Cousins and Math

My brother Hyrum and his family are in Utah this week from Houston. They stayed with us this weekend for a couple of nights. We are mostly just glad they survived Hurricane Ike and were still able to get here.

A.J. loves to have company here and all the better if they are cousins. He tends to get a bit wild though running around and being LOUD! When I took him to school on Monday, I couldn't believe how quiet the house was, even though Reed and Lucy were still here. Here's some cute pictures of A.J. and Reed playing the Wii and Lucy being cute and silly.


A.J. has had a string of naughty days this week too. If it doesn't get better soon, watch for us on Super Nanny. Seems to happen more when James is gone. He'll be back Friday and maybe things will get better.

But twice in the past week or so, he has brought me some math workbooks off the book shelf and told me he wants to work on them. Another sign that A.J. is adopted is that he wants to do math for fun. He didn't get that from me for sure. Here's the proof:

TGIF

We managed to survive another busy week. I swear I don't know what makes me feel like I am so busy all the time. It could be that I waste too much time on splitcoaststampers.com but I haven't even done that too much this week. So here is a look back at the week that was:

Sunday- We had regional conference. One thing about living in the Salt Shaker is that these regional conferences take place at the Conference Center. Another thing about living in the Salt Shaker, it is really easy just to skip conference all together. No one will notice if you're not there. I know that's not the right attitude to have, but we didn't go. I still had a headache; James had to catch a flight at 12:30 p.m.; and A.J. simply said he didn't want to go. I spent the day finishing up a swap and creating some projects for an upcoming class. We also watched musicals: Singing in the Rain, The Wizard of Oz and My Fair Lady. Of course we found out later that Pres. Monson was the presiding authority at conference. Here's the swap I did. It uses one of Stampin' Up's exclusive Big Shot dies (that was the theme of the swap) and that basket on the front is actually a gift card holder.


Monday and Tuesday - Two weeks ago, I did a Super Saturday for my friend Brynelle. I ended up having 29 sign ups to do my "Countdown to Christmas" Cookie Sheet calendar. And if that wasn't enough, there were two ladies there who wanted to make seven more. So I spent Monday spray painting cookie sheets and cutting out letters and tags for the calendars. I ran out of spray paint and ribbon and had to go buy more. (Too bad Lowe's doesn't sell 1/8" red grosgrain ribbon.) Tuesday, these nice ladies came and spent about four hours putting them together. Of course the house had to be presentable and A.J. had to get to and from school with his homework done in the mean time.

Wednesday - Conquer the craft room day! With my brother Hyrum coming to visit, I actually had to finally address the disaster in my craft room that had spilled over to the guest room. I spent the afternoon and evening digging out the bed in the guest room and making room in the craft room for the play-n-pack for my niece. I also rented "Pushing Daisies" on DVD and fell in love with that cute, clever, quirky show.

Thursday - Two other ladies that I met at Super Saturday wanted to pay me to use my Cricut. So they came over Thursday morning to do more than 200 letters and tags. So the house had to be straightened again (really, you'd think that I could just keep it straight, but that just doesn't happen.) A.J. was almost late for school because their list was so long. Then my neighbor Jen and I went to Michael's for the photo boxese that were on sale and NPS in search of UHU glue sticks. (We struck out BTW at both places). Last night was our first school activity -- Skate Night (a Whittier Elementary tradition). Of course, A.J. doesn't skate and I'm afraid to think what might happen if I got on skates, but most of the kids ride their scooter. I even won a prize for joining PTA. (Four free kids meals at Carl's Jr!) They had this bubble "pit" that the kids could play in for $2 for 10 minutes. Here's A.J. near the end of his time. Can you tell he hated it? ;)


That brings us to today, Friday: Hyrum and his family arrive tonight. This morning we went grocery shopping (which I almost never do with A.J. anymore) and to the bank. Fridays are early, short days for him. Tara called to give me an update on the "California Girls" and we were almost late for school again. (I really do appreciate Tara's update calls though. I've been a slacker friend lately, but I really do think of you all often!) And in a bid to win mother of the year, I neglected to put something in A.J.'s backpack that was suppose to go back today. (We all knew I wasn't going to win anyway.) This afternoon, I cleaned bathrooms and made beds and right now I should be straightening the house once again.

Add to this trying to sell off a bunch of stamps and other craft supplies on the BST boards and dealing with Paypal and making a few runs to the post office, and it has been a busy week. James gets home tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully next week won't be so crazy. But there is little hope for that. James takes of again Tuesday for a few days; I have hostess club here on Thursday; and I am going to a shoebox swap next Saturday. Oh well, three weeks til vacation!

Random Ramblings

There have been lots of times in the past week, I've thought, I should blog about that. But then it doesn't seem that important or like I could make a whole post out of it. So here are some of those random ramblings.

Update on School: A.J. has survived the first seven days of school and only had a time out one other day. He finally found out his buddy's name is Caleb but now he is friends with a little boy who doesn't speak any English. He told me today that he doesn't know enough Spanish or French to talk to him. I'm guessing it's Spanish. But I am happy that he is making friends and reaching out to someone speaks a different language.

