Bad luck

I swear, Jason and I have the worst luck with tires on our car. When we owned our Saturn, we bought a new set of tires every year and a half or so because the car wasn't designed correctly and wore through them too quickly (and that was with getting them rotated every time we got an oil change). Now the Camry doesn't wear through them the way the Saturn did, but Jason just had another flat tire today. We keep driving over crap in the road and of course they are never patch-able. So J went to change the tire today and discovered that the screws were stripped so he also had to have the car towed to a tire shop. The tow driver said he sees that all the time with people from Firestone (and I'm sure other places) because they get lazy and tighten it too tight with the air gun. So then when you have to change it yourself, it strips the bolts. We had a flat tire earlier this year with the exact same problem. We're not taking our car to Firestone any more for other reasons (really bad service), but here's another reason not to. It's so frustrating!

Haven't had much time to post

I have been so busy trying to finish off the second anatomy & physiology course at my college. Although it's not required for me to take immediately, it is a requirement to graduate from the nursing program, so while I'm waiting to get into the program, I'm taking whatever else I can to make nursing school easier. My goal is to be finished with all the other requirements as soon as I start nursing school. I've only got two classes left now, so I should be able to knock them out next semester. In the meantime, I've been just studying as much as the kids will let me. There's something to be said for not being the first parent home from work. I think I get to deal with all the crap that the kids do immediately when they get home from school and by the time J gets home, it's done and over with. We've been having problems lately with Cole having two little "mommies" that like to yell at him, so he shuts down and annoys them more, so they yell more and the cycle continues. It's times like these that I remember exactly why it is that I didn't want to have three children. I really would have liked four, and even two would have been okay, but three is just about the hardest number you can have in my opinion. There's just always someone that is the odd man out, so two always gang up on the other one. It's very frustrating. And there's something about this time of year that just makes my kids go nuts. Every year around this time they start to seriously misbehave and it just drives us bonkers. So I'm dealing with all that while trying my hardest to study for this final exam. The school that I'm going to is our county's online community college. My thought is that they were afraid that people wouldn't take them seriously because they're an online school and so they made the classes (well, from what I've heard, just the science classes--which is all I've taken so far) so ridiculously hard. Most people don't pass on the first try, and getting a B is a really big deal. So the final exams and midterms are some of the most difficult exams I've ever taken and require a lot of study and concentration--which is hard to do when kids interrupt you fifty million times. So I was just stressing about this final and wanted to be done with it. I had until tomorrow to take it, but my boss was kind enough to let me off work this afternoon to go take it (she said she could just see how stressed I was). And I passed with probably the highest grade I've gotten on a midterm or final yet. My essays haven't been graded yet, so I don't know exactly what my grade will be, but even with a zero on the essays I can't fail. So I'm very excited (not to mention the relief!). I'm one more step closer to becoming a nurse and I've got one less class to reach my goal. Now I can relax and worry about getting Christmas cards done and presents wrapped. Bring on the holidays!

Better weekend

This weekend has been much better. My grandma is back home and the family is trying to find someone to stay with her full time since she can't be alone any more. Our family tradition is to decorate the house the day after Thanksgiving, but since we were in Cali last weekend, we had to bump it back to this weekend. We decorated inside last night and outside this morning. I have to say that decorating outside with Jason can be a little trying--he doesn't have much patience for it. So by the time we were done, I was a little grouchy. This afternoon, we went and picked out our tree, the first time our little family has ever had a real tree. There is nothing quite like decorating the tree to really put me in the mood for Christmas. There are times when I wish that I had a really nicely decorated tree with matching ornaments and ribbons, things like that. But nothing can compare to pulling out the ornaments with the kids. We buy the kids an ornament every year in addition to the ones they make at school and get from their grandparents, so pulling out the ornaments is like remembering all the past Christmases. We have so much fun decorating the tree, listening to Christmas music and just being happy together. I think the day we decorate the tree is always one of my favorite days of the holiday season. It's not about gifts or commercialism (really it's not even about Santa, though we usually end up talking about him a little), it's just a happy time together with my family. This is what the season is all about.

