Sunday, August 31, 2008

Happy Sunday!!

What a nice weekend!! This has been on the most low-key weekends we've had in loooonnnggg time.. Friday night was the busiest, but it only held soccer practice and then a little 87th birthday celebration for Papa at the nursing home. It was nice to see him and the family - and Bennett brought plenty of smiles and entertainment, as usual :)


Yesterday morning Bennett, mom, Angie and I met at the mall and shopped for a few hours. The sales weren't that great, but I did manage to score 2 CUTE sweaters and a top. Did you know that I love bargains? No? Well, I DO!!


Bennett went home with my mom - they have both been talking about how they have missed each other, so they needed a little time... I was at a loss for what to do with the rest of the day! Brad was home, but on call, so that means that we sit around and wait for the pager to go off. We don't go anywhere that we can't leave at a second's notice. We would never dream of trying a movie or a nice dinner. We don't even go any where in the same car together unless we are within 5 minutes of the house. So, we did stuff around here! Brad fixed my paper shredder and shredded the last of a big batch of papers I'd been trying to shred when the poor machine just quit. (You know that problem I have with not letting things go? Well, it carries over into bills, receipts, etc. and I am slowly but surely purging the closets of years of old papers!) Anyway, I did laundry, vacuumed, straightened the house, etc.


Last night we watched some Season 3 episodes of The Office on DVD. I LOVE that show. We both laughed out loud throughout the whole thing! It has been a long time since we have watched anything on TV together, and it was really nice. You know what? The pager never went off!! What a blessing :)


This morning we went to church, then to Zaxby's for lunch. Bennett has a friend over, so the house is filled with the sounds of little boy noises. I love it! Brad is at work, just checking on things for tomorrow and I am catching up on the blog! Another nice day!


I found out last week that I have been 'tagged'. This is all new to me, but here's the deal :) Lisa tagged me with this:

So here's what I have to do. First, thanks Lisa! I love your blog too :) Check out Lisa's blog here: wellhownice

I am supposed to tag 7 other people, but after much research I have found out that everyone I know that has a blog as already been tagged... Shelley, Katie, Virginia, Lisa, Monique, Brittney. And I woudn't dare tag someone like Cathy Z or Ali... I mean, they are celebrities :) So, check out their blogs - they are all scrapbookers that TOTALLY inspire me.

So, if you are one of the few people that check out my blog (that aren't on the list above!!) check out their blogs. They rock :) Thanks for the tag, Lisa!!
Now I am off to upload pictures to Shutterfly! 15 cent prints and a free shipping coupon are calling my name!!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

It's a blue stripe day!

I am proud to announce that we are now a family of 2 newly awarded blue stripe Tae Kwon Do students!! Bennett tested today at 4 and Brad tonight at 7 and they both passed! Brad had to test on his own, without us cheering due to the time of his test, but he assures me he did great...

So, now on to Bennett's test :)  He did his form well. He did get off a little bit right at the end - he turned the wrong way and paused while the others went ahead. I held my breath, started to panic a bit (even thought I might cry a little - come on, you know how it is when your kids are in a tough situation!!), but he just looked around, went back a step, and finished with so much pride.  And my heart was happy too!!  

Next was board breaking - he broke it with a back kick ON HIS FIRST TRY!!! This blurry picture is the best we can do - look at that power!!! His foot is moving so fast that you can barely make out the blur!!! :)

Then, after the board breaking, Mr. Coon addressed all the students to make sure that they were really ready to get their new belts.  Then, he asked Bennett if his favorite thing about Tae Kwon Do was really push-ups and Bennett assured him that it was!! Mr. Coon said that not too many people like push-ups and no one put it down on their form as their favorite thing... score 1 for originality!!

Here is Mr. Coon and Bennett bowing to each other as Bennett gets his new belt. Look at that stance!!

Here is Ms. Tabby tying Bennett's new belt for him. He almost got it by himself, but not quite ;)
I was one proud mama this afternoon. He did his best and that's all I can ever hope for. I'm pretty sure that I was waaaay more nervous than he was - but that's what mom's do, I think. I'd love to shoulder all of his trials along the way if I could! I would do it without hesitation - but then he wouldn't learn much, I guess...

