simplysarah

iscrapbook

2012-01-08T23:54:00.000-05:00

Yes, it is true. But I have not gotten as many layouts done in the last little while. Digital files need to be sorted through and printed. I have needed to organize what I’ve already done.

So tonight I had some time (ha ha ha, really it was time I should have been doing something that would help me prepare for my upcoming student teaching, but it is Sunday, so we’re going with the “Family History” thing.) Anway, I took the time to pull out all the layouts I have ever done. 1/8 of them are in page protectors, the rest have been waiting for a home. Well, I finally decided on what kind of album I’m going to use – black 12x12 3-ring binders. I feel better having finally made that decision. I got one for Christmas and was feeling excited to start filling it up. But I didn’t know what I wanted in that one. So I started to organize my layouts. In typical “Sarah is organizing” fashion, I sat on the living room floor and spread the layouts into piles all around me. When I was done I consulted with Todd about how I wanted to get them into the album(s). I wanted to begin with the end in mind. So, what am I going to do in 15 years? Send the albums with the kids? Be 50 and sitting at home going through them myself? Well, I think I have this figured out too now. I will put the layouts in the albums chronologically. I’ll mix pages that are Xander’s or Cassidy’s with family pages. And I’ll continue to make mini-books, as a way of fueling my creativity and to highlight special events or special pictures. Then, in 15 years, the kids may take some of the layouts and have a biography of sorts, or they may not care or put as much thought into as I do and they’ll just let the books be buried with me. Not that I’m saying I’m going to die at 50…Oh anyway, I feel better now that I’ve sorted that out in my head. We can all sleep peacefully tonight.

money, money, money...

2012-01-07T10:45:00.000-05:00

You know the song from “mama mia”? the one when she sings about not having money? Sure, that could be my song.

There always seems to be something that needs to be fixed, bought, paid for…so my worthy, do my heart good purchases keep getting pushed back. Waaayyy back!

But tonight, I was proud of myself! Now first, let me say, I am not a coupon-er. I have not had the time for it. I haven’t even tried to figure out how to play that game.

However, with Todd’s help we download coupons onto our grocery store card, collect the few that come in the mail and even hold onto the ones that come with the receipts from previous trips to the store.

And tonight we saved $75.00! That is the most I’ve saved in one trip and I am super excited about it.

Will it get me my new couches or hard wood floor? Nope, but it sure felt good anyway.

coming to an end

2012-01-06T21:29:00.001-05:00

this week has gone by in a blur. kids back in school, taking down christmas, prioritizing what needs to be done before my free time is gone.
i have one more week at home, and then i'll be part of the work force again. well, technically i'll be in the work force, but not getting paid. not yet anyway. i'm finally beginning my student teaching to complete my master's degree. i begin on january 17th and will continue until mid april. i have been placed in a third grade classroom. i met my cooperating teacher and briefly her class. in all her 13 years of teaching this is her best class yet. after some of my recent pre-k classes i'm very happy to be training in a well-behaved, respectful class. in addition, i have heard amazing compliments for the cooperating teacher i'll be learning from. if i'm going to become a teacher, then i want to be a teacher that students want to come back to and that parents request for their other children. i want to have a classroom that runs well with routines and schedules. organized and well-maintained. make no mistake about it, i am nervous and anxious. maybe about the amount of paperwork i have to do along with the lesson plans.
crossing my fingers!

it's quiet around here

2012-01-03T23:09:00.001-05:00

Everyone is gone. Todd is back to work. The kids are back to school.

I admit it. I took a nap. I had to. I didn’t sleep well last night and it was so quiet…it did me in.

It was so cold today. Coldest day in a year…? That’s what they said on the weather report.

Oh, and I started taking down Christmas.
Here they come…the winter blues.

things i love...

2012-01-02T08:53:00.001-05:00

a friend's email prompted me to start thinking about some of my favorite things...
so i thought i'd put a few down. some seem to be seasonally related, as we just went through the holidays.

drinking vanilla coke through a straw * laying in a hammock outside on a warm sunny day * cuddling with my kids * warm socks and slippers * getting something accomplished and crossed off a list * calendars & planners * getting christmas cards * scrapbooking for me and vainly, getting recognized for the scrapbooking i do for others * hot chocolate * summer & 4th of july * bread bowls * reading * a clean house * being loved

it's a new year

2012-01-01T22:27:00.001-05:00

and i'm thinking about TIME
as i sat in church on sunday morning, after staying up late to toast the new year with the husband, sister and kiddos... and feleling just a wee bit sleepy, i couldn't help but feel that i was in the right place, a great place to start off the new year.
several talks were given this morning, but one in particular was just what i needed to hear. the speaker devoted her talk to TIME and how quickly TIME is moving, with the craziness of schedules filled with activities and technology that speeds everything up for us.
but we need to find TIME to do those activities that are good. we need to find TIME to serve. we need to find TIME to better ourselves.
so my goal for this new year is to work on TIME...
for my blogs
for children
for myself
for exercise
for cleaning and decluttering
for reading scriptures
for keeping in touch with family

some of these seem to echo years past, and it maybe something that i am always working on, as we know, TIME is always moving, always changing.

happy new year!

december daily #25

2011-12-25T23:57:00.000-05:00

christmas day!
it is finally here! we've been counting down, keeping busy and enjoying the season!
todd, rachel and i got to bed kind of late...later than i was thinking i would. but we still beat santa.
xander came into my room and woke me at 2:30am and said that he heard santa land on the roof and open the bottle of coke we left for him.
i convinced him that he could wait til the morning to go downstairs and off he went to bed.
cassidy woke up at 3:00 and went to todd, told him that her covers had come off her bed.
so it was a restless evening.

we had to wake the kids at 7:30 because we had church at 9:00. we woke, we met at the top of the stairs, and we filed into the living room....

here is a list of the gifts received....

the day was good, lazy and full of food and music. summer sausage, cheese, monkey bread and fruit pizza for breakfast YUM!

xander was worried for a bit, as there were no presents from santa under the tree for him. instead he found an envelope in the tree that had both his name and cassidy's name on it.
inside was a word puzzle. "cross out all the letters in the word SNOW. you'll find your next clue at the place named with the letters that are left." so the first clue sent them to the fridge, then to the garage, the stairs, the laundry room and finally santa's bag. inside the bag cassidy found a present and xander found 3 presents bundled together. i think they also found a little bit of relief!
cassidy's present - an MP3 player. xander's presents - a Nintendo 3DS and 2 games.

we went over to g&p's house for dinner. the food was restaurant amazing! seriously couldn't have been any better if we had gone to a restaurant. and then we played a rousing game of christmas bingo, thanks to courtney. so funny. followed by yummy gut busting deserts and a few attempts at “just dance kids”…gummy bear was the best one!

coming down the stairs

always amazes me!

after church, before changing back into PJ's

found in Santa's bag

the mess left behind

we are Longhorns

christmas bingo

december daily #20

2011-12-20T23:57:00.000-05:00

a funny tonight... rachel asked cassidy if she knew how to spell christmas. cassidy responded with "c-a-s-s-i-d-y". ha ha ha!

it was a great night. the kids danced at lake lanier's magical nights of lights. i couldn't stop smiling watching them. they were amazing.
it is so impressive to watch them. they may not be the best dancers or bound for broadway, but they love to dance and it shows!

december daily #16

2011-12-16T22:45:00.000-05:00

tonight was the ward Christmas party. Sad…I didn’t take any pictures. But one someone was set up with a camera for Santa pictures, and got one of Cassidy. I don’t think Xaner even knew he was there, he just spent the whole night running around. Yes, that was my crazy, loud, hooligan running through the halls…sorry!

december daily #13

2011-12-13T22:43:00.000-05:00

A new friend in my ward is currently living at lake lanier. She had a pass to get into the Magical Nights of Lights and gave it to us to use. We went and saw the lights tonight. It is an impressive light show, and more impressive is the work that must go into setting it all up, but not for the price. So we were very grateful that we could see it for free. After driving through the lights we went over to their house. The kids made gingerbread houses. They had a great time getting all sugared up, but they were entertained enough that “the adults” were able to talk and enjoy ourselves too.

december daily #10

2011-12-10T22:17:00.000-05:00

Tonight was the Christmas party at All Stars. We had a good time. Although slightly crowded the kids enjoyed dancing and doing tricks. And much to my surprise Todd agreed to sing karaoke…he chose “White Christmas”. Cassidy sang with him. Totally blew me away, I would have thought he would have “declined” the offer, profusely. But he gave in pretty quickly when Mr. Alex asked. Too bad he doesn’t sing more often.

december daily #9

2011-12-09T22:05:00.000-05:00

We let the kids sleep under the Christmas tree tonight.

december daily #6

2011-12-06T22:08:00.000-05:00

We had a few presents ready… we had books printed with pictures from our trip to Disney and plan on giving them to Courtney, Shaun, & Chad. So we started wrapping those tonight.

december daily #5

2011-12-05T22:32:00.000-05:00

for FHE tonight we talked about the symbols of Christmas. I found a great introduction to Jesus and Christmas, …at latter-dayhomeschooling.com

"Pretty soon we might have a special guest visit our house. You never know! I'm going to give some clues that describe this person and you guess who it is." The clues included:

he sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good.
he has a beard and a kind face
he spent his life giving to others
he's often pictured in red and/or white clothes
he loves little children
he gives the very best gifts
you can never see him, but you can feel him
he gives us a wonderful, special warm feeling
he can get into our homes even if the doors are locked
he has special, wonderful powers
we want to give gifts back to him, but he doesn't need anything we could buy; he just wants us to give to other people. (My kids have been talking about giving a present to Santa.)
I ended with, "He encourages us to be good so we will be ready when he comes."

do you know what they guessed? do you know how surprised they were when I told them I was talking about Jesus and showed them this picture?

we talked about how candy canes, wreaths and trees had other meanings, not just decorations for the holiday. it was eye opening for them.

we followed up the lesson with snowman ice cream sundaes.

december daily #12

2011-12-04T23:08:00.000-05:00

tonight we watched a dvd about Christ's birth put out by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After having children of my own I am more in awe of Mary and the thought of holding a little baby, knowing what she knew, and yet just wanting to hold her baby as a mother. i don’t know that I said that right, but it makes me stop and think. as I talked about it with the kids tonight of course i teared up. they got worried because i was having a hard time keeping my voice even.
when were done we attempted a gingerbread nativity. xander and i had a fun time trying to figure out how to make the people. his star was the crowning glory though!

december daily #4

2011-12-04T22:10:00.000-05:00

We snuggled up (or tried to with a fidgety 5 year old and an over energetic 8 year old) and read some Christmas books. We have a small shelf full, and never manage to read even half. But we thought we’d give it a good start this year.

