We Met the Teacher!

We met Luke's kindergarten teacher and I think he is going to have an amazing year! She is the teacher I wanted him to get. (Though truthfully, I only knew who two of them were.) She is fun, energetic, organized and she expects a lot from the kids. She is the one who tested him on Monday, too. I think he'll have a great time with her.

He is really excited!!

I am too, but I am also teary anytime I start to think about letting him go out into the world.

Oh, and I was SO excited when his teacher told us the only school supply he needs is a backpack!! Woo Hoo!!! We just bought one for him!

It is amazing to me that he has to know so much going in and that he'll learn even more than I had to in kindergarten. (And I'm not that old...future post about that...) I remember learning my colors, how to tie my shoes, numbers, letters, etc. He's going to start basic math, reading and has to know how to count to 30 by the end of the year. (He's already most of the way there. If I get him to 20, he can get to 29 on his own. And he is most of the way to 20 on his own.)

So, since I just kind of babbled about kindergarten, I'll stop now and I promise to post first-day-of-school pictures!! I'm so excited for him...If only I can get through it without him seeing me cry!

How Does This Work?

I don't quite get it, but I have a theory...

This summer we got so little done it is...shameful! It was really nice to have a vacation together and have a lot fun, but we still wanted to accomplish A LOT more things that we did.

I think that when we are on summer break, I get it into my head that we don't have to do anything since we are on vacation and so our home goes down the drain! I seem to get SO much more done when I have things that I have to do.

I had an extra dog and an extra kid yesterday which put it at two dogs (the extra isn't fully house trained) and 3 kids (the extra is 8 months old). So, there was a lot going on. Well, I was able to get laundry done and mostly put away, dishes done and put away, (which, for me is a miracle...I don't know why I don't put dishes away.) I read my book for a while and played with the kids. I also kept things relatively organized, made Amish Friendship Bread and blogged. Go figure!

For some reason it is a lot easier to get stuff done when there is more going on. I don't know if I just feel that I need to get it done, now, or it won't happen. It still needs to keep happening when I am "relaxing".

I tend to get the same phenomenon when Aaron is home and relaxing. If he is relaxing, I want to be and I don't get as much done. If he is home and working on something, I tend to just get to work as well.

How is that??

BTW--I didn't get any requests for the free hat, so if you meant to enter and I just didn't get it, or whatever. Let me know and you win. Today is the last day!

My Trial

I have become addicted to using my Palm Pilot to organize my life. It is really easy and I love it. I keep my ideas, things I need to do, calendar, crochet patterns I have created, gift lists.....It goes on and on. Pretty much my whole organized life is there.

Normally, that works out just fine. Then there are the times it locks up. Usually I can just reset it and I don't lose anything, it just takes a few minutes. It's kind of like when the computer locks up and you have to restart it. No big deal.

THEN, there was last night! I was sitting in a meeting where I need to be able to make notes and keep track of how many people came. It just went white! I couldn't get anything to work. I reset it several times and I could get everything else to work, but not my "Memos". If I clicked on Memos, it would go white again and not let me get into anything else. Then I had to restart it again! Memos are where I keep most things.

I told Aaron when I got home and he spent quite a while online trying to fix it. He finally discovered that I had had too many categories! The Palm just couldn't deal with that! It gave up and wouldn't deal with it anymore. Aaron was able to get it to work just fine.

Now, I just have to make sure that I don't get too organized. I like everything in it's own little space. I can find things easier that way. So, I spent some time this morning reorganizing a little and making it so that I could find things and still not freak my Palm out!!

So, all is well. My Palm and I like each other again! I just have to keep it happy and it won't lose my life!

Luke Did Great!

We had Luke's assessment and it went great! He was hardly shy at all. That is a miracle! I prepped him and prayed and it all worked out well. He did better than I knew he could with the numbers, about as well as I thought with his letters and not so well with rhyming words. When we work on those he does great and hardly misses any, but with the teacher, he got all of them wrong! I don't know what the deal was! Anyway, they want to place him in a normal classroom and I think he'll do great....Now I just have to work on letting go!



We have a kindergarten open house on Friday night. I hope they tell us all the what's, where's and how's. I've never done this before!

It's Getting Closer!

Today, I'll take Luke in for his kindergarten assessment. I have prepped him for it. I hope that helps. I'm also getting him to do things that help him be brave...Right now it is his video game. (He said it would help. But he probably just wanted to play it.)

Anyway, I hope that he does well. He tends to be very shy with new adults. He also has some speech problems we've been working on. So, he tends to clam up and be hard to understand. He is really smart and knows a lot. I just don't want them to place him too low and then when he is comfortable, he needs to be somewhere else.