After a quick celebration dinner (Bennett's choice) at DQ, we went to Meet the Teacher at the elementary school. It was great - so neat to see all that is going on in his classroom and to get to meet some of the parents of the children Bennett talks about every day. He is loving school so much, which makes me so happy!

When I came home, Bennett had 1000 questions - what is star of the week? when will it start? did I see his desk? did I see the train car that he made? did I see his yellow folder? when will he be star of the week? so cute... unfortunately it got him all wound up, and undid all that Nana had done to get him calm and ready for bed. :)

All in all, a great day. I forgot to mention that I had lunch and went shopping with Angie in Homewood (fun!), cleaned out my bill/receipt basket and shredded a ton (made the shredder over-heat) and ironed a pair of pants. I don't iron... Good day. I'm so thankful!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Gimme a B!!

So, it was a big day for another guy in our house!! Bennett got to be the 'Special Person' today at school. He'd been talking about it for about the past week and a half. Every day he'd tell me who was the special person and what he learned about them. And he taught me the special cheer. 

Today they did the cheer for him!!
Gimme a B!.................B
Gimme a E!.................E
Gimme a N!.................N
Gimme a N!.................N
Gimme a E!.................E
Gimme a T!.................T
Gimme a T!.................T
What'da we got?? BENNETT!!
(and then the most important part, apparently)... I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!!........ BENNETT!!!!

He was so excited - it was so cute. He said that they asked him what his favorite TV show was. He didn't tell them WordGirl (his obsession) but Rescue Heroes. I asked him why and he said it was a secret. Hmmm.

The cutest thing was that each child in his class drew a picture and Mrs. M put them all together in a book.  Here he is looking at it - he told Brad and I all about each child as we went through the book. Such a neat idea!




What a great day! AND Brad bought me a membership at Massage Envy... I'm calling to make an appointment in the morning!! :)

Guess who got a new 'do??

Brad did!! Yes, everyone, BRAD HAS HAIR!!! If I had a dollar for everyone who has commented on Brad's new-found hair, I'd have at least $7 by now :)

It was a little scary for a while - I can't even begin to tell you the conversations we've had about hair products and styling aids. But, I made him an appointment with Rony (my favorite hair stylist in the world!!) and now Brad's hair is great!

Isn't he cute??


Sunday, August 24, 2008

A few more scrappy goodies



Here are 6 more pages I did this weekend:

The first 2 are for the Scrap Etc. design team...
My Mind's Eye goodies:
American Crafts:
From my stash... Little Yellow Bicycle:

October Afternoon:

It was a great weekend at the Scrap Etc. 2 day crop. I'm feeling totally inspired and ready to keep the creative juices flowing!! 

Finally complete...

Here are 3 projects that I started at CKU Houston this June. I took them to the crop this weekend and got them all finished... I also got 3 other mini-albums completed from CKU this year and last year.  I think all my CKU projects are officially complete!! I'm ready to go back :)

This one is neat acrylic album using Little Yellow Bicycle products.  It has pictures from a photo shoot that we did at the beach in April '07. Here are most of the pages:






This is an album titled 'Everything Us' from a Rusty Pickle Class. It was supposed to be called Everything Me, but I'm tired of talking about me all the time... Well, not really - I just had more pictures of the family :)









Finally, here is a wall hanging. I can't remember what the products were... Laci, do you remember? It has Easter pictures from this year in it:



Thanks for looking :)

Saturday, August 23, 2008

thoughts on marriage

from a 5 year old:

Bennett: Mommy, why do people have to get married?
Me: Well, they get married when they find the person that God wants them to spend the rest of their life with.
Bennett: Oh (like he's disappointed). But I don't want to get married.
Me: Well, you don't have to. Some people don't get married... Why don't you want to get married?
Bennett: I just want to get a job and buy stuff. I want to buy whatever I want to buy (emphasis on the I).
Me: speechless. Ok, let's just brush our teeth.

