A Scrap of Life

Seriously. Why can't we just be mean people for once? Today Belle's previous owners called... again. It was our 3rd call from them since we adopted her 5 days ago. This time they were calling to ask us if we could find it in our hearts to give her back. Debbie has apparently been crying since she gave her up and realizes now that she should not have done so. They really wanted her back. After much deliberation between ourselves and after talking to each of the kids we decided to give her back. We just couldn't deny that our 5 days worth of attachment was nothing compared to the 5 months worth of attachment that Debbie had. And Belle had a good home with Debbie. None of us are particularly happy with the situation. We liked Belle. She fit our family. Sure, she had a lot to learn but she was doing fairly well here. But we really wanted to be good role models for our kids. We wanted them to learn that we must think not only of ourselves and our feelings but the feeli...

I won! I am one of Scrapbook Warehouses Queen of the Crops! I was the winner of the contest for the Newport store and will soon go pick up my prize package of $300 worth of scrapbook products. Thank you to all that voted for me! I truly appreciate the support. The other pressing subject is one that has me constantly worried. It's school. We have fairly good schools here in Scappoose. Sure, the class sizes are slightly large but the schools still have some extra programs and are fairly well supported. They work for most families, but I'm not sure they're working for ours. See, our kids are special. Really. I'm not just saying that. Tristan and Carissa are well ahead of most of their classmates. Chase in particular is a very, very bright child. I remember our first school experience with Chase. He was days shy of turning 3 and we decided to send him to 3 year old preschool. We walked into the classroom that first day and he asked where the puzzles were. Th...

Seriously? Why do I do this? Today was Tristan's birthday party. 8 boys invited blossoms into a total of 12 kids. It was at the bowling alley. There were 12 cupcakes, 4 pizzas and 3 pitchers of pop consumed. $5 worth of quarters were gone in a matter of minutes. Utter chaos I tell you, but Tristan sure enjoyed his 9th birthday party. We came home and low and behold the neighborhood friends want to play. We have a great little group of friends here though so I didn't mind. Then Tristan wants his friend JT to spend the night. Then Chase wants Brenden to stay. And Carissa wants Anwen. So guess where they all are right now? In my house of course. I started out with 16 kids in my preschool class. Then had 12 kids at a party. Now 6 kids to spend then night. Oh, I also have that 8 month old bulldog who loves to stealthily steal the kids shoes and toys. Why do I do this to myself?!?

Day 2 of school and we're already back in the swing of things. I started teaching again today too and I feel like schedule and order have taken over the chaos of summer. It is SOOOOOO wonderful! Of course, I must always complicate my life a little more. I guess I should say that BRIAN must always complicate my life a little more, since this next complication is all his. Meet Belle, the newest addition to our family. Belle has been a long time coming. Brian has wanted an English bulldog for as long as I can remember, but one look at the price tag convinced him otherwise. So for years and years he's planned for the day when we could afford one. No, that day did not come. Luck while doing a good deed came. You see, Brian's mom's dog died about 6 months ago and she's been looking for a new one. So he was being the good son and scouting CraigsList for her. Well, one of the days he was doing that he came upon an ad for an English bulldog. The owner was away from home 12-1...

This is it -- the halfway point. Halfway between a boy and a man. Nine years old. Halfway grown. Halway matured. Halfway there. It's unbelievable. These nine years have flown and I've truly loved this time with you. But this halfway point reminds me to cherish the nine years still left to come. Because after that halfway point, you'll be ready to fly.

There is a scrapbook contest online at Craft Warehouse. It's for a big prize package worth $300 or a grand prize package worth $500. I'd REALLY like to win this prize package and I'm hoping I can count on you for a vote. Here's the link to the Craft Warehouse forums. http://www.craftwarehouse.com/phpBB2/index.php Now, here's the tricky part. You have to actually register before you vote. Then you must wait for them to approve your membership before you can vote. I registered one day and could vote the next. They won't notify you, but just try to vote the following day and it should work. When you get registered please go to the forums and log in. Then go into the "Vote for the Scrapbook Queen" forum, then under the "Newport" store. My layout is called "This Girl" and is a picture of Carissa and I together. The deadline to vote is Friday. I know it might take a little time but I would really appreciate your support. Thanks bunches a...

I can see it happening. The little shift from carefree summer to the anticipation of school. From buying pool toys to buying school clothes. From rampant relaxation to organized chaos. I'm not sure I'm ready for this summer to be over. It's been so fun. So many wonderful activities and memories. Summer camps with the boys (as much as I grump about them I secretly love them). Camping at the bunnies. Hanging out on the beach. Swimming in the neighbors pool. The kids playing outside with friends. Water balloon fights. Hanging outside with the neighbors until daylight fades away. Summer parties at friends houses. Family bike rides. But now we've hit the point. Just 2 more weeks until school starts. All 3 in school all day long and me left alone. Wow. I've been agonizing a bit over the whole thing. Not the kids going to school, as I know they'll all do well and are anticipating going back. I'm agonizing more over what I'M going to do. I had worked at the pres...