december daily #3

2011-12-03T22:59:00.000-05:00

i knew today was going to be a busy day, but didn't realize how much the kids would enjoy it!
today was the buford city holiday celebration.
the kids were scheduled to dance at 11:30, so we left the house at 9:45 to give ourselves plenty of time to get there.
we got a great parking spot and walked to the stage. because we were so early we had a bit of a wait, but it was so much better than rushing and getting there late. (will i ever learn?)
the kids performed and were fabulous. were they perfect? no, but they had a great time doing it. Love that dance is teaching them so much confidence.
they decided to perform in the parade down main street too. so we bought a pizza, ate at the car, then walked the whole length of main street to the gathering point for the parade. they complained a little, but showed a little more anxiety and excitement about being in a parade.
we left them at the float/trailer. cassidy sitting inside, xander walking with the older kids. and we left cassidy with a walkie-talkie.
then we headed back to the car. all the while checking in with the kids.
we waited and watched as the small town showed it’s spirit. and then before us were some kids doing flips and cartwheels. it wasn’t until they were even with us that we both realized it was xander doing the flips down main street! he and two other boys had gone in front of the truck pulling the trailer, and we almost missed him. we waved to cassidy as she went by and then set off for the end of the parade route to meet them. when we got there they were all smiles. xander was thrilled to have been doing tricks the whole way. crazy kid….i’m going to need to get him some tumbling classes.
walking through the shops and tents on the way back to the car made me realize i love living in small towns. it is such a thrill to be involved, even in little ways.
later that night we did a little shopping, starting to put together what the kids would want to get for each other and for their aunts and uncles. it is hard to keep them from asking for things for themselves, but again, their excitement grew as they thought about the gift ideas and the thought of putting them under the tree.

december daily #2

2011-12-02T22:10:00.001-05:00

the end of the week! friday is here...and we don't have any plans.
we'll hang out at home and gear up for a busy day tomorrow.
i am getting our advent/countdown done. crossing my fingers that i'll have it finished this weekend.
i've been trying to plan an activity - large, small, religious, secular - all family oriented for each night leading up to christmas.
don't want to stress us out, but keep the focus where it should be!

december daily #1

2011-12-01T21:07:00.001-05:00

First day of December. Wow! Time flies. Wasn't it just summer?
Well, here is my attempt at keeping up with December, and hopefully the blog.
The first day of December was a Thursday. Our house was already decorated - tree up, stockings hung, snow globes out, garland and red presents up the staircase.
Todd likes to get that done early, right after Thanksgiving!
We had signed up to have the missionaries over for dinner on the 1st. They were great company, and put up with the silly and slightly disrespectful antics of my children.
We listened to Christmas Carols while eating baked potatoes and chili, followed by sugar cookies. We talked about our favorite songs and traditions. The elders encouraged us to let our friend's know we are mormon, pass out mormon.org cards and to find a family or friend to invite to the Ward Christmas party.
It was a great night, a a wonderful way to start off the Christmas season.

attitude of gratitude - a collection thruogh november

2011-11-26T21:21:00.004-05:00

i am grateful for....
a clean living room and (almost) kitchen

missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. they give their lives to the service of the Lord for 2 years, they bring such a great spirit into our home when they come for dinner, and they are so patient with and inspiring for my kids! 2 of my brothers served missions, my husband served a mission, 4 of my brothers-in-law have served, my father-in-law and countless friends! thank you to those who have chosen that path, and to all the families that supported them through it!

scrapbooking. i love being creative with paper and scissors. of course i love ribbon and embellishments and buttons and brads and.... but really, it is all about the paper and the pictures!

bodies that we can use to move, exercise and dance. our bodies are designed to do some amazing things, but most of us never use them to their full potential. (as for Insanity...not so sure yet that i am grateful for this exercise program just yet. ask me again in 52 days!)

the fall. the leaves changing colors. it is such a miracle and so amazing each year as i watch the world light up with vibrant colors. and i wish i had my camera with me so i could take pictures of it all around me. and yet, it is so fleeting...which makes it even more special and reminds me that i need to treasure the enjoyment and awe of it while i can, because it might not be there tomorrow.

this year i am loving the red trees in the "Family Church" parking lot on Hwy. 20 the beautiful array of color as i drive down Whitehead towards my house, the bright orange trees in front of Sugar Hill Elementary (but those leaves are falling fast!) and the vibrant yellow tree along the woodline in our backyard.

my mom who came to stay with my kids for three days!

cars and fridges when they work... :(

a house, a home...a warm place away from the cold winds and outside world

cassidy is grateful for....
my habitat. that's my house.

xander is grateful for....
families. because we have someone that can teach us. and we can have examples from.

todd is grateful for....
you (he means me!!!) and xander and cassidy

health. overall, i'm pretty healthy and grateful for it.

new red chair

2011-08-24T09:18:00.004-04:00

short story - a red micro-fiber chair and a 1/2 recliner for $50 at thrift shop

long story - good neighbors of ours were moving. they had a garage sale one saturday morning. when it was over i went down to help clean up. they didn't want to put anything back in the house, so they contacted a local thrift shop and had a truck brought to the house. they planned on loading up everything left into the truck and donating it. as we began loading the truck i noticed a plush red arm chair at the back of the truck. i wasn't sure if it was my neighbors, as i had never seen it in their house before. granted, i had not been in every room of their house, but it had not been out at the garage sale and it was all the way in the back...so i didn't think it was theirs, but i liked what i could see of it. i made sure i looked at the side of the truck to remember which thrift shop it was going to and then kept packing.
a few days later i looked up the thrift shop to find out where it was. there wasn't a whole lot of information about it, but i had a general direction.
another week went by before i could get out and try to find it. with rachel's help of google maps navigating me through the small streets of down town buford i found it, only to discover they were closed. only open three weekdays for 5 hours, and no saturdays.
another week went by and i was out having lunch with rachel and the flc teachers. the kids had started back to school so i was by myself. i had the time, so i went back to the thrift shop.
as i walked in the door there was the chair right in front of me. with a piece of paper taped to it that said $75. i walked into the building spoke with the lady behind the counter as she explained to me what they were and where the money went to. i started to browse, in awe of the crazy amount of stuff that they had, and the things that they would accept as donations and try to re-sell. but i found a few good things while looking, and knew that i would have to check back every so often for items to use for altering.
as i walked i started a text conversation with todd. i told him the chair was there and how much they were asking for it. we decided that we really didn't have the money to get it, but it made me sick and i knew i would regret it. so i called him. he asked if we had the money, and i laughed because we had been saving money to buy new phones (see future post!) and i had it in my wallet. he asked if i could talk them down. so i went to the counter feeling badly about talking them down, because i knew the money went to help in the community. i dold her that i was really interested in the chair, but didn't have the $75 to spend on it, and wanted to know if she would take lower. she asked how much i could offer. my response was $50 and she said SOLD! one brief moment of elation...and then i panicked a little. what if todd didn't like it? what if i didn't have a place for it? what if i didn't like it? what if the red clashed with the red in the kitchen, the red curtains and the red pillows we already have in the house? what if it was broken or dirty? i hadn't even taken one look at it long enough to see anything but the price. then the lady started talking about what i deal i had gotten and how it was a a chair and a 1/2 and a recliner...seriously? i really hadn't even looked at it, no idea it was that big or that it was a recliner.
i went ahead and handed my money over. and two gentlemen there helped get it out to the trailblazer. it wouldn't fit in the back. so they shoved it in as far as they could (now dripping with sweat because it was 98 degrees!) and then took a rope and tied the back door down over it. i promised that i would drive slowly and keep my hazards on...and off i went.
when i got home i backed the car into the drive (not even something i would do if i could see out the back window) and then i immediately went into the house and started cleaning the living room floor. because, in in the midst of all this scheming to get the chair home i had forgotten that i had unloaded my office in an effort to declutter and clean, and it was sitting all over my living room floor in crazy piles! yup, here is a picture to prove it.
but i did it! i got the floor cleaned up, lowered the chair from the back of the trailblazer, then waited for todd to come home and see it sitting in the driveway.
now, two weeks later, the kids have climbed all over it, todd has fallen asleep in it, and i have been dying to curl up with a book and sit and read for hours (i haven't done that yet!). it ended up being surprisingly clean, very comfortable (although the right side of the seat sags a little more than the left. must have been the favorite side to sit on), and it fits into the living room perfectly. it is almost the exact shade of the curtains, pillows and kitchen paint. i was able to move the book cases so they stand side-by-side now. we may have to re-think where the christmas tree will go, but for now, i am happy that my living room has grown up a little bit.

and that is my story.

what am i doing now that i'm not working???

2011-08-17T10:01:00.003-04:00

what i have learned by decluttering my house & my life:

*i was way too busy, but i may have liked it that way (?)
*i have always made lists. i found lists i made when i was 8, and then more from high school and college
*i have started WAY more projects than i have finished
*i am terrible about sending letters, cards and presents!
*i keep way more than i need
*i have a terrible memory - i'm finding stuff that i did or received that i had completely forgotten about! (stalled out for a bit reading old letters and cards)
*it feels great to carry bags of trash to the curb
*i love opening cupboards and finding exactly what i need and being able to put it away just as easily without shifting and moving other things out of the way
*i knew i could do it!

as of wed 8/17 i have done every cupboard in the kitchen, the fridge, my office and the closet in the office. a few clean up stuff to do to call it completed...but the trash is gone! or at least in the garage to try to sell it or give it away.

dancing without pictures

2011-05-07T18:17:00.004-04:00

so many missed photo opportunities!

todd and i have been involved with some amazing youth, dancing to celebrate the rededication of the atlanta temple...and i didn't take a single picture!
i am hoping to steal some from other people, and create a scrapbook page or mini-book.
it was incredible.

xander's games lately, i haven't taken nearly as many pictures... (i know, not dancing, but in a way it could be!?!)

cassidy and xander are dancing with allstars performing academy in their spring recital but i didn't even get pictures of them dressed in costume, cause i was so busy dressing them and sending them to the stage!

xander came off the stage dressed as the Sultan from Aladdin and said "that was great, can i do it again?" then he danced and he said he held his end pose longer than he ever had before.

cassidy was so brave and confident. she had never been on that stage before, and was the first one in her group to go out for their part. she was supposed to line up in the middle and dance (2) counts of 8, and then the other girls would come out and line up behind her. someone from the audience said that when she went out and danced by herself there were murmurs around them of how wonderful she did, how brave she was...! overall, and incredible experience!

next year i'll do better with the pictures!

busy busy times...but hopefully memorable.

spring break 2011

2011-04-10T18:17:00.007-04:00

we spent spring break in Helen
i think the kids were a little spoiled...i got a little scrapbooking done (very little...but something!)