Wanted to post good news

Grandma was doing okay at the nursing home, but today she had another TIA (mini stroke) during physical therapy so they took her to the hospital. We're waiting on the cat scan results to know if they're going to discharge her to the hospital or back to the nursing home. Honestly, she could go any time now or she could last another few years. And I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place because I'm so far away. I don't know if I should be there in case something happens, obviously I want to be there if she goes, but I can't spend that much time away from my family. I went to look for cheap flights between now and Christmas and there aren't any for weekend flights. I was hoping to just fly in for a weekend to see her again before Christmas. It's so frustrating!

Bittersweet Weekend

Thanksgiving weekend was nice because we got to see a lot of family we don't see often. We like to spend our Thanksgiving weekends at home, but Jason's grandma was celebrating her 80th birthday and all of the family was going to be there, so we made the trek this year to So Cal. We had a good time visiting with his family on Thursday and half the day on Friday. Unfortunately, while we were there this weekend, on of my grandmas got really sick and had to be hospitalized. My grandma Middough, who I'm very close to, has been sick for a few months and just hasn't been able to get over it. I guess this last week she didn't even have the energy to eat if someone didn't come over to feed her. They released her from the hospital yesterday, but only to a nursing facility so that she can get her strength back before going home, but she's at the point where she just can't live alone any more. If she would let me, I would bring her home with me and take care of her, but I know she won't. We finally did get to see her last night before we went home, and she just lit up when my kids came in the room. I know her great-grandkids make her really happy, and my kids have been a little upset because they know what's going on. And, unfortunately, I think I make it worse for them because I'm so upset. I was really grateful to be able to see her, and I sincerely hope it wasn't for the last time. I know she's been in poor health for the last few years and that she could go at any time, but it's just hard to let her go--I'm not ready. Of course, Jason reminded me that I'm never going to be ready. I know I'll be able to see her again one day, but I'm going to miss her so much. So for now, we're just waiting to hear if she gets better or worse and I'm prepared to fly back when I need to. I think we're really just hoping that she makes it through the holidays. Prayers for our family and especially my grandma would be wonderful.

The joys of home ownership

Last night, Jason pointed out to me a puddle in the yard and asked me if I had seen it. I hadn't. So we got out a flashlight and started investigating. We found two large puddles on one side of the yard, one of which had bubbles coming up, meaning that it was an active leak. We tried to turn off the water to the house, that didn't work. Called out our water company, he says, sorry, it's past the meter, it's your problem. So we shut it off at the main for the night and decided to dig it out in the morning and find the problem ourselves. Of course neither of us slept well last night, I was so stressed out about how much it was going to cost to fix. So this morning, we start digging...and digging...and digging. Almost three hours later, we finally found in the pipe exactly where it was leaking. We had been expecting a seam or a joint to be leaking, but the pipe itself had a crack in it, like it had been under great pressure and just gave. Our house is only three years old. Pipes should at least last more than three years! So I called out the plumbers that installed the pipes to our house. Finally this afternoon, the plumber comes out. Tells us that they haven't had any problems with those pipes, so we're gonna have to pay for it. Since we did all the digging ourselves, it was less than $200 (apparently the majority of what you pay for when you have a problem like this is the digging out, according to my father-in-law). But still, that's nuts for a pipe that is only three years old. I'm so pissed that we bought a brand new house, still have a bunch of crap going wrong with it, and you get nowhere with warranties and stuff like that. Whatever happened to quality and taking pride in your work enough that if you see a problem that isn't caused by the homeowners, you fix it. I don't think we really think about and are grateful for things like running water until we have a problem with them. I can't tell you how great the shower felt this afternoon after such a long, exhausting day.

A request

I am beginning to make our Christmas cards for this year, so if we haven't sent you a card in the last two years, would you please email me your address if you would like one from our family. My email address shows at the top of the page. Thanks!