I wonder if there is something Brad wants to buy... they have been spending a lot of time together while I've been at the scrapbook store... ;)

Friday, August 22, 2008

Picture time

Here are some pictures, as I promised... I'm still working on my photography skills for these - sorry!!

This is a minibook that I made for my Design Team submission. These are just some of the pages...






Here are my designs for this month's Scrap Etc. Submissions:

Scenic Route (and Thickers):

Sassafrass Lass (and Thickers):
More Scenic Route:

Heidi Swapp:


A card with Sassafrass Lass:
yes, there's a bird in here... I don't have to look at it b/c I'll be sending it, right??


Here are just a few others. This one is a kit from Gretchen at Scrap Etc. She's so talented :)


And here's one that I thought about submitting, but didn't... 




I'm off to the store to crop!! I've packed all my unfinished minibooks to add pictures.



Thursday, August 21, 2008

Lookie here...

I know that I seem to have a lot of free time on my hands... but I really am staying busy while Bennett is away during the day. Hardly ever home. Just hanging out. Running errands. Not cleaning the house. But I think I NEED this class...

My friend Shelley took Got Sketch 101 and raved about it. I think I'll have to take this one. Want to check it out? Go here Got Sketch 102 And, it will be over before the Design Your Life class starts in October! I think it sounds perfect... and maybe it will keep me home some. Nah!!

Don't you want to join me? We could even get together and work on our layouts together!!

I'm going to post my work for the design team in a bit... I promise!! Off to carpool now!

Monday, August 18, 2008

A little boy's prayers

Bennett has been very concerned about natural disasters recently and we have prayed about them every night. In fact, he has even added sand storms to his list. I don't think they are prevalent in Alabama, but it never hurts to cover all the bases,right? 

Tonight he prayed: 

'Dear Lord, Please don't let us have any twisters, sand storms, earthquakes, fires, or (whispers...what did I forget mommy?? Did I say tornado? Oh yeah, that's a twister)... And Lord, if we do have to have those, please let them be down at the bottom of the hill (pointing to the front of the house, to the bottom of our big hill). Especially the earth quake. Just let that be at the bottom of the hill. And keep us safe in all of those things if we have to have them. Amen.'

I know God heard that prayer. And I bet He smiled just like I did :) I love that kid!!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Sunday night...

Sunday nights are always a weird time - it's the end of the weekend, which has usually been good - and the beginning of a new week, which usually is something to look forward to... So, Sunday night is kind of an in-between night. Not really the weekend. Not really the week. I'm making no sense - sorry.

It's just that Sunday night is a night when I think about what's gone on all weekend. This weekend was a good one. Friday night we went out to eat at Panera for dinner (love that Strawberry Poppy-seed salad!) Saturday we visited with Papa and had a good visit. He was glad to see us - and Bennett was thrilled to see the big lift thingy get Papa out of bed and into the wheelchair.  Then we ate lunch at Davenport's pizza (the BEST pizza + free tootsie roll pops when we leave). We went on a hunt for pants for Brad. Not much luck - he's just too tall and skinny (a problem I will never be faced with). We were able to find him a pair of jeans at Lucky. Lucky is right. Everyone else told us that we'd have to have them tailor-made.  I'll keep looking - shopping IS one of my specialties :)

Bennett spent the entire day asking when he could go to Gigi's house. Actually, he started asking on Thursday morning - he had been packed up (mostly with Planet Heroes) and ready to go since early Saturday morning. Thankfully, Gigi said we could come shortly after 2. So, without even pretending that he would miss us, we left Bennett and Gigi for the night and I went to Sumatanga for Heather's Emmaus Walk. What a blessing. If you haven't been on an Emmaus Walk do it - do it now. You will never feel such love and closeness with God. Amazing. I'll sponsor you - just ask me :) You will not be sorry. I promise.