Babyland General - home of the Cabbage Patch Dolls

hiking to Anna Ruby Falls
visit to Betty's Old Country Store
old soda fountin

miniature golfing at Pirate Adventure

Candy from Hansel & Gretel's Candy Shoppe
(this was a 2 ft long gummy snake)

playground on the walk home (yes, we walked to town!)
if you look carefully, cassidy is on the top platform counting and xander is underneath hiding
they were playing hide-n-seek

they got along for a few minutes while they colored!

gem mining
this was an experience.... expected to see a few more teeth from the people who worked there.
that and cassidy knocked over a vase, that was as big as she was, and we had to pay for it. seems the guy gave me a deal, cause he was trying to sell it for $100. ha! who would go into his place planning on spending $100! so, the adage is true... you break it you buy it.
in our case we bought it and left it there in the shop. no use for a vase.
but the kids liked the "gems" we found.

funnel cake at "granny's best" in downtown Helen. it was my second of the week...

as promised, ice cream cones!

there was a wooden toy shop. the guy that owns it makes all the toys there in a little shop inside the store. xander got a zapper - shoots ping pong balls with the help of a wooden clothes pin and elastics. cassidy wanted the fishing pole with the "gold" fish.
here she is posing on the walk home with it.

we did have a trip to the ER first thing on Sunday
xander had an awful allergic reaction to pollen (at least that is what we think)
his eyeball swelled up. i've never seen anything like it
it freaked me out a little bit, so off to the ER we went.
blessing, steroids, claritin, and allergy drops and he was much better
this is what the condo looks like. ours was the upstairs
here is the inside. upstairs is a loft.
kids love being up there, looking over the edge and sleeping up there

this is the view from the back porch.

and this is the indoor swimming pool. we spent at least an hour there every morning.
kids say it was the best part of the trip (oh sure... that was the free part!)

bye Helen...see you next year.
thanks for a good time

potd 2/6-2/12

2011-02-13T21:16:00.003-05:00

sunday 2/6
so this week started out with the superbowl! do you watch it for the commercials or the game. me, game, even if i don't really care who is winning. i'd rather get the low down on the commercials after and then watch the good ones. however, this year i saw some previews before the big day. the one that i saw and was excited for everyone else to see was a VW commercial with the cutest darth vadar trying to use the force on anything and everything around his house. loved it. reminded me of xander trying to be an air bender and water bender after watching the movie "the last airbender" this past summer. (he went with my mom and rachel when we were in boston).
we watched the game (and commercials) down the street at a neighbors house. they were so kind to invite us, and we were glad we joined them. here is a picture of all the kiddos together. the boys actually watched a good bit, as they ran in and out of the room.

monday 2/7

tuesday 2/8

wednesday 2/9

thursday 2/10

friday 2/11
rach and i went shopping tonight. i don't get to go very often without kids to drive me crazy while i'm in the dressing room. nor do i get to go to spend money very often. this time i had gift cards from my birthday! i actually liked most of what i tried on. yeah! very happy with my purchases as of late. (i included two items i've found at h&m over the last month.)

saturday 2/12
went scrapbooking tonight. but no picture today. if i had taken one it would have been xander coming to me in the house, with his hands behind his back, asking me if i knew how to make homemade bread from wheat. "cause i just picked you some outside." and out from behind his back he pulls a handful of weeds that are light brown/tan in color with stalk-like looking tops to them. what a riot!

potd 1/31-2/5

2011-02-06T18:06:00.005-05:00

i'm going to change things up a bit...after this week i'm going to post sunday through saturday. i don't usually have sunday's picture uploaded yet when i work on my blog post. so, i'll start with the sunday before and go from there. (did anyone really care about that?)

before i start the potd, there is other news that does not have a picture.
we are out two cars right now. and truly it is tough. thanks to rachel, george & pam we've made it to everything that we've needed to be at. and even had their cars to run a few errands. my escape has $4000 worth of repairs that need to be done to it. evidentaly the trailer hitch that hit the front part of the car in the accident that happened in october did quite a bit of damage to the inside. so much that had we had collision insurance they would have totalled the car. radiator, engine mounts, the hood, bumper and grill, transmission hose, another hose....
so, now i have to decide what to do with it. i loved my car. and i know we don't have the money to get another one. i'm being slightly selfish, pardon me.
then there is the old buick that we are driving. the kids call it the hot car, because it doesn't have air conditioning. but it also doesn't have great heat. but, still it is the hot car. well it didn't pass emissions. so todd brought it in. the same day i find out the damage to the escape, todd gets a call from the mechanic and says there are too many things wrong with the buick to try to fix it. it won't be worth it.
well, that was last thursday. then this monday, we pick up the buick and bring it home. hoping to find a place to donate it to and take the write off. we get a call, from someone who wants to help us fix the buick. both todd and i were in tears. thank you.
so as of now, we are still down both cars. waiting on news of the buick and trying to decide what to do with the escape, and most likely looking for another car. we are definitely a two car family.

so, onto the week...

monday 1/31
100 days of school! such a milestone to reach each year. that means only 80 more days left. is it sad that i like to countdown as much as the kids do?
xander's 100thday stuff was on friday, but they didn't ask for anything from home.
cassidy was asked to bring 100 of a food item to add to a 100th day trail mix. she chose lucky charms cereal. but once she started counting them all out, the marshmallows were sticking to her fingers. so she ate the marshmallows and counted out the crunchy cereal pieces instead. (yes, she washed her hands first!)
she also had to wear 100 of something.
we choose sticker foam dots/circles. we counted out 100 of them and stuck them to a white shirt. i got a picture with my cell phone. i'll put it on here when i grab it off there.

tuesday 2/1
we had the missionaries over for dinner tonight. i knew i wanted a potd, but i didn't want the missionaries to feel weird about me taking their pictures and posting it on my blog. well, as usual the evening was never void of conversation or entertainment from the children. and just when we were winding down, xander (who had disappeared upstairs) comes running into the kitchen with his star wars: clone wars helmet on. it sent us all into a fit of hysterics! and then, the elders wanted to try it on. it fit one of them. so, i grabbed my camera and got my potd!
good times with the elders (at least until cassidy can flirt!)wednesday 2/2
yes, i took this picture of myself. yes, i used a self-timer. no, i was not really asleep.
i have been getting so tired at night! i'm not in a master's class right now, but i start a new 8 week class in a week. i'm a little nervous. if i am so tired so early in the evening, how am i going to stay up to get my school work, pre-k work and scrapbook work done? PRIORITIZE! yup. i'll make it work. this will not be me!

thursday 2/3
embarrassing? maybe.
this is all the laundry that made it's way to my bedroom floor.
got it all sorted out tonight. got all mine folded.
will fold the kids stuff tomorrow, or the next day. but at least my floor is cleared and i can see it.friday 2/4
my wonderful friend bought we a very unique gift and i love it!
a necklace with a charm shaped like the state of massachusetts. there is a heart engraved/stamped where maynard should be. is my heart in massachusetts? not too sure, but i do miss it sometimes. don't get me wrong. georgia is great and i have really enjoyed living here. but i still call massachusetts home, and would like to try and live there again someday. (picture is on my cell phone. will post later)

saturday 2/5
a busy day today.
but it started off with a fun birthday party for a boy in the neighborhood, at skate country.
took lots of pictures for the family, but love this one. cute little skates. and a little girl standing all by herself while wearing them. i'm amazed at how well she is doing only her second time trying to skate. she even made it a few steps before falling. but she was determined. after falling one time she told todd she didn't need any help because she wanted to be tough like xander.
x, your little sister is watching you!

saturday date night

2011-02-05T22:38:00.000-05:00

daddy daughter date night to chick-fil-a
when she poses i can't keep a straight face

while they were out xander and i had a date - chinese style
he was so excited, and then confessed that he had eaten two hot dogs at a friends house just before. it's alright, the conversation was great.

potd 1/24-1/30

2011-01-30T23:32:00.001-05:00

monday 1/24
kids playing games on the computer, x is playing star wars, while c plays on pbskids.org
tuesday 1/25
xander doing his reading for homework. he is supposed to read 20 minutes a day. most days he puts up a big stink about doing it. but he has been reading the "diary of a wimpy kid" series and really likes them. wish he didn't complain so much about it though. caught him in a quiet moment.

thursday 1/27
cassidy's half birthday! she is 4 1/2 today. so, she got 1/2 a cake.

saturday 1/29
here we come spring ball!
baseball assessments at george pierce park. went early, warmed up with his best baseball bud, went through the assessment with no problems (overheard comments from coaches while i was playing pohotographer...."nice swing", "good hit", "nice job (on fielding)", "good arm").
it was a beautiful day, so we hung out at the park for 2 hours. saw lots of friends from years past. met a few new ones...
now we wait for the call to find out what team he is on, and who his teammates will be. keeping our fingers crossed!
sunday 1/30
New Beginnings for the young women at church.
as an advisor for the beehive class i helped put the decorations and backdrop together. the counselor i work with was the mastermind behind this balloon arch, and i was in charge of the clouds and "title". not too shabby!

potd 1/17-1/23

2011-01-23T12:31:00.001-05:00

monday 1/17
cassidy waiting for her friend to walk up from down the street. everyday when we drive home from school she begs me to call so they can play. they are just alike... CLL & EKP

tuesday 1/18
no pictures today. just come preparations for todd's birthday. he's 40 tomorrow!

wednesday 1/19
todd's birthday! we ate at olive garden followed by chocolate birthday cake at home. despite their initial protests x & c LOVED olive garden. x said it was just like heaven, and that he couldn't keep his lips off the raspberry lemonade. good choice todd!
we followed up at home with the cake and a couple of presents. his mother had hand cut birthday cakes, party hats and hearts, which the kids had decorated the living room with. a "heart attack" of sorts. they had also put together 40 dollar coins, and me and the kids gave him tickets to the gwinnett braves for the summer. he'll get presents all summer long as we shop in the gift store there.

thursday 1/20
my poor car. it has been sitting at my in-laws for the last three months following the accident. and we are finally having it looked at. i miss my car.

friday 1/21
no pictures....but daddy/daughter date to bath & body works and mcdonald's, and mother/son date to school showing of "despicable me".

saturday 1/22
no pictures....cleaning day. working on decluttering the house! my main goal this year, besides working on my "picture of the day" collection

sunday 1/23
three days in a row. oh this isn't good.

potd 1/10 - 1/16

2011-01-16T21:26:00.002-05:00

so? you want to know what a snow day looks like? how about 5 of them? yup, we had 5 snow days in a row! i grew up in massachusetts, it snows alot there, but never were we out so many days in a row, never a whole week! but georgia has their way of dealing with snow... wait for it to melt!
i thought i'd get started on my post for this week, since i have so much free time! don't get me wrong, there is still plenty to do around the house, and my master's class hasn't stopped and there are two adorable kids that need to be entertained. but in between all that i've had a few minutes to myself. ooops, minute is over, cassidy just climbed on my lap. yes, she is still awake at 9:30pm. didn't you hear? there's no school tomorrow.
and sorry, i can't keep it to one picture each day. we've been home this whole time, the camera is close by...lots of pictures!

monday 1/10 - snow and lots of it! six inches! we headed out after bundling up layers and layers. i think we lasted for an hour and half. we met several of the neighborhood kids outside. snowmen and snowball fights didn't work because the snow was too powdery, but good ole fashion jumping and snow angels were just as fun! the neighbors had some makeshift sleds and we used boogie boards too. anything to enjoy the snow.

tuesday 1/11 - second day of snow, x played outside, but it was so much colder than monday! when he came in his cheeks and feet were bright red. cassidy went outside with a friend and then played at her house and ate snow cream. we put up a tent in our living room! kids slept there all night. oh, and a picture of 11:11 on 1/11/11.wednesday 1/12 - cleaned the kids rooms today, and mine! yeah for clean bedrooms! after cleaning cassidy and i had a tea party. yup, a tea party! this was a first for us. so cute. but i admit, i had to fight the urge to get up and keep working. stop and enjoy it, cause she won't want to do this for long. and she was so animated! one of those moments you wish was on video.
it was a busy day for us. i put out a message on facebook to our neighbors that we had a tent set up in our living room and they were welcome to come watch a movie. and they did. we had three other families come join us. moms sat and talked and held the baby, kids played and played and played. great fun!
when the movie was done the crazy boys went back outside to play football in the snow! (glad the other boys wanted to do it, cause otherwise it would have been me!)
then that night we pulled out the games....uno attack, checkers, and candy land.
they slept in the tent again.

thursday 1/13 - not as much playing in the snow today. a low key day. we were going to go for a walk down to whitehead rd. to see how icy it was, but both kids fell asleep watching a movie. the last airbender. x loves it, but i guess the exhaustion of the last few days kicked in. i finally saw the end of it, after seeing the beginning 2 or 3 times. when todd got home from work and the grocery store (yeah!) he and x watched another movie. so it was "the day of the movie"! and still tent sleeping!

friday 1/14 - last day inside. mom and rachel came to get us today. they braved the ice on whitehead road. we ran a few errands and went to the mall. met todd there when he got off work. never really did have "cabin fever" but it felt good to be out doing something. last night of the tent! we have to get back to normalcy at some point.

saturday 1/15
lego birthday party for a friend. incredibly well put together and wonderfully executed. so stinkin' clever with i-spy and car races! xander loved it and has had a renewed desire to play with his legos and cassidy loved being girly with dresses and make up. best for both of them!
and as if they didn't have enough candy and sugar at the party, we had to try out the mega huge campfire marshmallows that todd found at the store. roasting marshmallows over the flame on the gas stove, not quite the same as a campfire, but fun nonetheless. (yes, it is on fire)

sunday 1/16
something i've been working on the last 3 weeks - drink more water! i've never been a big drinker, but i'm getting a little more used to it. like my water bottle?

potd 1/3-1/9

2011-01-09T23:27:00.002-05:00

we are expecting snow. but it hasn't started yet. should have been here by now. xander is having a conniption (is that how you spell that?) fit because gwinnett county hasn't called off school yet. he is really worried.
but while i am waiting for it to start let's get going with my new goal...

