My 6 year old clotheshorse

No one believed me when I told them what Carissa wanted for her birthday... I told both grandparents to take her shopping for clothes. Of course, I think they just thought I was being the practical Mom and suggesting clothes instead of toys for her birthday. But that's not it at all. This girl LOVES her clothes.

Take, for instance, this outfit:



Carissa fell in love with it at first sight. It's a dress (more about her dress obsession later), it's pink, it's got sequins and sparkles on it and it's uber girly. Perfect for her. Here's how the dicussion went:

Carissa: Mom, look at this dress!
Me: Oh, that's cute.
Carissa: Can I get this dress?
Me: Not today.
Carissa: But Mom, I REALLY want it.
Me: You don't really need any clothes right now.
Carissa: BUT MOM (said in her best whiny voice), I *** REALLY *** want this dress.
Me: I know you want it but I'm not buying it for you.
Carissa: Then I can buy it.
Me: How are you going to buy it? (I know she doesn't have any money so I'm safe in asking this question, right?!?)
Carissa: With my chore money.
(I am totally dumbfounded that she remembered this chore money that she had earned last summer and I had, obviously, forgot about until this point)
Me: You don't want to spend your chore money on clothes, do you?
Carissa: Yes
Me: But don't you want to save it up for something big or buy a toy or some music with it.
Carissa: No, I want this dress.
Me: Are you sure?
Carissa (said with an absolute sense of conviction): YES!
And she walked away, triumphantly clutching her dress.

So there you have it, my daughter ended up with this new dress that she absolutely adores. And since she won't be caught dead in pants these days (seriously ... if it's not a dress or at least a skirt the girl does not want to wear it!) I guess it was a good buy for her. She's going to get her money out of it, that's for sure.

This isn't the only time Carissa's done this either. Same thing happened over a horse t-shirt that she just had to have last summer. And everytime we are in a clothes store it's "isn't this cute?" or "awwwwwww" (while she holds the coveted item in front of her to show off how it will look).

Just recently she has found some new clothing stores she loves. Of course, nothing inexpensive... Limited Too and the new Pumpkin Patch store are both on the upper side of kids clothing. But they really are adorable clothes and she knows it.

I fear I'm in big trouble in the future, as she saw the prom dresses inside JcPenny yesterday and started oooooo-ing over them. I glanced at the prices and cringed. Outfitting a clotheshorse is not going to be cheap ...

Blog Challenge

I saw this blog challenge and decided to go for it. It's not like I have a lot to talk about in my life right now. So here it is:

Name your all-time top five favorite movies. Notting Hill, Sweet Home Alabama, Footloose, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Dirty Dancing
What’s your favorite movie line? No specific lines speak to me. It's the music from the movies that spark me and remind me of scenes and moments. *sigh*

Who’s your favorite movie character? Just one? Ugh. Probably Lena from Sisterhood. Somehow I feel a little connected to her.

What movie do you love that most people hate? Dirty Dancing Havana Nights. Everyone gives me such a hard time about loving this movie but I do. It has great music and it's a sappy romance. I'm such a sucker for those.

What movie do you hate that most people love? The wine movie ... can't even remember the name but it got rave reviews and I HATED it. I want that 2 hours of my life back! OK, Googled it and found that it was named "Sideways". Again, can I have my 2 hours back please?

What was the last movie you saw? With the kids we went to see Flushed Away and Bridge to Terrabithia. Brian and I went and saw Ghost Rider last week too.

What’s your least favorite movie ever? Must I repeat myself? Sideways. ICK!!!

What’s one movie have you seen that you would never ever watch again? Sideways. Do you see a trend here?

What was the last DVD you saw? The Devil Wears Prada

What was the first DVD you remember buying? The Matrix. Still have it too.

What movie do you relate to more than any other? Sisterhood. My friends and I weren't exactly like that, but I can relate to the friendship thing and how they are with you through all the experiences of your life.

What actor/actress would you like to look like? Wow ... not really sure. Think I'll just stick with being me.

What classic movie have you never seen? Pretty much all of them. Not really a classic movie freak. I've never tried them though so who knows.
What song would you choose be the theme song to the movie of your life story? Escape Club's "I'll Be There"

What’s your favorite movie genre? Romance

Who’s your favorite actor/actress? I know he's quirky but I like Hugh Grant. Oh, and Val Kilmer before he got old. And I like Reese Witherspoon too.

What actor/actress do you refuse to see their movies? Leslie Nielsen and Cheech & Chong

What genre would you choose not to watch? Foreign Language Films

What’s your favorite theater concession combo? Popcorn (yes, coated in that oily film they call butter), diet soda (why do I even bother with diet???) and some candy ... either Milky Way or Red Vines.