Today we went to church, which was great. Our Sunday School was back to it's super-size now that school has started. I loved seeing everyone - and was blessed by a great reminder about missions. We had lunch at Moe's, where Bennett announced 'If you stink, people might think you are from Paris'. Not sure where he got that, but it brought a good round of laughs to the table :)

Finally, Bennett and I went to see The Clone Wars this afternoon. I fell asleep during the movie but Bennett loved it. So, it was worth it :)  When we came home he 'accidentally' drenched me with the hose (while I was holding all of my church materials, calendar, and purse).  After being mad, I decided that the better thing would be to turn the hose on him. After a few fake tears he realized that it was funny, and we were both better off... All in all, a good weekend.

There's lots to look forward to this week: spending time with friends, a church meeting on Tuesday, school meetings and volunteering, scrapbooking next weekend (two WHOLE days), Julie's and my CAbi party on Thursday, carpool, tae kwon do. Looks like it will be a good week!

So, now Sunday is coming to a close, and I'm thankful for Sunday. It's been a good day - a good close to a good weekend, and a good opening to a new week. 

Friday, August 15, 2008

Carpool brings out the worst in me...

Do you drive carpool? I do. I have for several years - if you count Mother's Day Out carpool. But really, I don't think it counted... Elementary carpool is really a different beast all together.

So, here's what I want to know: Is there etiquette for carpool lines? I think that the answer is YES!!! Others must not agree. Or, their form of etiquette is different than mine. Here's the situation. As I drive up to the school yesterday, there are a few mothers already there (and to be fair, maybe some dads too). There is a particular point where a merge happens, and yesterday before the merge area, in Line 1 (let's just call it that) there are 2 SUV's parked waaaaaaaay back so there is a big gap between them and the rest of the line. I start to panic. I'm not sure what to do. Should I get behind them and wait for them to pull up? Should I fill in the gap? Go to the other lane? So, I take the easy way out and drive up to the front of the merge lane, let's call that Line 2. Whew.

Then I notice that right up in front (right were the kids come off the curb and get into the cars, which is really the BEST spot because you can see  the kids getting out of school - it's like a little bit of spying, but not really) there are 2 cars and another BIIIIIIIGGGGG gap, then 3 more cars. I am right even with the back of the last car. Should I fill in the gap? I could have - but why had they made the gap? Was there something I didn't know? What should I do? I decide to follow the rules (because I like rules and I like to follow them...) and I sit in my legally earned spot. First in line 2.

Two minutes later, a woman drives up behind me and as I glance in my rearview mirror, I see her making crazy hand gestures. She is urging me to move up and fill in the gap at the front of the line. I don't get these gaps, but moving up just doesn't seem right to me. Seems like breaking in line. She can't get around me. I pretend to ignore her. She gets her carpool number plate out and shoves it into the windshield - I think it's so she can show me that she is number 1. Number 1 - like she's better than me because she is number 1. But I know the truth - these numbers are just given out in the order you go through the line. Not by who is the best. Or who the principal likes the best. Or even who knows the most about carpool. Of course, I've been at this school for a whole 6 days, so I know :)

Oh well. She thinks I'm looking again, so she starts with the gestures - this time with more urgency. And her face looks a little distressed and a lot annoyed. This continued for the next 30 minutes (yes, I get there early - I have good books to read :)  Every time she thought I was looking, her hands started flying around. I got a strange satisfaction out of ignoring her. That's not nice, is it??

Then, after a while she got out of her car - not to talk to me (whew) but to talk to someone else. Then the line started to move, so I merged. And she didn't get in her car - SO SHE GOT HONKED AT!!! Again, satisfaction. And I know - that's not right. Why does carpool bring this bad side out in me? 

Today as I drove in, I had a little apprehension. I was hoping that the line would be simple. And it was. And who was the first in line? Good old number 1... :)

Have a great weekend! I'm glad to have Bennett home for 2 days!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

if you really want to make a 5 year old laugh

you should read them this book...


EVERY time we read this book (I got it at the Scholastic Warehouse sale on Friday) Bennett laughs uncontrollably.  

In fact, this morning he said 'Wait! Stop! I have to calm down before you go on!!' 