A little sadness

With no family close to us here in Arizona, I have really come to rely on my friends. I've become really good friends with a couple girls here in the neighborhood who are like my extended family. One of these girls has a little boy who has been battling neuroblastoma (a particularly viscous type of cancer that strikes young children) and is in remission. The worst part about this cancer is that there hasn't yet been a case of a child who has relapsed and survived. We continue to pray for Brody and that he will keep getting better. We've seen him go from a healthy little boy to a very sick little boy and on his way back again. Today he brought a smile to my face because I walked Charlie over to their house and made him giggle because he loves my dog. Through what this family has been through, they have met others who are going through the same things and they have become good friends with another family in Arizona who have a six year old girl. She is one month ahead of Brody in diagnosis, and one year after her transplant surgery, she relapsed. This last weekend they went in for routine scans to re-stage her because they had done surgery and thought they removed all of the cancer and found that she had a bunch of spots on her liver and one on her lungs. Since this is likely her last Christmas, my friends wanted to put together a care package to send to the family. I thought back to when Jordan was in the hospital and how boring it was to sit there for hours on end. This family also has three other children who are all younger than the girl who is sick and I'm sure it's rough on the family to keep them occupied while they're there. So I bought a plastic box with a handle and then filled it with quiet games and books that they can carry along with them. I also decorated the side a little with a little sign that says "quiet box". It wasn't anything spectacular, so I didn't take pictures of it or anything. But, I also wanted to include a couple other things just for this little girl. So I put in a journal that I had made awhile back and then I spent my day off today making a picture frame for her. I was even able to go to her family's website and pull a picture of her to put in the frame so they didn't get an empty frame. My hope is that this will bring a smile to her face. Both of these children I've talked about have websites set up through Caring Bridge and their parents update them and add pictures. For anyone that's interested, Brody's website is: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/brodyfowler The little girl who is sick is named Layla and her website is: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/laylablakeley
You can also leave their families messages of support for the health of their children on these sites.

Can't wait for New Moon

In anticipation of New Moon and because my husband says I'm a Twilight nerd (and a self affirmed stamping nerd), I've been playing around with an Edward stamp I have. I'm sure I'm not done yet since this is one of my favorite stamps, but I wanted to post the few cards I've done with him. Sometimes things don't come out the way I see them in my head when I'm working, but I think they turned out okay anyway. This first one is my favorite.

This one you can't tell but the patterned paper has some sparkle to it so I thought it was fitting for Edward.


This one was designed to be an Edward card too until I finished the layout and realized that my stamp wouldn't fit the space I made for it. So I chose another new stamp I got that was the right size.

Happy Halloween

We've been busy lately so we were behind on doing pumpkins, so we bought them last night and decorated them today. A few years ago, my mom bought the kids sets to make the pumpkins like potato heads, so that speeds up the decorating for the kids at least, and they have a good time doing it.


Cole wanted to be Luke Skywalker again this year:

Lindsay was Gabriella:

And Bailey was a pirate:

Getting ready to go to our neighbor's for a party:

I didn't make Charlie dress up this year (last year I put a Superdog cape on him), but I thought that if I just left him in the house, he'd go nuts with all the people around. So I took him outside with me while we were handing out candy and he did really well. For the most part. He actually started to want to bark and snapped at our next door neighbor for some reason, but with the kids and the rest of the adults, he just wanted to sniff them and jump up on them. But, I kept telling him to sit and so he did. Not bad for his second Halloween:
The kids ended up with a pretty good haul this year, more than most years. And even though I'm a party pooper and made them come home at nine, I think they had a good time.

Making myself feel better

It never fails, scrapbooking always makes me feel better. I don't always have the time, and I really wish I could do a little every day. Today was such a bummer of a day that I decided to skip studying and scrap instead. I'm such a perfectionist when it comes to my pages that it will usually take me several days to get a two page layout finished. So I was really pleased to finish the layout I started just yesterday. Two pages for a two page layout is really good for me. I'm so far behind it's not funny, but I just can't seem to scrap out of order. So for now I'm working on Cole's album from 2005, the year he turned four.


This is another layout I did recently from Easter that year. This is one of the reasons I'm bummed about not being in California. Every holiday that we spent at home we would visit with the Mausses and Easter 2005 was no exception. The kids had such a great time with their Grandparents and Aunt. I love that they got the chance to make all those memories and look forward to the opportunity for more.

Having a hard time

My aunt posted on her blog about missing my grandparents, and it resonated with me because there are so many things I'm missing right now. I think it can be summed up to say that I miss California. While we're still the same distance from my family, we're twelve hours from Jason's and we hardly see them. I miss the weather in California. I miss our ward in California; church here has been a struggle for me and it was so great there. I miss the friends I had in California. I miss having things to do besides work and school. This area is great for Jason with the tennis center, but I have no evening activities to do and it has really worn me down. I miss being able to go to a pumpkin patch that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Both in Stockton and Livermore, we had great pumpkin patches that didn't charge admission, you just paid for your pumpkins and the corn maze. Here, they all charge admission, and I really hate that! I don't care about the petting zoo, I just want pumpkins that aren't all funky like the grocery store ones.