NECLISBROC: This morning, I was taking a shower and A.J. kept knocking on the bathroom door. I told him to hold on. When I got dressed and came out, he handed me a note that said, "NECLISBROC." I thought it was cute, but had no idea what it meant. He said it was a "sorry note" and read it to me. "Necklace Broke." How can you be mad at that? Actually it can be fixed and kudos to him for telling the truth.

Happy Birthday: James turned 35 on Monday. He's so hard to shop for so I have resorted to Best Buy Gift Cards for him for every occasion. We went to dinner at the "Peanut Place." (Texas Roadhouse, our favorite!) Then we came home to have sing happy birthday and have cake. Before we had A.J., we wouldn't have cake for out birthdays. But he knows they are required. And since it is one of my favorite things to eat, I don't mind so much.

So that's what happens when I have Caffeine: I've had a pretty bad headache since Sunday. I generally can work through them, but this one as really been a doozy. Several friends (including a my pharmacist friend Angie) recommended something with caffeine in it like Midol or Excedrin. I stopped drinking anything with caffeine in it when I was in High School because it always gave me a stomach ache. But I was desperate to try anything and I thought the stomach ache might be better than the headache. I went to the store and bought Excedrin Migraine formula. Well, it did take the edge off for a few hours and allow me to get somethings done. But even though I took it at 1:30 in the afternoon, I could NOT go to SLEEP last night. I think I may have gotten four hours of sleep in two, two hour increments. I am feeling it tonight. And now I have a fatigue headache instead. (It also explains why some of these ramblings might not make sense.)

A Year Later: This week marks my first anniversary with Stampin' Up! It's been better than I ever imagined. I love that it is my own thing and I can do whatever I want with it and have all kinds of fun toys to play with. I still love stamping and I love sharing it with others. But I am only going to keep at it as long as I am having fun.

Speaking of getting something done and Stampin' Up! So after I took the Excedrin, I set out to finally figure out this really cute project that I received in a convention swap from one of my new friends. It is a "Glass Slipper." Of course, it isn't really glass. It's made of velum and lined with blue card stock. We are making them at a class I am doing in October, but it turned out so cute, I have to share it here too:


Online Ordering is AWESOME!: Stampin' Up! started online ordering yesterday morning for customers. Yesterday afternoon, I got a notice that someone had already made a purchase on my website! So cool. Someone over on Splitcoast suggested that now our customers could shop naked if they wanted too. That is just fine with me, but I really don't want to know about it.

I still have a lot more I could say, but I can hardly keep my eyes open and I need to get A.J. to bed. So more random ramblings another day.

First First Day of School

It's official, A.J. is in Kindergarten. Whoa! I've been looking forward to this day as a chance for some mommy time and a chance for A.J. to learn and grow, but I don't think I was really prepared for this day.

It started yesterday when we went shoe shopping. In late June, I bought him some sandals and dressier casual shoes and I bought size 2 and they were plenty big. I figured it had only been two months and 2s would probably be about right. Wrong! He needed a size 3! I got a little emotional thinking that I was sending my baby to kindergarten in size 3 shoes! He is just getting so big!

I definitely wasn't prepared for the terror I felt sending him off through the kindergarten doors. When he started preschool, I was a little sad about the milestone. But preschool was a small, safe environment. Miss Kathy loved A.J. and it was easy for me to leave him at her home for a few hours a couple of days a week.

Kindergarten is huge! So many kids, so many outside influences on A.J. that I have no control over. (Uh oh! I sound like a control freak!) I've heard A.J.'s teacher is wonderful and just what he needs, but will she love A.J.? A.J. said he was going to tie me to his backpack so I had to go with him. I almost agreed, but didn't want to make a bad impression on the teacher the first day.

Hopefully, I am just a first time mom going through normal first day jitters. A.J. survived the day and even made three friends. When I picked him up from school, he was with a little boy who is about half his size. I asked A.J. later what his name was and he told me he didn't know but that he called him Buddy.

His teacher did say that he had a little trouble today and three time outs for goofing off and being silly when it was time for an activity. Hopefully he will settle down and get into the classroom routine quickly. Otherwise we'll be spending a lot of time with the principal I'm afraid over the next 13 years!

Summer Wrap Up

Yikes! Can't believe it has been six months since I last posted an update! So much for new year's resolutions.

But today is August 31. Pretty much the end of summer. So here are just a few snippets of what our summer has been like:

• Failed camping attempt: At the beginning of June, we tried to go camping at Crystal Hot Springs. We loaded up the car Friday midday and headed up. Pitched our tent, and hit the mineral pools. Then we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. The only problem, we didn't plan for my allergies and A.J.'s cold. Saturday morning I woke up miserable, sneezing non stop and with itchy eyes and nose. And A.J. woke up with pink eye. We packed it up and headed home to find a doctor. So much for camping this summer!
  
  
• Work, work work: June was just a crazy month over all. James was working or traveling all the time. We were all glad when July rolled around and he was home more often.
  