Mo Willems is a comedic genius. 

Saturday, August 9, 2008

I have a new job!!

Well, sort of :)  I am so excited to be a part of the new Scrap Etc. design team!! We met this morning at the NEW store and got our supplies for the next month. I can't wait to get started!

Check out the Scrap Etc website to meet all of the great ladies that hang out at the store. There's a crop on Aug 22 & 23 - can I wait that long? Nope - the scrapbooking stuff is coming out NOW!!

Oh! And be sure to sign up for this tonight at midnight...
Click here!! Wrapper's Delight

This event is going to be SO great - complete with all my favorite designers (including Jessica Sprague!!)  It's already on my calendar!!

I hope you are having a great Saturday - we've been busy and it looks like we will be for the rest of the weekend too! Enjoy...

Friday, August 8, 2008

Day Two Report

I'm happy to report Day 2 of kindergarten was another good day - for both of us! We got up, watched a little Word Girl, had breakfast, got dressed (in another CUTE outfit that I picked out - this one from the Hanna Anderson store that Laci and I found in Houston at the best mall ever... but I digress...).  We got to school and carpool again was very smooth. He jumped out of the car and blew me a kiss as he walked down the sidewalk. 

Yes, he blew me a kiss :) My heart melted a little and I took a snapshot in my mind. I never want to forget that! I know, I know - I should have had my real camera, but a girl can't have her camera every second of the day!!

I did have tears again this morning as I drove away, but this time it wasn't for me. It was for the poor mom in front of me that had to physically remove her kicking-and-screaming little girl from the white mini-van. The child was so distraught that she had to be carried in by a teacher. I can't imagine having that happen - and I said a prayer for that mom. And I praised God that Bennett was so happy to go to school. He's made it easy on me, you know?

This afternoon carpool went good again this afternoon, we relaxed a little before meeting Brad for dinner at Baha Burger. Bennett reported that he got to play on the playground (not the big playground, mommy, another playground) AND had PE. A little boy (no names are given at this point - believe me, I've tried!!) spied with Bennett on the playground. He got spaghetti and tater tots (I like tater tots now, mommy!!) and pears for lunch. He rested but DID NOT go to sleep. A little boy that sits next to him cried during the day because he missed his mommy. Bennett said 'I patted his back while Mrs. M read us a story to help him feel better'.  And, you go to kindergarten for 5 days every week, mommy. I asked him what he thought about going 5 days a week, and he said 'that's good'. So, all in all, kindergarten is a go :)

Now we are tuning in to the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. We are really excited - Bennett's going to go to the Olympics in Tae Kwon Do. That's what he told us :) I hope he does!!


Thursday, August 7, 2008

I survived!!

We did it!! We survived the first day of kindergarten!! I admit it - I cried. A lot. But only for a little while :)  The worst was when I realized that I forgot to pin his gingerbread man name tag on him before he got out of the car. Talk about guilt. But, you know what? He didn't even realize it - when I asked him about it, he told me that I wasn't supposed to put it on him, that they did it at school. Not true, but...whew.

So, of course the camera was in full force this morning and afternoon. In fact, this afternoon, over a cupcake Bennett asked 'So, how did those pictures turn out this morning?' :)

Here he is in the 'First Day of School' spot...
Good-bye mom!! (Hurry drive away... don't cry yet... slow down - don't miss this... don't cry!!)

A little Edgar's cupcake to celebrate after school...

Look! Brad's mom and dad sent me flowers!!! So sweet! (Bennett calls them Mooma & Poopa) :)

So, I did it. He did it. The first day was overall a success - and when he got in the van this afternoon I asked him how his day was. He said 'Good. I'm gonna go back!' :)

Thank you for all of your prayers today! They really helped me through it. I am thankful that Bennett was so excited to go to school. I am thankful that his day was so great. I am thankful for the prayer breakfast at church. I am thankful for freshly pedicured toes. I am thankful for snuggles on the couch this afternoon. I am thankful for Bennett and the opportunity to be his mommy. I am thankful.