The list goes on and on. I think the worst part about it is that we feel stuck here. Even if Jason found a new job that would move us, we have no idea when we'd be able to sell our house. So it seems that we're here for however long we're supposed to be here. And I keep on trying to make the best of it because there's nothing else I can do, but the last few days have been hard for me, so I'm just bumming out for now.

Silly girl

Tonight I'm wondering why I have a blog if I don't get to use it to embarrass my kids. I mean, that's my job as a parent, right? Jason and I were in the loft this evening and I started hearing what sounded like it might be singing. I asked him if Bailey was singing in the shower, he thought maybe it was Cole. So I creep down the hallway and listen at the door. Sure enough, Bailey's in the shower singing what we think was David Cook. We were cracking up--she's never done that before. She's been growing up a lot lately, more than I want her to. The other day I had the kids at Michael's. While we were looking at the Halloween stuff, she suddenly gets all excited because they have a Tiger Beat magazine. She swore she would pay me back when we got home (and you can be sure that I made her pay up, I'm not wasting $6 on that!). It just takes me back to when I was so boy crazy and had Joey McIntyre "wallpaper" from all the posters in Bop and Big Bopper magazines. I didn't want her to get to this point already, I don't think I'm ready for this. *sigh* I guess I don't have a choice, but sometimes I just wish she could have been that sweet little baby a little longer. And now she's singing pop songs in the shower and getting excited about putting posters up in her bedroom.

Surprise tennis tournament

Jason is stringing racquets this weekend for a tennis tournament that the "retired" players are playing at. Todd Martin, Jim Courier, Mark Philippoussis, Jimmy Arias, Wayne Ferreria, Aaron Krickstein, and Andre Agassi played this year (John McEnroe was here last year and didn't come this year). For the most part, Jason has converted me to a little bit of a tennis fan, but I only like watching the players I like playing, not all of tennis. We did get to see Jim Courier inducted into the hall of fame, and Todd Martin was really cool to my kids last year when they had to spend one evening with their dad down at the tennis center, so it would have been cool to meet them. But, I was really dying to meet Andre. Jason started trying to pull some strings to see if I could get back there to meet him, and it was crazy how reluctant everyone was to allow it. Until finally, Jason asked the guy who was in charge of all the players, and he said, "Ask Andre". Andre was really cool about it and so I got to go back and meet Andre Agassi and have my picture taken with him. It was a lot of aggrivation for a whole ten seconds of his time, but it was really neat to meet him.

A quick one

I just wanted to tell everyone because I am so super excited: I got notice today that I am officially on the wait list for nursing school for Maricipa County community colleges. I got to select up to four choices and students are taken from the wait list by date/time stamp until the slots are filled up. Rio Salado is my first choice and they have the shortest wait list right now at two semesters. So, if I'm lucky, I will begin nursing school next fall semester. I've been working my butt off at school with that goal in mind, so let's hope that the schools do what I want them to do, right? So exciting!

Prepping for a workshop

I have a workshop coming up, so since I'm all caught up on schoolwork for now, I got to just play this weekend.

A little Halloween treat box made from acetate.

A Halloween card with embossing and sponging. This designer series paper is retired, so the actual projects will be a little different as we'll be using the current paper. I just don't have any on me right now.


Another Halloween card, this one made with one of my favorite sets.


These aren't for my workshop, but I love making them. The centers are York patties and they're made from different paper punches.



This year I found the perfect bowl for my spiders.

Really celebrating

Today Bailey was invited to a slumber party and Cole to a sleepover, so only Lindsay is home with us until tomorrow evening. Jason and I decided that we should take Lindsay somewhere special and really celebrate her birthday. Being the baby of the family, she feels like she doesn't get enough attention and alone time with us, so I figured this was the perfect opportunity. We didn't tell her where we were going and showed up at the mall. After walking through the mall, we ended up in front of Build a Bear. I turned to her and said something like, "Look, Lindsay, it's Build a Bear". She says "Yeah, we never get to go in there". So then I told her that's what her surprise was and that's what we were doing with her. She was so happy. Not only did she get to spend the afternoon/evening alone with mommy and daddy, but she got a new friend too. J and I both had a good time with her too. Jason's in the other room watching Matilda with her (thanks, Mausses, that was a great choice for her!), so she's still getting some quality time. It's been a nice day.

