Blog Much??

Sheesh. I haven't blogged in such a long time.

So where have I been. Well to be completely honest...life happened. Since December our family has been on a constant and complete dead run to accomplish weekly activities.

We did basketball, both high school...which went on forever...ended up top 8 in Division 4..what a fantastic year, and also Carter played his first year of Boys and Girls club basketball...can you say competitive and entertaining?? But it was amazing how well he did. At 6 he already has a good understanding of the game and the hours he has spent in the high school gym really show.

I am teaching, tutoring after school, and going to grad school. Ugh.. So much work. Looking forward to graduating in December with a Library Media Masters.

Ethan is a complete tag-a-long, but it is ok with him. He is very happy go lucky and is glad to be a part of whatever we have going on.

Now since Spring is in full swing, Carter is playing his first year of machine pitch baseball and loving it and Ethan is loving his first year of t-ball. Jess is umpiring games during the week, so I am left to maintain the chaos of practices and games for two little boys...plus find time to feed and bathe them.

Right now I am trying to finish up the last few grad assignments and prepare for finals the first week of May.

Back later today with another post, more scrappy in nature with pictures...

December Daily- Day 3

December 3rd: Sick Baby

Today was rough! About 11:30 last evening E woke up with fever. It continued through the rest of the night and by morning he seemed to be doing better. This is how he looked most of the day. No fever, running and playing and I thought that whatever had caused the infection was gone.

I bundled him up and went to school to pick up Carter at school. I told them that I would be at school Friday because I thought Ethan was fine. That was around 3:00. By 4:00 E looked like this. Running a high fever.

The fever cam down a little after I gave Motrin. I alternate between Motrin and Tylenol, but that is frustrating because the Tylenol just doesn't work as well as the Motrin does. Things went relatively well with Ethan just dosing in and out until about 8:00.

Around 8:00 Ethan woke up and complained about his eyes hurting. I knew his fever was back up so I took his temp- 102.8 and then gave him a dose of Motrin. Usually the Motrin works quickly, but this time it didn't even touch his fever. The fever continued to rise, up to 103.3, even after a cool bath and cold compresses. When Jess got home at 10:00, I scooped Ethan up and took him to the ER. Poor Baby!

We were there until after 1:00. After a strep test that was negative, the ER doctor diagnosed him with viral tonsillitis. He said that the virus would have to just run its course.

It was a very long day!!

I did get a tag done while Ethan was resting. This is my third tag inspired by Tim's "The 12 tags of Christmas".

December Daily- Day 2

December 2nd: Christmas Snacks



Tonight after the boys bath I got out some Christmas platters and served the boys a bedtime snack. Carter was very excited to see two of his Christmas favorites: Little Debbie Christmas cakes and Hot (more warm than hot) Chocolate. Ethan on the other hand, who had been VERY grouchy all evening, was not interested in either. The Hot Chocolate was too hot for him and he said he didn't like those cookies...even though he had eaten one the night before...Little Scrooge! He did come back later after I had eaten his Christmas cake and asked for one of his own.

Jess is responsible for us enjoying Christmas trees cakes. He loves the things! It is one of the very few Little Debbie's he will eat. He has no interest in the Zebra Cakes that you can buy year round, which in my opinion taste the same. He swears that they are nothing alike. As soon as the Christmas tree cakes hit the store shelves we scoop up boxes of them. It is kind of overwhelming to open the pantry and see boxes and boxes of Christmas tree cakes. But since they are only available for a short time we hoard and enjoy them. I can't make fun of Jess for doing this because I tend to do the same thing with Easter Peeps. I am fully aware that they make Peeps for other holidays, but I only like Easter Bunny and Chick Peeps. This is just more proof that Jess and I are perfect for one another. No one else would understand or endure our strange idiocies!

Hot Chocolate is my contribution to our family. In the winter I could live on the stuff. Combine hot chocolate with Chai Tea Lattes and Apple Cider, then throw in a little milk and water on the side and you basically have a list of all the drinks I drink during cold weather. The boys really like hot chocolate as long as it isn't HOT and only if there are marshmallows involved. Carter got his first Starbucks drink last Saturday when he and I were out shopping. His drink of choice was hot chocolate and he loved it. I imagine that next time we pass Starbucks he will ask for another one. I love that I am passing on my love of Starbucks to him. Jess of course will probably just roll his eyes and complain that we are spending way too much on a drink, but I'm o.k. with that.



Here is my tag based on Tim's tag for his "12 Tags of Christmas" Day 2.



I'll post again tomorrow!
See you then~

Olivia

December Daily 2009- Day 1

Thanks to Ali I am inspired to complete a December Daily album this year. I usually try to get the Album completed before December, but that just didn't happen this year. Wayyyy to busy to even get started on it. So I have decided to post each day here and then once I have time, I will put it into my scrapbook. I'll post completed pictures of that here too. My December Daily is just a special place to keep up with what we do during the month of December. So without further ado.. I give you:

December 1st : Carter Reading

Today I got the opportunity to sit in on Carter's kindergarten class as they were being observed by the other kindergarten teachers. With all the other teachers there I wasn't as much of a distraction to the kids. I was very excited to see what Carter is working on in Literacy, to see him interact with his peers and teachers, and see how much he is learning. Sitting in his class I was able to see a different side of Carter. Seeing him sit with his classmates, answering questions, and participating in the learning made me realize just how big he is getting. I am very proud of how hard he is working and I am glad that he enjoys learning. I also was able to see that as confident and hard headed as he is most of the time, he still lacks some confidence in his ability to read and write on his own. He is easily frustrated when he thinks that he may make a mistake, so therefore sometimes he lacks the confidence to try to read words he is unsure of or to write words he thinks he can't spell. This is something we are working on and I am hopeful that he will work his way out of it and be more confident in himself.