1/3 monday
back to work for me! kids came to school with me today while i worked and cleaned in the classroom. and then came home to clean our house. putting away all the christmas stuff can be sad. i took a picture of the boxes all stacked up. they are ready to go upstairs and stored in the attic. but i thought it would be funny to photograph the boxes, because one day x & c are going to look at the picture and remember the decorations we would put up at christmas time. they may even laugh because some of the same boxes and decorations are still around.

1/4 tuesday
back to school. xander was not happy and said he didn't feel well. poor kid and his nerves. funny when it affects him, but on the baseball diamond is not one of those times.

1/5 wednesday
we started a tradition 3 or 4 years ago...when we take down the christmas tree we have a snowball fight. snowballs? okay, we have a marshmallow fight. we have to do something fun to to keep from being sad that all the decorations are put away and the season is over.
(that is my mom behind xander and rachel was safely sitting in the kitchen)

1/6 thursday
what happened on thursday? not much evidentally.

1/7 friday
the picture i should have gotten today would have been picking karen up at the airport, or surprising my mom and rachel by bringing karen to the house! YEAH good surprise! or karen with my kids or even all of us together. but none of those happened.
karen did get one of my kids drinking their QT slushies. I'll have to get that one from her.
but i caught a picture of cassidy making brownies. she is always happy to help cook!

1/8 saturday
we hit old navy and got some great deals! love a sale.
we also ate a stevi b's...oh, so much pizza.
but not picture today.

1/9 sunday
as i've been sitting here typing the the snow has started. in the last 1o minutes it has gone from cloudy night to snow storm. the flakes are coming down hard and the ground is already covered. i woke xander to let him know that gwinnett was closed, thanks to a text from rachel. and he got up to look at the snow. now he is laying next to me on the bed. todd was a good guy and went and took my potd for me. here is the first snow of the year. (technically the first snow we had of the winter was in 2010 in december, so this is the first of 2011). pictures tomorrow! fyi, karen barely made it out of atlanta's hartsfield jackson airport. her story was pretty funny (now that it is over) and amazingly the pilot was able to take off at 1:40. this picture was taken at 10:30 or so. visibility was pretty bad. thank you to the pilot and crew that got her home safely.
** edited monday morning **

the snowball fight tradition

2011-01-06T23:32:00.001-05:00

true to form, xander threw a bullet of a marshmallow, cassidy ate a few too many as she flitted around, and we all had a good laugh at the protective gear they found in the garage.

potd 12/26 - 1/2

2011-01-02T23:43:00.004-05:00

well, it is sunday, for at least another 15 minutes...so i am on track with my goal to post more on my blog, and to have a picture of the day.

i actually started to get on my blog an hour ago, but sucked into 3 new blogs. one about organizing myself/house/kids/etc., and two about healthy eating for kids. wow, my brain is on overload. i want to do it all...but i know i can't do it all at once. i'll have to see if i can add this in. really good ideas, but will take a little bit of time to wrap my head around, then wrap my kids around, then actually accomplish it.

so, onto the POTD... okay, so some of them i couldn't do just one picture. i know, over achiever! i guess this will be another way i need to simplify my life!

since i will do pictures just for christmas (at some point in the near future) i'll start the day after.

12/26 - playing in the snow was a must today! thank you white christmas. we went to george & pam's to use their sled (really? they have a sled and they live in georgia? that's being prepared) and their hill.
12/27 - sadly, no pictures taken today. i think we stayed home...actually, we went to rachel's and had pizza with my parents. we watched tv, hung out, and ate too much!

12/28 - here it is...my entrance into my mid-30's. xander and cassidy made breakfast for me. xander made scrambled eggs and cassidy did the toast. later that night we had an "oreo" ice cream cake todd had whipped up. blowing out the candles was a great "mom" moment...as cassidy got to them first. and i added the picture of me looking at cassidy's hand-made card. both kids made their own.... cassidy's had something new and exciting, her first written word "MOM". and i love the nonchalant way x is standing next to me, with his hands in the pocket of his hoodie.

12/29 - i spent an hour or so getting ready for my night out with todd and my in-laws. they had big plans for our birthdays. turned out they took us to the varsity (always good for a "famous" hot dog) and then to atlantic station for a cirque du soliel show, "ovo". quite awesome. but no pictures of the night. anyway, while i was getting ready cassidy was working on her own toes. love the outfit, pink long sleeved t-shirt and a pair of xander's old baseball pants. (they were from his first season when he played on the marlins).
12/30 - today we went bowling with joanna & her kids. so cute, and so fun (except for the arcade games!) she has all those pictures. i'll have to get them from her.

12/31 - new year's eve. chinese food, movies at rachel's with her and my parents, counting down to midnight (look at his face, he is so excited!), and sparkling grape juice to toast a new year!
1/1/11 - the first day of the new year. what better way to celebrate than finally having the last night of hanukkah! our schedules got to busy and we never lit the candles for the final night. that and i had promised xander that we would have latkes when we did it. so thank you todd, for making us some "gentile" latkes, as we lit the candles one last time for this year. (okay, technically, since it is 2011 we'll be lighting them again this year. technically.)
and when i should have had my children go to bed at a decent hour, we stayed up to use cassidy's new Easy Bake Oven (merry christmas from rachel!) really, cassidy did a lot of the stirring and pouring, it wasn't just me playing with it. oh, and the dial on the front really doesn't work, but we had to test it out.
1/2/11 - sunday. 9 o'clock church. and dinner at the pett's. no pictures all day long, til i remembered i wanted to do this post and i needed a picture for today. so i grabbed the camera and went into x's room. he was supposed to be in bed. but instead he was at his desk, surrounded by his books and mp3 player, pencils and radio. just as he had organized it. and he was writing. the other night he wrote about the books "the diary of a wimpy kid" which he got for christmas and has been reading. he told me he wrote about them to make sure he didn't forget how to write (while he's been on vacation from school).

so, too long winded? too many pictures? too much writing? oh well. even if no one else reads it right now, i'll have it for later. yeah me!

here comes 2011

2010-12-31T02:09:00.003-05:00

i wish i knew how to make my blog better. i've seen several blogs lately that have section headers, so there could be an "all about me" section, and a blog for personal, and a blog for "scrapbooking".
i'm going to need to figure this out. i have several blogs, but all in different places. would be nice to have them all from the same page. maybe?

that isn't why i came to type tonight. starting a new year, a new age (my age), a new semester at school....always helps me to contemplate my goals for the upcoming year, and reflect on the ones from the year before that i didn't accomplish.

so do i need to put those goals "out there" so i'll be held accountable? or will i just look like i fell flat on my face when i don't live up to the expectations i set for myself?

i have several, but i'll just mention a few...

POTD - picture of the day, take at least one picture everyday to capture LIFE
i really need to keep up with my blog. and i really want to document my life and all that happens with my family and my scrapbooking. i've tried keeping up with a picture a day before, and i didn't do so well. so, here we go, i'm trying again. a picture everyday, and blogging with the pictures on sunday afternoons! so check back on monday, and if i haven't done my blog post, start pestering me!

EXERCISING -
yes to lose weight, but also because i am happier when i do. doesn't mean i am always happy to do it, but that whole chemical balance thing...yup, it works. so something each day. yes, each day. doesn't have to be a full workout, but something scheduled in my planner each day!

PLANNED DINNERS -
i hate getting to 5 and coming up with something for dinner. sometimes i shrug it off to todd, cause he is so much better at putting ingredients together and "whipping something up" than i am. perhaps we'll do more crockpot recipes, or i'll get the meat started the night before, but something has got to change for this family who is too busy in the afternoon to figure it out after we get home from school.

and lastly
ORGANIZE -
a place for everything and everything in its place. i've been doing okay the last part of this year, going through closets and drawers and throwing things away. but i am far from being done. we won't mention the areas that need it the most, but basically, it is the same areas it has been before. in addition, i will make it a nightly ritual to get out the kids clothes for the next day, pack their bags and mine, start dinner (see above), and go through the file system i created to stay on top of bills, birthdays, and the like.

so? what do you think? do-able?

well, it is technically the last day of the year, so HAPPY NEW YEAR. i'll be back on sunday with pictures, cause that is one of my goals and i'll at least keep up with it the first week, right?

34th

2010-12-29T13:23:00.000-05:00

yup, it s here. my mid-30’s.

don’t know if I’m ready for it.
kids made me breakfast, x made the eggs and c made the toast.
spent the afternoon roller skating with the whole fam (except for todd, who had to work.)
mcdonalds for lunch- this one for the kiddos.
a few attempts to get an [accurate] picture of myself on this day.
“on the border” for dinner – this one for me. way too much food! then home again for ice cream cake

so a whole day and I’m still not so sure.
don’t want to look like I’m a 34 year old mom and teacher…even though I am.

well here are some pictures from the day…

this is me...

2010-12-28T23:26:00.002-05:00

at 34...

photo taken by xander

they say....

2010-12-26T10:53:00.002-05:00

"i'm wearing 5 shirts, 5 pants and 2 pairs of socks on each foot!" - xander
"mom, does xander look fat in that stuff?" - cassidy
"not as fat as the sultan." - xander
after getting dressed in her 5 pairs of pants....
"now i'm fat like the sultan too!" - cassidy

(to explain, xander has been cast as the sultan from Aladdin in cassidy's dance studio's spring recital and we have to make him a costume to make him fat...)

merry christmas

2010-12-25T20:58:00.003-05:00

the 25 days of christmas...
last year i put together a scrapbook highlighting 25 things that happened from thanksgiving til after christmas.
i wanted to try again this year. i haven't blogged since thanksgiving, and then i didn't even blog about that day. but i did try to start putting the actual book together.
so here on christmas day i thought i'd put my list together. (in no particular order)

1. christmas caroling (wish i had a picture of this one) - we went caroling with the gormally girls! it was great. we sang "deck the halls", "joy to the world", "rudolph" and "we wish you a merry christmas". we sang at rachel's, the pett's, the crozier's/johnson's, the best's, and the platt's. but of course, before we started our rounds we went out to eat at mcdonald's!

2. making and decorating sugar cookies - wish i had taken a picture of the kids walking through the neighborhood with plates of cookies. but got pictures of making them!