I got a wonderful wake-up email this morning. Jennifer Choo, owner of 2 Daisies Designs (a manufacturer of scrapbook products and papers), emailed today inviting me to join her design team. I was soooooo thrilled! I have had just a taste of their products when she sent me several sheets to work with for my design team submission. I just loved them! My favorites were, of course, the funky skulls. I'm all into those little quirky kinds of things right now. Well, apparently Jennifer liked what I did with them and now I'll regularly be designing things using her products! Wahoo!!!! I can't wait to get started! I think I'll leave you with the layouts (one is transparent, which is why I'm holding it! LOL) and WordBloom book that I made for my submission. If you're interested in seeing more 2DaisiesDesigns products check out her website at www.2daisiesdesigns.com . :)

Chase and I have been back from our week at Adventure Cove since last Friday, but it's only now that I'm finally finding time to write about it. Bear with me, as it was a LONG week and this is bound to be an equally long post. We went to camp on Sunday. There were 4 boys and 4 parents (I LOVE that our parents are so involved!!!). 3 of the parents were women - myself, my dear friend Tammy (who has done every camp with me since we started scouting together 4 years ago!) and Thea (who has never camped before and didn't think she was missing out on much). Then we had the lone dad, Ron, who is an avid camper and saved our rear end with little touches like a blow torch (to start fires using wet wood in the rain - trust me this was a life saver!) and a covered canopy to huddle under. Here's a quick pic of us girls (this is 3 days into the trip): Anyways, we arrived on Sunday to the steady pitter patter of rain. And it continued to rain for the first 2 days. Not any fun at all,...

Rissa is doing better. No idea whether she actually broke it or not. Since it's not displaced and she can breathe out of both nostrils they didn't do an x-ray. There is nothing they can do if it's broken so they're just letting her be. The swelling and bruising got pretty bad through. Here's her one day after the accident, right before we left for camp. Brian sent me a picture 2 days into camp, one he'd taken on the crappy camera in his digital phone. I could not believe how much worse the swelling and bruising got. She was bruised all around her eyes and her cheeks and with the swelling she looked pretty bad. The good news is that she is doing better now. Still some bruising that hasn't gone away but she's breathing well and it's not hurting anymore. Now hopefully she's learned her lesson and will be riding with her eyes OPEN from now on.

Just when we're recovering from our run-in with the deer Carissa is hit, yet again, with an unseen accident. She was riding her bike and didn't see it coming. Literally. She didn't see it coming because SHE WAS RIDING WITH HER EYES SHUT. I fail to see the reasoning for this. I fail to see the use of discretion here. Then again, she's 6 and ultimately short on discretion. Thus she finds herself riding with her eyes shut and slamming, full-force, into the back of a parked car. Brian and I heard her yells immediately. As soon as I got to her I saw that her nose was already swelling. We took her in the house and applied ice then called the advice nurse, who explained in detail all that we should do - stop the bleeding, ice it, give ibuprofen, prop her up to sleep. They want to see her tomorrow, after the swelling has gone down, to check to see if it's broken. I'm hoping that it's not. I'm hoping that it's just badly bruised and swollen. But I have a feel...

... and thank goodness for it. It's been a busy month. Start off first with the good news - Violet is back. She was missing for 8 days and one morning she just showed up here at home. The kids were all thrilled. A week after she came back we spent 1 night away from home and she left again. This time she was only gone 3 days though. Maybe she's finally realizing that we will return. So, what have I been up to? Camp, camp and more camp. I went with Tristan to Cub World for 3 days worth of Jedi cheesiness. Did I just say that? I hate to say that about a scout camp, but the whole Jedi theme was just so over the top and cheesy. Maybe the kids thought it was great but after 3 days of it I was SOOOO ready to come home. Add in the overwhelming stink of KYBO (like outhouses but worse ... absolutely rancid when it's 85 out) and I was DONE. I did however manage to secure yet another year of camp (4 years in all) without visiting the KYBO. It's worth the hike to the one and only fl...

This happens every time summer comes around. I think about how much free time I'll have, how much less volunteering, how much less time running kids to and from their activities. Yet here we are 3 weeks into summer and I have yet to make a dent in anything. We've kept plenty busy with all of our activities. Here's a rundown of some of the highlights (and lowlights) of summer so far. THEATER AND GYMNASTICS CAMPS The kids all took part in a camp the week after school got out. For Carissa there was gymnastics camp, where she had fun each day playing on the gymnastics equipment, doing crafts and listening to stories. The boys did their most anticipated event of the summer - theater camp. This was Chase's 3rd year and Tristan's 2nd year (next year Carissa will be old enough too!). They had a GREAT time. The play was "The Secret Garden" put on by River City Childrens Theater. Another awesome performance. Chase was a gardener and was so thoroughly into his chara...