Lindsay's turn

Seven years ago, Jason and I had very cool experience. Instead of waking up in pain and rushing to the hospital, we got up very early in the morning, said goodbye to our two kids and sat in traffic all the way to the hospital. Then we sat there all morning while nothing happened. I think I should have realized then how stubborn Lindsay is. You can't rush her, she does things in her own time and only if she wants to. And while Bailey and Cole were both early, I forced Lindsay out on her due date because I was sick and tired of being pregnant. So while nothing happened all morning, and we tried, in vain, to get some sleep, all of a sudden, things began to move. And like the other two, once labor began, it was a very quick process. She was a pretty easy birth, so I'll give her that much at least, and then she was here--my beautiful baby girl. She turned our world upside down. After having two angelic babies, this one seemed to know that she was the youngest and would have to fight to get all the attention she could get. She never let me put her down! She was the longest to sleep through the night, going until she was nine months old before she would do it, and then it was just for the most part, she still liked to party during the night. She slept in a bouncer chair in the living room until she was three months simply because at the time we lived in a two bedroom place. So if I put her in with the other two, they would wake her up or she would wake them up. Looking back now, I think all these things are funny, but boy do I remember how tired I was! I think that's my biggest regret with Lindsay is that I was so tired that whole first year (well, really, the first five years) of her life that it seems like a blur. But with a three year old, an eighteen month old and a newborn, sleep wasn't something I got regularly. And somehow, with as difficult as she has been, there is just something special about this little girl. I can't wait to see how she turns out because I have a feeling she's going to be a really cool adult. So happy birthday Lindsay. We love you!

Playing catch up

This has been a very difficult and busy week for us. On Monday, I thought I would treat the kids and take them to the library after work/school. Lindsay was especially excited because it was finally time to get her very own library card. The whole time I'm standing there getting her card with the guy (all the people who work at the Surprise library are volunteers, so they're all old retirees, and this guy really couldn't hear a word. He kept misspelling Lindsay. First Limbsay, then Linbsay, finally getting it right. But I didn't know he was misspelling it each time, so he would look at me and go, are you sure, this doesn't look right.) she's being a pest. Finally she gets her card and we go over to the kid section where the other two are and I start directing her to the Junie B Jones books, which she loves. They even had a few that she didn't have yet. But no, then she spies Hannah Montanna, and it's over. Sigh. At least they were chapter books, right? Anyway, she's picking out her books, and Bailey comes up with a stack of six or seven books to ask how many she can check out. And this is the same day she had library at school and picked out two books there too. So she was a little bummed that I only let her get three. I had to promise to take her back this weekend if she's finished them (which she might...five books, five days. That sounds like Bailey). Then I go over to see what Cole's got and almost laugh. He's got picture books. Lindsay is all hyped up to check out chapter books and Cole's got picture books. I was able to persuade him to get chapter books when we found the Hardy Boys books and Star Wars books. Oh, and one of the Star Wars books is a choose your own adventure, so he's in absolute heaven now, he won't put it down. And since he's grounded now (I'll get there), it's a good thing he has something to read. Since the kids were ok, I went off to get my books, and then figured we could leave. Boy was that a mistake. Lindsay has been very tired from first grade, and lately her deal is that her legs are so tired that she can't get up on her own. Sometimes I help her, but there are other times when I'm just not in the mood (after listening to her whining about how long it took to get her library card perhaps), or, you know, have my hands full of books (no idea where Bailey gets it from). So she starts to throw a fit that I won't help her up. Loudly. As if Lindsay would ever throw a quiet fit. She's standing there screaming at me. And of course half the library turns to see what's going on. So I'm very quietly trying to get her to be quiet, and it's not working. She gets louder. At this point, the whole library is looking at me, and the security guard comes over to see what's going on. I was so embarrassed and livid like you wouldn't believe! So I tell them all to put down their books as we walk out. Outside, where I don't care if she screams, I give Bailey and Cole their library cards and let them go back in to get their books (and then I sent Bailey back in to get mine--I like having a ten year old!). At this point, Lindsay's so upset, and she wants her books, so she keeps trying to hug me and tell me she's sorry (but before you start getting warm hearted over it, this is her SOP, she throws a fit, says she's sorry and hugs me without meaning it or learning anything). This time I was so upset, I just kept pushing her away and telling her she needed to let Mommy cool off. If we were at home, I would have given myself a time out. She finally did calm down, and we were able to have a talk about appropriate library behavior and how even when she misbehaves I still love her (she was very concerned about that). I'm sure I could have handled the situation better, but I was proud of myself for not even raising my voice (even outside) or manhandling her in any way. So maybe next time she'll behave herself because I know she's really sad she didn't get to check out books.