3. rachel's surgery (she'll thank me i have a picture of this one)

4. mom & dad here (still no picture of them together!)

5. christmas eve @ george & pam's - as always, spoiled!

6. christmas day at home, rachel's and george & pam's - lots of pictures

7. the food of christmas - so much food! cookies, pumpkin bread, pies, pretzel candies, and then the food of christmas eve and christmas day. my brothers and sister-in-law outdo themselves each year

8. wrapping presents - not enough pictures of this one. but we had it done before christmas! really!

9. xander painting cassidy's present

10. decorating the christmas tree - we started putting up the tree Thanksgiving night and decorating just a few days later. i was so busy with my master's course that i missed todd and the kids doing most of it, but i joined in at the very end and took pictures of todd putting up the star.

11. elf on the shelf - this is the first year the elf has visited our house. i've heard of the elf and the book, but it was kind of pricey to buy, so i have never invested. this year i looked it up on the internet. turns out the elf looks just like the two that my parents had in our house when i was growing up. i told the kids about it at dinner one night. xander's comment was "did you touch it?" "yes, everytime we set it out them out for decoration." "oh no! you made him lose his magic!" evidentally you can not touch the elves, or they won't work. each day the elf sits in your house and watches you. then at night he leaves, reports back to santa at the north pole. while we sat at dinner that night i called my mom, "mom, do you remember the two elves that we used to put on our organ for decoration....did you know that they were magic elves? all that time they were reporting back to santa! do you think you could bring an elf to us when you come visit?" each day we'd wake up and try to find where the elf was, because he'd have moved to a different place in the house.

12. cassidy's performance @ lake lanier islands - so cute. she did great. she loves dancing. and even commented the other day when listening to the nutcracker music "i love this ballet music".

13. christmas cards - finally finished them this year and got them sent out on the 23-24th! yeah me!

14. attempt at gingerbread houses - we started a box set of gingerbread house that we have had for at least a year, if not longer. the candy was skimpy and the frosting wasn't setting fast enough. so we put it aside for the night. we never got back to it. then, at school i do a gingerbread house decorating party at the end of gingerbread week. it is our "holiday" party. i had extra houses, so i brought them home with extra candy and frosting. but the kids never wanted to do them, so they stayed undecorated the whole time

15. countdown blocks & advents - love these! and so do the kids

16. music -every day, all day

17. sitting on santa's lap - i don't have a picture of us visiting santa at the mall, or when we ran into santa and mrs. claus at kroger when they were buying candy canes. but i did get a picture of cassidy sitting on santa xander's lap telling him what she wants for christmas.

18. hanukkah - each year i get out the menorah and try to do each of the 8 nights. we even did hanukkah with the missionaries here. the kids loved it. we were really close to doing all 8 nights this year. but we haven't done the last night yet because xander wanted latkes when we did the final night, and we haven't had a night that we could put them together. so the menorah is still out, and it is in the middle of the nativity scene. xander asked on christmas eve..."mom, do you think that santa will be confused when he comes down the chimney and see the menorah?"
some of his other comments have been "Mom, do you think we are the only ones who celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah?" at school he was doing an activity with the teacher during class party (so I was there) and the teacher said something to another child about being half-elf by the way he was coloring his activity. Xander's comment was, pointing to me "She's half Jewish." and then pointing to mom (who was already here visiting) "And she's all Jewish!"and the best... "WHAT! Jesus was a Jew? Did he celebrate Hanukkah?"

19. reindeer food & cookies for santa - must take care of them. left reindeer on the lawn christmas eve night. when we saw santa at the mall he specifically told us he loved homemade chocolate chip cookies, and if we didn't have milk his next favorite drink is coca-cola. so that is what he got.

20. family photo - we didn't get it done until the monday before, but did it and sent it out with my christmas cards

21. snow on christmas day - for the first time in over 100 years, snow on christmas day and it stuck! looks like we got 2 inches, and 1:00 church has already been canceled for tomorrow.

22. hand-made ornaments, calendars & shopping plan of attack - projects i made for tombow, but used for myself and presents

23. wish lists & list of presents received -working on this one! but when we went to visit santa at the mall there was no one in line behind us, so he took the time to read the kid's wish lists that we had brought to drop in his mail box. when he was done he told the kids he'd hold onto their letters. on christmas morning, next to the plate that had his cookies and carrots were the kid's letters, signed "Love Santa"! amazing!

24. marshmallow fight -it hasn't happened yet, but it we'll host our annual take down the tree marshmallow fight, to make it not so sad.

25. my birthday - this hasn't happened yet either, but 3 more days of being 33

oops, one more.
26. pj's - love opening new pj's on christmas eve.

time to get to work on it!
merry christmas 2010!

he says...

2010-11-25T00:15:00.002-05:00

x has been sick the last 3 days, cough, runny nose, congested, fever...
"mom, i wish Jesus was still alive on the earth."
"why?"
"so he could heal me and make me stop coughing."
"if i am sick tomorrow that will be 4 days...i've never been sick for 4 days before. what if i miss church on sunday? what if i am still sick on monday? will i miss school?"

he has been checking his temperature frequently, sometimes within minutes of each other.

"i'm too sick to do anything but watch tv and play wii."
(poor sick child!)

check!

2010-11-13T23:51:00.003-05:00

i was productive today! finally!
i finished one of my master's classes on october 25th. i kept telling myself when it was over i would put all my energy into working out and REALLY cleaning my house.
well, wouldn't you know the weekend before i was feeling a little sick and sure enough, tuesday when the class was over i was wiped out! found out that i had bronchitis (still coughing even now.) and to make matters worse my sciatic nerve was pinched and every time i coughed i had a stabbing pain in my butt, that would shoot down my leg. it was blinding! todd asked which was worse, the sciatic nerve or childbirth. my answer, the sciatic nerve....because nothing good comes from it.
so i've been a little wiped out and haven't had the energy or the time to get anything major done. well last night i made a list of things to get done, hoping that i would wake up with some motivation to work on crossing those things off. AND I DID!

so, just for fun, here is my list and here is what i accomplished:
~~put away scrapbook supplies from past projects~~
unload the dishwasher
load the dishwasher & run it
clean the counters
clean the stove
steam mop the floor
go through “to do” basket
straighten living room
dust
vacuum
all toys upstairs
vacuum hall stairs
sort through downstairs hall buckets
fold laundry
do laundry (ended up being 5 loads!)
wipe down washer and dryer
put scarves, hats, etc. in downstairs hall closet
downstairs bathroom
~~upstairs kids bathroom~~
lesson plans
shop til you drop project
lay out church clothes
work on lesson

kids to:
wipe down counters
straighten their rooms
help pick up living room
dust living room
vacuum living room

this is not a typical day. even the kids were quasi-cooperative. and yes, there are things that are not done, but I have tomorrow and monday….and then maybe tuesday I’ll make a new list and start on that one.

feels good! (except I have to push the laundry off my bed so I can go to sleep. i’m tired!)

yeah clean house!

christmas here we come....bring on the end of the year...i''ll be ready, and so will my house! for some reason it just feels appropriate to have a clean and uncluttered home when the end of the year rolls around. don't want to carry too much baggage into the next year!

he says/she says...

2010-10-30T22:49:00.000-04:00

watching the georgia/auburn game he asks,
"mom, when i get a scholarship to georgia and a scholarship to byu for football, which school do you want me to go to?"

after a fit of coughing and cringing from the blinding pain shooting down my leg she says...
"mom, i'm sorry you are sick, but you're just going to have to work it out."

typically yelled from the bathroom while she is sitting on the throne,
"mom!"
"yes?"
"i love you 85! i love you 40 85!"
"thanks cas"

a sad little boy

2010-10-11T23:14:00.002-04:00

my little boy just had his heart broken.
the braves lost.
their season is over, and he is beyond sad.
i am pretty sure he was asleep, but the game was still on the radio in his room.
todd and i were listening to it downstairs and sat in disbelief that it was over, that they didn't pull it out one more time.
then a voice called from upstairs.
"mom, i don't feel well. my stomach hurts." and he was crying.
i asked if he heard the end of the game. "i think so" he says.
he knew they lost.
i held him and then lay down to cuddle with him.
"mom, i can't go to school tomorrow.
i'm just too sad.
i'll spend the day crying.
i'm going to miss bobby cox and chipper.
i know chipper is going to retire.
i'm going to miss wags.
i'm going to miss them all.
brian mccann had a homerun and an rbi tonight. he'll be back next year.
it's boring without braves baseball.
how long until they play again?"

the announcers finished off the game by complimenting the 2010 braves team. they had class and character. and a level of respect for each other and their manager, that even a 7 year old boy noticed.
i too compliment them. for making us believe and giving everything they had to it.
til next spring...

fall, fall, fall

2010-10-06T22:50:00.001-04:00

fall is wonderful

love wearing sweaters that come down past my wrists

love watching October baseball and College football

love the cooler weather

the colors…

picking apples and decorating with pumpkins.

soups, breads, apple pies.

yup, my favorite

2 weeks in massachusetts...2.5 weeks away from georgia

2010-08-21T22:59:00.005-04:00

finally, a recap of our whereabouts from july 15-august 2nd...

crazy plan of ours, rachel and i concocted a 2.5 week road trip via new york.
four of us in a toyota echo, packed in tight. movies, cd's with music from glee, snacks, books and a gps named "giles"....
we drove to virginia the first day, nine hours, through sc and nc. the road was rural, very few homes along the way, mostly farm land and hills.
we stayed in a super 8 hotel. it had a pool and a continental breakfast. the kids loved it.
we swam, ordered pizza, watched disney channel and skyped with todd.
the next morning, after breakfast we began the 6 hour drive to palmyra and the hill cumorah pageant where we would meet up with karen, tom and the kids.
we were so excited to see them, it could not be contained inside the little car.
arriving at the hill we quickly found karen, ate dinner with them (and the rest of the cast) and then found the seats they had saved for us. i didn't think the kids would make it after driving half of the day, but they stayed awake and into it the whole time. maybe a little wiggly, but that is understandable.
after the performance we drove to a red roof inn rachel had booked. unfortunately, the company rachel booked it with forgot to tell red roof inn. we ended up in a handicapped room, with a king bed and a shower you could walk into. poor rachel slept on the floor, while i managed to avoid getting kicked by two children.
the next day we went to the joseph smith home and the sacred grove. but it was hot and the kids just weren't feeling it. i ended up dragging them out of the grove because I feared they would cast a bad spell on the quiet of the woods. luckily rachel got a picture. it is classic.
but once we got back to the hill they were in good spirits again...seeing katy and chris will do that to them. they love love love them!
we stayed for the show that night too, ate salted potatoes and melting ice cream sandwiches.
slept in our red roof inn handicap room again, and then left in the morning for massachusetts.
a little bit of traffic on the pike, and we made it to the church building my parent were at on sunday night.
and then the fun began...

sitting in friendly's chatting for two hours with karen, tom, katy & chris
a touching memorial service for my Auntie Susie
lots of family i rarely ever see :( (wish we were closer)
swim at the hotel pool with katy and chris
bowling with my friend ted and his entourage
a walk in a park and time on a playground
day at the beach on cape cod - skaket and nauset
hunting for hermit crabs, burying children in the sand, and playing catch on the beach (and then just a hint of sunburn)
new england aquarium
boston harbor cruise
movies, chuck e. cheese's, mcdonalds, and grist mill with rachel
visit from mikey
street performers in boston
dinner at my uncle's house and a rousing game of badminton in the backyard
papa ginos, china ruby and ericksen's
children's museum
dinner at Mother Anna's in the north end
riding the "t"
pretzels, candy & build-a-bear in faneuil hall
staying up too too late
skype with todd (and with me when i was in chicago for three days for cha)
cassidy's fourth birthday
disney channel at grandma & grandpa d's
the organ and keyboard at g & g d's
and last of all...ben's wedding!

and then began the drive back. we all knew we would be excited to get back to ga, but driving out of town was bittersweet. it seemed to take forever. we wanted to drive 10 hours the first night and then 8 the next day, but it didn't work out that way. we stopped for the night just outside hershey, pa. (would have been fun to bring the kids there.) we ate leftover chinese we had packed with us and watched more disney channel.
the next day seemed even longer. we were ready to all get tossed out the window. but we arrived home around 7:00 that night. with lots of smiles and hugs we were home.

excuse me...tooth fairy?