Belle is going to stay with a friend, and that should help me be there for him, more. She can be SUCH a distraction for me. The last time he had an assessment and got signed up for kindergarten, she got lost for several minutes and we found her in someones office and the school district building!!

So, wish us luck!

My Garden

We have loved having our own home. We love to be able to change and fix things and do basically whatever we want. The problem is that we have a townhouse and so we only have a tiny amount of yard. We really want a yard.


This year, we bought some wildflower seeds and planted them along the side of our townhouse.


These are some of the things we've had blooming! There are some really beautiful flowers out there!


It has also been fun to play around with the great macro setting on my new camera!! It can go up to one centimeter!! It focuses on the flower right below and blurs the background. With these pics that is especially important since we had some men come and paint. They scraped off the paint and lovingly left it for us to clean up. We are waiting until we can stand to damage the flowers because it is all over the flower bed.

Etsy

I created an etsy profile in February!! Well, I have barely even looked at it since then, until today. I was at the park with a friend and her kids and she reminded me of etsy.com. I hadn't thought of selling things there. So, today, I put three of my hats on my new etsy store!! (There's a link on the sidebar as well!) Wish me luck!

You can now get your caffeine a new way!

I was in the checkout line the other day and I looked over at the gum. I like gum. I like to know that my breath is not offending people. Anyway, I noticed that Ice Breakers had a new line. They are now adding gensing, green tea and caffeine to the gum. I was just amazed. I think marketers are getting out of hand.

I guess, if you need a little jolt, and you can't take a beverage where you are going, then gum is a good alternative.

I am actually tempted to buy the other one. It was supposed to boost your mind, I can use that.

I have a horrible memory...

Don't forget to sign up and post about my contest!! No one has signed up, yet,(at least you didn't blog about it...) so you have a really good chance!

A Sense of Wonder

A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantements of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of out strength. Rachel Carson--From "The Sense of Wonder," 1965

I saw this quote on the wall when we went to the aquarium. I took a picture of it, so that I could use it later. I can't wait to read her book!

I think it is such a wonderful thought. So many of us lose that sense of wonder and love of the world around us. We get caught up in all the things we need to do, places we need to be, money we need to make and all the rest that it is hard to notice the flowers blooming and the amazing world we live in.

We have so little time on this earth, why waste it with electronic devices and other things that don't bring happiness and don't matter??

Family History Indexing

In the August Ensign, I read about family search indexing. It is a system where people can make genealogical information available digitally. Now, it is on the original scanned documents.

It is really fun. You download the program (free) and then start. There is a short tutorial and then you are off. It is pretty easy and has a lot of built in features that make it even easier. All you have to do is type what you read. Sometimes the handwriting is difficult, but you just have to do your best. It is done by two people and then mediated if there are differences.

Another thing I like about it, is that I can help with genealogy without leaving my house!! It is great!

If you are interested, go to here.

P.S. Don't forget the contest!!

Handmade Hat Giveaway

This is my first contest! I want to get the word out about the hats I've been making!


I crochet them all by hand out of 100% cotton or a 50% cotton, 50% acrylic blend.


I started a blog to sell them called Daisy Chains Crochet. Click to check out what I've made.


The pictures on this post are just some samples of hats I've been able to make so far. I have lots of other ideas for you to choose from. (They just aren't made and photographed, yet.)


If you win this contest, you get a customized, handmade hat for your child (or you). You choose the size, style and colors!


To WIN just leave a comment on this post, blog about this contest with links to this post and Daisy Chains Crochet. AND, if you don't win, you are welcome to email me to order one...hint, hint ;)

The contest closes on August 24th at noon. I'll do a drawing for the winner!!



All I ask is that you send me a picture of the wearer in the hat, so that I can use it on my blog. The hats look so much cuter when they are on a person and you can really see what they look like!

Luke is Getting Too Old!

I think Luke is adequately ready and excited to go to kindergarten. The problem is, he is my first and I don't think I am ready to let him out in the world. Does he know enough? Will he be bold enough? (He tends to be shy in new situations.) Will he make friends? Will he like his teacher? Will he do well?

My brain tells me he'll do well, but my heart isn't sure. I just want to be there.

He is a very creative and smart boy. I hope that comes out to his teacher and that he doesn't get picked on.

I just hope I don't cry when he goes that first day!

What did you do to cope with letting go?

Happy Birthday, Belle!