Wednesday, we took Cole to a karate studio nearby and signed him up. We had to make a commitment for a year, but he's really excited. He has done a few classes through the school but he really wants to earn his belts and advance, so we figured we'd better take him to an actual studio for that. We were impressed that this place expects him to put his discipline into practice at home too, not just for karate. In order to be tested to the next belt, he has to achieve six belt loops, and a couple of them at least have to be that he's doing well at home and at school, so we like that. So now he's doing karate twice a week, and his little buddy from school was in his class, so that's cool too.

Thursday Cole decided to give me a run for my money. He's been having a problem lately with telling me he's going to go ride his bike and then going into a friend's house without telling us. We had just had a talk about discipline, and he wants to go ride his bike. About an hour later, Lindsay goes down to the park and comes back telling me she can't find Cole. So I go walk down the street but I don't see his bike at his buddy's house or at either neighborhood park. So I get in the car and drive over to his other buddy's house (which is in another neighborhood across a bigger street), and sure enough, his bike is outside. So he's grounded for the next week. We were going to have him go to karate Thursday night since he's supposed to go twice a week, but we decided that he needed to not go the rest of this week now. Oh, and this is on top of that morning. My bedroom door happened to be open because the dog was being a butt in the middle of the night, so really early in the morning when the kids are supposed to be getting ready for school, I hear Cole tell Lindsay to shut the fing door. So he was busted on that one too. I think he figured I wouldn't hear him so he was safe.

Finally, last night Bailey started a hip hop dance class at a nearby dance studio. She was so excited to go, but I think she's changed her mind now that she's started. This is the first dance class that she's ever taken, and I think the other girls in the class have dance experience, so she was a little frustrated. But I had warned her before she started that if I was going to pay the class fee and the registration fee, she had to stick with it for at least three months. I think that's long enough for you to say that she's given it a really good shot and getting past the initial frustration. And I think each week will be a little better. Lindsay is going to do cheer (this is me so not excited!) at the same dance studio on Monday nights too. So our normally busy life is becoming downright chaotic. I'm hoping that it will make for some well rounded kids, though.

Bailey's party

Bailey's party was on Saturday, so I spent the better part of Friday trying to get a lot done (doesn't help when you have to run a kid to the dr and the dog to the vet and then your boss asks you to come in for a few hours on your vacation day, but I digress). The only theme that she had going is that she wanted it to be like a spa day, so she wanted mostly healthy food, and we went from there. I was hoping to get decorated on Friday and to have prepared half the food, but none of that got done. So Saturday morning, we got up and everyone helped clean up and then decorate. Jason was a big help with the streamers, he did them way better than I would have done. Then Bailey helped me prepare the food. The doorbell rang a couple minutes before 2, and I was still in pj's, so I let Jason answer the door while I ran upstairs to take a quick shower. By 2:30, the four girls had arrived and we let them just hang out for a little while. Around 3 we went over to the aquatic center here in Surprise and swam (and I love our aquatic center--9 people, $11). When we got home, Jason and I made a bunch of different kinds of sandwiches without crusts, cut into triangles for dinner. We had a fruit salad with a berry cream cheese dip, gatorade slushies, and the munchies I had made earlier (fruit salsa with homemade cinnamon chips, reese's haystacks, chocolate dipped pretzels with sprinkles, cookies, and chex mix). The girls were pretty funny. They loved the turkey sandwiches, we kept having to make more, but none of them would touch the chicken sandwiches. Same brand of lunch meat and everything, they just thought chicken was weird. After dinner, she opened her presents, and then we had cake. After the festivities, the girls gave each other makeovers, and I painted their toenails (we found some cute bling for their toes at Target too, but they didn't stick very well). They were so hilarious. Whenever they finished with each other's makeup, they would go into Bailey's walk in closet, link their ankles, and the girl who had her makeup done had to tell secrets, such as who they liked. I tried very hard not to laugh, but they were having fun. Bailey made me proud too because while I was in there, the girls didn't want to tell their secrets to each other, but Bailey told them I was cool. :D Oh, and she told me who she likes, so at least she'll talk to me for now. I give it another year or two and then she won't want to talk to me anymore. Anyway, the girls finally went to bed at eleven and were asleep by midnight, so that wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be. The next morning, we got up and made them french toast and smoothies and they found the time to give each other makeovers again before they left.

