. Scott just celebrated his 21st bday in August)

On the kid front, nothing major going on. Busy with soccer and Sunday School starts Sunday so the kids are excited for that. I also better start planning for E's bday party...it's sneaking up on me!!

Parker Picasso Take 2....

How cute is this? Emma drew this picture of Parker today at school. I'm not sure exactly which dots are the eyes and not sure what the red dots and green circle are, but I will definitely be saving this!

They had their dentist appts this morning and since I had a new person starting for me today - I figured I'd better show up on time to meet her this morning, so Steve took the kids. He said they were good as usual. The kids love going - it probably doesn't hurt they get a prize when they are done. I guess P has another loose tooth, so he's catching up with Peyton.

Well off to watch BB and scrap...look at my multitasking capabilites! (I fell off the Hobby Lobby wagon and got quite a few cool things today. In my defense they were on clearance or on sale :-) )

Smores and Stuff

We headed out to the park over by Creston for a Labor day picnic with Grandma and Grandpa Blue House and the Roofs. We had the traditional weinies over a gas induced fire and followed it up with smores. According to Grandpa Smores are not a dessert, they're just a snack. I got a couple good pics that I might have to try to scrapbook. Since they are just a snack we later followed that up with a Chocolate Fudge Cake from WM. During all of this they found a caterpillar that had already formed a crysalis (sp) on a stick. They put it in a cup and later Emma gets excited. We went over and it was shedding from his skin. I'm not for sure what happens with him next? I'm not good with science, but Judi said these wouldn't make a cocoon. I'm going to try to attach a video of it. Very cool!

Later we went on a walk over to the beach area and P, E and Laura splashed around for awhile. Of course the kids (Laura excluded) proceeded to get their shorts and most of their shirts wet. We knew that leaving would cause Emma to be "unhappy" and so there was a big unhappy face on the walk back. I also knew she was exhausted by this point and fell asleep quickly on the way home. Of course she had a big nap and is now up and wired. It may suck getting her up for school tomorrow!

I swear I spent over a half an hour tonight filling out forms/writing checks etc for school - pictures, intersession (the addt'l two weeks of classes the kids can take during their 3 week break that's coming up in a couple weeks), book orders etc and also a couple upcoming crops. I guess that's why I can't afford to go half time at work :-(

Well better see if I can get E to start winding down.....

Chippy Mac Harry Potter

You may wonder who Chippy Mac Harry Potter is? I wondered that myself since Parker kept talking about Chippy Mac from school. A new friend? Nope. He's the chipmunk that hangs outside their class window. The class even took a vote on what to name him. Chippy came in first, Mac second and Harry Potter third, hence the name!

I have even been halfway domestic this weekend and cleaned (a little), cooked a couple meals and made zucchini bread yesterday and banana bread today. (It's amazing what you can get done if you don't sneak in a nap). I like to make the mini loaves and then freeze them. Parker LOVES banana bread and can easily eat a mini loaf in a sitting. I told him about the zucchini bread, but he said he wouldn't like it. Later he's eating away on it and said the banana bread was delicious. I'm not about to correct him.

Emma has decided on a Powerpuff Girls cake for her bday. Not sure where that came from but maybe she feels like she can relate to them because of their big eyes? I'm sure this will be yet another toy we'll need to buy a bunch of :-) She also found a sequined crown in some bachelorette stuff that was clearanced at WM so she's planning to wear that to her bday party.

We've never had much luck with getting hummingbirds to eat from our feeder. Year after year one will stop by on occasion, even if we put it near some flowers. Now the last few weeks we have been attacked! They have drank almost two of those light bulbed shaped feeders full of nectar and we have now put one out back by the other feeds since there is a dumb one that hangs out all day flying by the seed feeder. When he went to refill the one out front, he was swarmed! We have had seven of more at a time some days. I just looked out back and there were 4 on the tiny feeder. They were spending most of their time fighting each other. If you look closely at the picture there are at least 4 birds. This was taken yesterday and necatar is done to the skinnier part.

I've even managed to get some scrapping stuff done. I finished up my stuff for the September kit on http://www.apronstringsdesigns.com/. This will be my last time designing for them. Their kits contain things that are definitely my style so that is nice. The newsletter will be available midmonth on their website. I found a few cute paper mache things at WM I just had to have so maybe I'll tinker around with that tonight. Paper mache usually involves some sort of painting and since my scrap table is always such a mess I usually put off doing it. I also made a few jewelry things for fun this afternoon to submit to a new bead magazine that had extended a call. I'm not holding my breath since I don't know a whole lot about jewerly!

The kids spent a good part of the day outside and should sleep well tonight. Once they are in bed, I'll watch BB. Of course I already peeked to see what happened on the internet. I'm such a cheater....

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!

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.

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....

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!

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.....

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!