An Enormous Undertaking

Last week while I was in Meagan's room putting some things away, I came to the stark realization that her room was a disaster! We have officially been overrun with all things little girl. All things tiny. With the teensy weensy rubber molded clothes and the even tinier matching shoes. With the countless rubber bands that are so easily scattered to every corner of the house. With dolls and princesses missing clothes - or worse, hair! With stuffed animals and books, and costumes, and jewels, and plastic shoes with giant gems and bows, and beads, and necklaces, and small plastic-molded rings.

So we made a trip to the store in search of organizational tools. I found a hanging blanket shelf thing and some Sterilite containers marked down at Wal-Mart, so I decided to give those a try. However, by the time we got back from the store, we didn't have time to actually do the organizing, so the project was put on hold...until today.

This morning, while the boys were cleaning their room, Meagan and I tackled hers. We gutted the dollhouse, putting all of the people, furniture, and accessories in a storage bin that fits under her bed. We (well, really, I) then moved on to sorting what felt like hundreds of little hair ties back into their rightful container.

From there, we moved on to the closet, which was overrun with intermingled Polly Pockets, Princesses, Tinkerbells, Barbies, costumes, jewelry, books, and accessories. At one point, I began to wonder if we would ever get through it all, but we kept on. And we rearranged and organized everything in her room. She now even has room for her Dora couch to be in there, which she was VERY excited about! She seems to like the idea of having somewhere to sit and look at books and draw pictures...very cool!

Surprisingly, it was only about a 2 hour project!

Run run as fast as you can...

Yesterday was a day of running... at least in the morning. First we ran to the gas station. Then we ran to the bank. Then we ran to the eye doctor. Then we ran home to make lunch. Then we ran to Wal-Mart. The morning was a marathon!

But the pace slowed once we got to Wal-mart. We had finally accomplished everything on our to-do list for the morning. And Meagan was being a trooper about it all. She was (for the first time in a while) being a very good listener, and being very well-behaved and patient in all the stores and doctors' offices and such. So, we decided to take a stroll through the toy department, where she found a LIST of things she would like to have, whether now or for her birthday, she's not picky! *LOL* I did concede to letting her get a little Polly-Pocket-ish Disney Princess... Sleeping Beauty. Of course, since we got something for her, she thought we should get something to surprise the boys with. So, we picked out a small Bionicle for each of them. About $6 each, and they were THRILLED... and occupied for the remainder of the evening.

Last night for dinner, a friend of ours came over with her itty bitty little baby boy! He is SO darn cute! We all just hung out for a while, until about 8:00 when she headed home. The kids laid down for a movie bedtime, and Lucas and I chilled. A nice relaxing ending to a day that started off in a hurry.

Full House (for a Tuesday)

Today was lined up to be quite a busy day, scheduled from morning 'til night. Tuesdays are always pretty full anyway, with library, gymnastics and small group all falling on the same day. But today, we added 2 doctors appointments in the mix, with our first one at 9:20 this morning.

Sebastian has had a junky cough for a few weeks now, getting better and then worse and then better again. Well, over the weekend, Meagan developed a crazy cough that was keeping her up at all hours of the night. So, I made an appointment for her this morning, and I thought I'd take Sebastian with me for good measure, just to have him checked.

40 minutes later, we left the doctor's office with 2 prescriptions in hand - one for each child. And our doctor asked me to keep Sebastian home for the rest of the day, so as 'not to spread the plague' (he's a funny guy...LOL). So, rather than dropping Sebastian off at school and heading to story hour, we eliminated story hour altogether, and headed to the chiropractor. I already an appointment for after library, but we went early so she could adjust the kids too.

Now we're back at home, with an extra family member at home with us for the day. They are both laying down for a nap right now. I'm hoping to get a few things accomplished before the afternoon slips away. Hoping that the nap does them good. I'll try to keep you posted.

Once Upon a Time

Here's one more layout that went together fairly quickly this evening. I used a mini-kit by Bren Boone called The Perfect Fairytale to benefit a digital designer who was recently in a serious car accident. I'm kind of starting to enjoy doing these kind of layouts. It's a fun creating process!

Apple of My Eye

A new FREE-bee kit by Bren Boone (available for download at Scrap Orchard...I'm pretty sure you have to register at the Scrap Orchard forum/gallery, but it's COMPLETELY worth it. There are some fabulous free-bee's by some great designers)

Playing Catch-Up

Seeing as I keep getting comments about the lack of blog postings lately, and the lack of pictures of the kids...

