Trick or Treat!

This year Cullen was the grim reaper for Halloween since he decided he was big enough to be something scary. Carson was a cartoon character named Ben 10 (one of the lesser known characters amongst adults but he loves Ben 10!). Lila was going to be Princess Leia but she went down for a nap at 4:30 and as of now (8:30 p.m.) she is still sleeping. Being the smart mom I am this time around I let her sleep. We can stick her in her costume any day but naps are not a sure thing every day. The boys had fun and now I get to slowly get rid of their candy while they are sleeping. Seriously, what does the average family need twenty pounds of candy for? I wish I was still teaching because I would just give it to my students.

Getting so big!

Here is a picture of Lila on her belly (laying on the quilt Cathy Gaubert made for her... thanks, Cathy!). Doesn't Lila look so big? She is getting very long and heavy. I'm curious to see how much she weighs at her four month check-up! I tried weighing her and me while I was holding her on the scale then weighing me without holding her but I felt the need to take about 18 pounds off of MY weight for clothes and breastmilk and got distracted by all of that math...

First Grade or Med School?

Carson has to study a drawing of the human skeleton tonight and be able to name the following parts: skull (easy), ribs and elbow (easy), mandible, clavicle, humerus, femur, patella, phalanges... what the heck!?! I didn't know we were prepping for med school three months into first grade. I guess I will need to send up a stethoscope tomorrow and will be on the lookout for a permission slip allowing him to operate in a learning hospital. As I type this Carson is laying on the floor playing with Lila (per my instructions) and I hear him saying in a singsong voice "Lila, your skull protects your brain" and "Lila, your ribs protect your heart". That's good because at this rate in the Ascension schools she'll be expected to know that when she enters kindergarten.

November Classes

After two October classes, two October hostess clubs, and one adorable but needy baby, I need to take a bit of a breather so I won't be having any extra classes (beyond hostess club) in November. Please feel free to ask me if you need any ideas or help as you get ready for the holiday season, whether you plan to make your cards, tags, or gifts or if you just need a cute way to wrap something. Don't forget that if you wrap even the smallest present in a cute manner it will "wow" the recipient. Keep watching for gift ideas over the next few weeks. I will be stamping a lot of Christmas gifts this year and am also using a Simply Scrappin' Kit to make the most adorable baby gifts. Stay tuned!

Card Class

Here are the cards we did at my most recent card class. We did one more but I didn't get a good picture and I got tired of trying to get one. It was fun and I enjoyed making the extras to keep on hand for myself. I love having a stash of cards to pull out when I need them!

Lila's Deepest Desire

Trying so hard!
Beyond frustrated
Then back to normal!

Lila's deepest desire is to figure out how to suck her thumb again. Kevin took pictures of her sucking her thumb ten minutes after she was born so we assume she was sucking it in the womb as well. She's having great difficulty finding her thumb now, despite her admirable and never-ending efforts. She tries one fist at a time, she tries both fists at a time, she sucks her arm (in case she was totally wrong about the original location) and then cries. The $30 worth of pacifiers we own don't cut the mustard; she wants her thumb.

I have to share what I did today!

The mural is located to the side of the crib. She can look at it when she wakes up!

I painted a tree on Lila's wall today. The idea was my sister's; she painted a tree in her baby's nursery (she's due in November) with more of a jungle theme. I took her great idea and ran with it. It took me the whole day off and on during Lila's cat-naps and even some while she was awake. I can get about 20 minutes out of her if I talk and sing to her while she lays nearby (she likes various Elvis songs). Anyway, this is the result! I am pleased.

Ribs and "Frinch Fris"

Someone told me that I don't have enough posts about Carson. This is ironic because several of my students told me that I talked way more about Carson that Cullen last year. Carson is very funny and pretty bright so he cracks us up a lot. This was a recent essay of his in class "My favorite food is ribs. I get my ribs at Chilles. I love ribs with frinch fris and barbe cyuw sase on it." I love that he was so specific and that he made such a good attempt at spelling barbecue sauce. "Cyuw". Sound it out. Above is his drawing of his plate of ribs and french fries, including a spoon and a fork. There is no knife because Carson always asks us to cut the "chicken" off of his ribs.

However, this is not my very favorite example of Carson's schoolwork. In pre-school when asked what his dandelion wish (if he blew on a dandelion and got awarded a wish) would be he said "I would wish for a clone so I wouldn't have to go to school." This was in pre-K. I knew it was going to be a long 13 years of pre-college education when I read that answer.