Bailey had a great time, which was the most important part. And Jason and I got to see the group of girls that she's friends with at school, and they're really pretty good girls. The girl that Bailey talks about most got her the most thoughful gift, so we were really happy that this is the girl that Bailey calls her best friend. I think the most annoying thing for me was the cell phones. I didn't anticipate that every single one of those girls would show up with their own cell phone. We've agreed that our kids don't need one, and we really think it's pretty stupid for kids this age to have them except for some circumstances. But to bring them to a sleepover? They were calling and texting eachother while they were sitting in the same room or the same car! Oh, and they were calling their parents too ("We're on our way to go swim. I love you!") Seriously, if Bailey started calling me from a sleepover just to say hi and that she loves me, I'd be asking her if she needed to be picked up. It really made us uncomfortable, I wanted to take them away, but since they really weren't doing anything bad with them, I couldn't see how I could. Within five minutes of them getting here, I did have to stop them from prank calling people though. It also made Bailey pretty jealous since she doesn't have one. But, other than that and the exhaustion of prepping for a throwing a party like this, it was great.

Proof that I'm insane

Our kids get to have birthday parties on their even birthdays, and since Bailey was turning ten, it was her turn. So she decided to have a slumber party and four of her little girlfriends were coming. Bailey was really thinking this birthday was pretty special because she was turning double digits, so I really tried hard to make it special for her. And as if I didn't have enough to do last week, I decided that the party favors should be pretty special too. Each girl went home with a journal and a little purse that I made for each of them filled with girlie things and candy. I actually ended up shorting myself on my essay in order to get them done and didn't get as high a score on it as I usually do, but since it was the first assignment, I'm not too worried about it. I'll have to try harder in the future to make sure school doesn't take a backseat. I just hope my daughter appreciates the effort I put in even though she doesn't say it. I guess that's pretty normal for a ten year old though.

10 years

(this isn't the youngest pic I have of Bailey, but it's the youngest I have of her on my computer. This was from her fourth birthday; you can just see how much she's grown!)

10 years ago Bailey decided to join our family. There are so many reasons why her birth was so special for me, not the least of which is that she's my first. Other than my friend, Erin, we were alone the moment she joined me and she and I have had this incredible bond since then. As you know, each child is so different and so special. Bailey is the one I can always count on to be responsible, does her homework without giving me a hassle, and is really just a great kid. I am so fortunate to be her mom and feel so blessed to be given the responsibility for such a great spirit. She has changed very suddenly from a little girl to almost a teenager in the last couple months. No more playing with dolls or most toys, but she loves to read, listen to music, hang with her friends, and is beginning to ask about makeup and boys. In some ways I'm really excited to see how she's going to grow and change, but the rest of me is wondering where that sweet little baby is who peeked over or under her crib bumper to see her mama when she woke up every morning.

Bailey, your mama loves you more than anything in the world. You make me so proud to be your mom. Thank you for being the first.

A budding musician

Fifth graders in our district get to start band if they want (no orchestra unfortunately), so Bailey was really excited to sign up. She has been going to band class for over a week and the other day the band teacher brought in some instruments so the kids could try them out and see what they wanted to play. Bailey had been thinking about the flute, clarinet, or trombone, but after playing around with them, she settled on the clarinet. She said it was the easiest for her to make noise out of. This last Thursday, we went down to the school when they had a music store reps there and rented the clarinet for her. So far, she's just happy to make a noise at all, so it's pretty cute. I'm thinking earplugs are going to be essential, though. And yesterday I was walking back to our house from the park and could hear her, so I'm not sure how much my neighbors are going to like us. :D With Jason and I both being talented musically, we're both just very excited to see one of our kids begin learning and hopefully start a lifelong love for music.