Front row, Back row, Side Seats, Aisle or center? Back Row clear to the right side when facing the screen

And life goes on ...

Nothing new to report here. We're just in that holding pattern ... trying to get every little detail taken care of before Brian leaves next week. Plus I've been fighting migraines again, which just puts me out of commission. I don't know how I will survive them when Brian is gone, but I know I will. I'm strong enough to power through the migraine and do what I have to do. But I'm not looking forward to it.

I'm not looking foward to any of it without Brian, but what can I do? He needs to do this and he's really looking forward to all he gets to learn there. We both just wish he didn't have to be away to learn it all.

In other news - Chase's last game is this weekend. The basketball season went very quickly this year. It's been fun for Chase though. He hasn't made a basket all season, though he doesn't seem to mind so much. The coaches are trying to encourage the other boys to pass to Chase so he can have a chance to make a basket. We'll see what Saturday brings. But no matter what, Chase had a fun time this year and, above all, it was a positive experience for him.

After that we've got a month hiatus from sports and then t-ball and pitching machine start for Carissa and Tristan.

The one thing I am looking forward to in the future is the Oregon Scrapbook Convention. I'm going to take the day and go shopping for all the wonderful scrapbook goodies there. It will be nice just to have a day for myself, though I will have to be back in time to be here when the boys get home from school. But I'll get most of the day anyways.

So, that's the news from here. Boring I know, but that's all I've got ...

Proud Mommy Moment ...

Ooooo ... I love moments like this. Moments that make your heart just burst with pride.

Thursday Chase had a field trip to see the "Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt" exhibit at the Portland Art Museum. Chase was so excited to go, as reading about Egypty and mummies has been an interest of his.

I picked him up a bit early from school on Thursday and encountered his teacher in the hall. She just could not quit gushing about how proud she was of Chase. Apparently he just wowed his teacher and the tour guide with his knowledge of ancient Egyptian culture. He knew all about the different gods and their place within the culture. He knew about pharohs and burial chambers and all sorts of things that most 10 year old kids have no idea about. In fact, he impressed the tour guide so much that she let him tell the group all he knew about an exhibit, which was quite substantial, then she filled in any pieces he was missing.

It was just so wonderful to hear that his interest in Egypt has been recognized and appreciated. He truly is a remarkable child and it showed now, more than ever.

Oh, and it didn't hurt that mid-term progress reports came out today too. Straight A's. :)

Awwwww....

Isn't he adorable!!!


Yes, it's baby Randal again. I know you're going to get tired of me posting about him. I'm posting more about him that my own family right now, but he's the big news at the moment so get used to it. He's a baby and he's so adorable and I don't get to see him in real life for a while so until I do I'm going to keep posting him on here ...

So Randal is a week old now and I have been eagerly awaiting more photos of him. Now I have them!


Here's Jimmy and Randal. Aren't they adorable??? It's hard to imagine my little brother is a father. I tear up every time I think about it. His first baby. His son. My nephew. Wow ... life is good!

Happy Valentines Day!

Aaahhhh ... Valentines Day. A day for love. A day for togetherness. A day for work? And gymnastics? And hosting school parties? *sigh* So much for the idea of a nice romantic day together.

The good news is that we get to have some "us" time this weekend while the kids go spend it with Brian's parents. We're going to take a day trip to the beach one day and go see "Ghost Rider" another. Besides that we're just going to enjoy hanging out together.

We usually don't do gifts for each other, but this year I wanted to make him something that he could take with him to Academy. Here it is:




To all of our friends and family out there, Happy Valentines Day! Though we might not tell you often we love and appreciate each and every one of you.

Short on time ...

3 weeks. That's all we have. 3 weeks from today and Brian will be leaving for Academy. And he's gone for such a long time -- 4 months. 4 months is 1/3 of the year. It's his birthday, my birthday, Easter, Mothers Day, Fathers Day and the entire baseball season. It's 4 months of missed goodnight kisses for the kids. It's 4 months of lonliness for me.

Brian and I are such homebodies and we don't really have friends, except Bek and Jenn and their families, but we don't get to see each other often and they don't live nearby. I don't have anybody here in Scappoose that I hang out with. I don't have anyone here I'd even call up and talk to on the phone. I don't have anyone here to lean on when I get fed up and need a break for a while.

Brian and I have always relied on each other. We've always talked to each other. We've always done everything together, from grocery shopping to taking kids to practice to deciding what to eat for dinner. I'm going to miss that when he's gone.

I don't want to be a crybaby about it, really I don't. But it's going to be hard. I feel like I'm going to lose part of myself while he's gone, like a big chunk of my life is missing.