Birthday Dessert

I have to admit that I didn't bake Cullen a cake for his birthday. I didn't even buy one! I did bring snacks to school that day, even though Lila was screaming and I would have much preferred to find the closest open bar (Sweet Home Alabama- Reese Witherspoon "You have a baby... in a bar!"). Back to the cake... I have to give Cullen kudos and also acknowledge yet again that this is my child because he wore his "Birthday Boy" ribbon pinned to his shirt just when we went out to dinner because he knew it might help him get free dessert. I think Kevin would crawl under the table if waitresses sang him "Happy Birthday" but Cullen is OK with the singing if they are carrying something sweet while they're doing it (just like me). So even though I didn't make or buy Cullen anything he did get dessert at Ralph and Kacoo's and they sang to him and they gave him a place mat to color on. Plus there were swordfish and other dead creatures mounted on the wall and full fish tanks. We have none of these things so it was quite a hit. Happy Birthday, sweetie. When you look back on your ninth birthday you will remember that we fed you and let you walk around and look at dead animals.

Halloween Scrapbook Pages

These are the scrapbook pages (the top photo is of the left page, the bottom photo is the right) for my October hostess clubs. I usually offer a card option as well upon request and it's just a variation of the scrapbook pages. These pages use basic black, pumpkin pie, and kiwi kiss as well as Creepy Crawly designer series paper. The Big Shot machine was used to cut out the pumpkins, which are just mounted on lollipop sticks I bought for an ill-fated treat idea for one of the boys' classes and never used. It's simple to create this project but I think everyone's Halloween snapshots will be really easy to show off using such a great color combination!

My Big Boy is NINE

Baby Cullen

It's so hard to believe but Cullen is nine today. His party isn't for a few weeks so today will be pretty low key but he did open his presents this morning and was thrilled with his new Wii game from Kevin and me and a Pokedex (book about Pokemon) from Carson. Nine years ago from this moment I was in Wal-Mart thinking I had three weeks until the baby would come and Kevin was in New Orleans at a meeting. I jokingly assured him as he left for New Orleans that I "won't have the baby today". Five hours later my water broke. Here are two pictures of Cullen; one of him at Lila's age being held by Kevin and one from this morning before school. He tried to talk me into letting him miss school today but I said no. I may give in one day when he gets older!

Three Months Old (almost)

A little hint of a smile; it's hard to get her to smile AND take the picture!
How cute is that? These little bloomers were a gift from DeNea. The gift card said it was something "every little girl needed" and she was right!

Here are some new pictures of Lila, who is almost three months old. She is getting a little less colicky and she is sleeping through the night 2 out of 3 nights. I consider sleeping 8 hours or more in a row to be "through the night" even if her 8 or more hours don't coincide with when I go to bed. She has slept as many as nine hours straight. She was also Baptized last weekend at our church in Prairieville (I am sure I will post some pictures once I get them from my mom). In addition, she is trying very hard to roll over and suck her thumb (although the thumb is proving to be elusive so far). The boys are loving her so much and having a lot of fun. Cullen often helps when I am trying to clean the kitchen by making her smile and gurgle.

Blog Candy

The first five people who post a message/comment on one of my October posts and tell me which project is your favorite get a hand-stamped card that you can use (i.e. I won't be writing on it!!!). This applies to anyone... customers, downline, family, friends!

Halloween Sweets and Treats Class

These are the projects for my Halloween Sweets and Treats class. The class is full but I can tell you where to get all of the supplies if you'd like to copy them! All projects use the Chills and Thrills rub ons ($10.95 for two sheets). The class is next Sunday, October 12 at my house.

Mini Convention 2008

Santa Garland (project prepared by Margarita) using Big Shot and various punches.
Close-up of Santa garland
Crayon resist technique- this was one of my projects
Frankenstein card- courtesy of Margarita

Well I just got home from an event I have every year for my downline (the demonstrators under me). All levels are invited and we always have fun. This year a lot work was done by my dear friends and fellow demonstrators Margarita and Laura. Check out the photos of some of the projects we did! They did 6 projects and had lunch from Coastal Coffee Cafe (yum!) for $20! I always love getting together with my group and it helps remind me how much I love Stampin' Up! Kevin held things down on the homefront with the boys and the baby while I was stamping with the girls. Thanks, Kevin!

Cafeteria Food

I don't have a picture to go with this post because if I did it would just be one of me stuffing my face. That is because today I ate lunch at school with Carson. I also ate there last week with Cullen. I don't know if cafeteria food has gotten better or I am just less picky but man, that was some good food! It also only costs $3.25. Now I do need to help every child around me open their graham crackers (they in turn help me stick my straw in my pouch of milk, which I cannot do right) and tie shoes on occasion too but otherwise it's an enjoyable dining experience! The boys seem to really like having me there and I have fun seeing them in their element and hearing what their classmates have to say. For instance, one boy sitting across from me told me how his dad got fired a few weeks ago. The good news is that he has a new job now. His mom has also been fired. The little girl who sat across from me wants to be a singing doctor (good luck with that one). Carson still wants to be a veterinarian. So I just sit there and eat my delicious food and listen to the kids. I just try not to look at them because many of them have yet to learn how to chew with their mouth closed. I highly recommend that everybody go eat lunch with their kids at school!