2010-08-20T23:26:00.002-04:00

he lost another one.
big gapping hole in the front of his mouth.
top left is gone.
pulled it out himself.
so cute.
waiting on the tooth fairy to show up...oh wait, he has to go to bed first.
up at 11:30. he's a night owl like me.
tooth fairy, give him a few more minutes.

date night

2010-08-18T23:49:00.000-04:00

with xander!
we had two tickets to a braves game, given to xander when he attended the chevy sponsored day of baseball training at turner field.
originally we were going to get two more and all go, but with work schedules, etc. we decided to keep it just the two of us.
it was a great night. we sat on the left field line, one level up...where xander said the braves hit their foul balls. he was ready with his glove to catch one.
we had a jumbo dog and a hamburger with extra pickles (xander's request, which made the concession stand employees laugh) and extra hot french fries. we ended the night with dippin' dots in a braves hat cup. yup he was spoiled.
he loved yelling at the players and watching the jumbo scoreboard, checking out the players stats.
he loved seeing his friend ashton there and running the base up at the top of the stadium.
and he got a big kick out of the oversized chick-fil-a cow doing the tomahawk chop.
as the game ended with a winning walk off single by jason heyward (one of xander's favorite players!) he told me i was a "cool mom!" for bringing him to a game all by ourselves.
love hearing it now, and keeping my fingers crossed i'll hear it again when he's 16.

here they are...

2010-08-12T22:17:00.003-04:00

school's here again

2010-08-09T16:18:00.006-04:00

first day of school! first day of school! (name the movie!)
here we go again, but wait, this isn't like any other year! this year both x & c are official! x is first, c is pre-k.
here's what they had to say about their day:
x
"first grade is boring." "sophia and kailey are in my class". "i saw blaine, he is in the classroom next to me." "i went to PE today, but all we did was walk." "wouldn't you know, my snack is before lunch." "i saw CJ in PE."

c
"we didn't get to ride the tricycles." "we didn't get to play in centers." "i have two madison's in my class, and they both wear glasses." "i slept at nap time, and i didn't cry." "i didn't pick my nose, cause rachel told me i'm not supposed to in pre-k." "we made a book. i just writed on paper about how i felt about coming to school. i said happy, but i had to draw a sad face because i don't know how to draw a happy face. can you help me?"

oh how i wish i could watch them in their classrooms. i don't like missing so much of their every day lives. i know, i know, that is just they way it is...cut the strings already. but i miss it, and i want to see my babies. perhaps they'll talk more tomorrow after the second day.

as x puts it...179 days to go.

digital cameras

2010-06-23T15:47:00.001-04:00

i love digital cameras....how else would i keep track of when a picture was taken? all these swim meet pictures are looking the same!

we've got one more to go...

go wahoos!

(c helped x out of the pool after his backstoke event at the river club meet. i'll remember this one!)

i know they are different

2010-06-09T16:15:00.004-04:00

there are different kinds of fat...but when it says fat, i still think FATi just ate a boston creme donut from dunkin donuts. the box has a big 0g trans fat!!! advertised on the front. for real??? cause everything about donuts screams FAT!
but thank you rachel. it was yummy!
( i really wish i knew how to add images. someday i am going to learn how to do that!)

right now...

2010-06-08T14:08:00.001-04:00

right now cassidy is sitting behind me at todd's computer, sining "i'm gonna wash that man right our of my hair, and send him on his waaaayy!"
love it.
i sing that song to her when i'm washing her hair.
she's actually pretty good. keeping a tune very well.

xander is begging me to do something with him.
anything. he's bored.
"what should we do...fun?"
done with wii. no to puzzles. already had a friend, watched a movie and used clay. already been to the pool.
not sure what else to offer.... cleaning anyone?

gotta dance

2010-06-06T19:51:00.001-04:00

cassidy's dance recital was last night. for a dance studio's first performance i was impressed, with the organization backstage and the addition of background images during the routines. we were not allowed to bring in cameras during the performance (sad!) but we met her at the stage entrance door with flower, lots of hugs and a trip to bruesters. she was wonderful and totally enchanting on stage. no stage fright! i have to admit one of the reasons i had her do this dance recital, even though it cost more than i was anticipating for her to participate, was the reaction of the crowd to the youngest dance group. this is the year when they steal the show. we ordered a dvd so we will always remember...
what i will remember is cassidy holding her pose at the end of the dance and waving her little hand and flashing an "i love you" sign at us.
and to todd...thank you for the memory of the daddy/daughter dance. yes, i cried!

summer is here

2010-05-28T10:51:00.002-04:00

and do you know what i realized???
i do not have enough short-sleeved t-shirts!
and what i do have is too short (long wasn't the style when i bought them 6 years ago!) or have too many holes, or have stains on them!
i think i need some new shirts.
mmm....where do i want to go shopping?

more summer posts to follow...and with lots of pictures. i am definitely looking forward to this summer!

princess day at dance

2010-05-26T21:55:00.005-04:00

it is the last week of dance class...the girls got to dress up to practice for the recital, which is a week and a half away!

the end...

2010-05-26T08:08:00.005-04:00

it ain't over til the fat lady sings
don't leave a movie theater before the credits one rolling
don't close a hymn book before the song is finished
don't leave a baseball game before the end of the last inning
and go to school...even on the last day.

...some of my life tips!

xander getting on the bus for his last day of kindergarten!

10 years...

2010-05-24T23:35:00.005-04:00

hard to believe
goes by so quickly
ups and downs
two kids
two apartments
one house
tears and smiles
i love you's
more to come...
THANK YOU FOR ASKING!

(anniversary bands each have 10 stones - they replace the white gold bands that were my engagement rings. bought them on the 24th. picked up on the 28th. picture taken 29th)

just say no

2010-05-18T00:53:00.001-04:00

to the enrollment counselors at university of phoenix,
if a mom of two kids (or more...or even one for that matter!) calls into the university requesting information, and she tells you that she works full-time as a teacher (they bring a lot of work home with them!) and has a part-time job, and is involved in her church..... please tell her to call back when her life isn't so crazy! now may not be the time for her to pursue a master's degree.

tonight i had a moment when i thought i would crack...and everything i am trying to get accomplished in the next few days (and most of it late!) may not get done, and in fact, there may be serious consequences for not getting it done.

well, i'll have to deal with those tomorrow. i'm too tired now to worry about it.

fun night

2010-05-15T01:27:00.007-04:00

bowling, dinner (while bowling) and shopping....it was a great night with the kids.
(shhhh! don't tell todd how much it cost! it was worth it.)

mother's day and wii fit plus

2010-05-09T11:28:00.005-04:00

here goes nothing...
think it'll work?
happy mother's day to me.

given to me on friday night, after a really good nap and a fabulous dinner!

a new rose bush for the front yard, musical card from the kids that had us all laughing and a really cute handmade gift and card by xander.

mother's day started off with breakfast in bed! thank you todd and xander!
bittersweet day, makes you reflect on all the motherly things, and hope you are doing all that you can for your children, while trying to enjoy a "day off". hmmmm...not so much a day off. they still know how to call for you 'MOOOOOMMM!" yup, not a day off, but so glad they are here. wouldn't be mom without them.

status

2010-05-05T00:23:00.001-04:00

so facebook...
after a year and a half i think i'm over it, to a degree.
i like following other people, but not so much into posting my stuff.
but throughout the day, something will happen, someone will say something, and i'll think of a status to post.
do i?
nope, not usually.
but if i kept a log of all the status updates in my head it would give a pretty good idea as to what was going on with me and my family.
so, think i might add them here.
it is easy enough, and they'd be short little additions to the blog that so desperately needs more updates and pictures.
so here is today's

two kids, two beds, two rooms - strange to have them separated

cassidy was so tired she fell right to sleep. xander's comment - "mom, i think i'm going to cry. i'm a little sad and i don't want to be alone." cuddled right up next to that one!

crazys by cassidy

2010-04-27T17:19:00.007-04:00

cutting her hair -
luckily she has a lot of it, so it is not noticeable
xander brought it to me "look what i found on cassidy's bed". when questioned, she admitted it. i was impressed with myself. totally kept calm.
me -"cassidy, who cuts your hair?"
c -"courtney"
me -"courtney went to school for a long time to learn how to cut hair. did you go to school to learn how to cut hair?"
c - "no"
me - "then until you do you should not be cutting hair, courtney will." (march 18)

toothpaste -
i came home from working at archiver's one night. 10:30 reach for the door handle and it is covered with something slimy, sticky...pretty much gross! i get in the door and yell for todd.
me -"what is this all over the door knob?"
t- "oh no, i didn't realize it was there too."
then he holds up an empty tube of toothpaste.
t - "this was the brand new, and now there are globs of it all over the yard." (april 23)

art gallery -
came home from working at archiver's at 1:00am. go upstairs to kiss the kids goodnight while they are sleeping. on cassidy's wall there are five pieces of planner/notepad paper stuck on her wall, all lined up almost all at an identical height, held up with a foam shape sticker. they each had been drawn on.
when i questioned todd about it, asking if he had hung them up for her (because they were all so evenly spaced and at the same height) he declined that he had not, and he really didn't know what i was talking about.
so i showed him...he laughed. there had been paper and a pen in the room, but not on her bed. she had gotten out of bed (which is a typical occurrence at bedtime) brought the paper and pen back to bed. done her art work, and then found the foam stickers that were at the top of the landing on the stairs, waiting to go back down to the art supplies. we guess that all of the papers were lined up so neatly because that was as high as she could reach...???
still so funny. unfortunately, xander overheard out conversation with her the next day and took it upon himself to take them down....rip them down is how it ended up. so i saved one from being torn down and took this picture. (march 23)

potd (pictures of the day)

2010-04-27T17:09:00.005-04:00

lately i've been saying "i am not the right mother for her...."
but after watching todd deal with a situation, that was quickly escalating to full blown fit, that he manged to turn the fit into giggles and hiccups...

i have to say "he is totally the right dad for her!"

and while the tempest was being calmed inside, outside my son and the neighbor played, oblivious to the 58 degree temperature, the impending storm, winds blowing at 27 mph, and the occasional drizzle.

{more} she says...

2010-04-20T23:30:00.002-04:00

no offense to the boy in my life, but this girl is doing a lot of talking lately...
and mostly when x opens his mouth it is to burp the alphabet. yup, that's the talent he is choosing to work on.

so tonight it was...