And while I'm trying to enjoy the 3 weeks he has left here, in the back of my head is this date looming over me -- the little black cloud ready to rain on my life.

I'm an aunt!

Wahoo, I'm an aunt again!

I just got off the phone with my brother. He and his wife just welcomed their first child, Randal Ethan Imlah, to the world. I don't have any pictures yet but rest assured that I will post one as soon as I do. Jimmy assures me that baby Randal has all his toes and fingers and looks big despite his 6lb, 3 1/2 oz. body. Virginia says that he has some hair that looks blonde at this point. All 3 are doing well and reveling in the joy of their new family.

So congrats to Jimmy and Virginia. And welcome baby Randal. Can't wait to meet you!

Edited to add:
Here it is ... my favorite first picture of Randal!

One down, one to go

It's midterms this week. Ugh. Nuff said.

It's hard to dedicate time to my classwork with all I have going on around here. My laundry is piled up ... and up. Seriously, I have 6 loads all washed and dried but I haven't had time to fold and put away. The kids think it's the end of the world because *gasp* they have to dig through the laundry baskets to find clean pants.

I'm also slammed with all the kids activities - scouts, campfire, gymnastics, basketball, leaders and parents organization meeting, helping out in school ... the list could go on.

But the good news is that I did find time to take my first midterm today and I feel pretty good about it. Now, it was in accounting so it's something that comes naturally to me. I should have gotten an A in it but I won't know for sure until next week.

I have one more chapter to read in my business law then the quiz to complete for that chapter. One message board question to research and reply to and then it's time for my law exam. I think I'll do okay but I've resigned myself to the fact that law doesn't come naturally to me. Now, throw numbers at me and I'm good to go but law is just so complicated and irrational. Ugh.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm hoping to keep up the A's but this course has me a little worried ...

Give Five or Lost My Mind?

So over at ScrapAddict my friend Catherine, who is also the goddess of all things challenging, is doing a month-long inspiration challenge called "Give Five". We all altered a notebook to use. Here's mine:


Now, each day in February she is giving us a prompt and we are to take 5 minutes to jot down ideas or memories from that prompt. One day it was to list colors in order of your favorite and then list feelings/memories/things that those colors remind you of. Another day she had us write about the monumental decisions we've made in our life. And yet another day she had us write about the modern conveniences that we couldn't live without (hello, DVR!!!).

The prompts have been really fun and interesting and, for the most part, I've been able to do them on my own. But some of them have to do with childhood memories and, to be perectly honest, I remember very little. I'm not sure if I block them out or if I just have a horrible time remembering things. But I'm at a loss with some of these.

The first day the prompt was childhood games. I could only remember 3 games we played a lot as a kid - Red Rover, Triominos and Super Mario brothers. That's it. That was all I could think of in 5 minutes of contemplation.

Another prompt was phrases that my parents said or that I find myself saying. Well, I could think of some that *I* say but for the life of me I cannot remember the common phrases that my parents used. Now, I know that there are some because every once in a while I will find myself using the same phrase. But I can't remember them when I want to jot them down. It's so frustrating! Now, I have the notebook so I can write them down next time I use them or whenever I remember them. But I'd love to just be able to think about it and remember them.

I swear, I'm losing my mind here. So I'm appealing to my family members who are reading this to help me. I know you're out there. So help me remember ...

CHA Crazy ...

I've been going a little crazy lately. You see, the CHA tradeshow (where the manufacturers go to show their new products to stores) was just in Anaheim. I missed it because it was over Carissa's birthday, but Felicia over at ScrapAddict came back with so many wonderful things on preorder. I cannot wait for it all to get here! New papers and embellishments and so many wonderful, lovely goodies to use on my pages.

But this influx of new stuff got me thinking about all my old stuff lying around here. Things I got years ago and haven't (and probably never will) use. What do I do with them all? I hate to just get rid of them. After all, maybe I WILL use them one day. *sigh* I am such a pack rat. No wonder my scrap area is overflowing!

Never too much of a good thing, right?!?

I miss the 80's ...

I got this email forwarded to me today and it reminded me of so many things I loved about my childhood in the late 80's... Fraggle Rock, New Kids on the Block, friendship bracelets, the "Oregon Trail" computer game, Goonies, flourescent clothes, tight-rolled jeans, jelly shoes, boom boxes (I still remember my first purple boom box my parents bought me for Christmas), Doogie Howser, Saved by the Bell, banana clips, "Where's the Beef?", Bon Jovi ... there's so many things that I had forgotten until that email reached me. Now, I wish I could post the email here but the pictures won't transfer over and it's just not the same without. But it totally made my day to see all these reminders of the 80's.

So, if you're a child of the 80's/early 90's and want this email forwarded to you just post in my comments section and I'll send it your way. :)