A Scrap of Life

It's flying by right now. I can't believe it's the end of Sept. already. School has been going for nearly a month. The boys birthdays have come and gone. Scouts has started for the boys and Campfire is starting next week for Carissa. We're fully immersed in the hustle and bustle of life. After some ambivelance about where Brian's career was heading, we've come to a decision and that's made looking ahead to the future easier. I'm already starting to plan for what is next. October is Halloween and I took the kids to get their costumes already. Chase will be Dr. Toxic (crazy scientist) complete with radiation green hair and eyebrows! LOL Tristan is a ghost with rattling chains and a scary mask. Carissa is going to be Aleta from Barbie Fairytopia. They're all adorable and so fitting for each child. November is Thanksgiving. Brian's working 12 hours that day so, of course, no plans for that day. Nothing to plan for, nothing to do. *sigh* ...

Bek and I have returned from our scrap retreat. We had a GREAT time. We went with a group of 12 ladies, most of whom we didn't know, and stayed in a resort home in Sunriver. What a BEAUTIFUL place. The homes were gorgeous, the weather was nice, Sunriver was absolutely charming and it was just a great weekend. We arrived Friday afternoon and did a little last-minute grocery (aka: chocolate and other munchies) shopping before heading to the house we were staying it. Bek and I were first to arrive and spent the first 1/2 hour in awe walking around this beautiful home. It was a 5 bedroom, 3 1/2 bath home, beautifully decorated and just absolutely perfect. We set up our tables and spread out our piles and piles of supplies and got to work. About an hour in we remembered that we hadn't picked up any alcohol. What's a girls weekend without a bit of girly drinks? So we headed to the store again for some alcohol. While buying our Mike's hard cranberry lemonade (yum) Bek and I g...

Carissa: Mom, I'm in love with Ian. Me: You're in love with Ian? Carissa: I'm in love with Ian. Me: You can't be in love with Ian. You're too little to be in love. Carissa: Mom, I'm not little, I'm FIVE.

I'm an awful blogger right now. Really I am. I have stuff to say but no time to say it. I didn't get to share Chase's 10th birthday or our trip to the Ringling Bros. circus. I want to but I can't. No time. I'm busy packing for my weekend away with Bek. We're headed to a girls-only scrapbook retreat in Bend for 3 days. Can you say YEAH!!!!!!!!! We leave after dropping the kids off at school tomorrow and won't be home until dinner time on Sunday. We're both so excited and definately in need of "us" time. So I'll say goodbye for now and hope to update you on all the goings-on when I return. Take care. Lots of love. Annette

Once this girl decides she wants to do something, she goes out and does it. But it has to be HER idea. No matter how much we encouraged her to try riding her bike without training wheels this summer, she didn't want to. And even when we got her to try she didn't try for long. But on Wednesday Carissa came to me and said she wanted to ride without training wheels. Within ten minutes she was cruising down the road without my help. And by today, Sunday, she had mastered starting herself from a stop, turning (albeit little turns), riding and stopping. Now she spends as much of her free time as possible outside riding her little bike around or riding with me down to the mailbox to check it. It's so stinkin' cute to see this little girl on her little tiny bike. Of course, she has a bit bigger bike that she could ride and we keep encouraging her to try. But she won't ... not until SHE wants to.

Yes, it's happened. I'm alone. Just me, no kids. They're all at school, learning and laughing and having fun and I'm sitting here wondering where all the time went. Carissa started Kindergarten this year. *sigh* She's going to school every weekday morning for 2 1/2 hours. So the good news is that she's still home in the afternoons and I'm not totally alone. But it's hard getting used to not have kidlets here when I've been with them every day for the last 10 years. So, here's Carissa at her first day of Kindergarten. The first day was actually an orientation, so us parents went to a one-hour meeting and the kids all went to the library to watch a short video and listen to books being read. I picked her up after the meeting and she was so disappointed. When I told her it was time to go she whined "But Mom, we didn't get to *DO* anything." Yep, she's way ready to go. No seperation anxiety there. She doesn't even want me to tak...

Brian and I went to the comedy club to celebrate our 12th anniversary. Mark and Jenn came along and we had a great time chatting before the show. The first comedian was great ... funny jokes and delivery. Really liked him. Then the 2nd one came along - almost all his jokes were about being high or drunk or smoking pot. Didn't really care for him. The headliner was last and he started out just like the 2nd comedian - jokes about pot or being drunk. That's when Jenn turned to me and said "We're too square". And it's true. She and I can't relate to jokes about being high or regularly drunk. We haven't been there, we haven't experienced that and we just can't relate to it. So maybe it's true, maybe I am too square. So what.