I thought I better go back and get caught up on pictures. Here are pictures from Meagan's tea party (from back in January) and the kids' Valentine's Day parties at school (most of my pictures turned out bad, so I just picked on of each of them). I also put up some pictures of Meagan...about 2 weeks ago, she built a special room in the living room, and took her princesses and the DS in. She spent almost the whole day in her little room being like a big girl. Just a glimpse into the future!

I know this is not exactly what you're waiting for...

I realize that these are not exactly the Valentine's party pictures I had mentioned. But I've had a lot of scrapping to catch up on for CT's, and I sat down and finished up a few layouts this afternoon before they slipped my mind. So, I thought I'd share. I will still try to work on pictures - maybe tonight after church if there's time.

I also realize that my scrapbook layouts as of late have been rather heavily loaded with Meagan, and a little lacking in the boy department. Basically that's because I've had lots of girly kits to work with, and I'm NOT the kind of scrapper who can make girly kits work for boy layouts...some people can. Not me.

This layout is of some park pictures from last August. I liked the series of pics of her going down the slide. Every time I look at them, I'm forced to acknowledge that she is quickly gaining her independence, and will very soon need me for very little. The kit is a new kit by Cucciola, called Color Me Happy. It's available at Sunflower Scraps.

"Dear Grandma, I have fun with you. I wish I could live close to you, and then we could play together every day. I love you. Love, Meagan"

I've been wanting to do something with this picture ever since I took it, but every time I tried, the layout just didn't quite capture what I was going for. Today, I asked Meagan what she would say to Grandma if she could tell her anything. I wrote down what she told me, in letter form. This kit is called Crush and it's by Pink Ellie. It's at After Five Designs. Hope you like them!

Open Book

Here's the layout I did for the latest Gallery Standout growth challenge - create a layout with perspective.

Journaling: In the course of ordinary life, don't lose sight of the fact that you were created to have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance, to the fullest, until it overflows.

Down Again

Blah! Lucas, Sebastian and I are all feeling junky...AGAIN. I am SICK of being sick! This time, it was actually bad enough that Lucas took a 1/2 day off of work (way not like him!). I'm really feeling tired right now, so I'm going to keep it short. I will see if I can find my way back to the blog tomorrow some time and work on getting Valentine's party pictures posted. We'll see how it goes!

Meagan Math

This morning at breakfast, Isaac decided to start up a little math quiz to test my knowledge on some of the things he's been learning in school.

Isaac:
What's 0+0? Zero!
What's 0+100? One hundred!
What's 0+1? One!

Then chimes Meagan:
What's 1 and 1?

Isaac: Two!

Meagan: NO. Eleven (11)! :)

Valentine's Cards

The kids and I went to Wal-Mart tonight and finished getting their Valentine's cards for school parties. Meagan got hers last week while Grandma was here - Tinkerbell, of course! The boys both picked Pokemon cards. Now we just have to find time to get them all filled out and ready before school on Thursday. I think we'll take them to gymnastics tomorrow afternoon, and they can work on them while Meagan is practicing. If they don't get done then, we'll have to be creative with our time and sneak them in a little at a time. Really no other option at this point... again I find myself wondering why I am such a procrastinator! It really never works out in my favor, ya know.

Meagan's #1 thing to be thankful for: a clean bed

Yesterday while I was at the grocery, Lucas took the kids down to the end of the street to play outside in the warm(ish) fresh air. They saw 6 deer and some turkeys. They also found deer poo and the spot where the deer bed down. Besides that, they generally got covered in mud from head to toe. Lucas had to wash their coats when they got back home just so they could wear them to school today.

I think Meagan was a little disturbed by the deer poo, because this morning at breakfast, she felt the need to tell me all about it - she was particular stumped at the fact that the deer sleep in the same place where they 'go.' She said, "Mommy, I think baby deers have to sleep in poop...that's gross.............I'm glad I don't sleep in poop."

I love you because...

A quick layout I did this afternoon...I've been so busy, I've kind of entered into scrapper's block, and I haven't been trusting myself to make anything decent. It felt good to get a layout completed...start dusting off the creative crusties!