Couple of other things...just because:

Ethan came into the kitchen this evening and announced that he wiped his own hiney! This is a great day!! Considering that we try to get him to do this EVERYDAY we are finally seeing progress! Wiping our own hiney prompted a dance by the whole family and lots of whooping and hollering and high fives. Hopefully all the hiney-wiping hoop-la will encourage him to do it more often. Fingers crossed...here's hoping!

Besides the Daily December album, I am also inspired by Tim Holtz and his "12 Tags of Christmas". So here is my take on his tag for today.

Check back tomorrow for another tag and to see my next post for my Daily December album.

Hugs!! Olivia

World Card Making Day Blog Hop

In honor of World Card Making Day, http://www.cocoadaisy.com/ is having a blog hop. I have four cards to share. This first one is a card made using patterned paper scraps from one of the Christine's project kits for Cocoa Daisy. She comes up with amazing projects. The butterfly is a Hero Arts stamp, stamped in Tim Holtz's Walnut Distress Ink and then painted green with Twinkling H2O's. The brads and photo turn body were stamped and heat embossed to match the green of the butterfly. The "dreams" sticker is from 7 gypsies. I finished it with a little red stitching.

These two little cards are also made from scraps. Both use Kraft card stock, Hero Arts stamps and Distress Ink. The flower on the first card is a 2 inch scallop punch that I cut and shaped to make into a flower.

This final card is made with Hero Arts stamps using a masking technique for the frog and lily pads. I love this little frog!

If you have never checked out Cocoa Daisy I hope you will stop by and take time to check them out. Tricia puts out the most amazing kits and her Design Team is wonderful. The gallery is full of beautiful and inspiring projects and the message board is fun and encouraging.

I will now send you on your way to the next blog. This blog belongs to Caryl. Check her card out at http://carylhope.wordpress.com/

Have a great day!

Carterisms

Yesterday morning Carter woke up full of "Carterisms" as we like to call them. He said all three of these in an hours time and had me laughing and crying at the same time. I love when he tells it just like it is!

Carterism 1:

I got up early and took a shower and washed my hair before anyone else got up. When I went in to wake Carter up my hair was still wet. I laid down on the bed and was talking to him and this exchange happened.

Carter: "Mom you are beautiful, but your hair stinks."

Me: "Carter, I just washed it."

Carter: "Yeah, but it stinks."

Me: "It think it smells a little like flowers." (as I sniff my wet hair)

Carter: "Mom don't you know that boys dislike the smell of flowers."

What six year old uses the word dislike?? Good Grief!

Carterism 2:

Later on when I was helping him get ready, I got all sentimental on him, which usually drives him crazy. But this morning our conversation was really sweet and it made me tear up.

Me: "Carter, you are getting so big. Can you believe that you are going to be in kindergarten?"

Carter: "I know." (said excited and happy, rather than being put out that we were having this discussion again.)

Me: " You used to be my little boy, what happened?" (This is me getting all sentimental on him)

Carter: "Mom, even when I get big, I'll always be your little boy." (said as very sweetly)

Me: "I know Carter." (Right before he walked out and I began to cry)

Carterism 3:

Jess and I both had a workshop yesterday, so the boys were headed to play with a teenager from our church for the day. Carter thinks Colton is the coolest guy and has been so excited all week that he was getting to go to his house.
While I was trying to get Ethan's hair combed out Carter was standing at the bathroom door. Ethan was complaining about the me fixing his hair (this is a daily battle, if it weren't for the cute curls I would have his head shaved so I wouldn't have to deal with all the drama). This morning he was complaining that he didn't want a moohawk. Carter replied by saying this:

Carter: "Ethan we are going to someones house who is cool, you might want to wear the moohawk."

Ethan of course didn't buy it, but continued to complain until I had combed his hair "flat" as he likes to call it and had seen himself in the mirror to check to make sure I hadn't snuck a moohawk in on top of his head.

I added a few recent pictures of Carter to this post. Because I refuse a post without pictures!

The first picture I tool of him just a few days ago as we left kindergarten registration. He is getting so big!

The second is of him and I after a shopping trip for a few school clothes. I won't make a big school clothes shopping trip until mid-October or maybe even late October. We live in Arkansas and it doesn't get cold here till October/Novemberish.

The last picture is from May, during T-ball season. As I was working on this post this a.m. Carter came through and requested that I use a baseball picture. So I did and he approved.

Not a new picture necessarily, but it keeps the boy happy! Score one for Mom!

Bentley

This is the other man in my life...Bentley our Manx cat. You can find him laying around the house just like this most days. Unless of course there are small children running around...especially if one of the small children is three, curly headed, and holding an object he plans to use on the cat. This object may be any number of things such as a ball, plastic golf club, or even a blanket. I have learned by watching Ethan interact with Bentley that any object can be used to taunt Mr Bentley Bobtail.

Because of Ethan, Bentley prefers to be upstairs only when the children are distracted or asleep. Otherwise he is hiding under a piece of furniture waiting patiently for them to JUST GO AWAY! He is very tolerable of the boys to a point, then he runs for the hills, especially if he is being poked and gouged by golf clubs from the front and back of the couch. You will only see his underbelly when there is no one around who he thinks might eviscerate him on the spot. Such a rough life for a 15lb fur ball.