  
• Just keep swimming: A.J. took three sessions of swim lessons this summer. He started out strong and passed level 1 with flying colors. Then his urge to goof off in the water took over and he still didn't pass level 2 after the second go around. But I feel strongly that he will keep taking lessons. I don't want to tell him he can't go to swim parties when he is 9 because he doesn't know how to swim.
  
  
• Raise those eyebrows: A.J. started physical therapy for his face. We've heard lots of good things about retraining the muscles to compensate for the nerve damage. We were blessed to find a great physical therapist who specialize in facial therapy right here in Salt Lake. (Even if A.J. is the youngest patient she has ever worked with). The next closest one is in Orange County, CA. So now we spend 10 minutes every day practicing smiling without closing his eye and sticking his tongue straight out.
  
  
• Cache Valley or Bust: At the end of June, A.J. and I got to go to Logan for the weekend for my cousin David's mission farewell. I love Cache Valley and it was great to spend time with my Aunt LeAnne and her family. I spent so much time with them when I was in college that I am closer to them than any of my other cousins. We took the Wii with us and introduced her family to the joys of Wii bowling, tennis, etc.
  
  
• Cubs is a bust: I finally had a total break down over the whole cub scout thing and ended up getting released. Still not entirely sure what I had to learn from the whole experience other than I am not cut out for cub scouts. But I did get to fill in a lot for the Primary Chorister this summer (which I love to do!) and I got called to teach Relief Society! I almost gave out a big "Woo Hoo" right in the bishop's office. It's one of my favorite callings and after the whole cubs fiasco, I feel like it really is a celestial vacation.
  
  
• B-W Adventure 2008 edition: It took a couple of tries and a whole lot of flexible planning, but we did manage to have a fun staycation with the Butlers this summer. They were suppose to come at the beginning of July but Darren hurt is back in a car accident so it turned into the end of July. We had big plans to go to Lagoon and Park City, but Darren's back was still giving him trouble, so we scaled back, but still managed to entertain the kids and the adults. Tera and I got to stamp and go shopping, the boys got to go to the movies and we took the kids to the Children's Museum and Liberty Park. We are lucky to have them for our friends and adventure buddies!
  
  
• July=swapping, convention style: Since Stampin' Up is located right here in Riverton, UT, they held their 20th Anniversary Convention in Salt Lake City the end of July/beginning of August. That means that I got to go! (I never would have gone if I had to pay for airfare and a hotel room). But I got a little carried away signing up for organized swaps through Split Coast Stampers and spent most of July (and June for that matter) making over 300 swap items. But convention was awesome! I got to meet some of my "virtual" friends and I learned that I am not the craziest person when it comes to stamping either. There were 7000 others just like me (dare I say some are even crazier?) all crammed into the Salt Palace! And I came away with lots of good ideas and things I wanted to buy. But it also inspired me to keep my business going. I am looking forward to next year, but I won't sign up for soooooo many swaps this time either. Here's a picture of my friends Amy and Amanda from Boise and Angie from North Carolina and me at convention:
  
  
• Watch for him in 2028: We watched the Olympics religiously. It brought back so many memories of our own Salt Lake Olympics. We cheered when Michael Phelps won the gold by a fingernail and when the Redeem team lived up to their hype. A.J. can't wait until 2028 when he is going to win a gold medal in Volleyball, Basketball, Swimming, Diving, and Running. I told him he better start eating his vegetables.
  
  
• August is a blur: I just asked James what we've been doing for the past month and neither of us can remember. So must be a whole lot of nothing. Actually, James spent a week working a special enforcement and then spent two weeks in Virginia. A.J. entertained himself by playing with matches and dialing 9-1-1 (not on the same day, and not related.) The new Stampin' Up Catalog came out and I signed up for a few more swaps through the mail. (Don't worry, I am a card carrying member of SA (Swappers Anonymous)).
  

Too bad I didn't take more pictures this summer. Not sure what that was all about. And now things we are looking forward to in the next few months:

• 51 weeks and counting til first grade: A.J. starts Kindergarten on Tuesday! I know I will be sad for a few minutes but then I will enjoy it and start counting down til he's in school all day!
  
  
• They are really letting him represent the USA?: James is off to El Salvador in a few weeks to do some training. He said to me yesterday, "Can you believe they are really sending me to El Salvador to represent the United States?" I said, "Why not, the LDS Church sent you to Canada as a representative when you were 19!" First he is going to a golf resort in Scottsdale for a "conference." (Did I really type that. Sorry that is just what I was thinking.)
  
  
• Cousins: My brother Hyrum and his family are coming to visit in just a few weeks. A.J. doesn't get to see his cousins too much so we are looking forward to seeing them while they are here.
  
  
• A Date with Mickey: we started out planning a trip to San Diego for October, but we just couldn't get the flights right into San Diego. But we could get perfect flights into Orange County, and they were offering amazing deals at the Disneyland Hotel so we took that as a sign. We will still be going to San Diego, but making a little stop at the happiest place on earth first. Can't wait!
  
  
• PJ's Cozy Creations is back: That's right, my neighbor Jen and I are going to start gearing up for our holiday boutique.

Once again I will try to update a little more often. That is if anyone is still reading this.