Credits: {Pink Ellie} - Crush; {Cinnamon Designs} - With Love; {Amy Wolff} - Love Notes; {Cori Gammon} - Truly Blessed; {Amanda Resende} - Little Monster; {Something Blue} - Worn Overlay; {Amber Clegg} - Date It

Return to Planet Earth

No, we did not fall of the face of the earth...though it may seem like it...we merely took a vacation! Back now, hopefully for more regular posting...here's to hoping!

Well, lots of little things have happened in the last few weeks, but I've not had a free second to sit down and do them justice. I can almost promise not to do them justice even now, but I figured I'd at least get them documented.

Where to start? How about this...

Social Events: Last weekend was the weekend of social outings. It started Friday night, when Sebastian went over to a friend's house to play for a few hours.

Saturday was Meagan's turn. She was invited to a fancy girly tea party at her friend Julia's house. The girls all dressed up in princess dresses. The mommies all dressed up in pretty dresses (which was a CHALLENGE for me, since I only own about 3 dresses total, and they're all spring/summer dresses at that). They drank chamomile and peppermint tea out of tiny little porcelain tea cups (mostly Meagan's set that she got for Christmas...I was glad it was put to good use). They had fruit & veggies and summer sausage and cheese. They had cookies and cheesecake. They got their fingernails painted. And of course, they played princess make-believe games. Meanwhile, the mommies had their own fancy tea party in the 'grown-up room,' where we sat and talked and laughed for a few hours while the girls played.

Sunday then, Isaac got his turn. Before church, we dropped him off at a friend's house. He went to church with Jacob & his family, and they all went bowling afterwards...it was the Super-bowl (since t was Superbowl Sunday, you see). After bowling, he went back to Jacob's house and played for a few more hours before finally being dropped off in time for our family picnic dinner (more details to come).

In Sports: We all hunkered down (I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to use that phrase just now...I must be in a quirky mood...) and watched the Superbowl together. I made chicken wings - BBQ & Buffalo - and popcorn chicken, nachos & dip (that tasted DISGUSTING and mostly just went straight down the drain....but not before Meagan ate 2 helpings...yuck!) and salad, etc. We set up tv trays for Lucas and me, and we spread out a big blanket on the floor for the kids. Of course, thanks to the competitive nature of almost every person who bears our last name, we couldn't just be neutral observers of the football game. Oh no! Our kids insisted on choosing a team to cheer for. The kids all decided that red was better than black, so they chose Red. Meagan found a red bandanna and swung it around her head, cheering 'Go Red! Go Red!' Lucas said she made her own version of a terrible towel. Unfortunately for them, their team didn't win...fortunately for them, they were asleep by that time and had no idea! :)

Also in sports, Meagan got the chance to be in first group at gymnastics this week, which was a HUGE deal for her. Her coach always puts the stronger/more focused/etc girls in the first group so they can set the tone for the others. This week, he let Meagan be in the first group for beam. She was SO ecstatic! It meant a great deal to her, I could tell by the way she was carrying herself. Also, Grandma H. was there to see her be leader, which just made it all the sweeter!

In Career Planning: Yes, career planning.

This week, we got in a little discussion with the kids about what kind of things they like doing, and what they think they might like to do when they grow up. Meagan wants to be a builder (which I can totally see...she is always finding CREATIVE ways to construct things when she gets an idea...for example, she once made her very own throne by using a roll of paper towels, a roll of toilet paper, a dowel rod - stuck through the TP & towel tubes to hold the 2 packages together - and then sat the seat of a broken rocking chair on top of the towel/paper tower...anyway).

Isaac said he wants to be a hunter (for which he got a hi 5 from his daddy). Sebastian then said he wants to be a zoo-keeper. Lucas looked at me with raised eyebrows and said, 'Oh great, one wants to kill animals; the other wants to keep them alive'...this should be interesting!

In Other News: Since I last posted, both my brother and my sister have added additions to their families. Both Brandon & Jenny and Chris & Erica had little girls...Delaney (not sure I spelled that right) and Ginny (or that). I'm not sure when I'll ever get to see them, but I hope sometime before they start kindergarten! Delaney hasn't been feeling well the past few days, and has been in the hospital...please pray for her speedy and complete recovery. I know Brandon & Jenny will be relieved when they get the okay to take her back home.

In Closing: I think that pretty much sums it up for us. SO SORRY I've totally disappeared on you all lately. I've been catching some crap for it, trust me! I am truly working on simplifying life a little so that I have more time to do the things I want and need to do. Blogging is one of those things, so we'll see how it goes!