I've had such a rotten morning. It was just not good. Kids were slow moving and I had to get them to theater and gymastics camps today. Brian took the van so I could take the car and save on gas but we forgot Carissa's booster seat. I've been grumpy. Tristan and I got into it when he wouldn't get his rear end moving. It was just one thing after another this morning. So I drop the kids off and go for a walk. I come back from the walk feeling a little better. Then I see the package on my doorstep from my good friend Linda. Some yummy scrapbook goodies that I absolutely can't wait to use. YEAH! Then I check email and see a page request from Scrapbooks Etc. Double YEAH!! Not 15 minutes later I get three more pages requested, this time from Scrapbook Trends. Triple YEAH!!! So though things have started quite rough this morning, the day is looking up ...

I can't believe that his 16 weeks has finally come to an end. It seemed so long and in many ways it was. There were a lot of things he missed while away. There were a lot of things we missed about him too. But now, 16 weeks later, we're looking forward to having Brian back home. Graduation was Friday. We went up Thursday night for a family celebration with the other 38 graduates and some of their family members. There was a bit of a delay in starting the festivities, as the class was late getting out. They were participating in the memorial for a Deputy killed in the line of duty. This wall outside of the Academy was surrounded by flowers and was a somber reminder of the danger inherant in their job. I am always struck by the number of names on both the front and back of this memorial wall. But when I look it all I do is hope never to see Brian's name up on this wall. Anyways, graduation was Saturday. We all dressed up and showed up early so we could get good seats. We snag...

OK, so this is momentus for me. It's something I haven't done in forever -- since last June to be exact. One year and not a single haircut. It's one of those Mommy things in me. I don't spend the money on myself. I just don't. But when my Mom gave me money for my birthday I knew that's what I wanted to spend it on. So last Wed. I went to see Keeli, who came highly recommended by some of my friends. She was so nice and spent over and hour cutting my hair, talking with me about what I wanted and how I wanted it then styling it for me. She did have to cut off more than I would have liked - about 3 1/2 inches - but it was in so many different lengths because of how long it had been since I'd had it cut before. After washing, adding a moisurizer and cutting my hair she styled it for me. I'd never straightened my hair before and I like the change from my normal wavy hair. So I walk away from there on Wed. happy with the results and excited about showing Brian,...

You see, my friend and fellow ScrapAddict designer Monica tagged me. I've been wracking my brain for a list of 7 random facts about me and I haven't come up with anything great. But I've procrastinated long enough so I'm just going to fly with it and do my best. These are the rules.... each player starts with 7 random facts about themselves on their Blog. People who are tagged need to blog 7 facts about themselves and post the rules as well. At the end of their blog list 7 people you are tagging. Let them know that they are tagged by leaving them a comment. So, time for my 7 random facts: 1. I love chocolate anything except cake. The only way I'll eat chocolate cake is if it is chocolate cupcakes baked with lots of raisins in them. 2. I'm a clothes-hanging organizer. It's one of those little quirky things. All clothes in this house have to be hung up in the proper way. First pants - jeans first than other pants. Next short sleeve shirts in order by color - w...

Baseball is officially over. Tristan and Carissa have played their last game and each walked away with a new trophy. And I've walked away with a greater respect for parents who do this on their own year after year. Wow, it was a handful. And I couldn't have done it without the help and support of all the Grandparents, who each came and helped out when I needed it. THANK YOU! My preschool class had their last day yesterday. Oooooohhhhhhh. We still have a party on Tuesday so we haven't had to say the real goodbyes yet. But it was bittersweet watching them walk out of the classroom for the last time. I've only been with this group since February, but they've sort of grown on me. And I've seen how they've all grown so much in the short time I've known them. Already I can see how fulfilling teaching is. 4 more days of school for the kids. I can't believe the year is almost over and that soon I will have a 1st, 3rd and 5th grader. Wow. But I...

Our time with Jimmy, Virginia and Randal has come and gone. It was great to see them all and to cuddle my new nephew. And it's great to see Jimmy and Virginia starting a family of their own ... they're great parents, as I always knew they would be. Baby Randal is such a sweet thing. I particularly enjoyed holding him and it reminded me how long it's been since one of my kids was that tiny. He was such a good baby. Very quiet but with an adorable smile and little cooing noises all his own. The kids, of course, thought Randal was just a gem. They kept walking up to him and touching his hand and talking to him. And they all took their turns holding him. Brian and I took our turns with Randal too ... And of course, who can forget my little brother and his son. It was so nice to see him interact with Randal and I just can't get over the little things he would say. My favorite was when Randal was starting to get fussy and Jimmy would say "Oh no, not Mr. Grumpy...