Today is my sweet little girl's second birthday! She is such a gift in my life! She is loving & kind. She is usually mellow and willing to please. It is so refreshing to deal with her. And then there is her Ms. Hyde. If she is tired or hungry, she can wear out several adults and cause a big raucous! She definitely wants to get her way.

She is a genius with facial expressions! She can show you exactly how she feels with her face as has especially expressive eyes!

Belle is also very smart. I know, most people say that about there children, but it is true. Since it is her birthday, I'm going to brag a little. She is learning her colors and can spell her name out loud if you write it (and she knows what it says). She recognizes some other letters as well. She tries to count, but only says 2, 3, 2, 3...It is fun to see her learning all the time.

She loves babies and LOVES to take care of her baby dolls. She also loves to play with hand held dolls and other toys. Belle loves music. She loves to dance, sing and play on the piano. Her favorite song is "Twinkle, twinkle, little star."

Belle loves to wear shoes. She almost always insists that she have some on and if she doesn't, she'll usually find some to wear. She also loves to wear her Tinkerbell shirt.

Anyway, I just wanted to write some of the things about Belle on this day. She is amazing and I love having her in our family!

Are you a digital packrat?

Just when I thought I was beginning to recover from pack rat syndrome, I found this article highlighted on Dumb Little Man.

I have always been a pack rat and now, I think I am doing a little better. I kept everything that I "might" need someday, somehow and everything with any random sentimental value! It was nuts.

I am doing a lot better and our real house has become a lot less cluttered! But, I have way too much digital clutter! I do pretty well with my email because I tend to delete an email once I have replied to it. I save tons of things to my favorites because I want to read or blog about them later. I want to start simplifying that! There is no reason to keep all of those file to clutter up my brain. (Except that I might need them someday!)

Crying

Am I a bad mom for taking this picture?

Or maybe for thinking it's funny??

It's hard not to laugh at tantrums sometimes!

SMART Habit Saturday

Last week, I made my cleaning schedule and although I didn't follow it everyday, I did follow it for about 4 days. It is a good start and I want to continue that for this week. It feels nice to have things cleaner and more orderly. We have also been purging our paper clutter from most of our marriage!! We are definitely in recovery from our pack rat tendencies!! If we can just get it all out of here and on to better homes (or the garbage...).

Here is my schedule:

Su-maintenance
M- weekend recovery
T-vacuum & mop
W-bathroom
R-major organization
F-vacuum & mop
Sa-sheets & dusting

Every day-toys away, clutter removal, laundry & dishes

If you aren't doing it already, go over and see the Lazy Organizer!

Pooping is a Happy Time!!

The title is something I overheard Aaron saying on the phone to his sister. She is working on house training her puppy. Apparently, you have to make a big deal about a dog "going" outside and not show them that you are angry when they "go" inside.

Aaron has really gotten into dog training and learning all he can about it. He has been reading lots of books about it. He even started a blog about it. It's called The Alpha Dog.

In just a few weeks, Freckles is already learning to sit and heel. She is a really well-mannered dog, except when she sees people other than our immediate family. She loves people so much that she gets really excited and hyper! So, now we are working on training her properly and getting her to behave when we tell her.

Toy Recall

We heard about the Fisher Price/Mattel toy recall and so I thought I'd pass the information on to all of you!

Go to this website to see if you have any of them! Lead paint was used to paint some toys...scary!

I have the BEST Husband, EVER!

Aaron got me a newer and better camera for my birthday!! He let me have it a month early, too!! I am so excited, I just had to share!

(Do you think I need more exclamation points???!!!???)

Turning Your Blog into a Book

I found a site called Blurb (if it was on your blog, I am sorry, it has been so long that I don't remember where I saw it first) and thought it was a great idea. There is also lulu.com. I just found it. It is a site that prints any book you want.

I used to be really good about writing in my journal, but it hasn't been a priority lately! I wish it was, but my blog has mostly taken its place. The problem is, I want my children to have access to the stories and pictures. Who knows how long Blogger will be around or if my kids will be able to find what I have done. I haven't published any of it, yet, but I want to try to do it yearly, so it is all in my possession!

Prices at Blurb start at $12.95! It goes up from there and I'm sure it would take a ton of pages to print my whole blog. You download their program for free and you can edit your book as much as you want, so I don't have to include all of the idiocy! ;)

Oh, and looking a little closer at the website, you can make LOTS of different kinds of books. You can do cookbooks, photo books (I'm thinking Grandma and Grandpa needs one of these.) Wedding books...it goes on! I'm really excited to do one. I'll let you know when I do one how it goes.