"i'm a basketball player. i just stood up and threw it in there." - referring to toilet paper and the toilet.

i think she has an imaginary friend. there is a girl at her dance studio that she is fixated with. she is three years older, and the owners daughter. i don't know that c has ever really met her, but when c is playing corinna never leaves her side, always gives her opinion about what is going on, and never fails to call c on the phone.

this one is a little past it's date, but we have a close family friend that was expecting her first baby in march. c's teacher said that she was very attentive when they had calendar time at school each day, excitedly exclaiming each day "yeah, it's march!" and on many occasion she would ask me "mom, is it march for the baby now?"

well, it was march for that baby! and the baby's name is now her favorite name for all her baby dolls - adelaide. everyone of them are adelaide, even the cabbage patch doll.

oh, now that i am typing it i can't think of the other ones. they'll come to me...or she'll come up with more. never fear!

braves vs. white sox

2010-04-19T23:44:00.000-04:00

they got us... the boys came out swinging, xander ran the field, but in that 5th inning, the white sox caught the boys by surprise.
but, hanging out in the dugout produces some fun pictures.

primary activity - camp sugarhill

2010-04-17T22:02:00.000-04:00

i think it went well...i work with four amazing girls. when i grow up i want to be like them!

braves vs. dodgers

2010-04-16T21:27:00.000-04:00

the first time these teams met up the braves gave the "over hyped up" dodgers a run for it. keeping it tied up til the end of the game. unfortunately that game ended with xander, hitting a line drive right to the second baseman, which he caught, and then that player tagging first and second to get a triple play.
this time was no less exciting. the dodgers were ahead the whole time, but we were always within reach.
xander was all over the field. he was totally in the game and knew what was going on at all times. he ran down players. caught a pop fly and threw them out. he was great! his hitting was pretty good too!
the final inning it looked like we could end the game in a tie.
xander was up to bat, hit the ball to the same place he did the first game, but this time it sailed into the outfield untouched. xander pulled around second heading for third. todd, as the third base coach didn't see the ball anywhere near him, so he told xander to start for home. most teams try to end the play by getting the ball to the circle. but this time they threw the ball to the third baseman who caught it...
at that point todd knew xander wasn't going to make it and called him back, but the third baseman was right there and tagged xander out. the third out...
the dodgers stands threw up their hands and cheered...and the braves stands let out a collective sigh of dismay.
i watched my son walk to the dug out with his head hanging slightly. i ran over to the gate and waited while he lined up to congratulate the other team.
he carried his bucket of gear out and i took it from him, setting it on the ground, grabbed his hand and started to walk. "let's go sit for a minute".
at that point he started to cry..."i'm just so mad!"
we got to a picnic bench and i held his hand and gave him a hug. i let him know it was okay to cry. "dad says it's not my fault. that he made the mistake, but i should have known he had the ball."
he was crushed, and so was i. i sat there next to him on that picnic bench with tears on my face too. he had done everything he could have that game, and one little tag out was a pin in a balloon that popped in his face.
he ended up getting one of the game balls that night. if he deserved it anytime it was definitely for that game. he was the team that night...he was amazing!

ice cream truck

2010-04-15T21:54:00.002-04:00

hear the music? isn't it just as exciting as you remember it?

she says...

2010-04-14T21:25:00.000-04:00

"mom, look! he has a blowy thing!"
pointing to the man in the car next to us...
hand hanging out the window holding a cigarette.
fabulous! cause "blowy thing" sounds too fun, must come up with a word that doesn't sound so fun!
fire stick. smoke stack. i've got nothing right now.

another tooth down

2010-01-01T03:12:00.001-05:00

earlier in the night (new year's eve) x was showing off how loose his tooth was...
shortly after midnight (since he was still awake!) "MOM! I JUST TOOK OUT MY TOOTH!"
happy new year, my baby is growing up

ringing in 2010

2010-01-01T02:23:00.002-05:00

we hung out at home, ate snacks, made some silly hats with styrofoam bowls, sequins and tombow glue, and counted down to the end of 2009...

december daily 7

2009-12-07T23:10:00.001-05:00

made up christmas lists tonight for fhe....

here is a copy of it, for posterity...will be funny to read over a few years down the road
Xander

"UP"- dvd widescreen
"Wall E" - dvd widescreen
Wii
Wii games
rocket legos (legos that make rockets)
Star Wars Gun
a new game for my LMax
a new video game for Nintendo 64
books - and ones I can read
one front tooth :}
jar of pickles
slippers
tickets (?) to Batting Cage - 10th Inning in Suwanee would be a good choice, or Next Level in Suwanee
tickets to Gwinnett Braves
Snuggie (seriously, he said that!)
Gwinnett Braves sweatshirt
long sleeved t-shirts
jeans
ties
church shirts
brown blazer

Cassidy

books
cash register (she's been eyeballing one at the disney store)
her own house
microwave
kitchen
sour cream
toilet paper ("I just like to play with it")
toy food
a bathrobe
"Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure"
art supplies ( my list of things that would work-water colors, markers, paper, collage items, stamps....)
snuggie (because her brother asked for it)
slippers

Todd

zip hoodie
GPS
new watch
cologne
baseball glove - Nike or Mizuno
digital frames
plasma flat screen
Gwinnett Braves gear & tickets
tennis shoes (or as Sarah calls them, sneakers)
iphone
laptop
"X-Men Origins" - dvd widescreen
"Iron Man" - dvd widescreen
jeans

Sarah

WRMK OR Basic Grey magnetic mat
gift cards to Archiver's work too
black or brown boots
flat iron
long denim skirt
personalized address stamp
a professional organizer to save my office from total destruction
a maid

december daily 6

2009-12-06T23:06:00.000-05:00

i'm dreaming of a white christmas....
dream come true. we watched that classic tonight. still think there are some weird dances, still think betty way over-reacts, still think that it is the coolest thing that a whole regiment would drop everything they were doing at christmas eve and travel to vermont for a former general....(yes, i know it is just a movie)...but it makes me cry none-the-less. little tears, no sobbing or anything.
so, even though i'm in georgia and in the 10 years i've been here i have never had a white christmas, i'll keep on dreaming...

december daily 5

2009-12-05T23:52:00.010-05:00

big day for the littlest littles...

xander got to meet his baseball hero chipper jones of the atlanta braves
amazing...i have to get him to tell me about it in his own words so i can write it down.
a friend from his baseball team(s), little babe and his dad emailed us last night to ask us about it. turns out it was going to overlap the same time as cassidy's first dance performance, but i let xander make his own decision. he had cassidy need to support each other in their activities, but this was an opportunity that wouldn't come around again, at least not any time soon. so he and todd both went. they had an incredible experience and still made it in time to see cassidy dance.

and cassidy, my little skating ballerina, performed in her first performance. it was for the city of buford' holiday celebration. our arrival time was 1:00, the performance time was supposed to be 1:45, but we didn't go on until after 2:00. if she survived this one and wants to keep dancing, then she has dedication! it was FREEZING! and if we had been in massachusetts we still would have said it was FREEZING! cause it really was. definitely in the 30's. and my little baby danced. we kept her bundled up in her sweat pants and heavy jacket until it was time to go on.

george vidoed and todd took pictures. and she was SO CUTE. only one little hiccup...some of the other moms brought the costume skirts home to finish sewing, but not all of them made it to the performance. cassidy didn't have a white skirt with turquoise trim like the other girls. so ms. victoria took a skirt from one of the smaller older girls, a silver one, and told cassidy she was the STAR.

i've been talking her through it for the last few days, going through the arm movements and reminding her when it was her turn to run to the front of the stage. and she did...she watched the older girls and started the arm movements.

when it was time to come to the front of the stage she ran all the way up front, farther up front than anyone else. she got a good chuckle from the crowd.

i still can't believe how cold it was, and that she got out there and did it. so proud baby ballerina!

this is her pose at the end of her performance and this is her at the end of the show, sans skirt!

december daily 4

2009-12-04T22:39:00.001-05:00

part of the season is about giving gifts. sometimes i am consumed with the ideas or lack thereof as i try to come up with the perfect gift for each person. this year i am going for the personalized factor. send me you wish lists, but i might not choose anything off of it...i want the WOW, that's cool! reaction. so i'm avoiding the mall, except for a few of those specifics and i'm heading to specialty/gift shops. don't worry, it isn't junk! just want something with a little more meaning. please know i am putting a lot of thought into this!

but one funny tonight...todd and i asked cassidy what she wanted to get for xander for christmas. she does the funniest thing when she acts surprised and covers her mouth with her hand, eyes wide! so when we asked her she yelled out "ICE CREAM" and then pulled the surprised look. then laughed hysterically and ran away singing. truly, a funny girl.

she says...

2009-12-04T20:32:00.002-05:00

here is cassidy's account of what happened in our house last night....

"the tooth fairy came to my house last night because xander lost a tooth on the bottom. so he called the tooth fairy, her phone number is 105-668. she drove to my house at 12 5, knocked on the door and my mom let her in. xander pu his tooth in a plastic bag then in a silver thingy. and hid it under his pillow. the tooth fairy went to xander's room, got his tooth and threw it away. and left a dollar bill. the tooth fairy's name is bucky kimma."''

(thank you to a pre-scho0l teacher that recognizes the importance of an important story and wrote it all down for me)

here is a picture of xander showing cassidy his "bloody" tooth

december daily 3

2009-12-03T21:14:00.006-05:00

today's entry isn't holiday related...but BIG nonetheless
let's say..."all i want for christmas is my (two) front teeth"
xander has been working on his bottom tooth for the last few day and if finally paid off tonight.

we've felt it moving for the last two or three weeks, but wednesday when i picked him up from the sitter's house after school he said he'd been wiggling it all day.
i threatened him if it fell out before we got home and i could take a picture then he'd have to do push ups!
luckily the tooth stayed in and i got my picture.

tonight, he wasn't really playing with it. we had a traumatic afternoon, and i don't think the tooth was on his mind as much.
but when he brushed his teeth the excitement of it came back to him and he showed me how loose it really was. that sorry thing was just barely hanging on, but it didn't seem quite ready.
well, leave it to a six year old, dying to lose his first tooth and a little too much time laying in bed still awake.
"MOM! MY TOOTH CAME OUT!"
back up the stairs and sure enough. he is sitting up in bed holding his tooth up with a slightly bloody grin.

right behind me was todd with the camera (good dad!).

so, if the right bottom one starts wiggling in the next few days we may just be singing that song for real this year.

taken the next morning after finding a note and a $5.00 in the plastic bag...the tooth was gone!

december daily 2

2009-12-02T23:06:00.004-05:00

this could have been the post for the first day, but i had way too much going on there...
one of our favorite things, and something i remember doing as a child, was counting down the days to christmas. we have several counters or advent calendars that we enjoy changing each day - some we move the counters, others we change out the numbers and others we add ornaments to. todd had one growing up that was a felt tree, and each day a new ornament was added to the tree. my mother made one shaped like a tree while we were young that had pockets on it. each pocket held a piced of candy for each of us, one per day. x & c would really like those....i'll have to get to work and whip something up. (ha ha ha...okay, maybe not this year, but someday before they are grown).

december daily

2009-12-01T22:45:00.007-05:00

one of my favorite artists in the scrapbooking world has a challenge project up on her blog. she calls it her december daily album. this very talented girl pre-makes a mini album, using christmas and holiday paper, embellishments, etc. that she has been collecting throughout the year, and scraps left from other projects still laying around. she numbers the pages 1-25 and then for each day from december 1st through christmas she takes pictures and journals something that she and/or her family did to celebrate the season.
i have been so busy lately, that i haven't had time to do much scrapbooking, but i have really been trying to accomplish this project. i think by doing it i may make up for the fact that i didn't post a picture every day like i started doing at the beginning of the year. (okay, so i won't make up for it, but it will still be a great project to look back on.)
to keep my thoughts in one place i figured i would journal here and then grab it when i was ready to put it in the album.
i started the album after thanksgiving dinner last week. i've got the right number of pages, and just came home from archiver's with a sticker sheet of numbers 1-25. i'm starting simple, plain, unembellished...and then when i add the journaling and the pictures i'll add a little more to it.

so for my december 1st entry...
i wanted to recount all the things we have done up til now to begin celebrating christmas...
*todd showed the kids the movie "The Santa Clause". when it was finished x said..."i want to go to the mall and see santa claus and sit on his lap" - jaw hit floor! in all his 6 years he has never ever wanted to talk to santa claus. watching him from the railing over his little mall set up was enough for him. monday the 23rd we went to the mall and c sat on his lap and x stood next to him and gave him a high five. actually, gave him close to 10 high fives by the time they were done talking. c asked for "Toy Story". really? c, we already have that movie. "i know, i just want it!" and x asked for "a georgia bulldog football uniform". to which he received high fives from santa. later when we asked him about the georgia request he said "i just panicked." i did not get any pictures....grrr arrrh! i had my camera, but the requirment was that you purchase one of their package sheets to take my own pictures. one of their sheets was $24. i should have just done it. there will never be another first...

