Another birthday

Every year the kids have a birthday, it always makes me a little sad knowing they are growing up, but I think this one has been especially hard. In our church, turning twelve is kind of a big deal, it's the age where a boy gets the priesthood and a girl starts going to young women's. I have such fond memories about that program, it really helped me get through my teenage years, so I'm super excited that Bailey gets to start going, but at the same time, I'm so sad that I now have a twelve year old! In any case, happy birthday, Bailey. Thanks for the opportunity I have to be your mom, you always fill my life with such love and sweetness. I have loved every minute of the twelve years (yes, even when I'm annoyed). I love you beyond belief.

September 2011 card class

If you can believe it, I finally got back to stamping! Although I should have been reading my chapters for my photography class, I spent the day today getting ready for my next card class. Just in case you can't tell from the picture, I love Halloween! So, although it's a little early, I decided to make my card class (and probably the September 3D project class) all about Halloween. I got to break in some new stamps, which is always fun to do. Card class is on September 9 at 7 pm. Please visit my website here to see the details for the class and to register. If you live out of town and want to make the projects, let me know, I can mail out a kit for you to complete the projects on your own.

More scrapping and other things

I finally finished 2005 for each of my kids! That is such an accomplishment for me, I think it took almost a year for me to scrap one year of their lives (of course, I have to do it three times since I was crazy enough to have three kids). These are the last four pages in Lindsay's album for 2005, and I'm looking forward to starting 2006 really soon. Hey, maybe I can actually get another year done this year so that I can make forward progress!

 

In other news, I'm really excited because I'm going back to school next week! I'm only taking a couple classes this semester, and they're classes I really want to take (photography and digital editing), so I don't think it will feel like a lot of work--I hope!--, but this is the first time I've actually gone to a class (versus the online classes I was taking before) in over 10 years. So it ought to be interesting to see what it's like to head back to college. I'm kind of getting my feet wet a little, trying to gauge whether I'd be good at something Jason and I have thought about for me, so these classes will hopefully be a jumping off point for me. And if not, they're classes I really wanted to take so I'll have fun regardless.

First week of school blues

This week the kids went back to school, and the chaos that always ensues means we are always kept on our toes around here. It didn't help that the kids and Jason didn't get back home from the Mauss family reunion until Sunday night, so our week began in chaos. They're settling in to their new school pretty well, though, and I have to say I've been very pleased with the teachers so far. All of the kids have been pleased with the teachers as well.












Lindsay is in the third grade this year


Cole is in fifth grade


And Bailey is in seventh grade




I also enjoy that the kids take the bus this year so we're not schlepping them down to and from school. The best part is that the bus stop is really close to our house, so the kids don't have to walk very far once they're dropped off. I waited the first day to see them off the bus and the way Bailey reacted, you would have thought I was the paparazzi. I think that means I'm doing my job grabbing pictures of the memories.

Negligent

I hate when I realize that it has been a really long time since I posted, but I don't really have a whole lot to report. That's not to say that there's not plenty going on around here, just that I'm not ready to share pictures yet, which is more important than the stories anyhow. So I was sitting here at my computer doing tedious work--organizing picture files and putting them in the right places so I can find them later--which I always put off until I go looking for something and can't find it because my files are in disarray. But I came across what I've been scrapping lately and thought I would share that since it's completed (and easy to share). I've been working in Lindsay's book from 2005, so these pages are from July to November of that year. You'll have to forgive my pictures of scrapbook pages and cards for the time being. I'm working on the best way to photograph them and will be playing around with backgrounds and ways to photograph them until I find a way that suits them best.

For a wonderful man

I just wanted to take a minute and wish my husband a happy birthday. It's our last day before we get at least one of our kids back, so I have some big plans ready for the day, hoping that we make it a really fun birthday. Happy birthday, sweetheart!

Weekend whirlwind

 My dad started a new job last week, one in which he's returning to drive trucks long haul and will only be home two days for every two weeks he's on the road. The last time he started driving long haul, it became incredibly difficult to see him, never knowing when he was going to be home (they would start sending him home, only to get him close to California before sending him off to the east again), and he lost so much weight that we all worried about him. Well, in talking with my mom Wednesday night, we found out that he was going to be home Thursday before hitting the road again Friday night. Thursday was also my mom's last day of school, and the plan had been that we would meet up in Blythe, Ca for me to give her my kids for almost six weeks. Well, when I found out that there was a short opportunity to see my dad, and let my kids see my dad, I hatched a very quick plan to be there Thursday night. So Thursday morning, I let the kids in on what we were going to do and we packed up and hit the road. As we started hitting the edge of Orange/Los Angeles counties, I had Bailey help me scheme to find out where my mom was so we didn't have to drive to a few different places looking for her. Since it would have been unusual for her to text my mom and ask her where she was, I told her to start with missing her Grandma and easing into finding out what she was doing and where she was. Well, Bailey did a fabulous job finding out where my mom was without my mom suspecting anything, but she had told my mom that she missed her cousin Hannah since my mom had just mentioned she had Hannah with her. So as we're pulling up to the major intersection before my mom's house, my mom called me on my cell phone. I put her off, telling her we'd call back in a few minutes, and minutes later we pulled up to her house. We were trying to be sneaky around her kitchen windows, and we were lucky she wasn't in the kitchen, so we were able to make it to the front door undetected. I got the kids on the top doorstep and had them knock...and boy was my mom surprised to find three of her grandkids standing there.

We had a lot of fun that night, the kids got to play with two of their cousins, and I got to spend time with my brother and sister-in-law, my brother's kids and my parents. But, the next morning I had to hit the road and get back home, so I made a quick visit to my grandma's house--I can't go all the way to my parent's house and not see my grandma--and then hit the road again.

When I finally got home, I was exhausted, and got to relax for about an hour when Jason sprung his surprise on me. Last year, for our ten year anniversary, we had decided ahead of time that we wanted to do something big to celebrate. And then the time came, and circumstances being what they were, we ended up doing nothing. I don't even think we had a date for our anniversary last year. Well, I guess that's been bugging my husband for a year now, and he decided that this year we would celebrate. So the only good thing about living in Arizona for the summer, is that the resorts are super cheap. And since we're used to the weather anyway, it's no big deal for it to be 100 degrees out to us because that's what it's like at home. He was playing in a tennis tournament in Carefree, Az Saturday morning, so he decided that I should join him at the resort and we would stay there all weekend. It was the most relaxing, enjoyable weekend, not worrying about what things I needed to accomplish that day, but just being able to enjoy it, and spending alone time with my sweet husband celebrating our anniversary and father's day. I was happy to have been able to capture some pictures of my husband playing tennis, something I don't get to watch very often, we did some window shopping, saw a movie, went to a great restaurant for dinner where they had a wonderful live band playing. This was the first time in our marriage that we have ever just picked up and left for the weekend on a moment's notice, but I sincerely hope it won't be our last. Having begun our marriage with a child, and having two more join us shortly after, we are so blessed to have family take them in the summer and allow us time to focus on each other and strengthen our marriage. I don't think anyone could have chosen a better husband for me than Jason, who is just an amazing man, a wonderful father, and the most incredible husband.