*todd put up the tree on monday before thanksgiving, because "i'm off work that day and won't have another chance..." so i endured a whole three very long days of the kids begging to decorate the tree

*bought our annual ornaments at the disney store

*watched the macy's thanksgiving day parade and saw santa claus at the end ..."mom, is that the real santa claus? are those real elves?"

*christmas music on the ipod plugged into the speaker system in the living room

*christmas music on two children's mp3 players
- this year's favorites....David Archuletta, especially "Silent Night", Alvin and the Chipmunks, and almost any version of "It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas" (x's other favorite right now"

*x&c helped todd decorate the tree friday night while i was at work

*saturday & sunday we finished decorating. pretty much it is all in the living room. we just don't have any other surfaces in the house that can be taken over with christmas decorations

*sunday, 11/29, after we finished decorating i sat on the couch with x & c and read Santa Mouse

*monday, 11/30 we had family home evening and read a book, This is the Stable. and we put out the empty manger and the hay we could fill it with when we were kind to each other. then, by christmas eve, we should have a manger filled with soft hay for baby jesus to sleep on

*then we finished off f.h.e with eggnog milk shakes and watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" on TV

*tonight, 12/1, I had to work, but todd and the kids watched "Rudolph"

here's to a great start on my december daily album!

right now

2009-10-01T23:07:00.005-04:00

what? a new post? this is absolutely the biggest shock anyone reading this has had in quite a while.
i have been MIA big time. i haven't posted anything since the end of july.
that was just before my life got flipped upside down and I haven't been able to breathe since.
there is much to catch up on, and of course, many pictures to post. but one at a time, right?

we'll start here @ right now

...i am waiting on a powerpoint presentation i created to upload to my learning team's forum...i am enrolled as a graduate student with the university of phoenix. i am earning a masters degree in elementary education. proposed finish date for classes is next december, followed by 10-12 weeks of student teaching in the spring, and i will have my teaching certificate.

... i am mentally going over my lesson plans for tomorrow in my head, as i teach pre-kindergarten full-time, and i am excited for the apple pies we'll be baking tomorrow at school

... i am looking at a very messy house! (tmi?)

... i am in the middle of organizing paperwork for the ward primary, as i am the secretary for the sugar hill ward.

... i am beyond tired and my eyes hurt, and it isn't even midnight yet.

... i am wanting to go cuddle with my babies, at 3 and 6 they are getting big way too fast.

... i am grateful that i was able to give away three of my upcoming shifts at archivers, where i work part-time, so i could stay sane and not work 60+ hours in a week.

... I am happy it is fall and i can wear long sleeve shirts and sweaters.

... i am excited for xander's baseball game on saturday. go cardinals!

... i am listening to new kids on the block...still love them!

... i wish i was scrapbooking!

... i would love to go away for a weekend and relax and not feel guilty about it.

this is me, right now!

apple picking in elijay, ga beginning of september

cha orlando

2009-07-31T10:22:00.002-04:00

as always, so much to catch up on. wish my connection was faster so uploading pictures wasn't such a big pain, cause i have TONS!
but this is what i've been doing. i just got back from orlando where i worked with tombow at cha. it was a great experience, yet again. great people to work with, great people to meet, great HUGE amounts of inspiration.
while at the show tombow was reviewed by craft critique, a very informative web site that reviews ALL kinds of craft products. they were fabulous to talk to and even better...they loved tombow!

2009-06-16T21:05:00.008-04:00

more backyard fun in the sprinkler....and more fun with the camera....seriously....64 pictures? this is just a sampling

car wash

2009-06-15T23:58:00.000-04:00

had the kids help us clean & wash the car today. windows are streaky from overuse of window cleaner, toys have made it back into the car already, but i think they enjoyed it....especially getting wet.

pool pose

2009-06-15T23:57:00.000-04:00

oh, i have so many pictures to post....but i'll just get this one up right now.
we've been spending monday, tuesday, and wednesday mornings at the pool. xander and cassidy LOVE it!
i've taken many, many, many pictures of swim team/lessons and cassidy prancing around in her swim suits (she doesn't mean to, but she just walks differently when she's in her suit walking around the pool deck.)
i'll take more time to post them later. promise...

new haircut

2009-06-14T23:30:00.000-04:00

okay, it's summer....let him have a mohawk.

6 is almost here

2009-06-13T23:34:00.000-04:00

xander's good friend, born just three months before he was, turned 6! i've been holding onto 5 that it is hard to believe the two of them are moving past that. 5 still seems like "toddler/baby" age to me. but 6? 6? that is a different story all together. we'll have to see how they manage to write this next chapter. i'm sure it will be entertaining.

happy birthday maggie. we loved celebrating with you!

playing in the rain

2009-06-12T23:24:00.001-04:00

it was pouring outside. we opened the door and watched it for a few mintues from the porch. then it hit me, it's summer, it isn't cold....so i told the kids they could go running in the rain. and just as soon as they got out to the driveway it all but stopped, just drizzling. xander got mad at me and told me i should have let them go sooner. oh well...who knew the weather would be a little crazy.
(just have to note, they dressed themselves today. love that they both ended up in navy blue striped polos. my "coordinating outfits" is rubbing off!)

swim team

2009-06-09T23:30:00.000-04:00

xander with his coach...
he isn't afraid of the water and is swimming without any floats. he loves wearing goggles and thinks he's the next michael phelps. okay, he hasn't said that, not even close, but he is convinced he knows all about swimming now. he's an expert. either way, he has already progressed in the f

typical cassie

2009-06-08T23:34:00.000-04:00

this is so her. she would rather leave her hair down and push it out of her eyes rather than let me put it up. she loves music and carries her radio around (really it is an mp3 player and we've added all kinds of music including mama mia!) and she loves art -painting, collaging, coloring - it is what she loves.

2009-06-04T23:20:00.000-04:00

teaching cassidy the ins and outs of baseball....according to the braves game program

friends, tents and a rainy day

2009-06-04T23:17:00.002-04:00

we love these girls and love that they live just down the street from us!
thanks for playing makayla and ava!

she says....

2009-06-02T15:39:00.005-04:00

in the bathroom...
c: "mom, girls don't have peanuts, boys do."

watching the ticker across the bottom of the screen todd announced
t: "the red sox are winning"
c: "why are they wearing red sox?"

c: "close it really hard!" when she wants a door shut all the way

c: "up-e-side-down" for upside down

c: "mom, mom, mom, mom!"
s: "yes cassidy? what is it?"
c: "i love you!"

out of the blue she's been telling everyone "i love you!" i love hearing it, and i hear it about 20 times a day, at the most random moments.

let's start off summer vacation..

2009-06-01T23:06:00.002-04:00

...with strep throat!
poor xander woke up sick this morning.
as with every other time my kids have turned up sick, i did not accurately diagnose him!
he woke up complaining that under his arm hurt. my scientific guess was that it was a swollen lymph node, and upon checking out web md, found that you could have a swollen lymph node in your arm pit if there was an infection in your arm. sure enough, the cut he got playing baseball two weeks ago was beginning to look infected (again! thought we took care of it last week!) he was also complaining that he felt like throwing up, that his throat hurt, and then he didn't eat breakfast and fell asleep, taking a 45 minute nap all before 9:00am.
we were supposed to start of the summer by having his first swim team practice/lesson. so i got him in the car, brought the pool stuff just in case, and drove to register him. while on the way i called the doctor's office and explained to the nurse advice what was going on. "bring him in"...really? okay.
so i brought him in. after an hour and a half visit, a blood test and a throat culture turns up our little boy did have a swollen lymph node (at least i figured that one out) and he had strep throat. what? totally didn't see that one coming. checked out of there for $155 and headed home for lunch, another nap and a $127 prescription.
so, we started off with a bang. but by that night he had bounced back and was begging to go to swim the next morning. unfortunately we had to wait until wednesday, but hopefully, since he got sick at the beginning of the summer we won't have any other illnesses....right? knock on wood? "cassidy, go wash your hands!"

sunday bubbles

2009-05-31T23:02:00.000-04:00

princess party

2009-05-30T23:00:00.000-04:00

cassidy's best friend from school. she loves her maddie-belle. happy 3rd birthday madison.
(this was cassidy's first invitation birthday party)

camping out

2009-05-30T12:44:00.000-04:00

we camped out last night.... in the back yard!
once we got the tent set up it was great (had to remember how the thing went together!)
we used the grill outside for hamburgers and had corn-on-the-cob and baked beans with them. then we used the hot coals for s'mores.
i have not been educating my kids early enough, they had to ask what s'mores were. when i explained them to xander he said "oh right, right. we had those at school." well my dear child, there is a huge difference between s'mores by oven and s'mores by campfire, and once you have campfire, you can never go back!
we climbed into the tent around 9:30, and at xander's request watched a dvd on our little player. x-men was his choice. i shared an air mattress with cassidy. she didn't slow down until close to 11:00. and xander managed to stay awake for the entire movie. but we all slept well in the tent and didn't even wake til 8:00am. it was great.
i'll camp out any time, especially when it is in my own backyard.

she says...

2009-05-29T21:00:00.000-04:00

c - "mom what are you doing?"
me - "cleaning the bathroom"
c- "why?"

pretty sad when my two and half year old isn't familiar with the sight of me cleaning the bathrooms! (in my defense i tend to do a lot of the house cleaning when the kids are in bed and i don't have to worry about little tornadoes undoing all my work...however infrequent it may be!)

148

2009-05-28T23:30:00.000-04:00

first day of summer vacation - they LOVE the aquarium and i LOVE having a season pass! we're putting our best "fish" face forward!

147

2009-05-27T21:00:00.001-04:00

yes, i let her eat candy. and even if i didn't, she'd find it and eat it anyway. this is way beyond "sweet tooth"!

146

2009-05-26T23:10:00.000-04:00

mom's working nights and dad's in charge of bed time

141

2009-05-21T23:10:00.000-04:00

we love this game! becoming an end of the school year tradition...